The beauty of a winter's garden

As a large part of the nation continues to be blanketed in snow, we here on the West Coast are reminded of our easygoing climate, year round planting opportunities, and perpetual state of renewal.  But there’s something to be said for the unique beauty of winter’s dormant nature as the soil quiets itself in a slumbering stillness.

                                                                 

We recently received correspondence from a TerraTrellis customer and we were awestruck by the beauty of her photos and words, describing her historic Pennsylvania farmhouse garden still covered in snow. Her photographs and prose remind us that our artful trellises, though striking when interwoven with vines and blossoms, can be just as impactful when placed thoughtfully in a landscape, snow and all.                                

We’re inspired by her love of her garden, her hopefulness and anticipation for the seasons to come. In her own words: 

Dear TerraTrellis,

I have enclosed some winter photos which highlight how your structures add beauty and interest to an otherwise bare garden.  In the first photo, you can see the tops of the tuteurs peeking over the fence in front of the barn, hinting at something interesting beyond.  The photos below show the structure of the garden beds and how I incorporated the tuteurs and the Toki bubbles as well as copper arches (used to support row covers and repeat the oxide color of your structures) and galvanized metal fence panels (which repeat and emphasize the color of the metal balls on top of the tuteurs).  Although covered with snow and bare of plants, my view into the garden gives me hope that our seemingly never-ending winter will not last forever...

    

We live just outside Philadelphia on a horse farm.  The structures on the property date back to 1790.  We are only the sixth owners of the property, and as far as we know, it has always functioned as a small family farm with crops and livestock.  These days our crops are limited to those grown in the kitchen garden, and our livestock consists of horses, chickens (for the eggs) and a fledgling hive of honeybees.  The barn and house have been updated to accommodate today's necessities but retain much of the history and charm of yesteryear.  We have several perennial gardens throughout the property as well as the kitchen garden.  My goal with the kitchen garden was to create a space that combined my appreciation for art, my passion for gardening and my love of cooking.  It includes a series of raised beds and growing structures containing espaliered apple trees, blueberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes and permanent beds for asparagus and strawberries.  We rotate our favorite spring and summer herbs and vegetables among the other beds and attempt to grow everything organically with very limited use of chemicals as they are harmful to our bees.  I love the challenge of finding the right combination of plants that compliment each other's structures and needs.  We gladly share the bounty of our farm with our neighbors and preserve much of our harvest to enjoy during the remainder of the year.  

By the way, the ladies from my garden club love your products as much as I do and I have passed your information on to them.                     

Think spring!

-Cindy 

 

XXX
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