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"'Twas the night before Christmas,

and all through the house,

a garden writer was scurrying,

Fast as a mouse…"

While I probably owe many apologies to Clement Moore it is, at least, the truth. Relatives have descended upon the house, packages are overflowing the space beneath the (oh no, truth be told, artificial!) tree and my 2 year-old, Joe, is totally entranced by Christmas this year. You can imagine the state of affairs in the Welch household tonight.

The smell of Christmas

For whatever reason, the pine boughs I cut for our annual holiday party 2 weeks ago are still smelling wonderful. I try to do this every year since we don't have a natural Christmas tree in the house. My guess for this unexpected bounty is that we are still having fairly warm and dry weather in the Southern California. Perhaps the temperatures have kept the sap moving longer than usual. The limbs were pretty "goopy" as I put the wreath and swags together. It is so enjoyable to have the smell in the house as it is one of those things that truly reminds me of Christmas. It can be a bit of a mess when you are putting the decorations together. Be sure to wear old clothes and use old gloves. They won't be much use for anything else after you are done. Pine sap seems to laugh at any cleaner short of paint thinner or turpentine.

The garden has been in the back of my mind these last few weeks. I will need to prune back all the roses very soon as we are making another business trip to Salt Lake City in January. I need to have all my "sheep" shorn down to their bare essentials before we leave. I always try to complete this task in early January so that the roses have a chance to develop a healthy new growth before the heat of summer comes on strong.

This heavy yearly pruning imitates the freeze and animal damage that roses would suffer in the wild. Since these are hybrid roses, though, I am a little gentler than your average mule deer in my cutting. Basically, each plant is trimmed of all foliage and left with 3-5 healthy canes to start the new year's growth. This really helps to tidy up the garden and removes all the gangly growth of the last few months. It also helps to keep them from taking over the driveway and property line completely.

Once we settle our lives after the excitement of the holidays there are plenty of garden tasks to engage us. Cleanup continues apace and there are some fence repairs, transplanting and pruning yet to be accomplished. Overall, though, we are fairly well prepared for the rains and the coming Spring---if the rains will ever arrive. No rain since October here and that rain was barely enough to knock down the dust.

A heartfelt Happy Holidays to all and may the New Year bring joy and happiness to you, your family and your gardens!

Keep digging!

Douglas