Winter is always the best time to look back at last year’s garden. I love that I can suddenly forget the deep snow and bitter temperatures while immersing myself in photos and videos full of color and life. Now is the perfect time to look back at the garden in bloom, while ignoring the current view from my window. 
It was an enormous relief to be able to take photos again after my shoulder healed from surgery in February. The April garden came alive with fresh green leaves and delicate spring flowers.
May burst over the edges of the garden beds and it was hard to choose just one photo. The entrance to the circle garden is one of my favorite views, an arbor covered in roses and surrounded by other flowers in May.
Did you know that human eyes can detect more shades of green than any other color? The endless rains in June made for lush foliage in both garden and woods – this scene spoke to me, inviting me to enter the green green woods. 
July became a riot of color from the daylilies and summer perennials, yet the foliage spoke almost as loudly on a misty day.
August was prime pollinator season, with insects gathering as much food for winter as possible. Echinacea purpurea was especially attractive to both humans and bumblebees.
The rains returned after a dry July and August and the garden was often enveloped in fog and mist. The arbor into the circle garden once again became a favorite view, inviting me to linger under it and study the layers of the garden.
Enveloped by the same fog, the woodland walk matured quickly in its second year thanks to the heavy rains of spring and fall. The was Pixie’s favorite spot to keep watch in the woods.
The low brilliant light of October mornings made for drama in the front walk.
By November, bright color had moved from the flowers into the leaves, a riot of autumn hues. 
I gathered my favorite video clips in a similar fashion, portraying each part of the circle garden and woodland walk through the seasons.
With 2025 behind us, I wish you a new year of beauty, laughter, and great adventures as 2026 unfurls before you.
(All images and text ©2025 and @2026 by Lynn Purse, All Rights Reserved)
composerinthegarden 
I really enjoyed the video that captured your “paradise” through the seasons, and now these photos! Thanks… stay warm!
Thanks so much Shelley! Here’s to a new year of gardening ahead of us.🥰
The video was exceptional, many thanks.
Thank you!❤️
Somehow I missed that shoulder surgery–my apologies and hoping all remains strong and healed. What a delight to view your garden’s metamorphosis over last year. I love the misty perspective form the arbor spot. I will try to keep your photos and commentarty in my view much better from here on as i have missed your blog.
Hi Cynthia, the shoulder surgery was last February so it is working well now. My posting was pretty spotty this past year, given some physical challenges over the year, but I intend to keep to a better schedule in 2026. Hope you are well!
Good to hear of recovery! I am managing quite well enough and enjoying this life. Glad to visit you once more.
So, so very beautiful, Lynn! Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks so much Laura!
Beautiful video, Lynn. One of your finest, IMO, which is really saying something.
Thank you for your kind words, Kerry. I had fun making this, I wanted to take a different approach to show how the garden transforms over the seasons.
A grand tour!
Thank you tootlepedal
Such a lovely recap of your garden year, Lynn. So nice to immerse oneself as we sit in winter hibernation. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Eliza – I imagine you have quite a bit of snow where you are too. Winter hibernation – yes.
Bitter temperatures may beset you now, but the view of snowdrift on your windowsill that you’ve opened the post with is pretty. It also reminds me of the diagrams I used in calculus class to represent the area beneath or between curves over a given interval.
Glad to hear you recovered well from surgery a year ago. And no, I didn’t know that human eyes can detect more shades of green than any other color. Presumably that’s an adaptation to living in a world full of vegetation.
It’s been years since calculus for me but I do love a great curve! Curving lines are now being recommended for biophilic web design – curves and rounded edges instead of squares and boxes. As for green, it is considered an evolutionary adaptation for recognizing ripe fruit and predators among the vegetation. It also falls right in the middle of the visible color spectrum that is detected by 2 of the 3 color cones in our eyes that perceive medium and long wavelengths, giving us the greatest sensitivity to both. It’s also my favorite color because looking at it just relaxes me – lots of sage green inside my house 😄
Looking at something that relaxes you is sage advice.