Snow is Your Blank Slate

When one has but a blank slate, anything can be created and one must use this winter snow to imagine the garden as an empty canvas. As your entire landscape is covered in white, pick your favorite viewpoint and see what is there right now. Ask yourself these many questions. Does your garden offer any winter interest? Do you have a specimen tree with interesting bark or boulders, stone walls and other sculptural features that stand out against the white backdrop?

Have you forgotten the colors of your perennials as they bloomed in your borders? Was it early to mid-spring or was it late summer? Where are the seasonal color and bloom gaps?

Do you remember the rows in which your tomatoes were planted? Will you have room to rotate new crops as a good farmer knows you must do? Are there new vegetables you want to plant this year? Do you have any room to expand?

When do you spend the most time at your favorite viewpoint? Is it year-round or seasonal? Has nature (a storm, the wind patterns etc.) changed the micro-climate of your home? Notice the sun and the wind. Are there viewpoints in your landscape that you have not yet enhanced or found?

Today’s inspirational thought of the day is by an English sportsman and writer, Charles Caleb Colton. “Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase.” Use the wintertime to address your landscape as though it were a blank sheet and should there be any scribbles from previous years, correct them. Happy designing! Annie

Image of anywhere - Snow scene from the Internet