STYLISH TOUGH SITE SOLUTION FOR SUN: 1-2-3

Landscape rose 'The Fairy'
www.whiteflowerfarm.com


Mid-Winter provides the right time to start planning for landscaping improvements for 2012, so let's deal with that sunny but impossible "problem area" with a 1-2-3 punch and get it over with.

Here's the formula:

Landscape rose "The Fairy"
Daylily 'Happy Returns'
Catmint



Prolific rebloomer daylily 'Happy Returns,' in primary yellow

smokeysdaylilygardens.com/Itemdata.php?item=Happy%20Returns



Sun-loving, traditional rose companion, catmint ('Nepeta')

www.diggingdog.com/pages2/nepeta.php

For height, add 1 to 3 Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light.' 3 max or design gets too busy. Plant landscape roses in front not back.

Always plant in curvilinear drifts of roses, daylilies, and catmints. Do not mix, or, once again, your design will look too busy!

OK, next challenge.




Well-behaved, Japanese silver grass 'Morning Light.'


www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1859/morning-light-maiden-grass.php

FRAGRANT, EARLY-BLOOMING 'GOLDEN CRANE' HYDRANGEA

MONROVIA introduces a "must-have" hydrangea cultivar for 2012! 'Golden Crane' has it all. Exquisitely-formed lace-caps flowers, subtle whites and greens that complement any garden color scheme, early and sustained seasonal blooming, an ideal size of 5' x 5', plus fragrance! Order yours now.

www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/3097/golden-crane-hydrangea.php

PRE-ORDER NEW MONTICELLO GARDEN BOOK

www.monticello.org/

BULB SALE CONTINUES AT WHITE FLOWER FARM

www.whiteflowerfarm.com

HOLIDAY 'WINTER GREENS' FROM MONTICELLO

www.monticellocatalog.org/home-d-cor-d-cor-holiday-d-cor.html

STILL TIME TO PLANT SPRING CROCUS

Crocus chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty'
www.whiteflowerfarm.com/140714-product.html

Fall shipping for bulbs usually ends around the end of October, so you still have time for crocus.

Crocuses are inherently charming and courageous as they brave blasts of cold air and accumulated icy snow in early Spring. Perhaps, most importantly, crocuses provide a healing splash of bright color in the landscape after a seemingly-interminable, gray and bleak Winter.



Crocus 'Pickwick'











Separate from violet in your composition with another color but not white.

Here's how to do crocuses. If your site has space, avoid the color mixes. Make a selection of five varieties that includes one white. Strive for an accent of something unexpected, such as the tawny shade of 'Cream Beauty.' Incorporate a bright yellow, one of its color wheel opposite, violet, and something striped:

That's:

'Cream Beauty'
White
Yellow
Violet
Stiped

In this case, quantities of each color are not as important as creating individual color drifts. In fact, the aesthetic effect is much more dramatic if the indivudal color quantities are highly varied.

Offset the drifts with about 7-11, oddly-placed single crocus corms slightly away from the drift itself to simulate naturalization. Do not blend the offset corms into another color drift.

Spring crocuses! The perfect segue from Winter Tyde.

VISIT THE AMAZING VITEC'S NEW SHOP FOR STUNNING BIRD PORTRAIT ORIGINALS

Monticello in autumn
www.monticello.org/




A masterful robin portrait by the brilliant VITEC

The Green Man chanced upon the deliriously-magnificent, Impressionist bird paintings of Berkshire, England-based artist VITEC several years ago. Now, he has an online shop, and it gratifies TGM to see and know he is prospering!

The new Etsy shop features bird miniatures although VITEC has created other artwork such as still lifes (some possibly yet available), and one certainly hopes he is open to private commissions.

VITEC's work is simply brilliant, and the artist has played an important role in revitalizing the endangered, holiday tradition of the Christmas Robin.

Visit today to view VITEC's enthralling, superb work!

www.etsy.com/shop/VitecArt?ref=seller_info&order=price_desc&page=1



Portrait of a great tit by England's VITEC

(Click on image for a breathtaking enlargement.)