_Gardening can be a four-season activity. We all know about the new colors and verdant growth of spring, the abundance of life in summer, and the waning harvests of fall, but winter is often disregarded as an important gardening season. I love my winter landscape and the season provides wonderful opportunities for unique garden appreciation. It begins by choosing to garden for winter interest.

_You garden for winter interest expecting and looking forward to the days of cold. It's not much different than planning your plantings to enjoy the color and texture and size of varied plants during their prime growing time. By gardening for winter interest you imagine how the same plants will look when covered with frost or ice or snow. You anticipate how they will appear when dead or dormant.

On cloudy, gloomy days the brown and plain foliage of dead flowers, grasses, and shrubs can be quite dreary. I'll grant you that. The same can be said of new, plain growth during dark, rainy days in spring. But just as the returning sun creates a vibrant display of color and excitement when it glistens on the dew and raindrops nestling on the young plants, the remnants of a winter storm can transform the garden into a brilliant, magical wonderland.

When the wonderful combination of frigid temperatures and moist air combine appropriately, a cold night meets a sunny morning with ice crystals covering the landscape. The dreary brown plants are transformed into shimmering, diamond-encrusted works of natural art. This is when the garden offers beauty that competes dramatically with the highlights of summer.

_Gardening for winter interest has a few basic steps. First is the selection of appropriate plants.  Some plants that provide a strong presence in a spring or summer garden, like Hostas, Lilies, and Irises, have their flowers and leaves wither away with the cold temperatures of fall; there is little left of them in winter. Selecting plants whose physical structure can stand up to strong winds, freezing weather, and heavy snow allows the winter garden to exist. At this point I'm not talking about plants that can survive and live in the cold, but about plants with sturdy stalks, and flowers, and branches after the green life has faded. Plants that offer height above the blanket of snow and ice are better than low plantings that will be covered and unappreciated.

In my garden, sunflowers, coneflowers, Yarrow, Heliopsis, and Kniphofia offer great scaffolds for the natural ice and snow sculptures of winter. Ornamental grasses and shrubs and bushes anchor the garden when snow falls.

Some plants like Red Twig Dogwood and Burning Bush are at their best in winter as they display dynamic reds against the white snow. Plants with yellow, red, and purple branches are readily available to add a rainbow of color that is often missing in a typical gardener's winter yard once green leaves have disappeared.
 
Of course plant selection for winter interest does include life; you can think beyond the death of plants and how they look in that state. Ornamental Kale can survive harsh conditions in many regions and displays beautiful greens and purples and reds even when covered in ice. Witch Hazel is a large shrub that flowers in winter. Holly with its evergreen leaves and berries welcomes Christmas with green and red. The parasitic evergreen plant Mistletoe achieved its mythical powers because of its colorful winter state. Mountain Laurels and Yews are evergreens many gardeners overlook in their landscape. There are many colorful winter plants available for your garden.

The second step in gardening for winter interest is to leave your plants in place through the cold months. Many gardeners are anxious to clean up their beds as soon as the first freeze fades the foliage. They hack at and pull up the dead, dying, and dormant plants and cart them away. They rake fallen leaves into bags and leave the garden barren, ready for spring planting.  There is nothing wrong with gardening this way, but when old man winter arrives with his brush and palette there is no canvas to receive the artwork.

_Besides giving birds and wildlife food and cover in winter, leaving your plants in place will add visual variety to your landscape. The textures and shapes of bare plants after their leaves are gone can only be appreciated during the shortest days of the year. There will be time to clean up the garden in spring when the winter appeal wanes.
 
Delaying pruning is easy to do. Leave excess branches on trees in early winter. Don't cut the stalks of perennial flowers. The erratic and ungainly growth of flower and shrubs pose nicely in frigid weather.

Simply selecting plants based on how they will look in winter and then leaving them to compose their own beauty is all that is needed to create a garden with winter interest.

To begin next year's winter garden look at your landscape and those of your friends and neighbors. Do you have a spot that is glaringly bare and lifeless in winter? Do you see something that stands out as brilliant in another's landscape? Tour a local botanical garden for ideas. Take the time to observe plants in winter. Think beyond the color and life of summer.

During the dark days of winter cold, gardeners often fail to see their garden's beauty, focused on how it will look when the flowers return. While I fall into this pattern too, it only takes an ice storm or cold morning fog to awaken a sense of wonderment. Traipsing through the snow, hearing the sharp crunch of ice, I peer into the world of Jack Frost. It's amazing how a garden can feel so alive when so little is actually growing. It's all about the icy visuals and sustaining your garden for winter interest.

_December 22nd is one of my favorite gardening days. Sure it's the first full day of winter, but that means that spring is next on the calendar. From today onward every day gets a little more sun until we peak in summer. We're halfway through the long tunnel and I can see light ahead.

_There's just over a week left until the "Brrrr" months are over. With a shiver, my wife refers to this time of year as the "Brrrr" months: "Octobrrrr", "Novembrrrr", "Decembrrrr". The cold days and colder nights get old very quickly.

I know that January temperatures are actually colder, but January brings a new year, it's not a "Brrrr" month, and the increasing daylight becomes noticeable. February is a short month that comes and goes quickly, and then it's suddenly March with warming days and melting snow.

It all begins on December 22nd.
 
For many gardeners the presents under the Christmas tree hold tools, and books, and gardening supplies to be used in next year's garden. Just a few days away from tearing apart the wrapping paper, visions of Japanese plums dance in our heads. Whether we are giving or receiving garden gifts, these days of Christmas present bring thoughts of gardening future.

