Simply Subtle

If someone were to come visit the Fairegarden right now, mid-December, they would need to switch their vision to subtle, for there is little shouting being done at the moment.

Perhaps those things that are thrilling to the garden maker would have to be pointed out to someone not so intimately familiar with every stem, leaf and stone. Case in point, the grassy river, written about here.

Lighting would need to be just so, to enhance what is happening to its best advantage. The late changing foliage of Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Alison’ benefits from subtle backlighting.

The visitor might need to bend down and put their reading glasses on to see the subtle splendidness of a mossy rock surrounded by Epimediums and native Carex.

There is less of a color riot at this time of year, much less, but texture and form become the shining stars. Sanguisorba officinalis is an evergreen herb, also known as salad burnet that will turn reddish as the cold continues to fall across the land.

It is not a rainbow, but the landscape is hardly a monotone. Thalictrum dioicum, whose foliage is a lookalike to columbine has seeded about happily in the wildflower corner. Its buttery yellow discs are a magnet to human eyes.

It helps to have the vision, that ability to see what will be rather than what is at the present.

Gardeners usually have that vision to discern the beauty of a subtle garden in winter. In the previous current image and shown above on January 23, 2012, Galanthus elwesii.

Frances

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~ by fairegarden on December 19, 2012.