We experienced our first frost and it was a mild one. It could have been a fatal one as I'd slipped on the boards of the deck steps, not realizing that Jack Frost had visited. Agile as I am (ahem), I made it around to the huge front flower bed and thought of adding winter bulbs before the ground froze. There was already a bed of daffodils and a scattering of grape hyacinth. I wondered where I could get some witch hazel and some hellbore. I'd seen Witch Hazel blooming in the woods in the dead of winter but couldn't remember where. Hellebore...we didnt' have that. We were light on tulips, too, so I made a note to buy some of those early bloomers. Of hollies, we had plenty and the red berries were already eye-catching and merry. Snowdrops were a name easy to remember--another bulb plant which was true to its name. Of course, you can add garden interest with ornamental grasses so easily and with so little care. You can cut them back in the spring if you want to stimulate new growth. The seed heads are fabulous, so basic and reminiscent of grains in the fields. Fountain grass has that deep purple color but I like the standards browns, golds, tans...even the swamp grass that grows in the bogs of the forest.
The taller grasses are great to look at in winter when the snow is deep but there are shorter grasses you can plant, too. These are best toward the end of summer. A deep snowfall will bury them: Mosquito Grass, Hare's-tail Grass, Squirreltail Glass, Red Fesque, and Snowy Wood Rush.
So, the seasons change but the fun continues.
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