Nature rests in near nudity, cloaked only under heavy gray of gloomy clouds. The landscape becomes almost monochrome in Indiana from December until February.
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I am an active, outdoors person and remaining inside too long cause cabin fever to creep up on me. Unless the weather is so raw I could not force a Polar Bear outside with a clear conscience, I can usually be found walking in my garden each day. Sometimes I see my garden, at other times it is simply a place to be. Sitting on the big rock beneath an old cedar in the center of the garden, bad days drain away. I remain unfocused allowing all to flow downward through my connection with the earth. A new strengthening and centering in my universe flows inward while the old exits. I always gain in my sense of serenity while renewing my connection.
Entering the garden with observing eyes during the dead of winter is a quiet joy, lifting the gray gloom of overcast skies. My garden is arranged so that I can find a fresh clean green, color in foliage, bark textures and colorful berries, along with blooms, twelve months of the year.
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There are always little surprises to greet me as I walk the paths in my woodland garden. Some of my favorite finds are the ferns. The old standby Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), a steadfast friend, is always there. The bright shiny green of the fronds can always be counted on to lighten a dark corner of the woods and my spirits. Current season's fronds will get pretty beat up by February, but come spring it renews with fresh foliage.
The Hairy Lipfern (Cheilanthes lamosa) is a small spreading fern less than twelve inches in height that forms tight clumps. Great for a dry rocky site, it takes an open position in the garden. The fronds are covered with soft rusty colored hairs giving it a fuzzy appearance. Two or three days of not shaving and I feel a real affinity for sitting near this species of fern. The feature I like best is it's ability to take whatever Mother Nature has to deliver and remains stiffly upright.
Grape Fern (Botrychium obliquum) and its frilly sister the Cut-Leaf Grape Fern (B. dissectum) belong near the path in stands of three to six. Growing to only around six inches in height, a single frond is on display. One of our more colorful natives, it emerges a pinkish-mahagony. As winter progresses the fern turns to a deeper bronze with pink to red overtones. Get this one from a friend's garden with a ball of soil for it needs a second party present to feed.
Orchids have fascinating foliage during winter months. Showiest is the Rattlesnake Orchid (Goodyera pubescens). Leaves form a basal rosette reaching around two inches. The downy foliage is a bright green in color with a white stripe down the midrib. Each leaf is overlaid with a distinct netted pattern in white-on-green.
The Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) sends up a single leaf in autumn that persists until late spring. Shape is elliptical, heavily veined with a pleated appearance. Color is a blackish-green having warty dark spots in between the pleats with a reverse side of rich purple. There is a bonus of blooms come August.
Putty-Root (Aplectrum hymale) always makes me think of seersucker suits. One leaf emerges during autumn to show off over winter and into early spring. Larger than the Cranefly leaf, this one can reach six to seven inches. It is a dark dull green with light veins giving it a pleated and pinstriped effect. There are three great native groundcovers that belong beneath shrubs and small trees in the winter garden. Both put on a twelve-month display, coordinate well with other plants and exist peacefully with their neighbors.
Partridge Berry (Mitchella repens) is a tiny, trailing creeper hugging the ground to form a bright, waxy, green mat. Individual leaves are less than an inch long, rounded in shape with the midrib a whitish-green. It will have fuzzy white flowers in pairs during June and July, followed by red berries into fall and early winter. It covers bare earth left when Jack in the Pulpit or Trillium go dormant in summer.
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is a miniature shrub with underground connections. Nothing sinister; simply shallow runners that pop up as four inch shrubs, then take off once more to form another until there is an open groundcover. A stiff little stem will carry lustrous leathery leaves, matte green with prominent lighter veins. During winter, the leaves take on bronze-red tones to form a background for the red berries that stay most of winter. I place this where I can pick a leaf or berry to chew on as I pass.
Galax (G. aphylla) isn't frequently found in local woods or nurseries, for it was almost collected into oblivion. Better hotels, until relatively recently, used the leaves to decorate plates and it was used in many holiday greenery decorations. Once seen, it is not hard to understand why Galax was so highly coveted. The rounded, heart-shaped leaves are large in size and have saw-toothed margins. Each leaf has a glossy, highly polished, sheen over the bright green. Come cold weather the leaves turn a bright coppery color.
Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens) is a small creeping shrub with large leaves. This little ground-hugger reaches only three inches in height, but each leaf is also that long causing the shrub to lay on the ground. Foliage is heavily veined and textured, a light, bright green with a glossy sheen. The quiet beauty of this little shrub, along with it's heavenly scent when in bloom, has almost been it's undoing. Everyone wants a large mat in their garden, taking it home only to have it slowly die because they do not understand it's needs.
When cabin fever strikes this winter give some thought to an all year garden. In a well-planned garden there is no such thing as 'dead of winter'. Your place of peace, a connection to nature you can share without having to use the car, will always be there for you. Travel is not necessarily a matter of physical distance.
Winter scenes © Copyright 1999 Christopher Lindsey