The Big Dipper Farm News-ette is an occasional gardening e-newsletter for discussing new plant introductions, gardening tips, quotes, poems, ‘things-to-do-in-the-garden-now’, seminar reminders and much more. Don’t forget the Web Specials at the bottom!   It’s free, kept private, spam-less and fun!      Garden On!    
-Deidre Finley, Big Dipper Farm

When Summers blue sky fades to grey and swiftly ends the shortening day,
When coldness takes the flowers away, I’ll dance the dance of Winter!
-Lucy Burrow

In addition, consider ‘The Gift of Plants.’ Just choose the plants you want for your loved one and we’ll send a greeting to them with the list of plants that you have given them. They are shipped in the Spring according to their growing zone.

See How it Works Here

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory,
like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.  - Garrison Keillor

Winter Garden Idea – This looks very cool!
Do you have any of those old power pole glass insulators that many of us collect? Lay a string of green wire Christmas lights through the garden and put a blue or clear insulator over each of the lights and slightly cover the wire with compost or soil. Blinking or not, this is just magical at night! Do this for your holiday party night and your guests will be standing in the garden for a while. 

God gave us our memories so that 
we might have roses in December. 
-   J. M. Barrie

Save Big $$  -  Special Newsletter Offer on Gift Certificates!

Gift Certificates mean never having to say you’re sorry.

Let your favorite gardener get exactly what they want.

See Gift Certificates

Whenever man comes up with a better mousetrap, nature immediately comes up with a better mouse.
–Luther Burbank

My Mighty Oak  –  My Big Dipper Farm Hurricane Recovery Garden
My daughter sent me one of your hurricane gardens after Ivan destroyed most of the trees near my home. It cheered me enormously at the time.  Here's a photo of one of the plants that was in the garden--that tiny little tree is well on its way to becoming a mighty oak!

Hurricanes may batter us, but can't stop renewal. I smile every time I look at it.
Thanks for your thoughtful approach to gardening, and for the good humor in your newsletters. 
Regards, Ginger W – Pensacola, FL

Kissing under the Mistletoe

In Norse mythology, mistletoe is rooted in the myth of Balder, the god of the summer sun.
Balder dreamed he was going to die. His mother Frigga, the Goddess of Love, became distraught when she heard this and asked the air, fire, water and all the plants and animals to spare her son.
But Loki, the god of evil, found one plant she had overlooked - mistletoe - because it didn’t grow in the ground. He made a poison arrow of mistletoe and tricked Balder's blind brother into shooting Balder through the heart.
The sky darkened and all things in earth and heaven wept for the sun god.

Frigga cried tears that turned into white berries on the mistletoe plant. When she kissed her dead son, her kiss reversed the mistletoe's poison, and he came back to life.
She declared that anyone who walked under a tree where mistletoe grew should receive a kiss and no harm should befall them. Thus mistletoe became a symbol of love and good luck.
 

We have fresh, beautiful bundles of Mistletoe are tied with a ribbon and ready for your doorways or for a charming gift when making your visits this holiday season. These sprigs have the traditional white berries left on and are nice and large, not like the grocery store twigs. The wonderful Norse legend of why we kiss under the Mistletoe is sent along for all to enjoy.

Let the kissings begin!    See the Mistletoe

When the bold branches
Bid farewell to rainbow leaves -
Welcome wool sweaters.
-B. Cybrill

Fireplace season is back! A part of Winter that I look forward to along with hot cider, the first snow flurries and Christmas Parties!

Here’s something fun to try:  Collect those Pinecones. Pinecones are great to burn in your fireplace, for a quick added glow. They can also be treated to burn in a few different colors.

Soaked in:
copper sulfate - will glow green
potassium permanganate - for purple flames
calcium chloride - for orange flames

If you don’t have the time to make your own, we have them ready for you, along with natural Fatwood fire starters. A welcome luxury when the firewood is a little damp. The perfect gift for the ‘Firetender’ of the house!       

See the Fatwood and Color Cones

...a garden is like life: something is always doing well, something is struggling, something is being born anew, and something is dying.
-Edith Reed

Garden Story Contest Winner !!

We received some wonderful ‘Sentimental Plant’ stories and we enjoyed them all!  They remind me that gardening is a pastime often involving many members of a family. It bridges generations together with lifelong memories and traditions that are passed down. Thank you all so much for sharing your stories. It was very difficult to decide on one.

