In our human world where time is ordered into diaries and calendars, this tired old year is coming to an end and a shiny new one is about to begin, but in the natural world, of which our gardens and we too are part, there are no stops and restarts. No deadlines of the ‘I must get this done before Christmas’ kind, just the ebb and flow of the cycles of life, the seasonal changes we see in our part of the planet as it responds to the oblique angle of it’s orbit around the sun.
Now is the time of the winter solstice, when we in the northern hemisphere are tilted to face away from our sun and into the cold dark depths of deep space. But even as these short days deprive us of light and warmth, we know that our earth’s turning, however slow it might seem, will in time cause our days to stretch out as the hours of light lengthen. With them will come all the things we love our gardens for, fresh new growth, spring’s first flowers, glorious birdsong and the return of the frogs to spawn.
In the meantime, our December gardens have lots to enjoy, even on cold grey days indoors we can still appreciate our views through windows. There are more small birds visiting seed heads and feeders now as resident goldfinches, blue and great tits are joined by black caps, siskins and redpolls and the blackbirds feasting on berries in the trees are joined by migrating redwings and fieldfares.
When the sun does shine on my garden’s shortest days, its low slanting rays make the beech leaves in the hedge glow golden, the cornus stems gleam vivid red and the delicate dew drop grass heads sparkle.
My garden in December can lift my spirits more than at any other time and it reminds me, even in the darkest days, that nature is reliable when nothing else seems to be, the light will return.
