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The Garden Blooms in Winter

© Carol Wallace

Early spring finds many of us suffering a giant bout of impatience. Warm days promise that spring must surely be here any second - then just as we start eyeing the garden tools the temperatures plunge into the teens.

Part of our impatience comes from wanting that feeling of dirt under our fingernails, slightly aching muscles and all the signs that say "we can garden again!"

But part is a starvation for color. In the past weeks I've noticed that my old articles on winter color have been getting a lot of readers - and this is probably a wise time to read those, since now is a time to plan for next winter and early spring. You can look out the window and see just where a spot of color could lift your spirits. So now is the time to decide what kind of color and how much - and do something about it. Order from the catalogs, wait for the nurseries to start selling, beg neighbors for cuttings and seeds - then get out and plant things that will make this season brighter in seasons to come.

If you gathered all the color that is in the garden right now into one spot you might not even miss the glories of summer. I took two tours today - one of my own yard, and one of our local nursery's display gardens and found a surprising number of things that were either blooming or which had bright undaunted foliage that provided plenty of early spring/late winter cheer.

Pansies
One thing that's been the talk of many of my gardening friends has been the line of Icicle pansies we planted in autumn. The promise is that they will bloom for us in late fall and very early spring - but in the mild winter we just had mine never stopped at all. Lucky for me I planted them right outside my sunroom window and so got to enjoy blooming flowers all winter.

Heaths and Heathers
More winter bloomers that still are in full flush are my heaths and heathers. I planted Erica carnea (winter blooming heath) about five years ago so that they are now small shrubs covered in pink blossoms on foliage that has gone to a mauve-gray that perfectly complements the Andorrah juniper they grow next to. The juniper turns lavender/plum in winter. E. 'Anne Sparkes' turns absolutely crimson in the cold weather - a fiery spot of color clearly visible from my kitchen window.