The $50 gift certificate goes to Diana Weber for her story from Alaska:

When I moved to Alaska from the Northwest long ago, I was dismayed to find that most of the plants I loved did not grow here. Hybrid teas, no way. Camellias, in your dreams. Hydrangeas, well, maybe if you put it on a south wall and mulched it with straw and prayed every day to the garden gods, you would get a scraggly survivor next spring. So when it came time to plant my first Alaskan garden, I was at a loss.

One day, I phoned my mother back in Bellevue and told her I was working on a rock garden. I had figured out that Artemisias, lady's mantle, and Lewisias would be OK. Lily of the valley and ferns would be a good backdrop. But I needed a little color and more, I wanted fragrance, that hard to find commodity in a far north garden. My mother did not say much, but I knew she was thinking.

And then the package arrived UPS. The letter in the package said, "These are from my garden and I think they will live in Alaska. They lived through the toughest winters we had in England during the war." They were pinks, simple, fragrant pinks and the loveliness of them brought tears to my eyes. I planted the little plant in my rock garden, giving it the best sun and drainage I could.

My mom was right. The pinks thrived that season and many thereafter. Every time I walked past them, I thought of home and remembered all the times I had picked a bouquet of pinks and Sweet Williams as a child. I thought, too, of the home my mother had left behind in England when she married my GI dad. That little plant was a link with home and my history, my family's history, and it meant a great deal to me.

Today I understand a lot more about Alaskan gardens and take pleasure in building a perennial garden that may not be the same as at home, but still very beautiful. I love the pinks best, though, and when the snow falls, I am already looking forward to seeing them next spring.

Diana Weber - Anchorage, AK

Thanks for the quick delivery of the lilacs I ordered from you.
The front of my house will be a riot when they grow larger.
I wanted to tell whoever filled the order that the gift of the Ky. Colonel Mint
was more appropriate than they realized because I am originally from
the bluegrass of Lexington, Ky. and my jewel of a husband, who died in 2005, was a Ky. Colonel.
Strange how things work.
Thanks for everything.   Patricia R. - Big Stone Gap, Virginia

The Standing Water Death

Being in Western Washington, we’re used to the rain, but no one here can remember a November like this one. The wettest in recorded history. We have neighbors here on Green Valley Rd whose old farmhouses had water in them.

Heavy rainfall is one problem but standing water is even worse.

Watch for standing water in your perennial beds and be especially vigilant with new gardens installed this year. A low spot or any pooling may have to be corrected quickly before your new plants die. This includes trees, shrubs & perennials. A trench to drain off surface water may be enough for now but be sure to raise the elevation of the area as soon as possible.

Certain types of perennials are more easily lost to drowning and rot than to severe cold. Full sun lovers like Lavenders, Echinacea, Poppies, Crocosmia, and many with silver or hairy foliage will die a quick death when left in standing water for very long.   

So when the clouds part, be sure to take a walk around the garden.

In response to a challenge to come up with a line using the word 'Horticulture,’  Dorothy Parker said,
"You may lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think."

 

 

Naturally Native – American of the Month

Mahonia nervosa – Has a number of common names: Longleaf Oregon Grape, Cascade Mahonia, Dwarf Oregon Grape, Dull Oregon Grape

One of our NW native treasures. Can tolerate any light level but when growing in full sun, the fall colors are scarlet, burgundy & plum. Bright yellow flower clusters are followed by waxy blue berries. The flowers are an impressive element of color contrast against the foliage in late spring. Beautiful serrated, glossy green leaves are evergreen. Deer resistant, a good food source to both hummingbirds and songbirds and drought tolerant. A very nice shrub and a Great Plant Pick as well!

Zones 5-9   Height 2’    From full sun to shade     See the Mahonias

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.    -John Muir

 Things to do in the Winter Garden:

• Drain and store hoses carefully to avoid damage from freezing. (I always forget at least one) Protect built-in sprinkler systems, cover faucet heads, prepare the lawnmower and other garden equipment for winter storage. Get all the clay pots pulled in and be careful that freezing water doesn’t break your birdbath.
• Now that you can see them again, this is a good time to look at your edging, rock walls & bed borders to repair, re-align or expand. It’s much easier when the plants are down.
• It’s also a good time to see some spots for a few more evergreens or for some shrubs & small trees with nice winter interest like red & yellow twig Dogwoods, Contorted Filbert or twisted Japanese Maples. Of course, the winter-bloomers like Witch hazel and the evergreen Hellebore are a must-have in every garden.
• If your area doesn’t get insulating snow on your garden, mulch your plants with a couple inches of good compost and leaves, clean straw or pine needles.
• Cut back unsightly perennials and pull the last of any tattered looking annuals, vegetables & herbs to add to the compost heap.
• Make a snow angel.

