January?

 The giveaway is very few flowers. And browns, primarily from fallen leaves. Aside from that, you would be forgiven for thinking a day like today, a 50-degree sunny day in January, is actually a day in March. No complaints regarding lovely weather, but we haven't really had much of a hard frost, at least nothing significant. We've had maybe two nights at about 31 - 32 degrees, but boy, it's been mild and now, after a very wet December, surprisingly dry here at Chickadee Gardens. 

Perhaps a zone 10 winter so far? I'm sure we'll get hit at some point, the last several years we have had snow and or ice in February and March as the seasons continue to shift. I mentioned it in my last post but I'll say it again: I hope we are not blasted with a super-cold event without a nice gradual cool down first. We've seen the consequences of that before. Not pretty.

Today though the sun is out and I'm going to enjoy the greens of the mosses and grass and putter around taking photos, dreaming and gardening in my head. What better activity could I wish for mid-January? None.

At the edge of the shade garden looking southeast towards the house a patch of grass/moss is a lovely shade of green. It is often somewhat dormant much of the year and so when it is green, I appreciate it. I'd love to do something about the grass, but taking it out at this point is probably too much work for us right now. Ideas are welcome.

Astelia 'Red Devil' in a pot by our front door. This is a plant I've only had since last spring, I will watch it carefully for signs of unhappiness. I love astelias and had a couple when we first moved out here but they died a miserable death. I'm willing to try again as I've had some good astelia advice, that is that they do appreciate water, they don't really want hot dry sun and that a bit of shade will go a long way towards making them happy. And good drainage.

x Fatshedera lizei, probably 'Annemieke', an evergreen vine/thing in the shade garden. Surprisingly resilient, these have endured some accidental pruning as well as neglect and have bounced back. Kind of a fun curiosity to have in the garden, not quite a vine though growing upright as a vine would. I had one at the old house to conceal a post support for a garage overhang and it worked beautifully. Here it's not tied to anything, rather free to grow as it will.

Fuchsia speciosa has yet to go to bed for the season. In fact, many hardy fuchsias in the garden are still flowering, perhaps sparsely, but there are flowers to be seen.

A top ten favorite plant for ease of care and effectiveness in my large garden is Geranium macrorrhizum. This semi-evergreen perennial looks good in the middle of winter even with its slight shrinkage of leaf. In spring, summer and autumn you would not be able to see the ground, it would be covered with foliage. Here it is under an Acer macrophyllum, a great application for this groundcover.

Asplenium scolopendrium, Hart's tongue fern, which is by all accounts evergreen. In harsh winter weather its fronds often become damaged and ratty, needing a bit of clean up in spring but so far this winter they are looking pretty great.

Schefflera delavayi, one of four in the garden, in the morning light. These evergreen shrubs have proven to be quite hardy for me, even in the worst winter weather. They are not particularly fast growers in my dry shade garden, but I don't mind.

The mossy path is at its greenest, lushest these days following so much rain. The only maintenance they receive, now, is keeping it free of debris and occasional weeding, though that has slowed down to a trickle over the years.

While taking a moment to relax at the pavilion in the shade garden, the light seemed right for a photo. In the background you can just make out Hamamelis 'Jelena' beginning to bloom. In the foreground, left is Pittosporum 'Sappy', an evergreen shrub from Cistus. I love these plants and have many throughout the garden.

Myriopteris lanosa (syn. Cheilanthes lanosa), purchased from Sebright Gardens two springs ago.

Lonicera crassifolia spilling out of a stump, a favorite evergreen vine that is very versatile. I saw a HUGE specimen at Dancing Oaks Nursery in 2024 that was trained around a rather large door to a barn. Unbelievably cool. You can check it out in a post about Dancing Oaks here.

Arctostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths' is having a floriferous year. It gets a little bigger and a little better every year. No bumble bees yet visiting these arctos but I have a feeling they'll be out soon. I rather hope they don't emerge too early.

A few evergreen things at the edge of the labyrinth garden, complete with my favorite pom poms, those of Phlomis russelliana. Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' behind it.

Melianthus major has not a mark on it from cold weather. It did this last year as well - looked great up until we had snow in February then it kind of melted. I'm enjoying what it is today.

Arctostaphylos 'Saint Helena', a large, wide manzanita, at the base of the deck. It's definitely a favorite.

Hamamelis 'Jelena' flower, the quintessential winter bloom for me. I need more hamamelis in my life I just decided.

Olearia lineata 'Dartonii' silhouette. A definite favorite of mine, an evergreen shrub from New Zealand with narrow, willow like foliage. I have raised the canopy a bit on mine to be able to garden beneath these large shrubs, plus I like the shape and texture of the trunk. 

Pittosporum 'Strappy', one of two, given to me by Sean Hogan a year ago. When I first planted them they were quite unhappy and mostly defoliated within a couple months of planting, but they both rebounded nicely and are growing at a good clip. I look forward to watching them mature.

Acanthus mollis in the foreground, having bounced back from its now seemingly regular summer dormancy. I know a hard frost might knock it back a little but really, you can't kill these things. Layers of Hebes and other sun-loving shrubs in the background.

Aucuba 'Rozannie', a smallish aucuba that always looks smart and handles dry shade with no problem.

Doronicum carpetanum, a little herbaceous perennial from Joy Creek Nursery many years ago (and is, truth be told, a little weedy but it flowers in shade so I let it be) is blooming. Now that's something. Its usual bloom time is something like March and April if I remember correctly.

Closing out this post with a bit more FM magic. Yes, Facilities Manager has been at it again with more edging. Hooray! This is the main garden path off of our driveway that leads into the gravel and labyrinth gardens. I am so happy about this!

A familiar view seen regularly on my blog, this is the opposite direction. FM is equally obsessed with edging. It's a party around here, I'm tellin' ya. 

FM says: Oh, my aching party bones. Sledgehammering four-inch steel flatbar into soil is great exercise but it is work best left to the wet months when soil is soft and impale-able. I believe we installed some 500 feet of edging in 2025. I have my eye on a couple of other paths that need correction, i.e., an edge. And I am looking at steel boxes for the olive-tree project. Oh, the joy!

Back to Tamara!

I should be and am excited about spring. But the shift in weather these past couple of months has me confused (nothing new), I don't want to be disappointed. So I wait for real spring when the calendar says March or April to do spring-ish activities. I'm clinging to January as winter month despite what the thermometer says.

A big thank you and shout out to the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group for inviting me to speak at their monthly meeting this week and to Roger Gossler for hosting me. You were all great and I enjoyed meeting so many of you! Be in touch as I mentioned. And apologies for weird microphone issues. Oy, technology. Still, the show must go on.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you and knowing what you're up to in your own gardens. Let us know! Happy gardening.