The weather is cooler and we've even had a bit of lovely rain. It is clean up time in the garden before the really cold weather comes. Cutting back mums and bedding down plants for the winter, bringing in tender plants and garden ornaments and changing the bird baths for plastic ones is all part of December.

Epimediums - fairy wands of spring flowers followed by wonderful fall color

Birds filling in houses with fluff and sticks

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At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
William Shakespeare

Oak leaf makes gorgeous flowers in the spring and gorgeous leaves in the fall

Coral bark maple - branches are red in the winter

So many wonderful shades of purple this year

Bring in any garden ornaments that would be subject to freezing; clean and store in the garage or basement.

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A green Christmas; a white Easter.

If there's thunder during Christmas week,
The Winter will be anything but meek.

The nearer the New Moon to Christmas Day, the harder the Winter.

If Christmas day be bright and clear
There'll be two winters in the year.

Thunder in December presages fine weather.

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