Winter can be a very, very long season in Central Oregon for gardeners. These 3 months from December 22 nd to
March 20 th have short days and especially long nights, which can be the perfect sabbatical for many avid gardeners. Shakespeare ’s quote, “to sleep, perhaps to dream,” makes me wonder if he too enjoyed the respite of a four season climate, a time to restore our energy for springtime gardening and dream of bountiful yields. Here are three fun ideas to help cope with old man winter: dream, travel and plan.
To Dream: Dreaming of my next veggie garden often results in settling into a comfy chair, with a stack of favorite seed catalogs, paper and pencil, and a special cup of tea. Two popular seed catalogs are Territorial and
Johnny’s. The publications not only have an extensive offering of veggie, herb and flower seeds, they include garden tools, potting supplies, garden books, seed starting materials and more. I wish I spent time with these publications before the holidays, as there are so many items that would be great gifts to your chosen friends and yourself. Garden gloves catch my interest, as I often go through 2 to 3 pairs each season. Somehow they disappear, or maybe go into hiding, until next season. My garden tools belong to the same club of playing hide and seek, so having an extra weed hoe or hand tiller is quite practical.
To Travel: Traveling might be one of the most frequent winter activities for many year-round Central
Oregonians. The lure of warm weather, mild temperatures and spending free time wandering in gardens instead of shoveling snow is tough to resist. I have 3 favorites I can recommend. Wear your best walking shoes:
Phoenix, Arizona, is easy to fly to from Central Oregon, with a perfect climate with dry, warm sunshine and fantastic outdoor opportunities. Desert Botanical Garden in east Phoenix near Tempe has 140 acres of wild flowers, herbs, native desert plants and trees, with an enjoyable gift shop. Plan on lunch as there’s lots to enjoy.
Visiting in late February and early March often provides you with the heady scent of the orange trees groves on the outskirts of Mesa and Gilbert, along with some home landscapes populated with them.
Tucson, a short 116 mile freeway drive south of Phoenix, provides a beautiful desert terrain along the way.
Cactus might bloom in April, but are unpredictable as flowers are based on the amount of winter rain. Tucson offers 2 fantastic gardens: Arizona-Sonara Desert Museum and Tuscon Botanical Garden.
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Botanical Garden is the most spectacular garden I’ve visited! Besides a beautiful array of desert plants and cactus in their natural setting, this 96 acre location offers native animals and reptiles, books, mineral collections, an aquarium and art gallery. Look for the agave and Palo Verde trees, in addition to the pollination garden.
Tucson Botanical Garden is named the BEST Secret Garden in America, as it’s located in a neighborhood in the heart of Tucson. This mature garden has a specialty garden of succulents, butterfly pavilion and more. You will find some familiar perennials such as fleabane, yarrow and lavender there. Children’s activities are a focus for this garden.
To Plan: Planning my garden is a favorite winter activity, as I dream of all those veggies, herbs and flowers that provide such pleasure. Calendar at my side, I first write-in all the educational gardening opportunities this year, including Central Oregon’s Master Gardeners Spring Seminar on April 18 and the Plant Sale on June 6. Next I peruse my notes from my dream session and using seed catalogs, focus only on those veggies with the shortest,

les s than 50 days growing season. I have to show great discipline as my motto is “I’ve never met a plant I didn’t love”! Creating a list of all I need this year, starting with my season extender row cover, I’ll review the Down To
Earth Garden Guide for a refresher on healthy soil, fertilizers, container gardening and lawn care. And then it’s back to more dreaming! Happy Gardening!