Wednesday 4 February 2009

The Japanese Garden peaceful in snow

Life has settled back to normal after the excitment of yesterday - the schools have re-opened, the roads are clear, the snow remains crispy and beautiful, the sky is a wonderful clear blue and all is right in my world.
I thought I'd come back to the Japanese Garden and share some of the photos I took when it was at its most atmospheric with deep snow shrouding much of the garden, but with odd bits poking through ....... but before I start waxing too lyrical, here are the pictures.
Enjoy!
This is the oak tree just below the Japanese Garden.

Looking north up the garden towards the fruit cage, late afternoon on Monday.


Looking south down towards the house, late afternoon on Monday.


Same position about 3 hours later.


The bottom pond - the place of Ceefer's unexpected dip!


A more cautious cat!

Although the Cornus isn't yet planted there, it was bought specifically to go in the Japanese Garden and its colours are so wonderful I couldn't leave it out.
A log slice left out to dry - it's going to be a seat on the veranda as it's about 12" thick.

This is just one of our various wood piles and, although it's not in the Japanese Garden, it was too pretty a photo to leave out.
I'm not sure if my globe artichoke will ever recover and, no - this isn't in the Japanese Garden either, I just felt sorry for it!

11 comments:

flydragon said...

What is a fruit cage?

Nutty Gnome said...

It's a large metal frame, with a door. Ours is about 6 foot 6 inches high, about 18 foot long and about 12 feet wide. It's covered in fairly stiff netting on the sides and removable soft netting on the top (- if you look down to the previous blog entry you'll see Himself getting ready to remove the roof netting so it didn't collapse under the weight of the snow). All our redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberries and rhubarb grow in the cage - insects and butterflies can get in but birds can't. We had a BIG problem with the birds eating the fruit before we did!
Hope this helps?!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I can't wait to see your Japanese Gardens in the summer, they look so pretty covered in snow.

Nutty Gnome said...

They're even more covered now - we've had another couple of inches fall overnight and it's still coming down. I love it! (I just hope my poor plants are hardy enough to survive!)

VP said...

Hi - the snow dump's come our way today!

You asked about cooking apples over at my place. I posted this answer for you, but thought I'd come over and tell you about it over at your place too...

I don't grow any cooking apples apart from the dual purpose James Grieve, so am probably not best placed to advise you. However, Adam at Talaton Plants who supplied me with my trees gives excellent advice and service and also has a great website where you can research lots of different varieties. Most of them are sold out for this year, but there's loads of information and you may like the look of what's left or be prepared to wait until the autumn.

Nutty Gnome said...

Thanks VP - I've just been to look at the Talaton Plants site and I am positively drooling at the choice - aaah, and they have damsons!!!
Enjoy the snow - we're up to about 6" now. Wonderful!

VP said...

Hi Nutty Gnome - so glad you like the site. I always drool when I get my catalogue each year - fruit heaven!

Anonymous said...

Hi NG, I love how the snow makes everything look so serene, just beautiful. And poor kitty, cautious is right!
Frances

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Frances, you're so right, snow is beautiful - plus it has the added advantage that it covers a multitude of sins ( a bit like a good dress!) and makes everywhere look good, even if it is only temporary!
Ceefer has definately gone off the snow now!

spookydragonfly said...

Your Japanese garden takes on a whole new beauty covered in snow! Poor kitty, I'll bet she was terrified!

Nutty Gnome said...

Thank you SD. I agree with you, the garden is very beautiful and almost surreal with this amount of snow on it - I just hope my plants are alright!
Poor old Ceefer cat has not ventured out for very long since his unexpexted dip and hasn't been anywhere near the pond!