Appreciating the Garden at Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice has been celebrated in cultures around the planet for thousands of years. While some people see the coming season with its darkness and cold weather as nothing to commemorate, the Winter Solstice is traditionally a time to mark the coming of the sun, as every day brings more light.

This year, there was a special component to Dec. 21 in that there was a total lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of the Solstice.

So, when one thinks of the many aspects of winter's earth, sun and moon that are worth celebrating, the mind may not necessarily go to thoughts of summer gardens. And, why not?

Winter Solstice offers the opportunity to consider a different type of garden tour. Rather than see lifeless plantings and unadorned trees in the grey, dry soil, why not consider the secrets that the garden manifests; the bones of the garden that give it height, strength and underlie all its beauty and potential?

Looking around town, there are many gardens worthy of a Winter Solstice tour. Consider the sculpture of tree branches, gracefully bending forward. Or the curves of a small tree whose size belies its strength against the elements. Other details emerge from behind bushes or large plants.

A backyard pond is frozen on top, but still alive with Koi and goldfish who surely spy the  increasing light of every day from deep below the surface. Gargoyles have a better view of their domain and the snow brightens the details in rocks so carefully placed in patterns and paths. The gentle slope of the land is now more evident, as are the subtle hues of purples, browns and reds.

Winter Solstice can be seen as a time to appreciate the devotion it took to making a garden space a reflection of the home and the family's collaborative expression of nature's virtues and beauty. It's just another kind of beauty on the Solstice.