Happy New Year to one and all! Now that all the festivities are over and the last cookie has been eaten, the deep winter has arrived here in our lovely state of Connecticut. We are a small state, but there can be all kinds of weather happening in the next town when things are very quiet here…and vice-versa! The last few winters have left us out in the cold (sorry) for a good snowfall, but since December 26th, things are changing around here. We’ve had a couple good snowmakers, and another is predicted for January 11 into the 12th, and they are predicting 8″-16″! That’s a pretty brave forecast for a couple of days out! I don’t know about where you live, but here if the weather dudes are totally off the mark, they get a major helping of poo from all of us!

Well, as the song goes, “let it snow…” Snow is the best insulator for our wintering gardens. It keeps the wind off the exposed canes and protects them from drying out. It looks beautiful, too, as it reflects the light right in through the windows. So, La Nina, do your best! I’m ready!

Pruning

Normally, I cut all my roses back (Hybrid Teas and Floribundas) to around knee-high before January. This year, however, I was down with a back injury, so I was unable to prune the roses in the back yard. Now I am glad I didn’t! We feed the birds in the wintertime, and my back yard is very open and on the side of a hill. Leaving my back gardens uncut has provided the birds with wonderful cover. The other morning, after a fresh snowfall, I looked out and saw a bunch of cardinals, juncos, blue jays…you name it! They brought their seeds into the rose garden to eat out of the wind. I plant my roses very deep, so there is no danger of them rocking out of the ground. And this is providing some lovely winter entertainment for me…not to mention my cats, Mistletoes and Rahjah. They spend hours looking out the window and cackling at the birds while their tails swing back and forth.

January House Plants

These are some of the ways we avoid Winter Blues at my house in January…another is to be sure you have some plants to nurture! Back in my own personal ‘olden-days,’ I used to manage a plant store. I have always had houseplants. They are beautiful, easy to take care of, and they put humidity into the air to ease the winter dryness. Over the last ten years or so, I started growing orchids, and most of them like to bloom in the winter because they are truly tropical. Give them a try…you’ll impress your friends…but that is a joke, because they are really easy to grow! Bring home a Moth Orchid (phaleonopsis) first.

They have fat, strappy leaves, and when they are happy they will throw out big aerial roots which is what they do in their natural habitats. I’ve had some phals that will bloom for a whole year! The biggest problem with orchid growing is that people water them too much and their roots rot. Less water is the rule with these beauties…no more that once a week for the watering can! And then, make sure you dump out the saucer. My amaryllis is just starting to crack color, and this year, she put up two spikes…oh, joy! I have a trailing African Violet that I have had going since 1975. Pieces of this violet have gone to live with most of my friends and family. She happily chugs up blooms for the whole year, except for summer. She doesn’t like hot, humid weather.

Winter Tasks

There is some work you can attend to now, if you feel like it. Send away for rose catalogs this January and dream of the new roses you would like to plant. Sharpen shovels and pruners so they will be ready for spring pruning. Find your local rose society, and call or email a Consulting Rosarian with any questions you might have about rose gardening in your part of the country. Or not! Resting for a month has merit, too.

Me, I’m looking forward to this predicted snowstorm tomorrow night. I love to go out on the porch during and after it has snowed. You can actually hear the silence. It is like someone dumped down comforters all over the place. It’s peaceful and beautiful and so sparkling clean! I hope you get some snow, too. Snuggle up and enjoy!