Morning light with me and my Pepper girl! Photo Credit: Liz Condo

The garden becomes visible at sunrise on the first day of the new year; the time is 7:25. For my taste, January hosts too many cold, short, and dark days. I don’t tend to find relief until the 20th day sunrise.

I venture outside, still toasty from my bed, coffee in hand. I’m wrapped in wool to stay warm while sitting on the daybed nestled on the back covered porch, Pepper by my side.

My day is greeted with bird sightings and song—the American robin, bluebirds, white-breasted nuthatch, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, dark-eyed junco, woodpeckers—downy, red-bellied, and yellow-bellied sap sucker. Also in my hearing range is the golden-crowned kinglet, house finch, Northern cardinal, ruby-crowned kinglet, white-throated sparrow, and the yellow-rump warbler.

With a soft breeze blowing, I raise my face towards the sky, and my smile widens, welcoming my morning.

Glancing to my left, I see my “girls” are down from their roost, having yet to venture into the run. We recently had a hawk penetrate the run, taking the life of one of my girls. As I sit quietly, I’m waiting for their cackling, otherwise known as clucking or a squawking sound, to signify one has laid an egg, half of my daily breakfast. Another cackling sound soon follows, then another.

Glancing to my right, I see the edgeworthia has lost its leaves, but flower buds hang ready to delight me with early spring fragrance, and it is just steps away from the porch. The fig in my line of sight, Ficus carica ‘Brown Turkey’, is bare, pruned, and prepared to serve me well in the summer. Several other figs cannot be seen from where I sit. I like figs.

There’s more in the garden, but these sights capture my attention today.

*Moving Forward* by Tinka Jordy. Photo credit Liz Condo

It’s Wednesday. It’s time to move forward. I look straight ahead to the mixed border and find a sculpture by Tinka Jordy called Moving Forward. She reminds me I need to make something of my day. But before I ready myself, I stop to watch the squirrel trying to reach the suet feeder and then admire the evergreen plants that, in part, make up the mixed border.

While the January mixed border is considered bare by summer standards, what remains in winter offers texture through colorful ground covers, flowering shrubs, and fruit-bearing trees. Oak leaves I collected from the curb warmly dress the bed adding additional texture, food, and protection for wildlife.

GROUND COVERS

There are evergreen ground covers like bugleweed, Ajuga reptans, creeping strawberry, Rubus rolfei, and crinkle root, Cardamine diphylla.

Recently, I added a low-growing juniper, Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana' from Campbell Road Nursery to the border, which adds an interesting sculptural form and softens the edge of the retaining wall.

Arborvitae ferns, Selaginella braunii, which is neither an arborvitae nor a fern, makes a good evergreen plant with an interesting texture.

Coral bells Heuchera × villosa ‘Carnival Peach Parfait’ and ‘Caramel’, which the rabbits love to nibble on, offer a soothing color other than green.

Parts of the border are also covered with the evergreen Solomon’s seal, Disporopsis pernyi, common ginger, Zingiber officinale, and white wood aster, Eurybia divaricata.

SHRUBS

In the fall of 2023, I added several evergreen shrubs to the mixed border for structure, including three yellow anises, Illicium parviflorum ‘Florida Sunshine’, introduced by Tony Avent with Plant Delights Nursery. ‘Florida Sunshine’ brightens a part sun/shade landscape, and it’s carefree.

I also added a winter Daphne, Daphne odora, three ‘Swing Low' distylium, Distylium ‘PIIDIST-VI’ PP29,779, and an abelia, Abelia × ‘Frosty’. I considered ‘Rose Creek’ but I ruled it out since I manage the size of plants and placement in the mixed border and felt it wouldn’t fit.

The border structure was enhanced with two good viburnums, ‘Moonlit Glow’ and ‘Raulston Hardy’. These shrubs joined the existing arborvitae Thuja applicate ‘Whipcord’, which must have taken years to form as a standard; ‘Whipcord’ made its home in the border 2015, already in its desired form.

DECIDUOUS FRUIT TREES

1-10-25 A rare snowy day in Raleigh. Sadly, I missed the event since I was at the COTtAGE at Emerald Isle beginning my next book; David sent this photo . Our pomegranate tree (see fruit) and two of the three ‘Florida Sunshine’ anise.

The pomegranate tree, Punica granatum, is still full of fruit, which provides beauty and food for the wildlife after my family has had our fill. Unlike the sweet cherry tree, Prunus avium ‘Stella’, which has never provided my family with fruit. After 15 years in place, it’s likely the tree’s location doesn’t provide what the cherry needs. Perhaps not enough light, although it gets six hours of sunlight a day.

No accident the Bird on a Fence Post by Marina Bosetti complements the oakleaf hydrangea’s winter color.

One of my favorite parts of this bed was a gift from my husband, David—big boulder steps to take me from the lower to the upper garden, installed by Phil Hathcock of Natural Stone Sculptures.

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At the end of my day, I return to the covered porch, exhausted but already looking forward to tomorrow.

In the evening, the night lighting shows the way until 9 pm. I have it set to turn off as I rest for the evening and for darkness for the night-visiting wildlife.