Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, FEbrUAry 21, 2025 Saugus Gardens in the Winter Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener O nce again this week, our gardens were largely covered in snow, and on the Presidents’ Day Weekend everything got an additional coating. Snow piles on parking lots along Route 1 have become mountains. The rain that ended that storm on Sunday froze a crust on the surface in a billowy pattern that looked a lot like an extra thick comforter. Any warmth to be found was definitely indoors though, since the wind made it feel much colder for several days this week, and the ice underfoot was treacherous. Deicing salts were hard to find anywhere. Hopefully, the kids got to have fun sledding and skating during this February vacation week, as it wraps up today. During the brief intervals between storms, it has sometimes been possible to see a bit of green as foliage of daffodils and a few other bulbs peek up from the ground – the snowy blanket has been a boon to anything emerging, since it keeps the soil surface insulated a bit from fluctuating temperatures and drying winds. Birds are certainly flocking to the feeders, and other wildlife may be taking advantage of them, too. Monday, I saw a squirrel break open the door on a suet cake feeder, and carry the suet cake off down the street! Suet cakes and feeder mixes containing suet are a good source of fats that help keep birds and other wildlife warm. When the squirrel put the suet cake down for a while near the base of a tree, several birds came over and dined on it before the squirrel carried it farther away. There are still a few seeds from the fall pumpkins, and late at night I often see a rabbit and occasionally two out looking among the pumpkin remnants for any remaining seeds. There are many different birds through the winter at our feeders. Among the most frequent visitors are mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). There are several who remain through the winter, although in the late fall I counted over a dozen in the front yard at once, so some of those were probably migrating farther south and had just stopped for a short while in the midst of their travels. Mourning doves usually only lay two eggs at a time but may have two to three broods a year in our climate, and twice as many in warmer parts of the country. Despite the wintry weather, it is becoming very noticeable that the days are lengthening. Sunrise is close to 6:30 a.m. and sunset nearly 5:30 p.m., giving us just over 10 hours of daylight in Saugus today. If we are hoping for flowA pair of mourning doves surveyed the snow from their perch in a red maple. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) A peach colored rosebud in a small vase is a nice contrast to the wintry weather outdoors. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) Plow drivers kept the roads passable during several snowstorms this month. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) ers, we are only likely to find them indoors. Many households may still be enjoying Valentine bouquets from last Friday, and the lengthening days are encouraging some houseplants to bloom. I have several geraniums (Pelargonium spp.) that have produced flowers on the windowsills, and the calandiva (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) from Chinese New Year is still prosperous and blooming. A seedling ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) in a pot I brought in from the porch in December has sprouted some leaves on the top. Common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is a vine with extraordinarily fragrant snowy white flowers from Asia and the Near East which can be successfully grown as a house plant here. Dee LeMay’s profusely blooming plant is perfuming her whole house right now, and its graceful green branches with pinnately compound leaves reach out from the pink plant stand that sets off the plant’s shape beautifully. Jasmine has become very popular worldwide both as a garden plant in warmer climates and a houseplant in colder areas. There are a few different species, but common jasmine, also known as poet’s Jasmine, summer jasIndoors, Dee LeMay’s extremely fragrant jasmine is in full bloom. (Photo courtesy of Dee LeMay) mine and sometimes jessamine, is the most well-known world-wide. It has been used for centuries in perfume and essential oil. The flowers are sometimes added to green tea for additional scent and flavor. The 13th Century Persian poet Rumi is quoted as saying “When you go to a garden, do you look at thorns or flowers? Spend more time with the roses and jasmine.” Like many white flowers that can reflect low levels of light, jasmine blooms through the night and its scent is often strongest then. Outdoors in its native lands and many of the countries in Europe where it has naturalized, this serves to attract night-flying insects GARDENS | SEE PAGE 20 The Saugus Civil War monument and snow-coated shrubbery reflected in the wet pavement on Sunday afternoon. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener)
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