All in all, we were very lucky here. A few trees came down, a bunch of big limbs, and a million-gazillion twigs but nothing extra-precious was lost. There was no damage to any building or structure and even the gardens came through just fine. Plants were a little tumbled but totally OK. As a matter of fact, the Rock Garden, which we were so worried about, looks untouched. It was never under water and must have been protected from the wind too. And the vegetable garden was still in such good shape, aside from a few toppled tomatoes, that thanks to the Tuesday volunteers, we donated 135 lbs. of produce to the East Bay Food Pantry yesterday! (The tomatoes that Gail, Dick and Tree picked before the storm also made up a good chunk of that total.) We did lose power but only for a couple of days and the greenhouse generator hummed right through. We were very lucky.

Mid-day Wednesday and the chipper is finally quiet. First thing Monday morning a pair of extra-strong junior super heroes named Luke and Adam, their parents (one of whom is Blithewold’s executive director), our closest neighbors from the north cottage, and Gail and I started piling downed branches and twigs; and Fred and Dan have worked all along, well into the evenings chipping those branches, felling dangerous hangers, sawing up logs, blowing leaves, mowing, and making sure the property is safe and tidy again for visitors. We’re finally open again today. We are so lucky. I hope you are too.

(Click on pictures for a better view.)

Along with everyone else along the Eastern Seaboard, we’re battening down the hatches and doing whatever we can to prepare for what looks to be a sizable storm. Some of us (that’s me) can’t help but remember last year’s hurricane-that-wasn’t: Good old Earl passed us right by and it’s tempting to think that maybe forecasters are crying wolf again with this one. But then there are others of us (not me) who were here for Hurricane Bob, 20 years ago last week. During that storm, Blithewold lost about 40 trees and another 40 plus died soon after. So we’re all (me too) watching this storm closely; doing what we can to prepare, and taking it very seriously.

Gail, Tara and I moved our most fragile container plants along with any that might act like sails or projectiles back into the greenhouse yesterday. And then Gail and I spent part of today moving a few more inside, tipping others on their side, and memorizing the gardens and taking pictures. It is a beautiful day – the calm before the storm…

The Rock Garden is the most vulnerable garden on the property because it’s so close to the Narragansett Bay shore. The storm surge is expected to be a big one and as it will be coupled with a high moon tide, that garden will likely be submerged sometime Sunday. And the North Garden is so exposed at the top of the Great Lawn that it’s the most likely to be wind damaged. We re-staked all of the dahlias and have to hope for the best. In the display garden, which is fairly protected by the bamboo grove and hedgerow of trees along the property line, we re-staked the dahlias and decided to allow the burnet (Sanguisorba tenuifolia) to flop onto crutches (a crisscross of bamboo stakes to protect other plants) so that they maybe won’t get wind-whipped. And Dick, Gail and Tree (Blithewold’s director of communications) went through and picked every ripe and almost ripe tomato from the vegetable garden.

Fred and Dan removed the shade sails from the arbor, some garden ornaments, and all of the outdoor furniture. Blithewold’s curator, Margaret has been securing the mansion’s archives – moving everything away from windows and covering furniture and artifacts with plastic. We’ll be closed for visitation for the whole weekend; tours have been cancelled and the tent will be taken down. The only thing left to do is wait – and watch.

Are you glued to the forecast too? What are you doing to prepare your garden and home for the storm?

Of all of our snow falls so far this winter, this one was by far the prettiest, the easiest to walk through (although it’s still a bootdeep trudge), and the most personally rewarding. My walk around Blithewold this morning was perfectly timed to catch the just-come-out sun catching the heavy glaze on the trees, and to remember why I love winter at the very same moment I was reminded that spring is coming up next.

I always think of robins as being a harbinger of spring but evidently they’re here the whole time. Why don’t we see them more often? (Or am I just not paying attention?) Today a good-sized flock of robins and cedar waxwings were working on the privet and crab apples, so intent on filling their bellies they hardly bothered to scatter when I came along.

Do you see robins year-round? Which berries are being eaten in your garden right now?

I’ve seen it called “blizzicane” and “blizzardageddon” and heard it referred to as “great” but I’m not sure that this storm will go down in our local history as any really great shakes. Nothing yet (knock wood) has surpassed the surprise of the legendary Blizzard of ’78 and although this certainly packed a wallop for anyone trying to go somewhere, for the rest of us tucked into a cozy Boxing Day at home, it was just a dramatic bluster. I have to admit that when the sky lit up in a bright blue flash and the power went out (briefly in the end) all over town, I simply lit candles, put on another sweater and didn’t worry – about the greenhouse, that is. What a useful tool a back-up generator is! (See previous post for a description of our worst case scenario and its timely resolution.)

And as the wind continues to howl, the gardens at least are insulated finally if not warm. The only downside to this snow cover is the weight of it – it’s a heavy sandwich of crusty layers of ice and snow and I’m sure I wasn’t the only gardener to go out in the storm (at home) to beat the bushes. — If you haven’t yet you might give your shrubs and trees a gentle whack too if they look as if they might break or become hopelessly misshapen under the load.

Another upside to snow cover is all that it teaches us about light, and the chance it gives us to see our gardens as a blank slate again. It’s a perfect way to wend our way towards a new year, appreciating the shadows (of the past) and thinking clearly about the future.

How did you and your garden fare during the Great Blizzicanemageddon of 2010?

By now you probably know that Hurricane Earl gave us a miss. The wolf at the door turned out to be a tiny puppy who made a scritching sound just like crickets in the middle of the night. When we came in the next day to check for “damage” and to un-batten the hatches, we found the gardens looking refreshed and perfectly lovely. We certainly needed the rain (Earl dropped an inch and a little) and were desperate for a temperature change. I think all of the gardeners on the eastern seaboard could be thanked for fending off a potentially terrible storm because we so diligently prepared for it. Turns out that bringing potted plants inside, staking the tall plants and cutting back the brittle ones is just like lugging rain gear on a hiking trip: insurance that it won’t have been necessary. (We’re accepting thank you cards and gifts.)

Now that the weather has broken, I’m noticing all sorts of new (and old) blooms in the gardens and visitors are too. The most asked about plant in the Display Garden this week has been the bush clover, Lespedeza thunbergii ‘Edo Shibori’.  I’ve been surprised by the questions because my eye tends to pass right over this plant. This cultivar has tiny white blooms with a pink stripe that, to me, register as beige from a distance. I actually don’t think it’s very handsome at all. But it hums! Any plant that has its own soundtrack is certainly remarkable and worth another look – or listen. Bumblebees (more than any other kind of bee) can’t seem to get enough of the tiny pea blossoms.  The more I think I don’t like the plant, the more I find I do. (Is that a gardener thing or just me?)

Bush clovers bloom in late summer to fall – most are a pretty pinkish-purplish – on new wood. What that means for the gardener is that even if it doesn’t completely die back in the winter (which lespedeza tend to do in this neck of the woods), they can be cut back hard (within inches of the ground like a buddleia) to maintain a graceful hoop-skirt shape. Like any belle of the ball, they don’t want to be crushed into the backseat and don’t look as graceful crowded. Best to give it room to flounce and show off. They like well-drained soil (who doesn’t) and don’t bat an eye at drought. They don’t even need – or want to be fed. – Plants in the legume family are generally able to fend for themselves. Sweet peas excepted, of course.

Do you have a lespedeza? Do the bees love it? Do you? (And do you whack it back or let it go?)