It’s been a couple of dry and cold weeks here on the coast of Washington State. We are way behind the average rainfall this winter and will need some wet days in order to catch up. Snow is in our forecast, the first of this winter. Here I am, a gardener talking about the weather once again. How predictable!
I’m joining the dedicated group of gardening enthusiasts for Six on Saturday today. Visit Jim’s site to view more gardens worldwide.
1.Maple tree tapping has begun. We first tried tapping some trees close to ten years ago and got hooked. We tap about a dozen of the many Bigleaf Maple trees on our forested land. We tap trees when nights are below freezing and daytime temps reach into the 40sF, otherwise the sap doesn’t flow well. It has been a couple years since we last tapped successfully, but this year so far promises to be a good one for syrup making. 40 gallons of sap are required to make ONE gallon of syrup, once boiled down, so we’ll be happy with a few pints of finished product.
2. Due to the mild weather, we dug and divided Solidago rugosa – ‘Fireworks’ goldenrod. Once cleaned up and potted into compost, a few pots of these will go to a friend and others to the master gardener plant sale in May. These goldenrod have formed a lovely border on one edge of the rose garden. This is the first time I’ve divided them in six years.
3. I have been working on cutting back some perennials, but am sad to see certain ones go. Beneath a trio of birches, these barrels featured summer annuals along with this Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’ or Japanese forest grass, and the perennial grass has provided winter interest. Good to know these will be back.
4. It’s an exciting day when the first trays of seedlings sprout! These trays hold lupine and cosmos that both germinated over a week ago when I snapped these photos. The trays now are full of green goodness, which is always exhilarating. The ‘Psyche Mix’ of cosmos were some of my favorites in 2024. The pollinators loved them, too.
5. During these months, I enjoy cutting branches off a long row of forsythia and forcing them indoors. Such color!
6. Ending with color is uplifting, so here are some of the first hellebores to bloom.
Gardens at Coppertop 
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