Dem Bones

There is a book I used to read each year to the children about the human skeleton called Dem Bones by Bob Barner.  It was a fun way through song to learn the names of the bones in our bodies

Take a look at "Dem Bones" in your winter garden, sorry I don't have a song to go along with these bones.  If you look out and you do not see anything but borders, sticks and mulch you need some bones to your garden.  What I mean by bones is structures or plants that are visible after everything else dies down.

Bones can be achieved through trees, conifers, fences, gates, pathways, raised beds, arbors, pergolas, decorative garden sheds, obelisks, trellises, benches and year-round planters.  If you are on a wooded lot, you are not going to miss all of those other structures as much (this is not to say that a wooded lot cannot be improved by some of the above) but if not, your garden will look pretty desolate in the winter without some interest.

Bird feeders add to the structure of a garden

I doubt if anyone would want to sit here during the winter but it gives the feeling that you could take a rest.

Another place to take a rest at the end of a pathway before going through the gate becomes a focal point in the garden.

Raised curved planter with boxwood for winter interest

Raised bed veggie garden

Choose decorative trellises for a little winter art in the garden.

 

I guess if I had to pick my favorite structures to look at in the winter I would have to say my larger structures give me the most pleasure, the pergola, arbor and garden shed.  Maybe, this is because they are always visible even in deep snow.

Soon these bones will be covered with all of the beauty of color and growth in the garden.  I can't wait!

The Pergola Of All Pergolas

I fought this pergola for a long time, just feeling it was an unnecessary expense and I didn't really mind the sun later in the day because I didn't go out there!

I lost, my husband was obsessive regarding the building of this pergola.  He had at least six landscape/pergola people stop by the house to give estimates on this wooden creation.  Finally, he settled on a person who was a carpenter and a landscape designer.  Our patio was irregular so it was not the easiest pergola to design. 

After many consultations, it was decided that the pergola would have grooves in the headers to accommodate a product called Shade Tree http://www.shadetreecanopies.com/ which are constructed of sunbrella fabric that draw along grooves with tracks inserted to cover the pergola.  This is not a popular product in the Midwest so here we go again doing something that nobody knows what we are talking about!

I have Green Velvet Boxwood in the raised bed along one side of the patio and I use containers that can be moved if required

Well, it's up and we did buy covers this year so we don't have to take it down, and I must admit it does a great job keeping that intense sun from the patio.