I know what you are thinking… Can’t this guy just kick back for a month and give us a break?  No need to get too worried, January is a pretty laid back month for the garden.  Here are some thoughts to ponder...

I first penned this piece in 2001 and 15 years later it still feels relevant.  It’s encouraging to know that the true attributes of a “real gardener” haven’t changed.  Enjoy!

December 21st is what we officially refer to as the Winter Solstice.  This day has the ignominious distinction of being the shortest day of the year (in the northern hemisphere).  Of course while every day is essentially the same length (24 hours the last time I checked) the 21st has the fewest number of daylight hours.  This day is synonymous with coldness, darkness, dormancy but it is also associated with celebrations of renewal, hope, generosity and introspection.  It is the beginning of the return of the sun.

Truly, I say unto thee, it is better to give than to receive, especially when it comes to gifts for the gardener.  There is no better feeling than sharing the joy for a special plant, tool or book with a fellow gardener knowing, or at least hoping, that the recipient will derive as much pleasure out of the gift as you have received owning the very same thing.  If I was giving any of you a gift this is what I might consider:

Need a break from all those chores I left you with last week?  Can’t face moving one more bale of compost?  Tired of raking the never ending litter from that massive wind storm?  Take a break and go have some fun looking for gifts for the gardener in your life, even if it is only you.  Here are some ideas to start with…

Now that the tryptophan is out of our systems, we can get back to work cleaning up our gardens after the big blow & the freeze and be thankful we didn’t have to also deal with snow (although snow is actually the gardener’s friend).  Here are some things to do when you find yourself going stir-crazy…

Here’s a short list of the things I am thankful for (horticulturally speaking)...

Of all the gardening tools I own, I am most thankful for my handheld, gasoline powered leaf blower.  Now I know that leaf blowers are the bane of many city dweller’s existence.  They are noisy, kick up considerable dust and pollute the air, but boy are they slick when it comes to collecting leaves on gravel.  If I had to rake by hand all the leaves that fall on my gravel here in the nursery I would have to replace a dump truck load of gravel every year and when you think of all the energy and pollution that would take, the leaf blower all of a sudden sounds like a pretty good way to keep the environment clean.  Let’s hear it for the guy who invented the leaf blower! 

My job gets really tough this time of year.  Here I am trying to motivate you to get out into the garden and clean up the beds, replant the containers, plunk some bulbs into the ground along with spreading mulch everywhere to control weeds and insulate the soil.  Meanwhile, all you are thinking about are the holidays; how you want to decorate the house or which set of in-laws you are going to visit for Thanksgiving and frankly, gardening is probably one of the farthest things from your mind.  I get it.  You have been working your butt off all summer long dragging hoses around the yard and mowing the lawn and you are over it.  So instead of fighting it, I am going to go with the flow and talk about how we can use our garden to decorate the house for the holidays.  More specifically I am talking about making wreaths for the holidays using plant material from your garden.  In two weeks it will be time for my December to-do list and I will get everyone back on track then.  

If you are looking for a sturdy perennial that will grow in shade or morning sun, look no further than Hellebores.  These perennials are tough as nails and rarely need to be divided once they are planted.  Mostly disease-free and only occasionally visited by aphids, they are easy to grow and non-demanding.  I have several clumps in my garden that were planted many years ago and other than cutting them back once a year, I do absolutely nothing special to them.  And the big bonus is that they bloom in the fall and winter.

Normally at the first of each month I dispense my gardening wisdom in the form of a monthly To Do List, something I suspect many of you loathe because of the ensuing guilt you feel knowing that you won’t get half of it done.  Considering that last week I wrote about Putting the Garden to Bed, there seems no point in beating the same information into your heads a second time.  You can access all of my past columns on my website at www.sunnysidenursery.net and of course you can always send me your questions which I will gladly respond to in a timely manner (and often in the evening under the influence of a glass wine which can make for some colorful responses; don’t say I didn’t warn you).