O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
-Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

Gardening in Decline?  Share the wealth of gardening.

We truly love our customers and sometimes they unexpectedly brighten our day.

Hello, May I help you?

Hi I just got my plants from you…

… Ok, is anything wrong?

No, well the plants are nice but there’s a problem with the planting instructions. You guys could make this a lot easier you know.

… Oh, I’m sorry, what’s the question?

Well it doesn’t say here if I should take them out of the plastic bags before I plant them.

…………………. Yes… you would want to do that.

Oh no,      (sigh)      Ok thanks…click.

We all started somewhere. Do your part to bring someone new to gardening. Just one every year. A co-worker, a neighbor, a grandchild, your mail carrier that always pauses to admire your garden. When someone compliments your garden offer them a division and some help to get started with their own little paradise. It can seem very intimidating to someone that has never planted anything before.

The numbers show that gardening is slowly declining. Could you imagine having no garden at all?  Spread the wealth! Invite a non-gardener into your garden. Surprise someone with some seeds or a plant from your garden.

Or perhaps a Gift Certificate from a mail order nursery.   *grin*

The only way I survive winter gardening withdrawal is loitering on
great websites like yours--but then I end up buying more plants...  That
variegated lemon tree already sounds pretty tempting.  But no, I must be
strong--the variegated tropical ginger is already claiming half the living
room, and the dog seems a bit nervous about all the sudden greenery looming
over her cushions.  Enough...for now, perhaps.
Thanks again for a fine site, and an email newsletter I look forward to
reading each month.  And next spring?  My credit card and I will return.
Yours,  Linda F. -  Columbus, Ohio

 What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi.

Monthly Web Specials   Orders placed on or before December 10^th will get the special pricing on the following plants. This is regardless of whether it’s a current (ship now) or a Spring order!  Spring shipping schedule is on the policy page. If you want Spring shipping, say so in the comments box at the end of checkout.

Japanese Beech Fern  - Thelypteris decursive-pinnata   Go to

Deciduous, vigorous spreader and an excellent choice for a groundcover. Beautiful, lush, bright light green foliage produces a graceful form. Produces large colonies in moist or dry shade. Popular for shaded rock gardens and naturalizes in mixed woodlands. Evergreen along the gulf coast. Vigorous growth is produced on short runners so invasiveness is easily controlled. syn. Phegopteris.   Full or part shade.   Zones 4-10  -  Height 12-24” 

Reg $6.99  Now $3.99

‘Coral Princess’ Cape Fuchsia  -  Phygelius 'Croftway Coral Princess'   Go to

New! 'Croftway Series'.  A beautifully exotic salmon color with a touch of yellow. From a new British breeding program that has produced a significantly superior Phygelius. The principal improvements are to habit with a compact and bushy growth, a resistance to overhead watering damage and a far greater bloom density. A long bloom period and great staying power from May to October. Full sun to part shade.   Zones 7-9  -  Height 18-36” 

Reg $6.99  Now $3.99

Oh, beautiful at nightfall
The soft spitting snow!
And beautiful the bare boughs
Rubbing to and fro! 

But the roaring of the fire,
And the warmth of fur,
And the boiling of the kettle
Were beautiful to her!

                                                - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Ah… Those Heavenly Hellebores…  The Final Encore of the Gardening Year

An angel, legend has it, took pity on a little shepherd girl who had
nothing to give to the Infant Jesus in his manger.  The angel handed
her a weed, but first transformed it into this beautiful flower of winter.
The Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger

Finally, with another year of gardening done, some feel Nature saved the best for last. Helleborus.

Some of these fascinating perennials start blooming as early as November. Others around Christmas as it’s common name implies, ‘The Christmas Rose’. Some are blooming at Lent, ‘Lenten Rose’. Wonderful colorful flowers at the most challenging time of year!

Happy in part shade but in Northern climates can do quite well in sun. Performs best with good air circulation.

Deer-proof, slug-proof, evergreen and flowers in the dead of winter. What more can you ask? This evergreen has beautiful flowers that range from white to pink, purple to chartreuse, red to nearly black. Both single and double and many new Picotee’d and Anemone forms. Hellebore foliage looks great in the border almost year-round. Beware, once bitten by this wonder of winter you will never escape the need for more. They are an absolute must for every gardener.   See the Hellebores

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.
-Ruth Stout