A Christmas (Tree) Story
As the days slow a bit I have finally had the chance to sit and enjoy my own holiday decorations. My time in front of the Christmas tree is especially meaningful.
My tree is not a catalog-curated beauty with coordinating colors and lush ribbon; rather it is a collection of ornaments that span over 30 years. This year we have an especially fat tree and each ornament that graces it tells part of my story. I see the Candy Cane ornaments I purchased as a new bride with a limited budget at the Christmas Tree Shops. Ditto for the small apples and red hearts. The blown glass vegetables from Germany were a gift from our first landlords, who are long since gone but forever in our hearts. Hand carved ornaments that my Dad made for me helped me to believe he was thinking of me even after he and my mom divorced and he moved across the country. Ballet slippers, a small baseball bat, a guitar and a string of fish were special gifts that reflected my children’s interests growing up. The wine glass, on the other hand, reflects mine! Handmade construction paper ornaments from kindergarten days are valued as a reminder of how quickly time goes. Small frames with pictures of my mom and stepdad are also a reminder to value the people you love as they will not be around forever.
Perhaps the most special ornaments are kept by themselves in a little box. When we decorate the tree the kids know that these are the ones that Mom puts on. And as I put each ornament on the tree I tell the family its story (despite the groans of “We know already”). Two pieces of a crystal necklace came from my great Aunt Edna, a true lady in every sense of the word. Swedish painted ornaments from my Nana remind me of my heritage. China bells and fragile angels come from another grandmother. And the most special ornaments of all might be considered the least attractive. Unshelled walnuts with glitter decorations, hung by simple ribbon, were made by my Mom and Dad when they were newly married and, like me, had a limited budget. They also painted small light bulbs and hung those from the tree. When my parents were divorcing my young siblings and I helped my Mother create ornaments from egg cartons. These ornaments have shown me that even when times are difficult if we work together something beautiful can come from it.
Of course in addition to the tree there is the stuffed Santa that sits on the mantle whose plastic beard my brother used to chew on when he was younger. The elf that shares the mantle looks amazingly like the Elf on the Shelf but is over 30 years old. The Night before Christmas book (which we read as a family every Christmas Eve) was given to my great aunt and is dated 1941.
My holiday decorations will never be featured in House Beautiful and that’s okay with me. They are all saturated with memory and meaning, family and history.
For me that makes my home beautiful.
Plants to Fall For
You may not know it but fall is the ideal time for planting. Why? A few good reasons. Soil temperatures cool much more slowly than air temperatures in the fall allowing for a long season of root establishment. In contrast, spring’s cool soil takes longer to warm so root development is slower. Fall’s cooler temps also mean much less stress on the plants and more energy for plants to take root. Natural moisture, typically more available in fall, means less need to water. All these reasons mean you should be making a beeline to your local nursery for a last planting “hurrah”. But what should you pick up once you get there?
If you could only plant three things this fall I would pick:
- Seven Son Flower (Heptacodium miconiodes): This deciduous shrub gets between 15-20ft tall and about 10 feet wide. It is a multi-stemmed, fountain-shaped shrub although it can be trained to a single trunk tree. Heptacodium has fragrant clusters of white flowers in late summer although it is the more colorful small purplish-red drupes that develop in fall that steal the show. I am always a fan of shrubs with more than one season of interest and even in winter heptacodium’s tan, exfoliating bark shines. Heptacodium prefers full sun although mine is doing fine in part shade. I especially like this shrub because it provides late forage and nectar for my bees.
Heptacodium (left) with Aralia (right) in my garden
- Golden Japanese Spikenard (Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’): Aralia ‘Sun King’ was recently named Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association and it’s no wonder. This easy-care deciduous shrub has so many things going for it, including a jazzy chartreuse color that will lighten up any shade garden. Aralia will get about 3ft by 3ft although I have some in my garden that must be especially happy because they are almost 4ft. The sputnik like flowers, born in September, are always a favorite of my bees. I am a big fan of chartreuse and have it sprinkled throughout the garden. Aralia plays off very nicely with my lamium ‘Aureum’. hakonechloa and spirea ‘Ogon’. The nice thing about Aralia is that it completely dies to the ground in the winter which makes it the perfect plant for areas that might get hit by snow load.
- Geranium ‘Rozanne:’ If you are in the market for a long-blooming, low-maintenance, colorful perennial than ‘Rozanne’ is your gal. I confess that I use it in just about every garden I design. ‘Rozanne’ is a true performer that is always guaranteed to make me look good. This perennial geranium, not to be confused with the annual pelargonium, is one of the longest blooming perennials in the garden and will provide beautiful bright blue color from mid-spring to mid-fall. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ will do best in full sun to part-shade. I have not noticed that it is bothered by pests. ‘Rozanne’ does tend to sprawl; if this bothers you you can whack it back mid-summer and it will push out new blooms on more compact stems.
Geranium ‘Rozanne’ in a recent garden design
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