December Snow

I heard someone this week say, "Any other time of year everyone would be cursing the weather, but in December it's 'Christmasy.'" We had our first snow storm, and the government was nice enough to close for the day, so I was able to get out with my camera before the early sunset of mid December.

I love the colors of the season, so I had to capture the red berries on a couple different Nandina bushes around the yard.

But I couldn't let the Nandina upstage the holly grove.

That's 4 of the six trees we had planted a couple years ago.  I'm giving serious thought to adding holly berry bushes (probably about 5 [4 female and a male] and in a few years we can start decorating with fresh holly cuttings and berries in the house.)

But now it's time for the close-ups outside. :-) 

Looking around the yard brought a few more colors popping out of the snow.

And a few more stark shots.

And for a chuckle, I had to do a double check when I looked at the way the snow was settling on the grill. He didn't look happy at being left out in the cold.

Making Decisions - toxic plants

Well, I had to make a decision about a couple of the shrubs.  I've been learning about what they are, and researching online.  I was at Patuxent Nursery and found some shrubs that were the same as some of the mystery plants in the yard.  It was called Nandina.  We have them in 4 different places around the house, the previous owner must have liked them.

I did some research and found out they are toxic to birds and cats, now it didn't mention dogs, but since we have mostly senior dogs I was concerned.  I wouldn't want one of our kids to wander up and start munching on a toxic plant.  Since we had three more around the house, I decided the one in the back hill had to go.

Here is what it looked like in early June.

The Nandina, also known as Sacred Bamboo or Heavenly Bamboo is the tall shrub in the center.  But it's toxic and it had to go.  But, it was perfectly healthy and I didn't know if is was sacrilegious to cut down a plant called Sacred Bamboo.  (Oh No, I've got to cut down a Sacred Shrubbery - Monty Python forgive me.)

But part of this gardening stuff is pruning and weeding and making decisions (oh god, more decisions.) So far I've discovered that I like the planting of new plants more than the trimming and pruning of existing plants and shrubs. But with the nurturing of the new comes the pruning of the mature.  So I got out the tools and took down the Nandina.  Now we have a hole in the lower area below the path.  You can clearly see a stone from the garden path in the gap.

But now we can see the blueberry bushes, the butterfly bushes, and the azalea on the upper part of the hill. We've been discussing options to fill the gap, but we're getting to like the view of the upper hill. I know it was the right decision - for reasons other than aesthetics - but it's nice to have the aesthetics work out too.