Winter Gardens

Mornings like this, I am reminded why I chose to live here. A heavy frost blankets my winter garden. Bright sunshine turns the scene into a field of sparkling diamonds. Micro-mini roses peer out the frosty window and thank their lucky stars that I brought them inside for the winter.

Poor little Kokopelli! (Garden art.)

He's freezing his arse off out there!

The lore of southern Utah paints Kokopelli as a little man who traveled to Native American villages carrying a bag of corn seed on his back, teaching the people how to plant as he traveled.

I imagine he was inside his cave dwelling, curled up in front of a crackling fire on sub-zero mornings, like this one.

Look close through my living room window:


You can probably spot my neighbor and his dog snowshoeing through the deep drifts of my backyard. This is the shortcut he and his son use to walk to school in the wintertime.

Eskimo Logic:
If you live in an area of deep snowfall, you can cheat planting zones by one and sometimes two. I'm zone 5 though I plant quite a few zone 7 perennials in areas of deepest snow.

This shimmering white carpet (about 5 feet deep in my backyard) creates a nice, warm blanket for tender perennials. The temperature difference beneath the snow can be as much as 20 degrees warmer.

Some beauties, however, are more appreciative of hibernating indoors. My first - ever - attempt at growing Calla Lilies in a sunny window appears to be working. :)