Well, where do I start? A medical scare brought us up short, but now, months later, all is well again. Then the Corona virus strikes and suddenly our worlds become smaller and smaller. My worst nightmare was the closure of libraries, just when I was at the end of my last book. Thankfully, the secondhand bookstore remains open, although allowing less than 10 people in the store at the same time. I stocked up on some books, enough to make it through the end of March.  Then, my favorite nursery, Ott’s Exotic Plants, half an hour away from us, remains open. We were the only visitors and I bought a few drumstick Primula as well as small Rex Begonia plants, the start of a new collection. At our old house I had a very nice collection of Begonias, proudly displayed in the shade of the Plum Cherry tree during late spring and summer. Once we moved to our new house, with NO shade to be had in the garden, they slowly withered and died. On the compost heap they went. One hung on for another year, but eventually I tossed it on the compost heap as well. That was during our wettest summer ever, and this plant refused to die; actually it flourished! Eventually I took pity and potted it up once more. It spent one more winter indoors, before I tossed it again. It shriveled, died and turned into beautiful compost for my garden.

By now winter is nearly over and what a winter it was; NOT! I could not have asked for a ”better” winter; a few cold days, pretty mild the rest of the time and with little snow. We will probably have a few more pests around this year because of the lack of heavy freezes, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Already greenery is peeking up everywhere and that annual shot of color in early spring is right around the corner. Here and there, in protected corners, you can see cherry trees in full bloom and what a sight for sore eyes it is. The Witch-hazel has bloomed and right now the Forsythia are at their best, covered in yellow flowers. Early daffodils can be seen everywhere and buds on trees seem to be getting fatter by the hour.

In the basement I started a tray of Marigolds. I potted them up over the weekend and so far, each seedling is doing well. By the time they can go outside (late May) they should have grown into nice little sturdy plants.

Outside I have been busy cleaning up, cutting back plants, pruning some of the shrubs and my compost piles are overflowing. Weather permitting, I walk through the garden in early morning and late afternoon; every day there is more to see. Tomorrow should bring us 70+ degrees and I am expecting my Hellebore flowers in shadier spots to reach up to the sun and open; those in sunnier spots are already strutting their stuff. Oh, and then we get a blast of cold air and overnight frost. Nevertheless, better weather is on the horizon!

Even when the world seems bleak, one only needs to look at nature, to appreciate its wonder and know that all will be well in the end.

January 15^th; we are slowly making our way through January. It’s my least favorite month of the year. After a festive December, January seemingly holds nothing but 31 cold and gloomy days. But, surprise, we have some days above normal. I walk around in a turtleneck with a sleeveless vest and must unzip halfway through some light garden clean-up as I am overheating.

About 6 weeks ago I cut back the willows, both the Hakuro Nishiki willow in its shrubby form as well as the grafted tree form. Now I have heaps of (6 to 9 feet) long willow branches ready to be cut down to fit into the garbage container. But not all the branches will be thrown out. The Spouse comes out to help on one of these nice days and together we cut and trim. The side branches on main stems are cut off as well as the thinnest ends. I keep the rest; branches about 5 to 6 feet long, which I plan on recycling in the garden. Since willow branches are very pliable, they make excellent material for weaving. I pile the left-over branches in the back yard, waiting for another warm day to start weaving near the fence. Then it snows, but sun melts it pretty much all the very next day.

Foliage from bulbs is up several inches, tricked by the warmer days. It stops growing as the weather turns cold again, and while the ends may look the worse for wear, eventually all new foliage will appear and flowers too. Spring may still be many weeks away, but I can see the promise of spring all around me. Maybe January isn’t so bad after all!