December 2021
All is calm, all is quiet
December is a slow month in the garden, I think I do about as much “gardening” this month as I do in a single week in April. That is not to say I am not in my garden, or there aren’t numerous projects we are working on. Right now, as I write, a stone wall is being built and some garden lighting is being added, a chicken coop needs shoring up this weekend, we are working, but we aren’t really “gardening” all that much. On a dry day that is warm, I will cut back foliage that is sodden and limp, but by rule I leave anything that is standing tall on it own, it provides a skeletal architecture to the winter garden, as well as offering habitat and forage for birds and insects. I might do a bit of pruning here or there, or mend some trellising if it is looking a bit weather beaten, or tie in plants that need securing to a trellis. I may even add a bit of mulch down to areas where I moved a lot of plants in the late fall. But whatever little garden task I find myself working on, I am not rushing around as I do in April, full of all the vigor of spring, I find I am slowing done, right along with all the plants.
Merry and Bright
We just celebrated St. Lucia Day in our home, and we ended up with two Lucia’s (because both girls wanted to wear the crown of candles) and a very dissatisfied star boy (apparently the star cap and wand are not as excited as the before mentioned, crown of candles). Perhaps you don’t know about this holiday, it isn’t a very common one where we live, but it is one our family loves. The holiday is all about bringing light to the darkest days, about hope, and about caring for those around you. But the light is always what impacts me the most. When I wake early, all is dark and still, inside and out, it envelops you. But then the darkness is offset, first, by a few beeswax candles, then by the crowns of light on our little Lucia’s heads. The family piles onto our bed, and as we sit in that soft light, eating lussekattor and pepparkakor, we watch as the darkness outside our window very slowly recedes, the velvety blackness giving way to shades of blues and purples before the first tinge of warm tones spread along the horizon. This year the sunrise was exceptional, rich, deep oranges, crimsons, blues and purples, it was moving.
Instead of jobs for the month, for if you haven’t done it yet, chances are you aren’t getting to it before Christmas, I want to talk about light. As the solstice approaches and as we celebrate light, here is some advice in considering light in your garden.
Designing with Light
There is very little light to be had this time of year, and what we do have is rather weak and low. For us, this is accentuated because we live on a very steep, northeast facing slope, with an old pine stand to the southeast. For most of the year, the sun is high enough to climb over the towering pines, but for the darkest winter months, November, December and most of January, we have very little morning sun hitting the back garden. As the day goes on, our own slope becomes the limiting factor, with the sun sinking behind it not long after mid day. So what little light we do have is really important, to know exactly where it is and when, because it is critical in utilizing our outdoor spaces in midwinter (and in our planning of a second greenhouse).
But at all times of year, light is an extremely important feature in your garden. Once you begin attending to it, you will notice it changes quite a lot from season to season. The sun does not rise in the same place on June 21st as it does on December 21st. The arc of sunrise to sunset changes dramatically, as does the angle of the sun in the sky. In June the sun is very high, rising far in the east, while in December, it is low, angling through the atmosphere, and it breaks the horizon in east but much more southernly.
In summer, we inevitably seek a shady spot to repose, finding a cool place for morning coffee or a late afternoon ice tea, and we have created seating in these places to sit and enjoy the garden at those times. In winter, it is about finding the sun, and yes we do sit out in the garden even in winter. Our deck is sunny in late morning until midday, so that is the opportunity to sit in the sun with a cup of coffee or tea. There is also bench against a wall in the front garden that gets hits with a slice of sun for an hour or so, and that is a lovely spot to sit indeed for that fleeting moment. Both spots also happen to be fairly protected from wind, which means the winter wind can’t whip through to steal the suns warmth on bits of exposed skin.
Track the light on your property, it is essential for everything, be aware of it at every moment of every day. You will need that knowledge to know where you want to design spaces to rest and linger as well as where you can grow different plants. Another layer is that the same plant can look different in different lights, ornamental grasses, for example, look amazing if caught by the setting sun, warm evening light filtering through them, creating an etherial atmosphere in the garden.
A bed that is part sun in the summer and fall, being shaded by larger deciduous trees and shrubs, might indeed be full sun in early spring, when the sun is higher and the leaves are not out. Which means full sun bulbs and early spring perennials will do well there. Your veg garden might be very sunny in spring when the trees are still leafless and early summer when the sun is still high, but it might drop to part sun in late summer and fall when sun losses height and is blocked by surrounding trees, that is how it is in our back veg garden and we have to plan plantings accordingly.
To help you plot out the light in your garden, take pictures of your garden throughout the whole year at various times of day (don’t forget to label with the date and time of day), and make notes about it. This will be an invaluable resource for you to reference. You can learn a lot quickly, but to really dial it in it will be a life’s work. Every year it will change, plants will grow, trees and shrubs grow, or get cut down, your neighbor may put up a fence or build a barn or you might do those things, things will change, so you have to be willing to change and grow with it.
Light and Color
Color can be chosen to work best with the light, as plants looks different to us at different times of day, as the sun changes in intensity and tone. Warm tones, rich reds, oranges, deep velvety burgundies and plums look amazing in the afternoon and last evening light in late summer and early autumn, where the intensity and angle of the light sets them on fire. Where all those soft pastel colors, pale pinks and yellows, softer purples and blues, look stunning in the clear early morning light. White flowers fade to the background with the sun high overhead, but in the twilight hour they are magical. On a winters days in our northern climate, green is essential, those evergreen that where the background in the summer are now center stage and in light or shadow they lift the garden.
There is so much to be said about color, about the relationship between colors within a garden and the affect of light as it plays across all those colors. Some colors work well togethers, while others get lost next to each other, drown each other out, or frankly just look bad. Opposite colors intensify, the blues of Delphiniums seen with rich oranges of marigolds pops. Where similar shades next to each other meld together but create dimension, various hues of pinks of peonies pared with softer shades of purples.
And it is easy to over look green as a color, but it will be the most dominate color in your garden, so it is wise to consider it and utilize it as part of your palette. You have to be willing to experiment a bit with color, just as you do with design for light. Allow yourself to make mistakes as you try out your ideas. For me, I had a lovely all white Dahlia, White Swan, in the front garden this year. However it’s placement was entirely wrong, it was too far to the back of the bed, you never paid it any notice. I think next year, I will try it up slope in a more visible place, somewhere were it will be appreciated as we move about the garden in the approaching dusk, white will sing out in a late evening garden.
The Long Haul
A garden is not a product or destination, it may have a beginning, but it has no inevitable end. It may be utterly transformed many times over, but still it goes on. Your garden is firmly fixed in a specific place, but it can not be fixed to a moment in time. It is a place of constant change, in fact, the flux it a vital part of what makes a garden. Do not feel overwhelmed that you have a long list of things to figure out before you can garden. There are a lot of things to consider when designing and working in a garden, but this is not a job to figure out once, get done with and then move on. Your garden is one of the most intimate relationships you will have with nature, it is a life long dance, so slow down and enjoy it.
Every year is an experiment in my garden. This time of year, I a looking back on the garden, reflecting on the feelings and intuitions I have about my garden, sifting through the notes I recorded and photographs I took. I am critically working through what worked and what frankly didn’t, where I tried an idea and didn’t like it, or where something was just perfect. I like that about a garden, that I will never finish. I will simply continue, cultivating the garden year in and year out.
