Gardeners, we鈥檙e just days away from the winter solstice. For gardeners, even though it marks the first day of winter officially, it also marks the shortest day of the year. The solstice happens around 4:00 AM on Monday, December 21.聽 And after this point, the days will begin to get longer. I know, I know, it鈥檚 not noticeable much at first, but the idea of it should give us a brighter outlook! What is the winter solstice? It is when the earth is tilted furthest away from the sun, therefore giving us the least amount of daylight. If we were very far north, the day would actually be dark all day.
At this time, there are no Yorkton and District Horticultural Society meetings scheduled yet, but visit us at to keep up with what鈥檚 happening!
We鈥檙e less than ten days away from Christmas, in this most difficult and unusual year. Tough as it was in many ways, this too will pass. The seasons rolled on, oblivious to world events, and maybe we can take a small lesson from that, to keep looking ahead.
The Christmas song 鈥淭he Twelve Days of Christmas鈥� lists an astonishing array of gifts given to someone by their 鈥渢rue love鈥�. In today鈥檚 dollars, buying each item just once would cost about $40,000; but if you truly wanted to follow the song and buy the duplicates required for twelve days, the final price tag would cost close to $180,000. Plus, you鈥檇 end up with a lot of fowl of various kinds, and I imagine they鈥檇 make quite a mess; and could those ladies be dancing or the lords a-leaping if they were wearing masks? They鈥檇 be breathless pretty quickly, poor things!
As they say, it鈥檚 the thought that counts, but really, wouldn鈥檛 we gardeners rather have different things? What would be on your list? Well, let鈥檚 make one together. A pear tree would be nice, without the partridge. The 2021 T & T Seed Catalogue mentions a new pear, 鈥淩ussian Beauty鈥� that is early ripening. Instead of two turtledoves, how about two nice lawn chairs, so that we can take a break from our gardening work. Three French hens could be replaced by three pretty solar lanterns. Four calling birds? Four beautiful wind chimes would be nice to add ambience to various corners of our yards. We could trade five golden rings for coils of a good garden hose that will reach every corner of our garden. Six geese a-laying can be replaced with six bags of compost, always handy! Instead of seven swans a-swimming, how about a nice birdbath or water feature?
What鈥檚 next? Eight maids a-milking? Think calcium for the garden; calcium is important because it helps plants form good roots and stems. So maybe a bag of limestone could be an option, especially if you have had blossom end-rot in your tomatoes. Nine ladies dancing, no doubt in dancing slippers, could be replaced by a good, comfy pair of garden shoes with good support. The ten lords a-leaping might be useful to help us spread ten bags of mulch! Eleven pipers piping, beautiful as it would sound outdoors, could be replaced by bird feeders that would attract beautiful birds and birdsong to our gardens.
And twelve drummers drumming could put down their drums and bring us twelve new perennials, maybe something like Jacob鈥檚 Ladder 鈥淪tairway To Heaven鈥� with pretty variegated leaves; or 鈥淔ire and Ice鈥� hosta; or 鈥淐heju Fu鈥� dwarf Karl Foerster perennial grass.
It鈥檚 easy to make gardeners happy with almost any garden-related gift! And six figures are not necessary!
Thank you to our friends at Yorkton This Week for their great work. Let鈥檚 pray for health for all, and success with the vaccines! Have a great week!
