The winter solstice has passed with its darkest night.  Holiday gatherings bring the light of celebration, love and friendship. And another year draws to a close.  To everyone who stops by this site, I am sending out a happy if reflective winter greeting.  May the garden you imagine grow with abundance in the coming year.
~ Holly at There Blooms a Garden
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Each of us has something that marks the coming of spring.  This year, that something happened yesterday.  It was a sunny day and the temperature actually felt mild.  We went out – feeling a kind of crossed-fingers excitement – to open the beehives.

I'll admit that as the deep cold settled across Northwestern Ontario (and many other parts of Canada) in this winter, I was worried.  How, I wondered, could our honey bees possibly survive? But survive they did; four out of five hives made it through which is a positive return.  I say, brave little insects! 

This is a photo-post to show you what we found in our small bee yard.

Late winter is the time when honey bees are most vulnerable.  Their honey stores are depleted, but the warm days of foraging for pollen and nectar are still a long way off.  They need food to make it through to the true arrival of spring.  Beekeepers start now to feed their bees sugar syrup – and often commercially prepared pollen – as a substitute for foraged food.

We'll be back out often to check the hives and replenish the syrup stores.  A jar may last a few days, maybe much less.  It all depends.

I was fascinated to see the bees flying, even walking on the snow in front of the hives.  This is proof that they have broken swarm and are beginning their cleansing flights.  They fly after their long confinement and well, defecate.  It's nature, after all.

I am about to do something radical. I'm going to plant seeds now – in the middle of winter – and place them in the snow to germinate. It's called winter sowing and, after listening to local gardener Lois Kennelly explain the basics, I'm convinced it's worth a try.

The goal, Lois explains, is to create mini greenhouses from plastic containers saved from fruits and salad greens. The containers are filled with moistened potting soil mixed with perlite or with a commercial seeding mix. (Do not use a purchased soil mix that contains fertilizer or a water retention product.) Seeds are sown into each container and covered with soil to the required depth.

Labeling the seed type is important; duct tape marked with a permanent marker works well. With covers securely in place, the containers are placed in the snow under Mother Nature's care.

The winter sowing method is simple and low cost.  It requires no grow lights or expenditure on extra hydro.  It is ideal for those of us with little indoor space to spare for seed starts.  And it's a positive way to leverage our long northern winters!

Why does winter sowing work? 
Many seeds only become viable after exposure to chilling temperatures. The winter months naturally provide this vernalization, this necessary cold-temperature treatment that promotes flowering.

Winter sowing is an ideal germination method for perennial and hardy annual seeds.  It is especially effective for herbs such as parsley and oregano, cold germinating vegetables like spinach, chard and kale, alpine species and biennials like hollyhocks which need two seasons to produce flowers.

What seeds should you choose?
Trudi Davidoff, who is credited with discovering winter sowing, offers advice on how to read the clues given in seed catalogs. Terms such as "Needs Pre-chilling (freeze seeds, refrigerate seeds, stratify for x amount of days or weeks), Needs Stratification, Will Colonize, Self-Sows, Sow outdoors in early Autumn, Sow outdoors in early Spring while nights are still cool ..." are all clues that the seed type is appropriate for winter sowing.  You can find much more advice about seed selection at the excellent website, WinterSown.org.  Do remember to consider your hardiness zone when choosing seeds. 

For easy-to-follow steps and illustrations, I recommend reading Kevin Lee Jacobs' Winter Sowing 101. You'll note that Kevin uses plastic milk jugs as mini greenhouses.  Many plastic containers will work, as long as the plastic is sturdy enough to support the weight of soil and plants. Lois recommends only using clear plastic containers to allow maximum light to reach the seedlings.

Winter sowing does require a little organization; not all plants need to be sown at the same time. Kevin's updated post on A Garden for the House offers good advice on the best time to sow specific plants.

Winter sowing is definitely something new for me.  Like any new gardening approach, it calls for a little research and a little experimentation.  The USDA describes this method as a way "to foster a naturally timed, high percentage germination of climate tolerant seedlings."  What could be better for our northern gardens?  Why not give it a try?

Visit WinterSown.org for comprehensive lists of perennials, hardy annuals and vegetables suitable for winter sowing.
Browse or post a question on the Canadian Winter Sowing forum on GardenWeb.com.
What is your experience with winter sowing?  Please share in a comment.

“Are ye the ghosts of fallen leaves,
O flakes of snow,
For which, through naked trees, the winds
A-mourning go?”
― John B. Tabb

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.
― Andrew Wyeth

"In winter, one witnesses the part of the garden that endures year to year: the soil, the lay of the land, perennials and the forms of trees. The annual garden is ephemeral - bright, hidden behind leafy vegetation and vivid colors. The winter garden is more subtle, cloaked in low light and short days.
― John Farrell

"How can those who do not garden, who have no lot in the great fraternity of those who watch the changing year as it affects the earth and its growth, how can they keep warm their hearts in winter?"
― Francis King 

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter
to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.
― Hal Borland

"In the depths of winter I finally learned that within me
there lay an invincible summer."
―  Albert Camus 

And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
― Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Work Without Hope 

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.  And the anticipation nurtures our dream."
― Barbara Winkler

"There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter.  One is the January thaw.  The other is the seed catalogues."
― Hal Borland

We're in the grip of deep and numbing cold in Northwestern Ontario.  Each day as I wince at the thermometer reading, I wonder 'how cold is too cold' when it comes to our plants, shrubs and trees?

There's good news and bad news. 

Around the northwest region, most perennials are safely covered with plenty of snow.  Snow is the great insulator.  It keeps the ground from freezing too deeply and damaging roots.  Plants that are hardy for Zones 2-3 should survive.

That's the good news.

Shrubs and trees, on the other hand, are more at risk of winter damage.  I am thinking of landscape specimens we plant in our gardens and around our house  foundations  rather than the hardy native species that grow in the forests of our region.  

Recent reports of ice damage to trees in southern Ontario have been heartbreaking.  The heavy weight of ice and snow can flatten shrubs and bend or break the limbs of deciduous trees.  Ice makes branches brittle which means removing ice can break branches.  It's best to leave them alone.   Snow on the other hand can be removed from shrubs and smaller trees with a broom by pushing the broom in an upward motion.

Evergreens are also susceptible to damage.  "Sunny days in winter, or wind, can cause evergreen leaves to lose water or 'transpire'," says Dr. Leonard Perry, at the University of Vermont. "Since the ground is frozen, roots can’t take up replacement water, so the result is the leaves drying out and browning."  The winter-scorched needles will eventually drop off.

Broadleaf evergreens such as euonymous (Euonymus fortunei) and rhododendron can also be affected by scorch. 

According to Dave Clement, a plant specialist at the University of Maryland, "Leaves curl and droop, then brown from the tips and margins, giving the leaves a scorched appearance. In many cases damage occurs during the winter months but symptoms appear in the spring as the plant begins to emerge from the winter dormant period and move into the spring growth phase."

This is all bad news, indeed. 

What can we do to protect shrubs and trees from winter damage?  Like so much in the garden, being proactive is key.