In Service of the Seasons: Serviceberry

Much like all the winters that came before it, this winter has been a dull, grey, joyless affair.  There hasn't even been a decent dumping of snow to enjoy. It's at this time of year that I appreciate those plants in the garden that provide winter interest such as Mini-Twists Eastern White Pine and Mahonia Grape. It's also the time of year I really appreciate year-round performers such as serviceberry.

Serviceberry produce a cloud of blooms in May

Serviceberries can be grown as small trees or multi-stemmed shrubs. In May, they produce white, five-petalled blooms. By June, serviceberries are dripping with blueberry-like purple berries that the birds love. In autumn, serviceberries produce brilliant fall colours. In winter, they add structure to the garden and look especially lovely holding snow on their silver-grey branches.

The brilliant autumn colour of serviceberry

This small tree for all seasons inspired the following poem.

In Service of the Seasons

In service of the seasons

Grows the serviceberry tree

Standing small and humble

Beneath the forest canopy

No need to be the tallest

Or the grandest of the woods

Plainly a performer

Gifting nature with its goods

Springtime's snow-white blossoms

Alabaster clouds serene

Unveil a budding spectacle

Of fresh woodland's artistry

Summer's purple juneberries

Weigh heavy on the branch

Filling hungry robin bellies

As they hop and step and dance

Autumn's fiery flames

Radiant reds and golds

Wave goodbye to deep blue sky

A lesson in letting go

Winter's silver bark

Catches flakes of falling snow

Brightening the sunless grey

Waiting to bloom and grow

The white flowers of serviceberries

It won't be long until the serviceberries are blooming again.

Happy Gardening!

Berry Buffet for a Lucky Robin

At this time of year, colour in the garden is very hard to come by. So, it may not come as a surprise that I stopped dead in my tracks when I came upon this tree during my morning dog walk. 

Wow!

I have seen this tree in previous years, and I have always been stunned by its winter beauty. Unable to identify it in the past, this year I posted some pictures to an online garden group to see if anyone might know what it is. I'll need to do some more research, but it appears to be some type of mountain ash. 

I need this tree in my life! 

I need this tree to get me through the colourless winter months.

Berry buffet for a lucky robin

I was not the only one appreciating this lovely tree. A robin was enjoying a meal, plucking away at the plentiful berries. As i watched the bird, a short little poem came to mind.

Lucky Robin

Snowy day

Berry buffet

Lucky robin has found a place to stay

Robins are usually a harbinger of spring, returning from warmer climates where they spend the winter. In Toronto, though, some robins stay even through the coldest months. For those birds, I imagine this tree will become a favourite lunchtime hangout.

Berries dusted with snow.
More "wow" factor than I can handle

Now, its time for some research on mountain ash or Sorbus trees. I am most definitely adding one to my garden.

Happy gardening!

The Snow is Sticking

It happens every year, yet each year it comes as a surprise: the first significant snowfall in which the snow sticks. Today was that day. A very wet, heavy snow that covered sidewalks and made surfaces slick. Ugh!

The first flakes on the beech

Even though there is absolutely no reason to be caught off guard by this annual event, I often feel caught off guard. That feeling inspired a short poem.

The Snow is Sticking

the snow is sticking
and I am kicking
myself
not yet done 
tucking in the garden

flakes catch and linger
on frozen gloved fingers
yours truly
not yet prepared
for winter's glacial glare

Snow on Bloodgood Japanese Maple

Here's hoping for a mercifully mild and brief winter. Nothing to do in the meantime but write some garden poems and count down to spring.

Happy Gardening! 

Autumn in My Dustpan

This time of year in the garden always amounts to a lot of leaf cleanup. Weeks and weeks (and more weeks) of leaf cleanup. 

A carpet of colourful fallen leaves

I have too many leaves. The garden is surrounded by mature trees that dump their loads of foliage each fall. The cover is so thick that it has the potential to smother everything underneath. So I do my best to manage the leaves. I mulch as many as I can, and I leave the shredded remnants to do their work as a warm, nourishing, and protective winter blanket for the garden. The rest, I rake and sweep into bags that will be taken away to be turned into compost.

Fallen leaves have been a topic of discussion among the gardeners I follow on twitter. I saw a post that returned to me as I was doing my own leaf clean up. It was a picture of a dustpan filled with fallen leaves. It was accompanied by the caption "Autumn in a dustpan." I did a quick search to see if anyone had ever written a poem inspired by those words because they struck me as rather poetic. I didn't find any poems, but I did find dozens of high-resolution stock photos to match the words (who knew that the world needed so many dustpan photos? Lol!) This, in turn, inspired my own picture (see below), and a new poem in the form of a pantoum.

Autumn in my Dustpan   

Autumn in my dustpan
The season not yet done
Fallen golds and crimsons
Echo a blazing sun

A garden season nearly done
Fades into dimmer days
Echoes of a blazing sun
Obscured by skies of grey

Faded into dimmer days
Life hindered by the dark
Beneath fall’s slow decay
A soul’s diminished spark

Life hindered by the dark
Leaves rain upon the land
Sweep up fall’s slow decay
Gather autumn in my dust pan

Autumn in my dustpan

Here's to the annual fall cleanup.  I hope yours is going well.

Happy Gardening.

Bulbs in a Paper Bag

I have been slowly winding down the garden for the season. There hasn't been a frost yet, but it won't be long. One of my jobs this week was cutting back the Gladiolus murielae.

Gladiolus murielae

I have admired these flowers in other people's gardens. When I spotted some corms at the garden centre this spring, I decided to try my luck. It was a good choice. The flowers were fantastic with their white drooping heads held on tall, sturdy stalks about three feet tall. I don't think these tender bulbs would survive the harsh winter here, so I set about digging them up, cutting back the foliage, and putting the corms into storage.

Gladiolus murielae remind me of shorebirds.
Don't ask me why, they just do.

The process of collecting the bulbs and placing them into paper bags in the hope that they will bloom again reminded me of the cycles of the garden and the hopeful outlook of the gardener. This is the poem that came to mind.

Paper Bag Potential

Shake off the dirt

Give the roots a trim

Put the bulbs in a paper bag

Place in a box

Find a dark shelf

Persist through winter's icy lag

Open the bag

Inhale summer's scent

Witness flowers patiently wait

See the green sprouts

Dream of what is to come

Prepare to plant and celebrate

Bulbs in a paper bag

Here's to the potential of all the bulbs, corms, and seeds being collected and prepared for winter storage right now.

Happy Gardening!