The lull of winter dormancy is a time to evaluate and reconsider the garden. Always, something is missing, changes are overdue, and in January, there is ample time for planning.

I don’t expect major changes in spring. I’m quite pleased with the long established gardens, and with additions made in recent years. But, as always, some newcomers are ordered to be plugged into small gaps.

No doubt, I’ve over ordered for the two small rock gardens (above and below) that are mostly full after the first year. Several plants have proved to be overly vigorous in the mostly gravel soil, but of course, I expect a few might not survive our wet winters. If all make it, the new purchases will be shoehorned in somewhere. I’ve plenty of experience doing so.

The over grown area beside the new sunroom was cleared to make room for construction in early autumn, and after recently planting hundreds of early season bulbs and dozens of perennials along with handfuls of evergreens, I look forward to spring’s growth. Unquestionably, there will be more additions once I see the fullness or lack of. A few orders have been placed anticipating the need, but I must exercise restraint. Good luck.

I’ll continue to add native ephemerals that Barbara and I enjoy on our early spring hikes. Roundleaf hepaticas (Hepatica nobilis, above) planted several years ago were shorted lived, so I must plant this favorite again. Try, try again, until I get it right.

Again, ferns are on the list for spring planting. Somewhere, I’ve made a list of the several dozen varieties I’ve planted, and perhaps someday, I’ll be able to identify more than a handful. Most often, my orders are for taller ferns or ones with unusual texture (Carrot Fern – Onychium japonicum, above with Lycoris radiata). For spring, I’ve snuck in a few Himalayan maidenhairs to contrast to natives I enjoy.

With my recent retirement, I’ll double my seed starting after too many prior failures when a fraction of crops were harvested due to my lack of attention. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of blackberry lily (Iris domestica, above) seeds were collected from the garden in late summer. Many will be grown for passalongs with some planted in the garden, I’m sure, though I haven’t a clue where.

With other seeds soon to be planted in the greenhouse, I must be more diligent about watering. Surely, I can manage that (I say every year). And where will they all fit in? That will be considered another day.