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Garden Bliss & Blunder, Issue #044
January 07, 2025

January is for Dreaming

A poignant thought from a writer friend Jacob - perhaps it makes Lucy think of Carnegie Hall?

She does love the sound of her own music though.

Winter Resistance...

Funny how we resist winter…

It does well to remember

neither plants nor animals pretend it’s not happening.

They prepare and adapt…

slowing down and withdrawing from the summer world,

saving precious resources while vanishing from our sight.

Hibernating is like napping.

Stay longer in your jammies:

take lots of naps with your favourite book

or even fuzzy friends.

What is Wintering?

“Winter is not the death of life,

but its crucible”

Katherine May from her book - Wintering

“Once we stop wishing it were summer,

winter can be a glorious season

in which the world takes on a sparse beauty

and even the pavements sparkle”

from: “Wintering: the Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times” Katherine May

For Birds and other Beasties...

A few months ago, our next-door neighbour friend saw a Blue Jay hit by a car…. as it was still alive, she drove it to a sanctuary in a nearby town.

They made no promises but in a few weeks, Mr. BJ was healed enough to come back “home”.

Katie fetched him and released him into our back gardens where he or she stayed flitting among the cedars..

In a few days, there were 3 and as BJ mates for life, we wondered if there would be squabbles…. none we saw.

All 3 come regularly for peanuts and if we are late…. they call and sit on the deck looking in the window…

“where are my peanuts?”…

My Blue Jay sketch

And then along come the other beggars... the squirrels - a very fat brown and a very fat black …. happily eating corn and seeds from a squirrel-proof seed mix called Rascal Mix…

"Please Miss, the feeder is empty..."

HA !

my sketch of a hungry squirrel

Along with a couple of bunnies who happily munch my roses

as their stems are still green… thorns be darned,

they are muncibles…

so my lovely daughter buys rabbit food

- faithfully putting it out at (sort of ) dawn and dusk

…. he eats the food and finishes with a rose stem

… then says “thanks”

sigh

My little bunny sketch

Seed Catalogues...

I confess to not being a seed starter.... I may be too impatient but I say it's because I don't have the space.... besides after reading these seed descriptions, I am happy to leave seeds up to my garden friends.

Besides, Acorns have it figured... they fall down from the tree, take a winter's nap and voila !! no help needed from me...

My sketch of an acorn sprouting

But if you insist on buying and starting seeds, you are a brave Gardener and I applaud you but consider the real descriptions not on those lovely seed packages

THE REAL MEANING of PLANT CATALOGUE TERMINOLOGY (Garden magazine)

A FAVOURITE OF BIRDS: Avoid planting near cars, sidewalks or clotheslines

GROWS MORE BEAUTIFUL EACH YEAR: Looks like roadkill for the foreseeable future.

ZONE 5 WITH PROTECTION: Russian Roulette

MAY REQUIRE SUPPORT: Your daughter’s engineering degree will finally pay off

MOISTURE-LOVING Ideal for landscaping all your bogs and swamps

CAREFREE: Your plant’s attitude; not your workload

VIGOROUS: Has a Napoleonic compulsion to take over the world

GRANDMA'S FAVOURITE: Until she discovers free-flowering, disease-resistant hybrids

Echinacea sketch

Winter Pruning...

It's a good time for small trees to be pruned.

... (if you can climb over the snowbanks)

So many water sprouts and crossing branches.... those water sprouts will not bear fruit so they need to be pruned back to a bud near the main branch

Not a Good Time for ALL Pruning

NOT SPRING: - for Maples or Birches (including Japanese Maples) as the sap is running and will leave any cut open to disease or insects

NOT FLOWERING SHRUBS: best when blooms done

SUMMER IS A GOOD TIME: in midst of growing season (not in the middle of a drought though)

WINTER: GOALS: strength of tree and its branches Prune water sprouts on fruit trees Strength means maintaining good structure - and branches are not too heavy which can split the trunk

SMALL TREE PRUNING GOALS: well-spaced branches (reduces the weight on the trunk) If there is more than one leader (or trunk) and tree is young, choose best one and cut the other(s)back BY HALF…. but NOT all …

DO NOT TOP THE TREE… instead, take weight off the ends of the side branches to lighten them