Winter Garden*

Crocus shoots come up at the same time every year, give or take a few days, and their exquisite flowers open with the same predictability, year after year. The cycles of nature evoke awe and reverence in us today, as surely they did in earlier times. It’s all the more disturbing then, when that rhythm falters.

Here are two views of our pond-side garden, recorded three years apart, almost to the day. The more recent, in 2012, was recorded after a modest first snow, the 2009 scene after two big snowstorms had hit, dropping several feet of the white stuff. (The little bird bath is there, buried, a shallow mound of snow marking its spot.) The dates were January 21st and 18th, respectively — tantalizingly close, yet three years apart.

Two trees growing at the water’s edge in 2009 are now gone. The bigger one, a Box Elder, grew topsy-turvy for years until it outgrew its roots, and blew over during Tropical Storm Irene. The smaller one was failing and was removed. The Red-twigged Dogwood, a fast-growing bush in the middle, has doubled in size over three years, and would be bigger still had it not been trimmed.

The stems with little balls atop are what’s left of summer’s Coneflowers. I purposely leave them standing in the fall, as each winter they make a new and beautiful display against the snow.

Both images were recorded in color, and so reproduced here, but they could easily be mistaken for black-and-white photos. The 2012 photo was shot at 10:55 am, the 2009 one at 4:22 pm.

Each scene of our Winter Garden has its own appeal. One is delicate, offering a sense of repose; the other is assertive, engaging us with strong contrasts. Do you have a preference? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the Comment box.

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