December and already tempretures have gone into the low 20s... now we have cold and rain and the hydrangeas look as if they never did - and never could - produce such elegant blooms. False Indigos are black and shriveled. The trees stand bare and cold. BUT what do we gardeners know? Hey, that spring will come and, knowing that, we can enjoy the hard architectural lines of winter. Just bundle up and go outside!

To lock horns with Nature, the only equipment you really need is the constitution of Paul Bunyan and the basic training of a commando.
S. J. Perelman

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope; 
The spirit of Christmas which is peace; 
The heart of Christmas which is love.
Ada V. Hendricks 

December is the twelfth and final month of the Gregorian calendar and the first month of winter.  It derives it's name from the Latin word decem, meaning ten, as December was the tenth month of the oldest Roman calendar.  The Latin name is derived from Decima, the middle Goddess of the Three Fates who personifies the present.
Daily Lore:  December 

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.  Roy L. Smith
Yule, is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half.   Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day.  Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb.  Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.
Yule Lore  

For more information, contact: rose@DunwoodyGardenClub.com