Many of my clients at Ann’s Place miss out on the tapestry of the facility’s Winter garden. From the parking lot, the back yard and adjoining wetlands is lovely and peaceful. Walking around the property clockwise from the front door, the winterthur viburnum (Viburnum nudum) is still full of fruit, one of the last bushes to hold onto its bright Fall bounty.
Sea oats grasses (Uniola paniculata) wave in the slight breeze against the white snow. Where they end, a quartet of American holly (Ilex opaca) stand, three of which are still filled with bright red berries. The fourth, a male, stands to the side, skinny and dejected.
Around the raised herb beds, the remnants of the mints can be seen curving to the left with a few stalks and signs standing above the snow. The back yard’s snow is untouched acting as a perfect backdrop for the day’s long shadows. The berrying bushes here are mostly picked clean with only a few orbs at the top of a skinny red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia). As I turn, I see the tracks of a rabbit. With no greens in sight, I imagine that it is heading back to its warren.
