January

January always begins on a cold winter night! Gardening in Rhode Island is on hold, unless you count shoveling snow, picking up fallen branches, removing heavy snow from shrubs, feeding the birds, and dreaming of warmer days ahead. 

I'm beginning my 2013 garden documentation with these archival images from recent Januaries. They show a few scenes from our backyard garden in East Providence. In the monthly posts that follow, images will be identified by date taken. Should you notice a misidentified plant, please let me know!

It's amazing how many plants one can collect in 29 years of gardening in one place! I have included most, but not all of the flowering and berry-producing plants. Among those omitted this year are clematis, crocus, forsythia, lily-of-the-valley, peony, poppy, weigela, white lilac and white spirea because they did not make a good showing. Maybe next year I'll get them all! 

Precipitation: Approximately 1.5 inches 
Average precipitation: 3.9 inches

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." -Francis Bacon

The vegetable garden fence and naked rose arbor

The birdbath heaped with snow

Pachysandra

Shadows from a low sun

Snow art