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February 2010Winter Garden Visit
Leonard J. Buck Garden, Far Hills, New Jersey The holidays are over, and we are into the New Year. Did you break your resolution yet? Why not make a new resolution to visit the Leonard J. Buck Garden and learn what it has to offer. It may be cold but the winter garden can be quietly appealing; the occasional glazing of ice on leaves and branches, interesting seed clinging or the drumming sound of the pileated woodpecker. Cool your heels with a stroll through the Garden and let it speak to you in a different way before the colorful palate of spring arrives. Starting in February and throughout late winter, a little evergreen shrub; Sarcococca hookerana var. humilis is covered with tiny, greenish-white tubular flowers. The flowers are exquisitely fragrant giving the plant its common name “sweet box.” The flowers are followed by purple-black berries, adding considerable ornamental value. Sweet box is a charming, ground-hugging shrub reaching two feet with elegant glossy green leaves. You can find it along Primrose Path and at the entrance of the Helen R. Buck Trail. There are few more beautiful sights in the winter garden than the glistening leaves of American holly, Ilex opaca. This stately tree with its spiny, satiny green leaves and red berry display flourishes throughout the garden. The red berries mature in October and persist into winter. The abundant fruit acts as a natural magnet attracting songbirds. Sit on a nearby bench and see how many birds enjoy the fruit. Ilex verticillata, winterberry, is another holly best appreciated in winter when its naked stems are laden with numerous bright red berries, a spectacular sight. The red berries are both ornamental and a great source of food for wildlife. Flocks of cedar waxwings have been seen consuming the berries. Winterberry has excellent winter interest, especially when planted en masse. You can’t help but notice them in the Azalea Field. Walking around the pond you’ll see sweetbay magnolia, Magnolia virginiana, ‘Henry Hicks’ glimmering in the wind. This graceful southern magnolia remains evergreen well into USDA hardiness zone 6. The handsome leathery, elliptic leaves with silvery undersides shimmer with the slightest breeze. This magnolia is an upright, free standing specimen and flourishes in moist, acidic, soil such as swamps in the eastern United States, hence, its other common name “swamp magnolia.” The creamy-white, lemon-scented flowers appear from June through September and are followed by dark red seeds. When the ripe seeds are exposed, they provide valuable food for birds and other wildlife. On the edge of Primrose Swamp, a bronzy-red color will definitely catch your eye. It is witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane,’ an upright spreading, rather loosely branched medium tree. This tree offers numerous noteworthy attributes including unique flowers, fragrance and outstanding fall color. Flowering from late January into mid-March ‘Diane’ is one of the best red-flowering witch hazels. The faintly fragrant, strappy petals are a reddish color turning bronze with age, and in the fall leaves are a rich yellow-orange-red color. To walk in the winter garden is to make discoveries. Did you ever notice the bark on shagbark hickory, paperbark maple or river birch? The bark on shagbark hickory, Carya ovata, actually has long, shaggy strips of light gray bark. Paperbark maple; Acer griseum, has rich brown to reddish bark that, as it ages, begins to exfoliate exposing a beautiful cinnamon color. Betula nigra, river birch, when young has orange-brown peeling bark, aging to darker reddish to gray-brown with irregular plate-like scales. Make Buck Garden a part of your New Year’s resolution. Walk through the garden; find berries, hunt for flowers, touch the bark of a tree, look for winter birds, or just admire its stark winter beauty. - Tricia Scibilia, interpretive gardener, Leonard J. Buck Garden, Somerset County Park Commission: www.somersetcountyparks.org
**All photos by Tricia Scibilia except as noted |
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