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2010 in pictures: slideshow of an extreme year

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CALL IT THE YEAR OF EXTREMES: An extra-early spring, an extra-dry summer, an extra-wet fall (or was that just the way it felt by contrast, since summer had been so rainless?). And lots of shoveling at both ends as one winter faded, and another eventually arrived. Want to wander through a photographic recollection of 2010 in the garden, good times and bad?
Click on the first thumbnail to start the show, then toggle from slide to slide with the arrow keys on your computer, or by clicking the arrow next to each caption, which tells the story of the year gone by. Enjoy.

front-walk-in-early-2010-snow
2010 was a year of extremes, or so it felt to me. Seems like the year started and ended in similar fashion: with a lot of shoveling. This was the front walk in February.
felled-pinus-bungeana
What’s gardening without losses? There were plenty. I lost a favorite conifer, the lacebark pine or Pinus bungeana, to one of the storms.
pinus-bungeana-totaled
The pine had been weakened by a yellow-bellied sapsucker, who made gridlike rows of holes on a portion of the trunk and could not be dissuaded. The storm was the final blow.
jack-out-in-snow
Formerly wild Jack began coming in from his longtime house in a cabin out back during the days to sit with me in “my” house more than ever, while I worked. That’s him banging on the window nearest my chair, just in case I didn’t see him.
new-homepage
With Jack’s help, I debuted a new look for A Way to Garden early in 2010.
germination-test-seeds
We also collaborated on germination tests of old seed, which are always one of the first tasks of late winter and early spring.
first-eranthis-march-12
With help from above, the first Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconite) debuted itself on March 12, a little early.
hellebores-late-march
Around the time the Eranthis is in full force, various Helleborus orientalis hybrids start to do their thing.
oddest-hellebore
The oddest flower among them last year, a chance hybrid between two older plants.
more-hellebores
The original plants from a decade ago are either yellow or “black,” with many dozens of flowers apiece.
hellebores-under-apples
Some of the “black” ones.
best-bloom-on-corylopsis
The first week of April, the winter-hazel or Corylopsis spicata (now more than 20 years old and about that many feet across) put on its most spectacular bloom in all our years together.
corylopsis
Another view of its twigs and blossoms, forced open extra-early by a heatwave.
early-spring-shrubs
The yellow shrubs in the distance are spicebush (Lindera benzoin) at the right, and the Corylopsis just left of center, in the awakening garden by the front path. Whoosh!
new-gold-corylopsis
I added a new gold-leaf variety of Corylopsis spicata to the garden in 2010. What foliage!
april-5-old-veggie-beds
Peering through the trunk of a willow at the oldest of the raised vegetable beds in early April.
hillside-april
From up on the hillside later than week, just shy of mid-April, and the late daffodils are already blowing by in the heat.
crabapples-april-27
Full bloom on the crabapples followed maybe 10 days later, late April, and lasted only moments. Whoosh again. I hate a hot spring.
this-crapabble-died-soon-after
This particular crabapple dropped dead shortly after blooming. RIP. I’d had it a decade or more; who knows what did it in; my autopsy guess was girdling of the lower trunk by rodents in the winter.
grass-greened-up-early
The grass greened up and started growing earlier than any year since I’ve gardened here.
mowing-in-april
I mowed in mid-April — weeks before my typical rounds with the machine begin — and was still mowing well into November. Ugh.
snakes-galore
Even though the growing season was very dry, the snakes of various kinds were in profusion, and never shy.
heron-proofing-the-frogpond
The two garden pools are among my favorite features, full of frogs, creating sound when the water’s running, and reflecting light. Those poles are my low-tech heron-proofing device, by the way. Can’t have birds eating my frogs, can I?
frogs-out-in-march
The littlest among the frogs was out and about during the unseasonably early springlike weather far earlier — and thought the heron-proofing bamboo poles were a railing for his convenience and comfort.
froggy
The adult males don’t color up to their mating hue until the weather warms in May and June. This guy had the flashiest outfit of 2010.
spanish-bluebells
2010 was my first year with Hyacinthoides hispanica, Spanish bluebells. This one is ‘Excelsior.’
new-seed-starter
It was my first year with a new, streamlined seed-starting rig, too, that a neighbor made for me.
new-beds-filled
And a new set of raised beds, started the previous fall, were waiting to be filled with compost and soil when the snow melted.
oops-need-more-wood
Oops…because of the impossible grade changes where the new beds were erected, the lowest one needed some extra wood at one end.
space-in-potato-bed
Small engineering challenges notwithstanding, the potatoes grew lustily, and so did peas and other crops.
outdoor-dining_0
