Happy New Year! When you are reading this, snow may be falling. It is the first snow in the forecast for weeks. I see that cold days are still ahead, so don’t be fooled by our recent March-like weather.
However, I did some planting outside on January 1. The sun was bright and the soil workable. Instead of planting peas, I dug holes for some hyacinth bulbs that hadn’t been put in pots yet. I decided against forcing the bulbs indoors because they wouldn’t be cold long enough for me to bring them into flower by late February. I spaced the bulbs around a lilac bush and went ahead and planted them. Now I won’t worry about watering or finding a suitable growing spot indoors. I won’t enjoy them inside, but they will grow and I can visit the blooms outdoors in late April.
I have enough flowering bulbs indoors anyway. I started Paperwhites and Amaryllis in November. The first collection of Paperwhites finished blooming in December; I tossed them into the compost, and I have another five coming along. No buds have formed yet, but they will likely bloom in about two weeks.
I potted three different colored Amaryllis in one large dish. They have grown to different heights, and the bloom times are also staggered. I wish I could take the planning credit, but it just happened that way. The result: The Amaryllis planter has bloomed from mid-December and will continue through the end of January. The tallest stem bears white flowers with a blush of pink, the shortest stemmed flowers had cherry-red blooms with white outlines. Yet to bloom is a bulb I added later. This bud has reached the height of the white flowers, and a second bud is emerging from the bulb. These will be a dark maroon.
Amaryllis grows well in the eastern light. I turn the pot to keep the stems growing straight. But I realized that they grow toward the sun’s warmth, not just the light. On the darkest days of December, the stems started growing toward the heat of our wood stove!
We have tried to keep the heat away from our plants. Heated air dries out soil surfaces quickly. With the busy weekends of the holidays, my plants have suffered from erratic watering inside. Instead of letting plant soil dry out on the surface, I overcompensated with the water and pests emerged. Too much standing water or soggy soil can attract and produce fungus gnats. To get rid of fungus gnats, remove the plant from its pot and rinse off the soil. Wash and dry your pot then repot the plant in fresh potting mix. Water the plant slowly in the sink and allow to drain. It wouldn’t hurt to spray insecticidal soap on the plant leaves, stems, and soil surface as well. Then return the plant to its growing location. I won’t water again until that soil surface is dry to the touch.
Since the rain stopped finally this past weekend, I went outside and scouted for broken branches or crossed stems on my younger shrubs. They have been in the ground since 2022, and 2024 will be the third full season in the ground. I have noticed stems shooting up from older branches sometimes crossing through the center of the plant. These will need to be cut back to the crown or cut back partway to an outward-facing leaf bud. The stem will grow out from the outward bud and no longer cross through the middle of the plant.
Because I will come back again through the year to prune, I didn’t obsess over all the possible cuts. I chose a few stems that were rubbing and crossing. By cutting those back now, I prevent future damage that can come from stems rubbing tender bark off. This little task took just a few minutes, and while I was out there, I noticed that the flower bud on my Viburnum bodnantense was starting to open—on January 1! It seems relatively tight, but it may get zapped in the cold days ahead. That means that bud will die, but the plant will be fine. And other buds seem tight still. You might find that other early shrubs (like forsythia) bloom in the next few weeks. Again, those shrubs won’t die, but their flowers may be reduced at the typical April bloom time.
Climate change will continue to throw gardeners for a loop; however, we can adapt faster than the ecology of our natural areas. As you make your list of new plants for new or old gardens, please do what you can to install native plants that support our native wildlife—birds as well as insects. More native diversity in our home landscapes will help us all withstand the dramatic changes in rain, temperature, and wind from climate change. I suggest mixing a few natives that can withstand colder winter temperatures with native plants that will tolerate more heat and humidity in the summer. They may not all do well every year, but with a mix, some will always survive.
I call myself the Lazy Berkshire Gardener because I don’t want to work too hard in my gardens. I want to enjoy them. I find it easier to observe my landscape and let the compost happen, the water pool up, or daisies to self-sow. I look for ways to do the minimum task for the biggest impact. For example, mulching is better than spraying and much better than weeding all season. I look for beautiful, low-maintenance plants that thrive in or at least tolerate my garden conditions. Plus, I’m willing to live with the consequences if I miss something.
