By way of introduction, may I say there will be no lovely fresh garden pics from this locale for some time to come. With over four inches of heavy snow this afternoon, winds of over 30 mph, and an overnight temperature of 5 degrees fahrenheit... we are well below normal here in notheastern Wisconsin and are forecast to be in this cold situation for the next two to three weeks. As previously stated, this is way better than last year's 82 degrees as everything is dormant and hopefully will stay that way until the winter is past. We will celebrate the cold by installing some new windows on Monday next... hope my orchids don't freeze!
The pictures posted here are of a change I made in the rockery last spring. Concerned that the soil was too heavy and poorly drained, I removed my collection of clump forming epimediums and installed many rocks and a very free draining soil before returning them to the garden.
Had we experienced a normal summer, this would have been a very successful venture. Unfortunately, high temperatures, fierce winds, and drought took a toll on the project and virtually every epimedium turned to a crispy brown despite my attempts to keep them well watered. The small fern leaf beech that will eventually shade the plants is of course way too small and the flowering crab suffered severe apple scab defoliating it for much of the summer... I should have constructed some sort of shade structure but waited too long and the damage was done.
At this moment these plants are lying beneath a covering of burlap and two feet of snow. It is my deepest hope that they will sprout from dormant buds below the soil level once spring gets here. I have to admit that if they don't I will be greatly saddened as these plants rate highly on my favorites list. I really hope that they come back and it is indeed a strong possibility, although if they do, they may take awhile to return to their former glory.
No doubt I will have to design some sort of shade structure to keep them for a few years until the beech gets some size. If they don't come back, I will order replacements which aren't inexpensive, but I can't be without these beautiful additions to the rockery.
Allow me to share some photos of them in better times...
Take care, Larry
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