Another addition: dining chairs, seen here at garden-tour time about May 21. Never had any chairs for dining outdoors. (Confession: By season’s end, I’d sat in them exactly twice. Old dog, no new tricks here for me.)
rhubarb
In May, the funny old rhubarb plant always has people asking “what’s that plant with the big leaves?”
astilboides-tabularis
Now this plant with the big leaves is a little less commonplace (though more so every year). I’ve been growing Astilboides tabularis from divisions from a botanical garden I got about 20 years ago, and have divided it many times. Nonetheless, the parent plant is pretty big.
peas_0
Peas were early by perhaps two weeks, like everything else, with a full crop the first days of June. Wacky.
where-i-sit-and-sit
Now back to the topic of sitting down…I do sit a lot, to write, and this is where. So looking out the window from indoors is a big part of how I experience the garden.
out-the-window-spring
When I am outside, I am crawling around working; I only see the garden from inside. So to make a garden, start by going indoors and looking out the window to see where to plant what.
view-out-from-sink
And the view (in May, with honeysuckle and rhododendron blooming two weeks early) out from the little window over the mudroom sink.
deadhead-violas
Finally, so much early heat catches up with things like violas and pansies (but don’t they make the most colorful deadheads?).
peonies
There were peonies for about 5 minutes in the last week of May.
poppy-and-spider
In late June, the breadseed poppies and a matching spider stole the show.
watering-resourcefulness
By then we were watering nonstop, dragging hoses and sprinklers (including this one set on top of a flea-market metal stool I use to position the spray), but it was never enough.
robber-2
Besides thirsty plants, we had thirsty animals, who stayed close to the house (where there was water in the frogponds and fruit to eat).
few-beetles
There were many fewer Japanese beetles than in a “normal” summer, because their eggs and grubs don’t do well in dry turf. One of the only nice things about last year’s weather.
blossom-end-rot
Uneven watering stresses many fruiting plants, including tomatoes, which get blossom end rot. I had some damaged fruit on each plant, but nothing catastrophic.
king-of-the-hill
When someone’s outside to be his chaperone, such as when I am gardening, Jack is happy to come sit and observe, more like a dog than a cat in his behavior. He is not permitted unsupervised daytime wanderings, however; not fair to birds.
early-harvest
Like the farmers working the fields across from me, I worried about getting any harvests in such a dry, hot season.
some-of-garlic
But the garlic was big and plentiful…
some-of-onions
…and so were the onions (a portion of the crop, the smaller ones, in a basket after curing).
paniculatas-fall_0
I feared no fall color, either, because of the lack of rain and the prolonged heat…but (as you can see in the distance, way past the panicle hydrangas) the trees all colored up beautifully, if a bit earlier than normal.
clematis-seedhead
I think my Clematis tangutica had its showiest year of flowers and then seedheads (shown) ever.
in-come-houseplants
I really pushed it (as always) with the houseplants, covering them a few nights with sheets and such, but in mid-October indoors they came, into the mudroom (shown), living and dining and bed and bathrooms. Everywhere!
fruit-of-michael-dodge
Viburnum ‘Michael Dodge’ put on a heavy show of is unusual yellow fruit.
stone-mobile
Speaking of yellow…it was the dominant color of the fall garden, and nothing pleased me more during its decline that a potted Japanese maple (background)…
fallen-maples-foliage
…whose delicate leaves lit up before descending.
fallen-maple-leaves
Cannot get enough of that moment; puddles of color spilling over the rims of pots, onto the ground.
maple-and-cat
I brought some in to show Jack, who was curled up in one of the many towel-lined “pods” he’d acquired this year in “my” house. No reaction.
november-long-shadows
November also means the long light as the patterns change and the days grow short but dramatic. The century-old apples paint the ground with light and dark.
magnolia-bud-november
There were odd heatspells in late fall, and one of the yellow magnolias started to show color in its buds, thinking it was spring already. I don’t expect they will last through the winter, but will probably just frost off meanwhile. Like I said…always some losses.
lindera-gold
More gold: the spicebush, Lindera benzoin, among the earliest to awaken and last to go to sleep.
hakonechloa-hangs-on
And Hakonechloa ‘All Gold,’ with more staying power than most any other perennial. Brilliant May into early winter, I swear.
aesculus-gold
Another solid-gold fall shrub: the giant old Aesculus parvifloras here, or bottlebrush buckeye.
up-to-the-windowsills
And then, eventually, it all goes quiet…you know the drill…and one morning you wake up with snow over the first-floor windowsills….
where-is-buddha-2
…and the big Indonesian Buddha out back almost completely invisible…
front-walk-dec-2010-snow
…and that same damn path needing shoveling out from under another 2 feet of snow, a bookend to the 2 feet early on in this year of extremes. What will 2011 bring?

