All The January Things

 When I say All the Things, I mean the pretty and the ugly, equal measure. One full month into 2024 and it's been a doozy, weatherwise. Here at Chickadee Gardens we've recorded over 10" of rain, that's not including precipitation from the snow and ice as FM moved the rain gauge out of the firing line for a week because last year it froze and broke during a similar event. Lesson learned. I'm estimating we had more along the lines of 12" of precipitation. There were nearly two weeks of very cold (for us) temps at 15 degrees (at its coldest) with about 6" of snow followed by freezing rain. I mean a coating of a quarter inch or more on everything. We had a record low "high" temperature of 21 degrees. 

Having said all that, we fared much better than our Portland friends did because the frigid east winds never came this far. We didn't cover many plants, just a couple newly planted agaves and I am pleased that overall, the garden did ok. We've been through this enough times that the slimmed down version of the garden has a tough exterior, mostly.

Here then is the month of January, warts and all. First up, the pretty bits:

An unglamourous look at the berm garden - that is to say bad lighting in January - but I suppose the point is that I still have a garden. Despite this being a difficult spot to garden, what is here are survivors.

A dear friend moved from her four-acre garden recently and gave me so many treasures, this among them. A bear/cat/otter creature covered in lichen that now lives near our front door.

A few berries on Viburnum opulus are colorful on a cold January day.

The obligatory Hamamelis 'Jelena' January photograph. Joking aside, it is so wonderful to see even a peep of orange in winter.

 Schefflera delavayi continues to surprise and impress me with its resilience, especially in these snow and ice events. I have four of these in the shade garden, each of which is unscathed by snow, ice and very low temperatures.

Schefflera taiwaniana, although in my garden only since autumn 2022, has also been very resilient.

Carex conica 'Snowline' paired with Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegatum' in a corner of my shade garden.

Euphorbia rigida blooming, a bright spot in the gravel garden.

Erica × darleyensis ‘Kramer's Rote’, a colorful splash for a January garden. If you can grow heath, it is, as I have observed, well-visited by bumble bees in winter. An early source of sustenance for bees is reason enough to grow it for me, but I also like the punch of color.

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Imbric Weeping' I have had for several years. It was given to me at a garden blogger's swap and was not very tall, today it is about 10' or so in height and understandably difficult to photograph with its lovely whispy nature.

Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety', one I featured in my last post looks cheerful in a rather dark corner of the shade garden.

Viburnum tinus 'Variegatum' in the shade garden adds a bit of sparkle. This hasn't been particularly fast growing, but it's healthy and holds its own.

Gaultheria shallon, our common salal that was on the property when we moved here has been encouraged and is thriving throughout the woodland and shade gardens. Especially this time of the year it is a joy to see, a green pause among much brown.

A wider look at the edge of our property, the Himalayan mounds are on the left, completely covered in Ceanothus gloriosus and other evergreen shrubs. The mulched area on the right is a fairly new area planted in a couple of stages over the last nine months.

Some fabulous lichen that fell from tree branches above. As with most snow or ice storms many branches fall around here. I tend to collect them and place them around the garden to decompose on site.

Winter foliage color of Penstemon cardwellii, a favorite native penstemon. It is evergreen, low growing, beautiful purple flowers in May and easy if given the right conditions, which are excellent drainage and an open aspect with full sun to part shade. It grows locally in volcanic soils of Mount Saint Helens and the region as well as the Coastal Mountain Range.

Lupinus albifrons, silver bush lupine in the labyrinth garden. This is a seedling, one of several, that a friend gave me last spring. It seems to have weathered the storms and looks pretty good. Fingers crossed it establishes itself.

Now for a bit of winter damage. Grevillea lanigera 'Coastal Gem', a low spreading shrub, has a bit of damage to its upper branches and leaves. I think that it will bounce back, as it has so often in the past, and I will prune out the dead bits when the weather warms.

Phormium tenax 'Atropurpureum' does this thing in really cold temps the leaves curl up to a fraction of their normal width (this photo is much after the storm, so back to normal). I know then that the cold weather has arrived. It looks a bit tattered but it always comes back. It will get an annual clean up in spring and be just fine.

My new Salvia 'Celestial Blue' did this; I am heartbroken, but I am hopeful it could regenerate from the roots as there is a bit of green at the base and it was pretty established, being in the ground well over a year.

Yes, the Cupressus macrocarpa 'Donard Gold' has some broken branches, though not as many as I had feared. This was from the heavy wet snow that hit our garden hard before the super cold arrived, otherwise it is very cold hardy.

My poor Arctostaphylos glauca, given to me by my boss Sean Hogan at Cistus Nursery, doesn't look very good. This may have more to do with the wet than the cold and snow.

Rhamnus alaternus 'Variegata' did it again, it flopped outward as it tends to in heavy snow. It has actually righted itself significantly since this photo was taken but I've learned to prune down the tallest branches to keep it slightly more compact.

I had high hopes the Melianthus major would sail through what was, up until mid-month, a really mild winter. It was not to be. It always grows back, though, so although I'm not worried about its fate I don't enjoy looking at this all winter. 

A couple hebes took a hard hit. These were throw aways (no labels) from Joy Creek Nursery a few years ago, so my best guess is this is H. diosmifolia

Another one, I think this is Hebe 'Great Orme'. The hebes I grow and take cuttings of are very hardy - these two are varieties I have not promoted as being hardy as I'm unclear of who they are. The blackening of their foliage was kind if surprising as they have done well for the past three years. However, having said that there is a high chance they will regrow so I plan on leaving them for several months to determine their fate. If they die, they die. Nothing I can do about it.

Also I noticed some blackening on my Acca sellowiana, pineapple guava. It completely defoliated that terrible winter of 2016/2017 as a brand new plant in my garden, but to my delight regrew new leaves later in spring. In other words, hardy to a point and I have no doubt this same plant will rebound once more. Hardiness improves with age. There is also damage on one of two Mahonia 'Soft Caress' though it is minimal. I understand many gardeners in Portland have very bad damage on this particular plant.

Surely more damaged plants are out there, some will surprise me with their damage and others with their resilience. This has only strengthened my resolve to grow and promote plants that sail through extremes such as we just experienced along with our increasingly longer dry summer season. In winter extremes it is primarily broadleaved evergreens that see the most damage, in summer the thirsty plants really take a hit. I hope to keep learning, observing and sharing through it all.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens, as always thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you and what your gardens are up to. Happy gardening.