I love watching the snow retreat. A hollowed stone bird bath, a green metal bench, and a series of low round containers emerge into view in the front garden. I’ve been enjoying the broadleaf evergreen branches of rhododendron, leucothoe, conifer pinus strobus, and red ilex verticillata berries container arrangements all winter above the snow bank. (I realize that the heavy snow cover has not been with us the entire winter—it just feels like it.) The winter composition of branches is visible from my living room windows. Small birds (chickadee, white breasted nuthatch, even the larger cardinal, blue jay, or mockingbird) land on them momentarily while waiting their turn in the flight pattern to the bird feeder nearby. I await the robins that ate the berries last February or March to return to do the same. Watching them can entertain me for quite some time. I find it a peaceful and reviving interlude within my busy life.

I love the patterns created between the smooth white blanket and textured dark exposed ground. The ever-widening brown mass expanding beneath the large wolf pine in the back garden contrasts with the white mass still enveloping the garden—though nearby the revealed sapling arch and top inches of fence posts and rails of the vegetable garden read with the same dark brown. (By the way, it’s called wolf pine because it’s a single tree. As a singleton, it grows in all directions into a massive size -- you don’t get the skinny trunks (lodge pole effect) with dead branches all the way up that you find in a dense forest situation. White pine, a colonizing tree like white birch or popular, is one of the first trees that attempt reforestation in this area after a disruption--fire or man cleared fields). This tree is amazing—very tall and wide—maybe 50-60’ tall by 30’ wide. I watch the eastern morning sun light it and the western light and colorful sky through it throughout four seasons. When I wake it’s the first thing I see. I notice it throughout the day from other vantage points. I watch this tree In winter dusted with powdery snow or branches laden with poufs of snow like the flocked trees you used to see sold as artificial Christmas trees. I watch the cardinal flit about it—the males flashing red a beacon among dark green branches. I notice the blue shadows it casts in the winter landscape late in the afternoon. I duck beneath its lowest branches on my way to the compost pile a few times a week. I wonder is this a tree friend? Does it notice me ?

Action Items for Busy Gardeners

You can cut Forsythia branches anytime now to force into flower. The closer to April, the shorter time you have wait for the yellow flowers to appear. But if you have some tall vases or oriental jars and space for tall branches, this can be fun. When cutting for indoor stems, pick a branch that needs pruning and cut it off close to the ground. Trim off what you want for forcing and recycle the rest to the wood pile. Before putting into a container filled with water, smash the stems with a hammer against a wooden cutting board, or cut "X's" into stem bases with clippers.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, March 5, 2005 Ecological Landscaping Association Winter Conference. Lecture Topic: Winning Plant Combinations Using Color and Texture. ELA website for more information. www.ela-ecolandscapingassn.org