Final Thoughts:
“Welcome to the New Year” by Mala Gunadasa-Rohling
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year celebrations. It was truly amazing watching and waiting for the Millennium, sharing it with everyone around the world on TV. As planned, we stayed home with all my family and some relatives, quiet and cosy and perfect, amid the anticipated chaos. Thank goodness nothing happened! What a sense of relief as 2000 struck around the globe, country by country, and everything was exactly just like it was before…almost anticlimactic for those who expected (and maybe even hoped for) a disaster, but by far the majority of us just glad for a night of peaceful celebration.
Of course, us gardeners never expected anything else really. Why else would we have planted all those little bulbs a few weeks ago in hopes of spring blooms? Or ordered seeds to sow this February? Or packed away our precious tools so carefully for next season? We know how little Nature cares about our pathetic little crises and self-inflicted problems! Y2K bugs, millennium madness, second comings, power goings, etc.are strictly for people completely out of touch with the real world, not us. We knew everything would be just fine…all the plants would keep growing or waiting patiently dormant for warmer weather, the birds flying around and eating the last of the autumn berries, and the sun shining the next day. And so here we are, on the other side, ready for yet another year in our beloved gardens just like before.
We didn’t get any snow here for Christmas, which is always a little disappointing, for the kids and the adults too. We did, however, get a good thick blanket of fog which is almost as good for moody atmosphere in the garden (and you don’t need to shovel it….) What fog does is remind you of some of the basic tenants of good garden design: remember the fore, mid and background views across the area. Fog enhances the sense of perspective as things further away disappear much quicker than they normally do in clear situations. You appreciate having a small feature tree or shrub halfway across the garden that you can partially see while the further reaches are completely obscured, and the foreground is sharp and clear. It is simple to do in any size garden, and in all weather conditions will add interest and depth to your garden space.
It was a real treat walking through the woods behind our house on the day before Christmas Eve, collecting branches of holly, cedar, fir, pyracantha, ferns, mahonia, and other evergreens to decorate the house for our anticipated Christmas guests (they never showed up due to a last minute case of the flu!). Never mind, that day was really special, the thick fog making it seem like I was a million miles away, even though I was just beyond the end of the garden. I made a mental note to make sure I have some of these plants in my own garden so I don’t have to raid the lot next door for my seasonal greenery.
Holly berry substitutes can include Viburnum sp. (left) or Skimmia (right). Others that work well are rose hips, crab apples, cotoneaster, etc.
Everyone must have some holly, Chrismas just isn’t the same without it. Turns out that all the many bushes around our place must be all male since there was plenty of shiny spiny leaves but narry a berry in sight! Conversely, maybe they were all female without a male, how would I know… anyway, no real holly berries, so I had to do a quick substitution with pyracantha. It worked really well, and no-one seemed to notice. So this is a must for my holiday garden as well – I’d plant it even if the birds didn’t enjoy them as much as I did, but I’m glad they do, as there is always lots to share.
Ivy, well, we’ve got that almost rampant around the garden, so no worries there. As for the most famous holiday plant, mistletoe, none around here! I did find a wild berry bush with little white berries which I used instead. I don’t know what it is called, I’ll find out for next time and let you know. And of course, evergreens of every shape and colour are essential. Forest green cedars, mid-green firs and pines, blue spruce, yews so dark they are almost black, etc. Don’t forget the broadleaf evergreens also such as laurel, privet, rhododendrons, and many others They all look great at any time of the year, and give structure and form to the winter garden.
Beautiful and varied colours of “evergreens” include blue Picea (left), yellow Abies (centre) and green Junipers (right).
It is almost time already to start thinking about the witch hazels coming out, and the lovely snowdrops and early crocuses. At this darkest time of the year, these make for shining little beacons in the night, soon to draw us out into the light.
Happy Gardening in 2000.