Winter Gardens

Winters are so very long for gardeners of Northern latitudes. Many of us become disheartened with the dreary days and nary a bloom to lift our spirits.

Circling every new addition listed in the seed catalogues offers some consolation.  The lofty ambitions are but dreams and the list will have to be scaled back to a manageable undertaking when actually ordering but it is nice to dream.

 

Some of us need more tactile encounters with the garden, and while house plants are lovely, a flower or two in our midst really helps boost gardener moral.

On the window sills of This Auld Schoolhouse grows my indoor winter garden.  The fragrance of herbs when the hand brushes over them, brings back memories of summer.    The occasional bloom on the geraniums in the bleak midwinter goes a long way in bringing cheer after the Christmas boughs have been relegated to the compost heap. 

I particularly love scented geraniums or Pelargoniums.  Though their flowers may not be as brilliant as, say Martha Washington’s fully double blooms (and who doesn’t love Martha Washington’s), Pelargoniums have delightfully scented leaves in a variety of shapes and textures, some variegated, but the real attraction is fragrance.  The gardener is transported to the summer garden.   The fragrance range includes such varieties as Frensham Lemon,  Attar of Roses,  Pungent Peppermint, Strawberry (Countess of Scarborough) and Nutmeg to name a few.  I especially love Prince of Orange which has a delightful orange scent and Fair Ellen which has sticky leaves and a woodsy scent.  It is somehow very appealing.  Then, there is Peacock which has an intense rose fragrance and Fernleaf which has interesting delicately cut leaves and smells like a pine forest.  If that isn’t echoes of summer, what is?

I could extol the virtues of Pelargoniums forever and a day but  maybe just follow the link.

http://gardening.about.com/od/plantprofile1/p/Growing-Caring-For-And-Using-Scented-Geraniums.htm

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/scented-geraniums-zmaz84jazloeck.aspx#axzz3Lhiwl8RC

 

The paper narcissus and the amaryllis are lovely but I especially love the cyclamen.  It blooms long and sometimes seeds back.

When all else fails to let us indulge  doing a study of stained glass

 When even the blooms on the window sill fall into the winter doldrums, stained glass looks rather like a summer garden.

Of course the master of stain glass artistry was Louis Comfort Tiffany and when I find myself missing my summer blooms, I follow the link...

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tiffany+windows