My snowdrops are in full bloom. And I usually love them. But to be honest I feel guilty about enjoying them this year because – well – I don’t feel as though I actually deserve their sweet faces and honey-scent – we haven’t really had much of a winter yet, have we? Last year we had more than 6 inches of rain in the valley portions of the North State in January, which was two inches more than our norm. This year, I have measured only 2 inches of rain in January in my garden – 2 inches less than our norm. Our nights are still cold, but our days have been unseasonably warm and dry. So while my rain barrels are full from this last rainfall – they are just barely full. And while my snowdrops are blooming, they are accompanied by all of my hellebores, some leftover roses and blue scabiosa, camellias, and a good portion of the early narcissus. Some of these are normal – but some are way too early. The sap is up and the buds are fat on a lot of trees. The high country is desperate for snow and we are all a bit confused and worried. However, as one gardening friend said to me – We might as well enjoy the weather. We can’t change it. So I will try to enjoy my snowdrops.
No matter what the weather is, most of our gardening tasks and joys remain the same. Keep cleaning up dead leaves, cutting back perennials, pruning roses and fruit trees. Spray dormant oil on your fruit trees or roses if you plan to. You can still plant hardy perennials, shrubs or trees. If you feel your soil drying out to the extent that plants seem stressed – go ahead and water – especially if you have new plants you are trying to get established. I ran my system through its whole course in mid-January.
One winter gardening task that is going well for me is my garden reading. The seed and plant catalogues are always a treat. But in addition to these I am just finishing a really good read titled: Hardy Californians: A Woman’s life with Native Plants, which my husband gave me for Christmas. Originally written in 1936 by Lester Rowntree and recently reissued in a new and expanded edition by the University of California Press, this book chronicles the adventures of plantswoman, gardener and naturalist, who beginning in her 50s and running right through her 90s – traveled all over California studying native plants in their own environments. She is smitten by their intrinsic beauty as well as their value as good garden plants. Her passion for her subject is contagious.
At a time when interest in native plants and sustainable, regionally appropriate gardening is on the rise, it can start to feel like something we do because we are supposed to – because it is good for us – like eating oatmeal. If that is how you sometimes feel – read a little of Hardy Californians. Rowntree’s unabashed personification of and affection for plants will remind you of your own relationship with your garden plants. Take for example this sentence on Erigerons, or fleabane daisies: “A lean diet tends to send up their blood pressure and put more color in their faces and overly rich menus is bad for their complexions and their figures.” More than 70 years ago. Rowntree was acquainting herself with and speaking of California’s native plants as the personalities and friends they were to her then and to us now. The book makes me chuckle out loud, at the same time that I am reaching for my pad and pen to take notes on plants to try to find and to try to plant in my own garden.
February is the month of Groundhog, or Candlemas, day on the 2nd, the full moon on the 9th, Darwin Day on the 12th and Valentine’s day on the 14th. The month is also full of interesting events for gardeners in the North State, including a Native Plant Propagation session being hosted by the Shasta Chapter of the California Native Plant Society in Redding on February 22nd. A listing of gardening events in your area can be found on the Events Calendar. If you have events that you would like to see listed – please send all pertinent information to me at: jennifer@jewellgarden.com.
In a North State Garden is an educational outreach program of the Northern California Natural History Museum and a co-production of North State Public Radio. The program is conceived, written, hosted and photographed by Jennifer Jewell, Executive Producer – all rights reserved. For more information on listening to the radio portion of In a North State Garden, including podcasts, visit Jewellgarden.com.