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  1. NancyH says:

    As a denizen of the eastern US, where extreme weather is not common, I feel as if we are the last bastion of moderation. Our lives are often (lately) affected by weather that seems extreme for us. It appears that global changes will certainly get us eventually.

    Reply
  2. Tricia says:

    Thanks for an amazing recap.

    Despite all the aggravation I felt this year simply trying to keep things alive, somehow that memory is receding. Seeing the photos of your tulips, I am already feeling the itch for Spring to arrive.

    Time to pour over some catalogs. :)

    Reply
  3. Deborah says:

    When I view your slideshows I don’t get the captions or arrows, so I have to go back to the main post each time to get to the next picture. Any idea what might be wrong with my PC settings? I turned off the pop-up blocker for your site, and can’t think what else might be causing it. Thanks.

    Reply
  6. Janine Robinson says:

    that could be a book in itself! what a joy to walk through the seasons with you and your heavenly world. the peonies, the yellow spider, the cool frog, the japanese maple…you make it all appear effortless; no wonder you only sat in those chairs twice!

    Reply
  7. Susan says:

    Margaret,

    With your blessing, I have snagged a copy of your maple leaves to accompany my suggestion on Garden Variety that readers visit your photo gallery of 2010 and take note of your new book.

    All success!!

    Susan

    Reply
  8. Denise says:

    I am new to your website and very much enjoyed your slideshow. I am anxiously waiting for the time when I can get back out in the garden and start working again.

    Reply
  9. Judy in Kansas says:

    Loved picture 35 of your desk and writing area. I’ve become fascinated lately with seeing where other women do their work…having just found a great quarterly magazine Where Women Create.
    In picture 51, close to the window, is a gorgeous pot that looks like either a pineapple or a pine cone or something close. Would love to see a closeup of it.
    Great slide show and great inspiration during these cold, dreary days.

    Reply
    1. Margaret says:

      Angela, you are too nice. I will keep sending the good news, promise, particularly with such great encouragement as yours.

      Reply
  11. Margaret Andrews says:

    Once again your slideshow has inspired me to scribble down many ‘must find’ plants for my own garden – must find them in a nursery followed by a must find room for them. Stunning photography!

    Reply
  13. Marilyn says:

    Man, I wish I could grow some lovely roses way up here in our north country! Lovely anything would be great. The choices are kinda few.

    Reply
    1. margaret says:

      I don’t know how cold you are, Marilyn — what zone? The Buck roses are Z4 with protection (Z5 without) I think, and the Canadian Explorer series was developed in Ottawa and they’re growin in Z4 and even 3 I think (and warmer of course).

      Reply

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