The Ledge Garden - Past and Present

Just one month ago, the ledge garden, which surrounds the ridge of ledge running right down the middle of the garden, looked burnished and bronzed.  A month makes a huge difference.  As temperatures drop and snow falls all the plants in the garden enter dormancy. All that is left are the shapes of things past and future.  I have been thinking that I need to widen this bed just a bit.  The ledge down the middle does create a very shallow planting area against the rock. Room must be left at the back of the bed since the soil is so shallow.  The plants fill in but the narrowness of the bed leaves little room for that layered look which is so desirable.   The first year I planted this garden, I put in lots of annuals.  There was quite a bit of color but not much in the way of texture or dimension.  I think it has come a long way since then but it still has miles to go. A garden is never really finished is it?  Here it is just one month later.  The leaves need to be raked out, chopped and put back in the bed.  The pot on the stump needs a new stump as this one is leaning precariously although it doesn't really show in this picture.  Stumps, actually this is a log, make good pedestals because they are organic but they need replacing for the same reason.  Decay waits for no one.  I probably should have cleaned this bed up for the last picture but that hasn't happened yet.  The Alberta spruce toward the back of the border is waiting for some lights for the holiday season.  It is getting large enough to require a ladder to reach the top.  This tree is growing into the ledge now and I would love to be able to see its roots twisting and fighting the rock for a stronghold.  At some point, the rock will probably win but, for now, the garden is the better for the spruce's evergreen presence.