St Peters RC Church Hamilton

December being the start of winter,

Is this time for a bare earth vista?

No, no! Not at all.

There are colourful shrubs

And carefully planted winter tubs for a start!

The winter honeysuckle ‘Lonicera purpusii’ is spectacular,

As are the strikingly pretty daphne.

You can benefit from evergreen climbers,

The clematis called ‘Winter Beauty’ is a feature.

Witch hazel in yellow, orange and red is remarkable,

Shaggy and untidy, yet really appealing.

Its colours are complimented by dogwoods,

Ranging, strikingly, in similar shades.

The natural materials of textured tree bark,

Silhouetted tall trees outlined and defined by their twigs,

With the added bonus of fir cones and berries,

All come together as a focus.

Whilst the star of the winter show, easy to grow,

Are the heavenly hellebore, such a beauty.

Especially if its delicate fragility is offset boldly,

By cleverly, carefully clipped winter topiary,

Unless the carefully clipped structure is temporarily masked

By an unusually early fall of snow.

The hellebore usually starts to grow in January,

But with climate warming changing garden growth,

This winter star could well appear earlier and earlier.

Yes, it is unfair to declare winter opens

And the winters to be drab and dreary daily.

As in any other month, there is always

Plenty in nature to make a delightful picture.

The Lord God, the Creator ever made it so,

He never tires when planning to grow

A remedy for dreariness, a plant to delight us.

Did you ever see prickly heather bend,

Or bow before inclement cold weather!

No, winter’s show is a-glow early on,

Think of an array of pink cyclamen plenty to a pot,

And what a marvellous addition to the winter garden,

Being warm, cheerful, colourful and certainly beautiful!

Surviving the tempest of snow and fall of frost.

For the Creator, our Father, out of His love for us,

Is determined nothing will be lost,

Which to our pleasure, we may well treasure.

Winter colour is God’s kindly favour.

There is an added bonus thinking of Christmas,

2

The pristine white ‘Helleborus niger’, the ‘Christmas rose’,

Plus the sweetly scented tiny fragrant flowers

Of the Christmas box shrub ‘Sarcocca Confusa’ add much,

Both with shiny evergreen luscious foliage.

How well this can be offset by contrast

With a choice of plants for winter gold.

Opulent gold against vigorous green, ever an eye catching scene,

Whoever does consider winter to be tedious, needs to think again!

It is not too difficult to be a careful thinker,

A garden border planner, a thinker looking ahead.

For if you do, good results shine through

To at least put you in a class of gardeners,

Even if as yet, you are not in the Master Class!

The weather being in control of garden splendour at least as much as us.

Many winter plants having staying power, such a blessing,

Meaning there is no time, none at all,

When the garden does not hear the Creator’s call to grow,

The plants whatever the season know to put on a show!

Lord, Creator Father, I used to dread the start of winter. But then You opened my eyes to winter’s unique beauty and I felt happy! Thank You that You desire our happiness to such an extent, You are always providing for us. Life is blessed! Amen.