As we enter another year, I am excited to see what 2024 brings for all of us gardeners. New plant flavors to salivate over, new tools to make our lives easier, and new practices to learn and implement in our landscapes. The cycle in the garden starts once again, often acting as a mirror for the cycle of life. Yes, it is a little wet, squishy and cold outside, and admittedly, a seat in front of the fire sounds more appealing than digging in the dirt or pulling some weeds or handling the pruners. But this winter dormancy will end sooner than we think, bringing longer and warmer days with the onset of spring, giving us renewed energy to get outside.
I continue to hear folks using the phrase “the dead of winter”, creating this ominous feeling that all outdoor activity should cease immediately and not commence again until spring. This gardener (and golfer) would whole-heartedly disagree. For one thing, it is a fabulous time to get ahead on some projects in the garden. Also, to me, there is nothing “dead” about the winter garden at all. I think of this time of year as a rejuvenation of the garden – most plants are merely resting at the moment and will be back to reward you with an even more established and spectacular show come springtime.
Here in our maritime PNW climate, we never know what winter will bring us – some cold and snow or no snow, mild and wet, or even a warm spell or polar vortex on occasion. From year to year we can plan for what is coming, but we can also be surprised on occasion with what comes our way. Plants are tough, like us gardeners, and tend to “roll with the punches”. For those of you that are fighting “zone denial” (a topic we will delve into another week,) and who let the internet tell you a Zone 8 plant is hardy in our area, you may be disappointed. I can speak from personal experience, these plants sometimes decline in cold winter months or don’t come back at all. Try to see these not as disappointments or personal failures, but rather as opportunities to try something new. Mother Nature is not out to get you, I promise, she is merely continuing to remind us who is the boss and aid in teaching us some valuable gardening lessons.
As we start another year, I encourage you to get outside and walkabout your landscape to breathe in some of the winter beauty, as I have been doing in my own garden. Color and texture are still everywhere, along with so many shades of green, blasts of yellow and even blue foliage. There is interesting twig color, bark and branching patterns, and buds of all shapes and sizes to see – the list of interest in the winter garden is substantial, if you look. Winter blooms are coming soon, like Camellia, Witch Hazel, and Mahonia. Hellebores will continue to bloom through winter on into spring and PNW garden staples, like Winter Daphne and Sarcococca, will be filling the winter garden with fragrance soon too. Also, spring ephemerals, like Hyacinths, Aconites, Crocus, and Snowdrops, are beginning to pop up throughout the garden, preparing to add some much needed flower power to our landscapes. The cycle of life in the garden is beginning once again for 2024.
Always remember that the garden evolves season to season, as well as year to year and opportunities to tweak, remove this or add that will never cease. Also don’t forget that it is YOUR garden, so remember to show off YOUR individual style. I encourage you to start visiting your local nursery in this “dead of winter” period and start planning for 2024. There will be a plethora of winter garden goodies to both catch your eye and get you excited to get back outside, I am sure of it!
Trevor Cameron is a Certified Professional Horticulturist (CPH) and serves as General Manager for Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, WA. He can be reached at sunnysidenursery@msn.com
