The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current, January 01, 2014, Page 7, Image 7

January 2014
FEATURES
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
Calendar says winter but the garden she stirs
GARDEN MIND
By Rebecca Hart
It’s the New Year but already we’ve
been beaten by ice and snow and bur-
ied in seasonal obligations; January
gives us time to pause.
As humans we like to gather the
natural world around us: We place cut
flowers and green potted plants along
a window sill or a bright corner, or
plant outside to frame the view from
a favorite chair.
Maybe your spot of green is on a pa-
tio or small yard, festooned with busy
feeders for the birds. Or maybe you call
all the wide beauty that Portland offers
your own private landscape, and honor
Hellborus niger ‘Maestro’ (Post photo by
Rebecca Hart)
it on walks or drives.
Once we slow down, it’s clear that
winter is far from a time of “nothing
going on.”
Years ago I heard a tale about how
the Native Americans who lived near
the Breitenbush River learned to antici-
pate what we call the solstice season.
The sign: when the Red Alder buds
swelled and the catkins formed, the
alder outlines developed a distinctive
red-brown cast; this change heralded
the change in day length. Still holds
true today.
And, beneath us, on the ground cov-
ered with wet leaves, you might find
the sign of early bulbs, or some other
fresh green emergent life stirring. But
only if you stoop to look.
Botanical gardens and nurseries are
good places to find plants to enhance
whatever “window” your garden has.
When the Christmas trees and poin-
settias go out the benches must fill with
something after inventory, and all of a
sudden we find rows of shelves filled
with early potted and forced bulbs.
Look for the best selection on va-
rieties of “bare root stock” with all
their edibles and ornamental teasers:
berries, asparagus roots, even fruit
and flowering and shade trees and
herbaceous perennials. January isn’t
always pretty at a nursery, but it is full
of promise.
We are host to a banana belt region
here. Your particular garden spot may
have a more or less benign micro-
climate, meaning the varieties that you
can successfully grow will depend on
exposure, light, and moisture.
With that in mind, here are some
things stirring in my garden at the first
of the New Year.
I’ve got three species of primroses
and they all begin to show precocious
color and new foliage now, if I was
Ribes sanguineum ‘Alba’ (Post photo by Rebecca Hart)
successful in keeping the snails and
slugs at bay.
I have a pale double mauve, and frilly
double yellow, causing me to suspect
the doubles are somehow more hardy.
My hellebores, which freely flower and
self-sow and mix up without any help
from me, are also beginning to bloom.
Also in bud is the white form of the
native flowering currant Ribes san-
guineum “Alba,” which normally won’t
pop until mid to late February, accord-
ing to prior garden journal entries; but
bud swells are fun to monitor anytime.
Early bulbs are beginning to show
greenery: Galanthus, Muscaria (grape
hyacinth), Daffodils (narcissus), early
Tulips, and the vast Crocus family.
However, if you want to duplicate
a planting or combination of bulbs
(unless you can find some for sale, at
a premium, already potted) the time
to purchase most spring-flowering
bulbs is late summer and fall, from
mid-August through October, or when
stock sells out.
For fragrance, the Viburnums are a
class of shrubs that sport several spe-
cies with highly spicy flowers, many
which bloom on bare stems: the V. burk-
woodii cultivars, also the unforgettable
pink Korean Spice Bush (V. carlessii).
My favorite is V. bodnantense, with its
delicious clove-smelling pink flowers.
A few more favorite early winter per-
formers are the Oregon Grape (Mahonia
aquifolia) which is the state flower;
those brilliant early yellow flowers
have a scent that will knock you over!
This is a tiny short list of some action
going on in my garden now. And now
is the season to pause and look and see.
On the computer? Look for links and
tutorials for “off-grid” projects and all
types of gardening and homestead care. For
more ideas, do a Google search for “Winter
Garden Color.” Here’s a link for non-GMO
[genetically modified organisms] seeds and
more for your garden: http://www.off-
grid.info/food-independence/heirloom-
seed-suppliers.html.
Collect books and articles. Don’t be
afraid to ask, if you admire a particular
landscape; gardeners love to visit about
plants. Consider becoming a master gar-
dener. Make friends at your local nursery.
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Get to know Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts of Oregon & SW Washington
is hosting a “Get to Know Girl Scouts”
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