Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg

Pictured here is a typical Colonial Williamsburg-style decorated wreath. This particular wreath is found outside the seamstress shop and is adorned with colorful balls of stuffed fabric. The woman dressed in period costume is a reminder of times past and the hardiness of our ancestors! No North Face down jackets or fleeces in the 18th century! Hope everyone's holidays were Merry!

Support Simsbury

Pictured here is the 2010 Simsbury collectible ornament. It is the second in a series of ornaments, designed by Simsbury resident Susan Singer. The 2010 ornament features a likeness of the Drake Hill Bridge of Flowers just down the way from us here on Riverside Road. We sell the ornament here at the Nursery, as well as the 2009 ornament portraying our fellow inhabitant, the black bear! A portion of the sales of this year's ornament benefits the Simsbury Land Trust!

To us, this bridge symbolizes a couple of different things. Firstly, it memorializes the past...back to the times when Riverside Road was much less traveled and the Drake Hill Bridge could only accomodate traffic from one side at a time. It was a one lane bridge, in other words.

Secondly, now that this bridge is strictly for pedestrians, and filled with gorgeously growing planter boxes and well-tended hanging baskets and perennial gardens during the Summer and Fall, we find it to be a peaceful spot.

The bridge tends to attract active community members who like to bike, walk, boat, or just hang out and enjoy the view from the bridge. More recently, we've seen some wedding ceremonies happening there as well. It represents a peaceful spot, filled with the natural beauty that is found everywhere in our Farmington Valley, with a real community feel!

Christmas!

Our Christmas Shoppe is open and has been in full swing for a few weeks now! Hence, the lack of new posts on this here blog. The Warner's elves are busy decorating, cutting and tying on trees and creating beauty all around them! Our store is filled with goodies...

See here a picture of our first dusting of snow, arriving last Friday night and leaving a perfect light blanket on our greens, trees and wreaths!

The Queen of Japanese Maples?

Fall Foliage Series, Japanese Maples...Part 2, cont. I am featuring Acer palmatum dissectum 'Crimson Queen' in this photo in the foreground, Acer palmatum dissectum 'Viridis' is the yellow foliage behind, as mentioned in my previous post. With its scarlet red fall color and deeper red season-long foliage color, Crimson Queen is one of the most fantastic Japanese Maples on the market!!! I absolutely love this plant.

It will eventually reach 8-10 feet high by 10-12 feet wide, but grows amazingly slow...as is the case with Japanese Maples in general. Being part of the dissectum group of Japanese Maples means the leaves on this plant are very finely cut and contribute to the delicate appearance of the plant as a whole.

This mound-shaped tree is perfect for featuring as a specimen in a special spot in your yard or in a Japanese style garden. Prone to early Fall or late Spring frosts, do not feed your Japanese Maples late in the season, or too early in the Spring. Dappled shade or part shade is ideal as an exposure for most Japanese Maples.

Japanese Maple in the Fall Part I

Up until now, I've been mentioning shrubs in my Fall foliage series. Today I choose a tree! Pictured here is an Acer palmatum dissectum 'Viridis'. This is also known as a green laceleaf Japanese Maple.

'Viridis' possesses a traffic-stopping brilliant yellow foliage in Fall. The very dissected and divided leaves are a medium green all season long, until Fall when they pop with this yellow color. I consider Viridis to be one of the showiest of the dissectum type Japanese Maples.

Maturing at 8-12' x 10-14', Viridis Japanese Maples are a manageable size for a small planting bed or as a specimen in a remote garden. The frilly texture of the foliage creates a delicate effect. Jap Maples look good with many perennials, ornamental grasses and are one of my favorite groups of plants!!

Cabbagehead!

Featured today in my fall foliage series is a favorite plant only seen at this time of year. Brassica oleracea, or Ornamental Cabbage, as pictured here, is a very cool looking and cool weather loving plant.

I choose it as part of this series due to the intensity of color, which increases as Fall progresses. The center of these ornamental cabbage and kale plants are usually shades of purple, pink and white, contrasting with the outer green and bluish foliage. As temperatures drop, this center area deepens in color!

Ornamental cabbage and kale are a seasonal plant in Connecticut. They will generally not survive the entire winter looking good and will not return as a perennial from year to year. However, they do tend to last into December or January looking quite good until they eventually become covered with snow and ice!

In the Spring, they can be pulled out as the ground thaws! Try these cool foliage plants, instead of, or in addition to mums! They last much longer than mums will and they really make a foliage statement!! They are best planted in mass or in containers. They prefer full sun to part shade and will eventually grow 18" tall and wide. Best to plant them after frost as they are less likely to be affected by cabbage loopers and other garden pests!

Fothergilla...Fall Foliage Series, Part 3

Pictured here is a fabulous fall foliage shrub that is also a native to our area...New England in particular. Fothergilla major 'Mt. Airy' achieves a mature height of 5-6' high x 3-4' wide and so it fits nicely into most landscapes, even the smallest of properties!

During the growing season, it's foliage is a cool dark bluish-green, bearing white cone-like flowers in Spring. This amazing plant, as you can see, turns a striking combination of yellow, orange and red through Fall. It is still bearing leaves in early November and generally starts to turn in early to mid-October! Deer resistant and tolerant of most soils.