I recently picked up a book on winter gardens. Apparently, good gardeners don’t just plan for spring. They plan for winter too.
The concept is simple. We have four seasons, and for a large part of the year, our gardens will likely be enveloped in winter. So we should plan for it. Choose plants and structures that complement the cold, harsh setting of winter.
Don’t rely only on deciduous plants. Choose evergreens to hold the structure of your garden during the dark and cold season.
Evergreens are generally not the most exciting plants. They don’t come with vibrant blooms or fanciful forms. Instead, they offer a quiet steadiness. They remain. They provide safe havens for pollinators and hold space for the life that is guaranteed to return once the darkness lifts.
I don’t like planning for a winter garden.
First of all, it’s boring.
It takes up precious space that I would much rather dedicate to more roses.
Yet I do see the need for making space for the ordinary. For creating unchanging structure that will remain when everything else has gone bare.
But I still don’t like it.
No one enjoys preparing for the cold seasons of life.
Yet my winter garden book assures me that beauty can be found there.
In the stillness and the pause of winter, life is still present.
My own winter season has been taking place internally for quite a while now.
The fruit and growth of spring and summer feel elusive and far away.
“Always winter and never Christmas” is a quote that resonates deeply with me.
Yet the structure I have built into my own winter garden provides relief.
A safe place to wait while the darkness lingers.
For me, the evergreens look like this:
- Prayer
- Worship
- Journaling
- Rest
- Grieving
- Honest conversations with close friends
- Making time for things that bring me joy
These are the evergreens that uphold my winter garden. They slow everything down to the rhythm of winter. They help me accept the reality of the season instead of pretending it isn’t here.
And I have found that there can be beauty there.
Not the beauty of harvest abundance, but the beauty of contrast. The beauty of stripped branches. The beauty that comes from recognizing my need for shelter from the elements around me.
So my only encouragement to you, in the middle of this hot summer season, is this: leave room for the structure of your winter garden. Don’t despise its coming. Lean into its quiet beauty. And my friend, if you have found yourself living in winter for longer than you’ve expected, don’t despair.
Spring is indeed coming.
And no matter what you feel in the moment, Christmas has already come.
Until then, tend to your evergreens.
“He will never leave you nor will he forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
With love and hope,
Lacey Steel