Winter is here, officially. As I write, large white flakes are falling outside. The pines are flocked with snow. Drifts are nearly two feet deep in places. There is no sign of life beneath the blanket of white. But I know it's there.
 
The Crocus and Tulip bulbs are still packed with energy, waiting to burst forth their brilliant blooms in a few months. Many seeds are soaking up the cold temperatures, a necessary step in their germination, and each time the snow melts it reveals Daisy leaves that are still viable. The excitement of the holidays has a green tinge.

I have no doubt the excitement of winter's first day will fade in the dark, cold days straight ahead, but brief introspection will reveal new examples of gardening hope. Soon a glance at the clock will elicit, it was dark at this time just last week and the sun is still out. Before long a Robin red breast will be hopping across greening grass looking for a meal. A day of sun and warm will suddenly appear like a beacon amid the cold and dark, and many more beacons will follow.

I'm a gardener and gardeners can always fill their heads with thoughts of green and color and growth and life. Having a blank, white canvas on my landscape helps make it easy for me to draw and paint the mental images of gardens to come.

Two days ago it was fall and winter still stood in the way of spring. Now that impediment is gone. Winter is here and spring is next. A few days can make a big difference psychologically. It's December 22nd and I'm looking forward to the gardening days ahead.

_There are many ways to classify gardeners and here are two more: those who like to use garden art and those who don't. By "garden art" I mean the addition of man-made objects to a garden with the intent to improve aesthetic and emotional appeal. "Intent" is an important concept that I'll discuss later. Fundamentally the question comes down to whether a garden should remain natural with only plants or whether foreign objects can be incorporated.

I fall into the category of gardeners who like to use garden art. My good gardener friend Della doesn't. Many of my gardener friends fall into one camp or the other. Some like appropriate garden art but don't have many pieces in their gardens. Others avoid it in their gardens while gushing about the beautiful art pieces in civic and professional gardens and botanical displays.

_For some gardeners "garden art" is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. They feel that adding a crass plastic, steel, or stone figure diminishes the natural beauty of a landscape.

For other gardeners, like me, garden art can enhance the emotion that a garden evokes. Whether it's beauty, whimsy, introspection, or any specific theme, a garden reflects a gardener's design and the desire to induce a response by the viewer. Some garden art can amplify the reaction intended by the gardener. Admittedly, some garden art can degrade visual appreciation.

_I think gardening is fun and I like to share that. Garden art is a way to express to others how I feel about a particular bed. For areas with broad appeal I often elicit a smile with the ceramic turtle, hippo, or frogs that peek out from the foliage. The alligator swimming in the soil beneath a pine tree seldom goes unnoticed and becomes a comment inducer.

_In another garden section a bobbing, metal peacock draws the focus and comments. That is followed by an appreciation of the Daylilies, Roses, and Irises nearby. For gardeners and non-gardeners alike, I like to think my garden art draws their initial attention and becomes a segue to the plants I'm showcasing.

_Not all of my garden art has such a specific purpose. I have birds and butterflies atop metal rods randomly placed in my landscape; I just like the way they look. I have a small, metal moose resting in my vegetable garden as a personal memory of my time spent in Maine. The gnomes that inhabit different beds add a little fantasy and I enjoy imagining the fantastical thought that they come to life at night and protect my gardens.

_The intent of garden art is important. Each gardener who uses garden art does so with intent, personal or public. While some of my pieces, as I've discussed, are designed to appeal to others, most are designed to appeal to me personally. I spend more time in my gardens than anyone else so it's only natural that I should design them to appeal to me.

The reason I think so many gardeners have issues with garden art is because of the perceived abuses and excesses. Many of us have walked past a garden that is overrun with gnomes or flamingos or ceramic bunnies. In some gardens the garden art vastly outnumbers the actual plants. I can understand why a serious and dedicated gardener would have a personal problem with such landscapes; they think a garden's focus should be on plants.

But I think that each garden exists for that garden's gardener. With the exception, minimally, of big city botanical gardens created to be enjoyed by the masses, most gardens are designed, built, and maintained by gardeners for their own enjoyment and satisfaction. Sure, we love to share the beauty, but ultimately we garden for ourselves.

That means we use or don't use garden art because of our personal preferences. I have vague memories of being very young and encountering small sculptures in my grandmother's garden. Maybe that's why one reason why I like to use garden art. I've also seen many gardens with man-made additions that drew an emotion and made me smile and I want to recreate that. I like the little hidden figures that can be discovered among my plants.

_Conversely I've seen many beautiful, emotion-inducing gardens with nary a piece of art to be found. The structure of the plants doesn't need a metal or concrete sculpture for enhancement. The colors and textures of nature don't require an arbitrary painted ceramic piece. In such gardens garden art would diminish the overall appeal. Della's landscape is breathtaking without any garden art.

I do have beds attempting to recreate such gardens on a small scale. The plants are selected and positioned for their structure, texture, and color. The simple beauty of the plants and flowers is enough.

My basic gardening style is one of balance. I grow flowers and vegetables. I grow in pots and raised beds and open plots. I have indoor plants and outdoor plants. I have flowering plants and non-flowering plants side by side. And I have garden art in some areas and not in others.

That's how I garden. I'm always open to suggestions and new ideas, but I garden for me and my enjoyment. I garden to induce a response from the viewer and most of the time the viewer is me. And I like garden art.