Being a Gardener in Winter

learning to love the season again

the winter spread in my gratitude journal gives you a hint at my idea of winter

My favorite season is summer, barefoot in the garden with flowers blooming and bees buzzing.

When I was a child I loved winter. I’d play out in the snow with my brother and refuse to let him go inside when he got too cold, bossing him into making snowmen and igloos and snow angels with me. Getting to stay home from school for a snow day was the most exciting gift.

Eventually as I got older, I became less and less enchanted by winter. I can’t pinpoint when the shift happened or what caused it. But I do know that as I became more and more passionate about gardening and started turning to my garden for creative inspiration, it became harder and harder for me to say goodbye at the end of the season. Fall was a wrench.

Snow is beautiful, but I liked to say, “I’d rather have flowers.”

Winter became something to get through not to enjoy for itself. Over the years I’ve blogged about Battling the Winter Blues, Surviving Winter and Expanding Delight in the Depths of Winter.

Winter takes effort.

But I’ve been experiencing another shift.

I’m enjoying the subtle beauties of winter in a way I haven’t for a long time.

Making a point to be present and curious and observing the changes in my garden throughout the seasons has made me more attuned to the constant and ever-changing beauty found in nature. I don’t look out at my sleeping garden and think, “I wish there were flowers,” instead, I see and embrace it as it is.

In case you need a little inspiration, today I’m sharing some ways being a gardener has helped me to enjoy winter.

Observing the Winter Garden

I’m so grateful for my new studio. It opens directly into my garden and its sliding doors connect me to my garden no matter the weather. Last winter, my first winter in this space, was much easier for me than past years.

I try to spend time each day observing my garden through the sliding doors.

Watching the birds and squirrels at the feeders and throughout the yard brings me so much joy. It helps me to be still. Present. Quiet. Curious.

Painting Winter’s Subtle Beauty

When I was first learning how to paint, I turned to the skeletons of Queen Anne’s Lace for inspiration, but didn’t paint “dead things from the garden” again until a few years ago.

In summer I like to walk through the garden cutting anything that catches my eye to bring back into my studio to paint.

Why not do it in winter, too?

It’s a good thing I don’t do much fall clean-up in my garden.

Studying the delicate beauty of finished flower stems and mixing the subtle colors I noticed ended up being a revelation.

I cut some stems the other day and the vase is waiting on my painting table.

Reading About Gardens and Watching Garden Videos

I can never resist a bit of armchair gardening, especially during winter. Books, magazines, YouTube, TV series (Gardener’s World!). What a delight!

Yes, it’s fun to learn about new techniques and new varieties of plants, but I also enjoy submerging myself in all things garden.

some of my garden library (and some of my begonias)

Do you have any favorites? I’d love to hear about them!

Seed and Garden Catalogs

It’s a good mail day when I find a seed catalog in the mailbox. Matthias laughs at how I can’t resist immediately digging into a catalog, poring over is pages. I’ll read through them again and again.

Dreaming. Imagining. Feasting on photos and delicious descriptions.

I’m still waiting for some of my favorite catalogs

I don’t think I’m buying any more roses (though it is tempting), but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read through this year’s David Austin catalog.

Planning Next Year’s Garden

But of course, it’s not all dreaming.

Studying seed catalogs and books helps me to plan my garden, too. I almost always order seeds. I can’t help myself. There are always new varieties to try.

When I’m planning, I also think about past years’ gardens. What worked. What didn’t. Which projects I got around to tackling. Which ones I didn’t.

If I were very organized I’d write meticulous garden plans. I do use the Seed Sowing Plan I created as a freebie on my website to keep track of which seeds to start when. But my garden projects and ideas often live only in my head.

What sort of garden planning do you do?

Growing Houseplants

It’s not all armchair gardening, dreaming and planning.

Thank goodness!

I’m a houseplant fanatic. I have been since I was a child and for many years I only had an indoor garden.

In my current home I’ve fit plants into every room (and LOTS of them in my studio).

I believe there’s always room for one more and enjoy shopping for houseplants (even if I don’t end up buying any). When I lived in Cleveland (and had many more shopping options), I’d often plan a day’s outing, driving from one garden shop to another, usually swinging over to visit the free, public Rockefeller Park Greenhouse before heading home. My mom calls it “getting a green fix.” (And perhaps that needs to be a category all on its own). Breathing the, humid, flowery air of a greenhouse boosts my mood like nothing else.

I love reading about houseplants and watching videos about them, too (it always makes me want to get more plants!).

I’m planning a full houseplant post in the new year, but if you like houseplants, you might enjoy this post from my blog last year and this one, too.

Painting Houseplants

Houseplants were some of the first things I attempted to paint back when I was first learning watercolor. They’re a subject I come back to again and again.

They make perfect subjects.

I especially enjoy painting their clay pots (even if the plant I’m using for reference isn’t growing in one!).

Savoring Preserved Harvests

Although my garden is fairly small, I’m still able to harvest and preserve some delights to help me through the winter. We’ve already eaten all of the garlic and all of my roasted frozen tomatoes, but I still have plenty of dried and frozen herbs, frozen pesto and frozen peaches.

When I make tea with mint I grew or smear pesto onto a pizza, it’s like a ray of sunshine warming not just my body.

Taking a Cue from the Garden and Resting

Modern life is often out of synch with the seasons. It’s something we can’t totally avoid.

I used to joke about wanting to hibernate through winter. But jokes, aside, it’s good to pay attention to nature’s cycles and to our own cycles as well.

Every living thing needs periods of rest. The garden in winter reminds me of this. If my energy or inspiration lag during winter, it’s ok. Slowing down during winter is part of rhythm of nature.

Winter is a season of quiet. The days are short. The colors are subtle. Let’s embrace it and let it embrace us, too.