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    Dear gardeners, friends, and curious ones:
   
From the Gonzo:
   As you can tell, it has been a mild winter after late November to mid December brought a bitterly cold end to Autumn. The warmer winter, with its unfrozen ground, means that it is all right to be planting in January. You should, however, take two precautions: First, small ornamental grasses, ground covers, and perennials must be heavily mulched so that they do not frost heave out of the ground during a cold snap. Don't let the warm weather deceive you: it is still a long way until Spring.

   Second, as it has been very dry since just before Christmas, both new and established plantings must be well watered. Ornamental grasses really suffer if they are bone dry when they go into a spell of zero degree Fahrenheit weather. During winter, the structure of trees is easier to see than when the leaves obstruct their shape. The River Birch (Betula nigra), as it puts on some size, is in this gardener's opinion, one of the ugliest trees of winter. In years past, I have planted or caused to be planted scores of River Birches, but no more. Now I recommend the Japanese White Spire Birch (Betula platyphylla), also more accurately known as the Asian White Birch. This birch is less susceptive to the borer problems of the American White Birches. And even with a life span shorter than some trees, you will still have decades of beauty and enjoyment. After all, people often spend hundreds of dollars on a dog that won't live more than 12 to 15 years, so why not invest in a tree that you will enjoy for the same amount of time and maybe more?

   On the water-garden front, keep your waterfall running until the temperature dips down towards zero degrees Fahrenheit. If you turn off your waterfall too early, you deprive yourself of the beauty of your water garden.

I'll write more as we get towards Spring.

George Osborne
The Gonzo Gardener

Our booth at the 2004 Garden Show in Lawrence

For your edification, I am including a report that my son Nicholas wrote for 9th grade English after working for me for the summer of 1994.

My First Work Experience
    " My father owns a landscape design and installation company. Last summer I worked for him for two months. I did the work for two reasons: for the money, and because I was forced to. My dad thought that the job would build character and give me a sense of responsibility. It didn't. The work would not have been that bad if I had been able to spend all the money I earned. Instead, almost all my pay went toward college.
    Work started every weekday morning at seven and lasted until lunch. The types of jobs I did were planting plants,spreading wood chips,mixing soil with compost and amendments, and hauling large pieces of rock.. I worked with two people, Thomas and Gary. Thomas was a college student majoring in theater. He is also Oliver Newton's brother. Gary was a doctoral student in biology.
    One of the people we worked for was a lady named Janet. She wasn't satisfied with the rock we brought for her garden. She kept telling us that te rock had to speak to her, and the one we brought to her didn't. We tried to explain to her that rocks don't talk, but she was evil. She made us take the rock back and look for new ones. We never found one that spoke to her.
    One new experience that working made possible was a hernia. One day while working with Thomas, I felt extreme pain in my groin. Even though I claimed to be in pain, Thomas continued to make me haul large wheelbarrows full of gravel. He thought I was just trying to get out of work. The doctor, however, said otherwise. Thus, my summer ladscaping job came to an end.
    I did not like the work I was doing for my dad. I hated having to get up before seven every morning in the summer. The best part of the job was getting out of it for my surgery. I learned I would rather sit at home bored with no money, than do physical labor. I also learned that surgery can be fun."

    This was in 1994. Since that time Nick has turned out to be a very competent worker for me. You too can become a competent gardener, just give me a call and I will save you from hernia surgery and getting up before seven in the morning.






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