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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Garden Life: In heart of winter, we know sun will return

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Robb Rosser
A garden ornament can stand in for seasonal plant material during the shortest days of a Northwest winter.
Robb Rosser A garden ornament can stand in for seasonal plant material during the shortest days of a Northwest winter. Photo Gallery

In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice marks the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight. North of the Arctic Circle, there is no daylight at this time of year. The winter solstice is the day of the year when the sun is farthest south in the sky. This year that day comes on Dec. 21.

Although we have a tendency to be less than specific about the exact onset of seasons in the Pacific Northwest, the winter solstice marks the first day of the winter season. The defining point of this day is that it is the shortest day of the year, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year.

The Earth is actually nearer the sun in January than it is in June during the summer solstice. What makes the difference between winter and summer is not proximity but how many hours and minutes of precious sunlight we receive. The Earth leans slightly on its axis and in this off-kilter position, spins like a top. The precise angle of our planet’s tilt is what causes all the variety of our climate, all the drama and poetry of our seasons.

Solstice ceremonies

Many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. The winter solstice was celebrated among the ancients as a turning point. We don’t know exactly how long humans have recognized the solstice but many believe the root of their scrutiny began with a fear that the failing light would never return. The solstice ceremonies were likely an attempt at human intervention with anxious vigil and antic celebration.

With the benefit of hindsight and gardener’s almanacs, we now know that sunlight will return, and after the solstice every new day will be a bit longer than the one before. This is the perfect time to plan ahead for planting in spring. Pay attention to plants that make an impression in the winter landscape. Add winter-interest trees, shrubs and perennials when our growing season returns. There should always be something delightful in the garden, even on the shortest day of the year.

A good plant choice for the winter garden is pernettya mucronata, a broadleaf evergreen shrub with leaves that are glossy-green for most of the year and occasionally bronzy in the midst of chilly winter. The common name is prickly heath because it’s a member of the same family as heaths and heathers (ericaceae) and because the shape of its leaves might suggest that they are prickly. The leaves are small and pointed but they are not stickers.

Two reasons to plant pernettya are its small, pinkish-white, bell-shaped flowers in late spring and the wonderful white, pink, lilac or rose-red berries that follow in late fall and hold on all the way through and beyond winter. Some years, my plants had berries all year-round, and when they bloomed in May or June, they might still have a good load of berries on the shrub. The berries, which often have a shiny metallic sheen, seemed to grow larger with each new year.

Pernettya grows 2 to 5 feet tall in compact thickets that spread by underground runners. They are best in sun to partial shade and love moist, acidic soil. They also tolerate wind and wet conditions. You can keep them contained by containing their roots or, if they spread too far in your garden, cut into the roots with a flat head shovel and share the wealth with a friend.

There is a point in every winter when we begin to count and recount the days, the weeks and then the months since the weather turned dreary. We have already had bouts of stormy weather this year but they are often followed by days of bright sunshine. If and when the sky feels particularly oppressive, I like to stay indoors to read or write. No sooner am I inside on a cold day than I begin to look out the windows and envision what is and what might be.

My office in the Townhouse at Officers Row is upstairs on the second floor, so I have a new perspective from my writing desk. Two 8-foot-tall windows open onto a parklike view of the expansive lawns, mature evergreen trees and a massive holly replete with lustrous festoons of emerald-green foliage and cherry-red holly berries. Fat, little chickadees flit from the branches of my potted Japanese maple to the copper bird bath on the patio.

In many ways, even the shortest winter days can warm me to the bone.


Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified master gardener. Reach him at Write2Robb@aol.com

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