How do the weather gods know the second the Thanksgiving leftovers are in the fridge? It seems as if the moment the last balloon floats past Macy's someone flips the switch and says OK-WINTER!. You can get serious whiplash in the transition from Thanksgiving to Holiday...Bam! Goodbye pumpkins and cornucopia..hello snowflakes and silver bells..forget that that every retailer has been playing White Christmas since Labor Day!
So in an effort to get with the program, and to come to grips with December, I have been playing tag with the thermometer and weather forecasters. Dropping temps, freezing rain, wind...all kept me from playing outside. Finally!! last week I had a window to clear away the autumn setting, toss the white pumpkins and gourds and clean out the frost bite pansies.
The Kale were still blooming in glorious color so I left them in place.
It became a race against the clock to wave a magic wand and snuggle greens and nestle heather into their containers before everything freezes solid til March.
The goal for me is always keeping as much green and color through the snow and cold that I can.
Boxwood and juniper boughs galore tumbled out of the trunk of the car as I circled the planet searching for pink heather which will freeze and should keep its happy color into February.
My Winter Gardens are less about the holiday season and more about Post-Holiday. My need to peer out the windows on a desolate January morning and see green and color becomes something that I start to think about the moment the last rose drops its petals. Of course the moment I popped in the last branch...a Nor'easter!
