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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Garden Life: Seasons bring gift of change to garden life

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A flush of winter holly berries near my home at Officers Row reminds me that change brings us ever closer to achieving our garden ideal.
A flush of winter holly berries near my home at Officers Row reminds me that change brings us ever closer to achieving our garden ideal. Photo Gallery

One of the greatest gifts the garden has to offer is a seasonal reminder that change is part of life itself. The natural transition from autumn to winter begins with lowering temperatures and shifting weather patterns. The continuing consequences of wind, rain, sleet and snow have an obvious effect on the environment in which we live. Recognizing the effect these changes bring to the garden can be an eye opening experience.

With a change in external temperature, the plants in our gardens transform themselves to better survive the elements. Beginning in early autumn, the leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs react to the arrival of colder weather by ceasing to produce chlorophyll. As a result, the color green declines and the inherent reds, oranges and yellows emerge on the surface of plant foliage. The next leaf stage is to wither and drop to the ground, leaving bare branches.

By working in the garden with an awareness of nature, we can be sure that all of the work we do has a positive impact now and long after our work is done. As an active gardener, I try my best to follow nature’s cue and stay in step with the vagaries of each new season. Falling leaves that cover the surface of the ground in late autumn are a tangible reminder to begin adding a layer of mulch to beds and borders, protecting tender plants as well as enriching the soil.

Bare branches remind me to slip on a sweater before beginning my morning chores. At the same time, newly transplanted trees, shrubs, perennial divisions and hardy bulbs continue growing roots under the surface of the soil, drawing on available nutrients and the moisture around them. Earthworms and various microbes in the soil continue to process the organic materials they find. Even on the dreariest winter days, there is too much to experience in the winter garden to sleep away the season.

Open your eyes to the magnificent sight of a Douglas fir in silhouette against the muted evening winter sky. Marvel at the delicacy of frosted rose hips in the early morning light or the first blooming hellebore of the season. Allow yourself to venture out in the elements under a protective cloak of warm woolen gloves, a hat and sweater, knowing you are only a step away from a toasty warm kitchen and a cup of tea.

As a participant in the creation of your own garden, you play a key role in making sure the garden brings delight with every change of season. With each new garden lesson you learn, it’s more likely that you will one day achieve your garden ideal. Unlike the sculpture or composer, who completes a piece of art and then moves on to the next, few gardeners consider their work done at any specific point. We continue to revise throughout the life of the garden as well as the life of the gardener.

Imagine visiting a neighbor’s garden in winter and coming upon a scene where freshly fallen snow has gathered in the branches of the shimmering, mahogany-red bark of a Tibetan cherry tree (Prunus serrula). Any gardener can go out and find that same tree for his or her own garden and then, one snowy day in a future winter, delight in the sensation of an idea come to life. Just as artists choose between oil paints and watercolors to help express their ideas, we make choices in garden style, design and plants.

Gardening is an extension of your individual personality. If an impressionist painting of a field of red poppies lifts your spirit to high heaven, by all means, cast a handful of poppy seeds to the wind. Some of us garden traditionally, following long established guidelines that we have come to trust. Others are more willing to take chances, challenging old theories or simply taking risks with color and plant selection. Neither method is right nor wrong; they are simply different forms of expression.

Every new garden lesson is a gift; another opportunity to learn and grow. In the process of creating a garden, we all make mistakes and there will be occasional failures and low points. In time, however, most of us learn to adjust and continue gardening as long as it is physically possible. Gardeners of every level persevere and come to love gardening more by doing so. The most satisfied gardeners seem to be the ones who learn, from year to year, how to use the medium of gardening to express a personal vision of the rich, ever changing life we live.


Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified master gardener.

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