Gardening, In the Winter?

Gardening ... in the winter, you might ask?  It is cold here in Maryland right now, although we don't have snow on the ground like Wisconsin and other places north.  I was just sitting here at my desk in my home office, tidying up a bit, organizing brochures from homes I've seen into my new expandable file folders (the binders requiring three hole punches were a deterrent to filing), planning for more showings and previews, planning another Real Estate and Refreshments event at the end of January, and dreaming of warmer days weeding in my yard. Dreaming of weeding??  Strange but true.  

My family members and I, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and time allocation, spent many hours weeding and pruning last winter.  Here in the DC Metro area, we had a very mild winter last year so it was pleasant enough to be outside working in the garden.

We have a different type of yard, not one with sweeping expanses of finely trimmed, lush, green lawn and beds of sun-loving perennials.  No, we live in the forest, in a wonderful neighborhood of Bethesda called Woodhaven.  True to its name, it is a haven, with lots of trees.  We also live on a hill so there are terraces nicely landscaped by previous owners.  It took some adjustments and now our girls enjoy the great hide-and-seek spots, the Harry Potter classrooms and Great Hall they've imagined, the tree bark forts for Lego people.

And I love the progress I've seen by removing extensive beds of invasive, non-native ivy, trimming back overgrown bushes, pulling down weeds that had climbed up all our massive tree trunks.  I look forward to doing more this winter and early spring.

In my tidying indoors, I just found an article from the Local Living section of the Washington Post by gardening columnist Adrian Higgins from last July titled "Member of the wedding party."  My favorite quote from the article is:
Look out for poison ivy, get your tetanus booster shot, and recognize that it may take three years to create the garden you want.

I have two more winters/springs to go. Can't wait.