Snowdrops for a New Year

2023 slid in quietly. The week has been mild, cloudy, and damp. A great deal of tea has been brewed and enjoyed. It feels more like spring than the middle of winter. So, snowdrops have popped up to say hello!

They are very early, but all it takes is a few days above freezing and ping! Tiny tips of silvery-grey poke out from under the leaf litter. Shall we take it as a sign that 2023 will bring new flower adventures? Let’s.

2022 has certainly been a bustling year as reflected by my lack of blog posts. Between working, writing, teaching, and developing an online garden magazine, there has barely been time to plant the 500+ plugs of natives, prune the boxwood, and keep the place more or less (less) weeded. It’s been a rewarding year of sharing my passion for plants, bugs, and gardening with others. Did I sleep in today? You betcha.

I’ll be watching the snowdrops to see if they get much past this point. Fortunately, they have built in anti-freeze so will shrug off the inevitable polar vortex that lurks in Canada.

In the meantime, I’m treasuring texture in the winter garden. From the shades of green, blue, and yellow of the evergreens to the bold dried leaves of prairie dock, there’s a subtle deliciousness about plants dried and dormant. I think I need more hellebores with their stubbornly evergreen leaves dotted through the beds. They disappear in the blaze of summer, but their low mounds of leathery leaves catch the eye against the browns of snow-less beds. Plus, they give me a reason to venture out and check for early flowers in the mud of March.

What are your garden dreams and plans for 2023?