Sometimes as garden plants die back for the season, bare or unattractive garden hardscape features emerge, like unwelcome guests. It could be a bare trellis where vines once grew, a fountain devoid of water, or exposed planters or hanging baskets.

However with a little effort and locally sourced cuttings, there are ways gardeners can cover up these features and add some winter cheer. And it costs nothing! Here's what we've done recently in Jenny's Garden, behind the Inn Building.

For the holiday season this year, we decided to experiment by decking out some of the feet tall irrigation towers with Fraser Fir branches that were pruned from some of our Christmas trees.  They were then topped them with holly twigs pruned from some of the exuberantly berried trees and shrubs around the gardens. To hold the greenery in place, long whips were pruned from an Eleagnus and were wound around the fir greens, using the sometimes bothersome hooked spines spaced along the Eleagnus twigs to fasten them to themselves. More...

Beautiful, dramatic, and exotic, Brugmansia - or "Devil's Trumpet" - are the Sophia Lorens of the plant world.  Often confused with their relative, "Angel's Trumpet", or Datura, the huge, fragrant blossoms of Brugmansia hang downward, whereas Datura's tilt toward the sky.  Technically, Brugmansias are soft-wooded tropical trees, growing 5 to 10 feet in height in a single season, though in our climate they are only marginally root-hardy.

Here at Fearrington, we have been experimenting with several cultivars of Brugmansia for the past couple of years. Since they are only reliably hardy to zone 7b, and were planted late in the season in 2010, we potted up our three new cultivars, "Cherub", "Antique Lace" and "Double White", and overwintered them in our glass house. More...

One of our most eagerly-awaited moments in the gardens at Fearrington each Fall is the re-appearance of the Colchicums. These delicately-toned and delicate-seeming Fall bulbs signal for us the end of a long, hot summer and the return of cooler days ahead. While members of the Lily family, Colchicums are in fact, poisonous to critters, and thus quite deer-proof.  The large, goblet-shaped blooms emerge from the ground like magic each September, and flower leafless for weeks before dying back and finishing their show. In the Spring, deep green, Hosta-like leaves appear in their place.  Coming in a variety of colors, from purest white to rosy and lilac, Colchicum prefer rich, well-drained soil and partial shade. Here at Fearrington, we like to tuck them under the edge of shrubs and along pathways, where their appearance will surprise and delight passers-by. An added plus: many varieties are fragrant as well! More...

In the garden, Allium tuberosum (garlic chives) really pulls its weight this time of year. It takes the heat in the Piedmont, reliably blooms a spray of white blossoms about now, attracts butterflies and bees, and as we'll discuss below, is a welcome addition to many dishes.

This past weekend, the buds began opening here in the White Garden.  Each bud contains many individual flowers arranged in an umbel.  The buds, flowers, leaves and bulbs of this Allium are all edible and, to garlic lovers, delicious.  In about a month, as the seed pods begin to mature but before the seeds are black, the tiny green three-lobed pods give the strongest garlic flavor of any part of the plant.  More...

For us, the coming of spring is the highlight of the gardening year. The emergence of the early spring bulbs starts off a parade of color, and what is more emblematic of this seasonal change than tulips?

At Fearrington we have a long tradition of using tulips to celebrate spring. We plant almost 2,000 tulip bulbs each fall, and whether formal or casual, large or small, most of our beds have some tulips. While in our climate we can’t depend on showy tulips to reliably rebloom the second year, tulips are inexpensive and easy to plant. We treat them as annuals. Avoid shady, wet areas when planting them, but otherwise they’re reliable bloomers.

In recent years, we have also been planting different types of species tulips. These bulbs produce smaller plants than their showy cousins, but still with fragrance, good size and colorful flowers. The bonus is that here they come back year after year. More...

Having just completed planting planting bulbs for spring bloom, we’re enjoying being able to stand back and appreciate those that give winter interest.  Based on our experience in the gardens at Fearrington, here are some easy to grow winter interest bulbs that, sited in the right spots, will multiply in your garden and, even better, deer don’t touch them:

The first up in cold weather were the beautifully veined leaves of Arum italicum.  Technically a corm, not a bulb, they won't bloom or set their bright red-orange fruits until spring, but the clumps of leaves are welcome all winter. More...