Okay my gardening friends, 2020 is behind us and it is time to start drooling over the seed catalogues and visiting garden centers to see what looks interesting this time of year. While January may seem like a slow month in the garden, it is a very busy one in the garden center.

If you are looking for a gift that will keep on giving year after year, then why not consider a winter blooming plant?

Each year at the same time, they will come into bloom and decorate your garden at a time when the days are dark and long and the hope for another bright spring is still far off in the future.

This “to-do” list contains lots of chores to accomplish before old man winter sets in. Get as many done as you can and then relax, stoke up the fire, eat some more turkey and start dreaming about next spring.

Winters in the northwest can be unpredictable. As I look around my neighborhood, I can still see trees (like my neighbor’s corkscrew willow) that are green as grass and completely foliated, while next to them are maples that are fully denuded of all their summer leaves.  

We all have our passions and hobbies in life that we choose to partake in, when time and money permits. Sometimes, when these interests disrupt the balance in our lives, we call them addictions. Here are five signs that you might be a “Hortaholic…”

A lot of gardeners wisely move some of their houseplants outside during the summer to give them better light and fresher air.

Now it is time to reverse this ordeal and bring those little friends back inside and try to keep them happy for the rest of the winter.

Now that we have had a few good soaking rains, some of you might think that the gardening season is over. But as you might expect, there are at least two more good gardening months to look forward to.

At the top of my planting list is spring blooming bulbs!