January thoughts

Sitting here looking out the window at one of the mildest Januarys I can ever remember, makes me wonder what spring will bring. Will we be mowing the lawn in March or barely able to plant in June. Whatever, the life of a gardener is always forcing you to change and adapt.
I have had the opportunity this winter to watch a professional landscaper plan and implement the landscaping for the Brigham City Temple. I have learned so much just by listening in to their planning sessions. For instance, to successfully transplant the trees to the temple site, they were brought to Brigham City from the nursery in Oregon in mid winter. Since Oregon warms up significantly earlier than in Utah, the trees would suffer more damage if they were allowed to come out of dormancy in Oregon then be moved down to Utah where it was still freezing temperatures. Now they will be planted and recover from dormancy along with the native trees.
I have also learned alot about soil quality. Most of us don't give alot of attention to what our soil contains, but here they are putting in soil blends for every different kind of planting. Grass, flowers, shallow beds, etc., each has a special soil blend to maximize available nutrients for the plants. If you look around your yard you can see several different growing areas in any yard. Maybe a one type of fertilizer treatment for the whole yard is not the best plan.
Lots to think about as we peruse the seed catalogs in front of the fireplace for another couple of months.