Havenwood November Garden Tour
Late Autumn: Evergreens, Semi-Evergreens, and the First Snowdrop
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
🍂 Aristotle
Welcome to Havenwood in November!
My garden is located in northwestern Pennsylvania, zone 5/6, about one hour north of Pittsburgh and one hour south of Lake Erie. It is divided into many different garden rooms, in semi-formal British style, with an emphasis on creating different growing conditions so that I can grow a large diversity of plant types. I use succession planting throughout our space with the hope that there is always something interesting going on, which is especially important in November. Structure is very important in our garden, with yew hedges, a box parterre and other evergreens. But as the brown leaves carpet the garden, the perennials which persist well into winter as a green ground cover are what always stand out to me. Gone are the abundance of colorful autumn flowers in October. The frost has come, but the evergreens in the garden shine more as we move into the second half of darkest November.
I will take you on a quick, wet and chilly walk around some of the garden rooms at Havenwood to see the sights of November…
The Woodland
Much of what I found interesting on my wet walk today was in the Woodland garden. These shade gardens are often most interesting in the spring time with their abundance of bulbs, but as the leaves turn colors, a few flowers return.
The Birch Walk
Jumping to the Birch Walk for our first Snowdrop of the season! It is an early variety, Galanthus ‘Mrs MacNarmara’:
The Hot Border
I wrote the origin story for the Hot Border earlier this week if you like before/after photos! It certainly is a bit gray here today compared to the vivid reds and yellows of the summertime. In the brown senescence, you can better see the glowing greens of the box, yucca, yew and arborvitae. Maybe we will make it again through one long winter? This garden sits just outside the windows to help give us something to look at in these colder months.
Thanks for stopping by Havenwood for a walk around!
You can read more about how I made these areas and what grows here during other seasons in my Garden Rooms at Havenwood series.
Be sure to pop into Carol’s for Garden Blogger Bloom day and take a look at all of the lovely gardens around the world that participate.
It's beautiful! Your woodland looks very similar to mine in S. Wisconsin. I can't believe you have Snowdrops already, though. Thanks for reminding me to check for Hellebore buds. Happy Bloom Day!
Beth @ www.plantpostings.com
Julie, I love that you featured the lichens in your garden! I've taken a couple of lichen identification workshops locally, and these odd organisms, a symbiotic partnership between an algae and fungus are fascinating. We gardeners rarely think of how these lichens can enhance our gardens (they cannot be cultivated), but they sure make for some very interesting growths on tree trunks and rocks that can create interest.