Beautiful Salvias at Meadowlark

Yesterday was our first cold and windy fall day, just the kind of day I like to take a walk. We had lots of chores to do and Walt went for a run, but in the afternoon we took a nice, invigorating walk at Meadowlark Gardens. I was surprised by all the color that remains, there were still lots of blooms, mainly salvias. They have a huge bed of all different kinds and colors of salvias and it was just gorgeous on this sunny day.  It's really pretty amazing how many kinds of salvias there are. I have a few varieties, mainly smaller ones, but if I had a huge space like I would love to grow these big salvias and just let them go.

One of my very favorites is this fuzzy, chenille-like Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha). It was over five feet high and is so lush and showy.

And this one I was crazy about, I was so tempted to take a little cutting of it. It might be Salvia mexicana 'Limelight,' but I'm not sure. Might have to look for this in a catalog next spring.

I love to see a garden all neat and tidied up for the winter. These daylilies had all been cut back and the beds weeded and mulched.  All the peony beds had been cleaned up nicely too and the peony foliage cut back to the ground. It made me want to come home and cut down all my peonies...of course I didn't. But that is something I try to do in the fall to stop the spread of peony diseases. I still have lots to do to get my garden ready for fall, better stop talking and get busy.

Spring at Meadowlark

Primroses

As I sit here it is pouring rain, 49 chilly degrees, and it's going to rain like this (even harder) the next few days. We had a beautiful weekend and because I knew the rain was coming, I got a lot done in the garden. I planted a few new perennials to fill in some empty areas--two new 'Peppermint Stick'  phlox and some new edging plants, Oregano 'Kent Beauty.' I also bought a new Japanese Forest Grass, 'All Gold,' a bright lime green to plant in a shady spot under the pine trees. I also dug up and divided a bunch of perennials to spread around-- some geraniums, heuchera,  nepeta,  and lambs ears. This rain will help them all settle in nicely. If it was a little warmer, I would have planted some zinnia seeds, but those will have to wait.

Tulips

On Sunday, we went to a yummy brunch at Eileen's house, to celebrate Prudy's retirement. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful afternoon. On our way home in the afternoon, we stopped for a walk at Meadowlark Gardens, mostly because I wanted to see the crabapple trees in bloom. They were, but must be a little past their prime because they weren't as spectacular as I remember them in years past. But there was plenty to see in bloom, all the wildflowers and flowering tree and tulips. We walk there a lot, and it just reminded me how wonderful it is to see everything greening up and to see color again. The peonies were all in bud, but it will be another few weeks before they are blooming.

Purple and white tulips

Tulip

Jack in the pulpit

White bleeding heart

Primroses

Grape hyacinth

White garden

White tulips

Random Christmas Shots

Meadowlark Gardens on Christmas Eve

I didn't take many pictures at Christmas this year, but here are a few random pictures from the holidays that were in my camera. I did get a new lens for Christmas, so I am anxious to try that out.

Meadowlark Gardens on Christmas Eve

Julia making pizzelles

We like to do puzzles over Christmas, and this year we did two! Good thing Julia was around or we'd still be working on one.

Starting Puzzle #2

Brooks setting up our new toy--Apple TV

Oysters on New Year's Eve

Spring at Meadowlark

This past weekend Walt and I went to Meadowlark to check out the spring blooms, stopping first for some sandwiches at our favorite bakery,  and had our first picnic of the season underneath the glorious crabapple trees (above).  The winding path of pink and white crabapples at Meadowlark is really spectacular when they are in bloom. The gardens are beautiful at this time of year--the daffodils were just past their peak, the tulips were in their prime, and there were lots of wildflowers in bloom. Azaleas were just beginning.  Hostas and ferns were unfurling in the Hosta Walk, along with some pretty awesome Jack-in-the-Pulpits.  In another few weeks the peonies should be in bloom as they were all in bud. I don't think I have ever seen the peonies at Meadowlark when they are blooming--I am always too busy in my own garden at that time I guess. They have quite a collection of herbaceous peonies and tree peonies, so I am going to have to make more of an effort this year to get there this year.

Fothergilla

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Meadowlark Walk: February

Yesterday was a cold and cloudy day and before we went to a Super Bowl party (yea Ravens!) we went for a winter walk at Meadowlark. It was snowing lightly (really, it was, even though you don't see any snow) while we tramped through the woods and around the lakes which made for a very pretty walk. We were practically the only people in the park, as we only saw three other people the whole time we were there. I am sure it is because I am taking pictures practically every day, but it's truly amazing to me how much there is to see in the winter. I'm sure some people think there is nothing to look at it in the winter, but the more I walk in the winter the more I appreciate all there is to see-- the structure of trees, the texture of bark,  the view of the sky through the trees, the wilted detritus of a flower bed,  and the occasional surprise of color in an evergreen or a lone early bulb blooming. And the quiet. Here in northern Virginia it's nice to find some quiet sometimes.

Witchhazel blooming

Walt thinks he is 18 again and can swing on a vine

Pretty tree structure

Pink hellebore!

Stinking hellebore

Now that's a tree

Frozen Cardoon

Icy cabbage

Love this copper tipped arborvitae

Happy frog