Winter.
Nature is stripped bare and we are driven to spend more time inside, cuddled under blankets and curled up by the fire, filling our minds with books and dreams.
I love this quote:
“What a severe yet master artist old Winter is … No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel.” ~John Burroughs, The Season of Being Bare
Spring, summer and fall are beautiful canvases painted with many colors. Winter is a monochromatic palette, allowing us to see the structure of nature, its backbone. And there is beauty in that.
Winter is the time I pour over seeds, gardening books and make garden sketches. Lots of garden sketches. Which much to my dismay, don’t always end up being the followed “plan.” I have finally allowed myself grace to be impulsive, whimsically and over zealous in the garden when the spring comes. My winter dreaming grooms my mind for the final outcome of the my spring passion and a mysterious garden is born.
We had our first snow. I believe snow is nature’s frosting. So beautiful and gives an elegance to all it touches. Have you ever made a double layered cake and when you popped it out of pan a big chunk of cake is removed — I have, many times. But, the frosting heals all the imperfections and a beautiful bakery landscape is created. Just like the snow.
I have lots of goals and plans for this year’s garden! Of course I do – I am Winter Dreaming! One of my desires is to take more photos of my plant friends and write more blog posts this year. So, by placing it here and now at the beginning of the year, this post will serve to be my accountability. There were a lot of lessons learned this past year. Lots. But, I guess I say that every year; )
Look at this oregano- so sturdy. Holding its own in the winter. The leaves are not as lush and the plant has more “marble and the chisel” than in the spring and summer, but alas it thrives. It thrives despite the hardships.
Yes, these plants teach us much!