The Winter Landscape

The holidays are behind us for another year, but winter is still here. I spent the holidays up north, in Pennsylvania, for the first time in many years. It gave me the chance to observe the winter landscape, brown grass and bare shrubs covered in snow. It was very ironic to me to see icicle lights on the eaves of the roofs mingled with real icicles, and I loved seeing Christmas lights on shrubs glowing softly through a blanket of snow. I realized that I’ve become spoiled by the mild winters of Texas.

While northerners prepare for snow and cold after the summer harvest, we are still planting mums, asters, pansies, kale, snapdragons, primrose and cyclamen. In the north, lawnmowers are put away until the snow melts and the ground unfreezes and warms up enough to encourage the grass to grow again. In Texas, we scalp our lawns and plant rye grass, which provides a bright green contrast to those brown lawns left unseeded. And plants flower here long after the north has grown cold and gray. This December, my rose bushes were blooming the week before Christmas giving me enough beautiful buds for two bouquets. When I returned from my trip, I saw that hyacinth bulbs and daffodils were peeking out early.

There is a beauty to the winter landscape, here and in the north. It’s just not what we’re used to. It’s easy to get caught up in focusing on color in the landscape, but gardening is about so much more than just color. There is the shape of the plants and the forms they take. There is the texture of the leaves or the bark. Aroma from the flowers, or in the case of herbs, the foliage itself, all add up to a full sensory experience.
This month, while you’re snug inside your home during the coldest days of the winter, take a moment to look outside your window and observe the winter forms of the trees and shrubs. I hope you can see the drama and the beauty in the winter landscape, even as we all look forward to spring.

- Rebecca