Winter 2007-2008: A Season in the Garden
· Escape Garden Design, Aspen, Colorado
Winter settles into the valley for a long stay, and the garden does its quietest, most honest work under the snow.
Out in the garden, the evergreens carry the whole composition now, and a heavy wet snowfall is the one thing worth bundling up for, to brush the weight off upright branches before it splits them.
Snow is the headline. A deep, steady snowpack is the best thing that can happen to a garden up here, insulating roots and watering the soil slowly as it melts. A thin, open winter is harder on plants than any cold snap.
The birds keep the place alive in winter, working the seed heads we left standing and sheltering in the spruce, which is reason enough to leave the fall cleanup undone.
A seasonal tip worth passing along. The stone in a garden sets its accent, and the most convincing accent is the rock that already belongs to the region. Local moss rock, sandstone, and granite read as if they came from the hillside next door, because more or less they did. Stone trucked in from far away often clashes in color and texture with everything around it, and it costs more in fuel and freight besides.
If the season turns dry and snowless, which happens more than people expect, water the evergreens and young trees deeply on a warm day, then put the hose away before it freezes.
We design, build, and maintain our own gardens, so we live with the results for years and learn from them.
The land around us is the best teacher there is, and the gardens we like best borrow from the hillsides more than from any catalog.
Everything in this valley runs on the same short calendar, and the gardens that thrive are the ones designed around it rather than against it.
Our soil is mostly alkaline clay, the air is thin and dry, and the sun is strong, so the plants that last are the ones that have made peace with all three.
We take on only a handful of gardens each year, which is the only way to give a place like this the attention it asks for.
More than anything, a garden up here rewards patience: it takes a season or two longer to settle than people expect, then looks like it was always there.
More when the season changes. As ever, ask if you want a hand with your own piece of the valley.