January is a strange month.
I start out having just finished my only actual ‘holiday’ of the year and it feels like rather a struggle to get going on gardening things. By the end of the month it feels like the struggle is lifting, thanks in no small part to the lengthening days.
Snowdrops make a British winter more bearable
I believe that gardeners possess great powers: endurance for sure, probably a degree of courage too, but by far the most important superpower for a gardener working through winter is the ability to see beauty anywhere.
Not the nicest holly in the world, but those red fruits and gold-edged leaves are a joy in winter
Beauty is important if you’re out in the cold. Rain is so much more bearable if you have diamond-like raindrops hanging from bare branches to enjoy. Frost is more bearable when you have the pretty patterns of ice crystals to marvel at.
The Daphne must be one of the most iconic of winter flowers
The grey days don’t seem quite so grey when you find yourself in the company of winter flowering plants; winter plants become companions, like the ever-faithful robin that flits around as I work. There are signs of life everywhere, even if we do have to look a little harder for them.
Gardeners are in the business of life.
It’s what we do, nurturing plants that in turn nurture the life that relies on them. Humans traditionally consider themselves masters of the natural world, yet the modern gardener is more a benevolent guardian who keeps balance and order in the garden. It’s a good way to be, nurturing rather than oppressing.
I’m grateful that hellebores flower so early in the year for me
It’s difficult when you’re working with people for whom domination is the only acceptable option. It’s often even harder when you’re working for such people. Getting others to see the world in the way we, as gardeners, do relies on persuading people to open their eyes.
“Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination”, Mrs C.W. Earle wrote in Pot Pouri From A Surrey Garden in 1897; how true these words are to the gardener, and how frustrating it is when we struggle to get non-gardeners to exercise their imagination.
Seeking Beauty
There is great joy in the spidery flowers of ‘Witch Hazel’ (Hamamelis). Here, at a time when the so-called sensible folks are tucked up indoors, is a plant of such exquisite defiance that even the smallest sprig deserves exaltations from the gardener. The glow of red, orange, gold and lemon yellow among the bare branches has the cosy allure of a warming fire on a frosty day.
‘Witch Hazel’ flowers are unconventional, but really appreciated in winter
Not For You And Me…
It’s human arrogance to think that the perfumes of these precious plants exist for our pleasure; the perfumes we are blessed with in the garden are nothing more than a plant’s desperate attempt to lure in insects for pollinators, not just for our pleasure.
Sarcococca, the ‘Christmas box’, is revered by gardeners for its perfume
We are bystanders in the mating of plants, a sort of benign floral pervertedness on our parts. It is a wonderful thing that we too enjoy the pefume of plants.
It Will All Be Over Soon
Despite the chill of winter, the stinging rain or grey and dismal days, to be among plants at this quiet and intimate time of the year is an enormous honour. In a month’s time March will be on us, and for many of us this will suddenly mean a time of great activity. The garden will burst into bloom, and we’ll go from floral poverty to an embarrassment of botanical riches in no time at all.
Seeing an early Camellia flower in my garden made me very happy
For now I celebrate winter in its beauty.
What a pick me up for this winter.
Love your post.
Thank you very much.
Having Sarcococca and Hamamelis scent in the garden makes me prouder than most of the beautiful flowers of later spring and summer. Thanks for the reminders.
There’s something so unlikely about plants of such delicacy and beauty at such a dismal time of the year.
The phrase “benign floral pervertedness” made me laugh right out loud! Thanks.
I’m glad you liked that bit, thank you.
Thanks you for the Lovely pictures and writing!
Thank you for reading.
Your thoughtful words made me smile and think fondly of blooms to come. Thank you. As a zone 5 Midwest gardener, we are still in the depths of winter.. and will patiently await the first blooms of snow drops and Hellebores for another 8 weeks..
Yes, here in Maine it is the same picture. Snow on the ground (FINALLY!), grey skies with a flash of red as a cardinal flies past. But it’s a good time – to rest, dream and plan AND to enjoy the snow, bare trees and dark conifers. Winter aconite will push up in 5 weeks, if they’re not buried in snow. Those will be gold nuggets for me.
They must be so wonderful when they finally emerge!
My region doesn’t get a ‘proper’ winter; we get a fairly mild winter overall, usually with lots of rain and occasional cold spells (snow very rarely), but it’s often just so dark and grey. Mercifully it doesn’t last as long as in other areas.
Sounds like our winter in Zone 8 Virginia. Leaves aren’t all down until Christmas, and some grass/weeds need to be cut by February. Lots of snow here during the ’60s, but quite rare these years.
If the winters are going to be dull and grey then at least they can be short.
Ben I so enjoy your thoughtful ways of writing about gardening and seasons. Thank you
Thank you very much.
Love this post!
Thank you.
It was pure joy to read your post! Exactly my feelings!
Excellent, thank you.
Gardeners are in charge he business of life— love that! Thanks Ben
You’re welcome, thank you.
After reading your article and in spite of my sore back, I will pull on my boots and go check out my helleborus and the Spanish bluebells poking through. Thanks for a lovely read.
Thank you for reading.
I hope you made it back OK? Seeing new life emerging in winter is something I really enjoy.
In addition to hamamelis, sarcococca, Daphne ordora and lonicera fragrantissima- my edgeworthia which is very large and in my front garden pumping out the perfume as I write this- is an event many neighbors have told me they walk by everyday day to watch it bloom! The winter garden is just as good as the summer garden!
What a treat the Edgeworthia is. I find it something of a rather unlikely plant; those naked fleshy stems tipped with the most exquisite golden flowers from hairy white buds.
Magnificent.