Images of Winter, whispers of Spring

Sorry we haven't posted for a while...although winter is a time of slowdown for many gardeners, for nursery operators, it can be a very busy time. We're planning for the spring and summer, choosing new plants, tending our overwintering plants, and enjoying the joys of winter.

With all the snow we have this winter, it's a great idea to look around your garden and see what you have for 'winter interest.' Do you have shrubs with interesting shapes that look like living sculptures when snow or ice cover them?

Or shrubs and trees with bright bark, like this red-osier dogwood, which looks its best when surrounded by a blanket of pristine snow?

Perhaps you have some terrific evergreens, as we've talked about before, that will turn brilliant shades during fall and winter. The purple-bronze microbiota or Russian cypress is one of our favourites.

But we also like Thuja 'Sunkist', here just getting started in turning its winter gold colour when it was nearly buried in snow.

Take heart, fellow plant fans and gardeners. Before we know it, we'll all be busy in our gardens again, and enjoying the glorious blooms of such perennials as this Japanese Tree Peony...

Or this exquisite magnolia. It's too bad we can't put fragrances somehow into a blog post, because scented magnolias are wonderful.

And before we even know it, we'll be enjoying the tasks of the garden, dividing hostas, daylilies and echinaceas, pruning shrubs, planting our vegetable gardens. We're over the worst of winter now, and counting down til spring.

Stay tuned...we'll have news about new plants here at Baldwin's Nurseries in the not too distant future!

Thank you for your patronage in 2010

To all our valued customers, we'd like to offer our sincere thanks for your patronage this year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone, and we'll look forward to seeing you in 2011.

Nothing false about falsecypresses

To continue with the evergreen love, we turn now to one of the most diverse and excellent genera in the ornamental plant world: the Chamaecyparis, also known as falsecypress. Sure, the genus name is a bit tricky to say, but these are excellent garden and landscaping shrubs.

Some become tall, stately, graceful trees, like the weeping Nootka in this photo...

Some have truly fascinating capsule like cones, which take two years to develop.

For those with small spaces, there are the excellent dwarf varieties, like this sculptured golden Hinoki.

And as with other evergreens, there are falsecypresses with a great variety of autumn and winter colour. 'Heatherbun' is a fascinating variety, with bronze to plum winter foliage.

Threadleaf chamaecyparis make a striking display at the front of a border or as specimen shrubs. Make sure to match your plant's mature growth to the proper site, as you don't want it overgrowing its area. There are compact forms that don't grow more than 3 feet tall, and others with a much larger mature height.

For something choice and handsome, look for the golden fernleaf falsecypress, C. obtusa 'Tetragona Aurea'. Its brilliant yellow summer growth deepens to a more bronzed gold in winter.

The odd little charmer Golden Sawara Pincushion grows in a mound about three feet tall and wide. It's a good choice for an alpine garden or dwarf conifer collection.

Some more dwarf chamaecyparis in pots, waiting for their new owners to come and find them. They resemble the graceful sculpture of potted bonsai.

As we start to put things away for the winter months, there is more and more fall colour showing up in the conifers and broadleaf evergreens at Baldwin's Nurseries. We're working most days, weather permitting, so do stop in and have a look around, and let our fall colour display inspire your garden plans for next spring. Thanks as always for visiting!