In a mild winter climate, there's not much excuse for retreating indoors at the first sign of gloom.
OK, I'm as susceptible as the next normal Southern U.S. gardener to whine when we have long dark rainy days for more than two days in a row. Hmm, are we wimpy, or what?
But what our long seasons mean is that we can grow winter vegetables (some with a bit of protection) quite well, and that we can have winter interest in our gardens from berries, bark, seed heads, dried foliage, etc. that continue our gardening season through the winter and beyond.
I was reminded of this today by an excellent article by Piet Oudolf in Fine Gardening's regular e-mail.
In the long winter days in the Netherlands, he relies on many of our North American natives for winter interest in perennial borders. He includes plants whose fruits, seedheads, or berries are interesting to look at throughout winter. Totally wonderful.
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