We have a whiff of spring in the midst of winter. It was wintry here well before the Winter Solstice this year, transitioning from autumn to frozen in late November. It has been much colder than usual for weeks, with days when we tried to not even open the door except to collect the mail. It has already snowed twice, and our first snow came during the first week of December.

But then it turned unusually mild this week; a welcome relief. I’ve used the break in the weather to spread Milorganite throughout the yard as a deer deterrent as well as a fertilizer, and to build a few lovely wire cages to protect some young trees and a Camellia shrub from any more damage, while they have a chance to recover.

And in all of that walking around the yard this week, I was thrilled to find a few flowers. It has been so cold for so long now that blooming flowers feel like an anachronism- a relic of another time. Now that the leaves have fallen and the remaining tender foliage has frozen, it looks like winter here.

The landscape has opened up and the sky shines through the bare branches of trees. We can watch the squirrels chasing one another up one trunk, across a branch, and down another trunk to dash through the leaves in a mad game they play. Dozens of birds congregate in the front yard, enjoying a bowl of water and finding plenty to eat and places to shelter in the shrubs.

Sitting in the winter sunshine for a moment yesterday, waiting for a friend, a delicate white flower caught my eye. The snowdrops are emerging in a pot with evergreen ferns. What a happy surprise! We see the leaves of daffodils emerging already, but these are the first of the bulbs to bloom.

It has long been my goal to have something blooming every day of the year. For years now, I’ve used Violas as a winter bridge from fall until spring. But I didn’t buy my usual flats of Violas last fall. Happily, the snowdrops, tenacious Camellias, sturdy rosemary, leatherleaf Mahonia, and the always reliable hellebores all are blooming this week. The air is soft today, sunshine broke through the clouds by late morning, and I sense a promise of spring, even in early January.

January feels like such a quiet month most years. It is a time for reflection and planning. A month for making soup and lighting candles, for sweaters and thick socks. We hear the owls chatting at night in trees near the house, and sunset begins in the afternoon. It has been good weather for reading with a cup of tea, for writing, and for looking back through years and years of garden photos.

About ten years ago now, I began writing a series of “Green Thumb Tips” on my previous Forest Garden website. I wrote about 25 of these essays between 2016 and 2019. Now I have collected them and re-edited all of them, added some additional materials, and organized it all into a book. Its working title is, How to Grow a Greener Thumb: Reflections of a Lifelong Gardener.

Assuming that all continues to go as planned, the book should be available for pre-order in the coming weeks. I hope it will be useful and interesting to anyone who enjoys gardening. Now the collection is rounded up to 30 tips, and there is a bit of other material too, gleaned from that website and from more current articles. It is still a work in progress, and a few friends are reading it now to help me polish it a bit as I prepare to publish.

Looking back at old photos, as I prepare the book, reminds me of all of the amazing plants I have enjoyed growing here over the years and the tremendous changes in the garden as it has matured. There are always surprises. And there are always challenges. And I am grateful for the opportunity to share a bit of its beauty with gardening friends.

With appreciation to Jim Stephens of Garden Ruminations, who

hosts Six on Saturday each week.