Just made the dormant spray, probably the first time ever actually in January. A beautiful day, outside 'til dusk, good start on some major pruning. Lots of time to think about finally getting around to trying some twig furniture while cutting up some nice pieces of willow and cherry. Of course the first might be a little chair, alder of course.

So far the only seeds I have started this year are some red currants that I had forgotten, but they sprouted in the refrigerator anyway. Now launched under lights in the kitchen, they look like they'll do fine, and be able to move to the cold frame before long. Its hard for me to believe a new growing season will be here soon. Today I couldn't resist buying a couple of packets of seeds (spinach and onions) to be among the early starts.

First snow of the year was beautiful today. Just enough to decorate the trees, and give a light cover to the land. Cyclamen coum looked so pretty, blooming in the dusting of snow.

As long as the winter is so mild, I've been out around the trail doing some trimming. When we first moved here I made the trail around the pasture and through the woods, a big circle around our five acres, a nice place to ride the horse.
It is amazing to watch all the bordering plants moving in on the opened space, and to see which ones take advantage of part of the path being mowed. Today I brought a few back a few things to save that would have been trampled, and found many more to rescue later. I marvel at the subtleties that influence the success of the native plants here; changes in the contour of the land, differences in layers of the soil, varied exposure to light. Trailing yellow violet - Viola sempervirens, Piggy-back plant - Tolmiea menziesii, and Foamflower - Tiarella trifoliata all seem to appreciate the occasional mowing. They seem likely for a trial here where meadow could replace some lawn. Also along the trail there are Pacific bleeding heart - Dicentra formosa, vanilla leaf - Achlys triphlla, pearly everlasting - Anaphlis margantacea.

One day in fall I noticed a beautiful golden birch along the pasture edge and determined to plant a few more where we could see them in the distance. A few potted seedlings had been longing for a home, and today were finally transplanted.
Some volunteer Douglas firs got a new home as well.

There are lots of evergreen huckleberry plants growing wild at our home, and those at the forest edge produce lots of berries. They seemed a natural for a wine making experiment, so I saved 5-6 pounds in the freezer, but had'nt gotten to them before the freezer quit the other day. So today the berries gave up their seeds and went to the compost (where any remaining seeds may hopefuly sprout.) The rest of the seeds went into the forest edges where many young wild seedlings have sprouted. A few also went into a pot to see what happens, fewer to paper towels in the (working) fridge, and a teaspoon left in case....Meanwhile... the berry mash smelled so good, we will certainly try making the wine next year.

Just when everything in the garden seems at a standstill, its a perfect time to try some cuttings. A few sticks set aside now promise the possibility of new plants later with little effort required. All you need : pruners, tags, twine, rooting hormone (can be skipped, but really helps) a box(es), sand. Cuttings really care which end is which, so make sure you dip the bottom end if you use the hormone, and keep the bundles with all the same ends together so you know which end gets planted later. Today I gathered red twig dogwood, twinberry, spirea, weigela, viburnum, ninebark, mock orange, and forsythia. Mainly just had to cut back the red twig and couldn't just send it all to the compost.
Anyway... the twigs are cut to 3-5 nodes, about 12 inches, are tied in bundles, and set in a box of sand in the cold frame (after dipping the earth bound end in the hormone if you're using it). You can just dig a hole and bury the box about a foot deep if you don't have a cold frame. The ideal temperature for through the winter is about 40 degrees, so you can adjust to your weather conditions.
Meanwhile... the refrigerator here, also about 40 degrees, got lots of nice red currant seedlings going after about 2 months. They got set into pots of starting mix today, and into the garage for now.

Here we go...

Now that all the leaves have fallen, nearly everything has stopped growing, clean up time is here in earnest, in my mind I'm planning for a new year. I love the harmony of the changing seasons, feel the promise of the new year already, before it has even started.

Lots of fun tonight watching a parade of costumed folks of all ages, even in the sunshine for awhile. Happy mood all around town... Harvest still not finished yet here, though close. Pear wine and apple cider started. Many more apples still, after bees and other mishaps caused delays on pressing day last week.