Jewish day for trees
Tu Bishvat (often spelled Tu B’Shevat) is the Jewish new year for trees. Celebrated this year on Feb. 3 (15 Shvat, 5767, in the Jewish calendar), it comes when the growing season begins in Israel.
Though not a major holiday, Tu Bishvat is marked by thankful prayers, by eating fruit, especially grapes, olives, dates, figs and pomegranates, and often by planting trees in Israel and elsewhere as a pledge to the future.
It’s also a great time for all of us to celebrate trees and their gifts.
Mark Tu Bishvat with the kids from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe; 847-835-5440. Parking is $12. Families who drop by can explore trees in the greenhouses, plant a seedling to take home and read about trees and the holiday. (For more information, see www.myjewishlearning.com.)
Shop smart
Here are some tips from Randall Schultz of the Mailorder Gardening Association for dealing with all those seed and plant catalogs arriving now:
– Use sticky notes as you browse to mark things that catch your eye. Then go back over all the stickies and whittle them down to must-haves.
– Order early. Many plants, especially new ones, sell out fast. They won’t be shipped until planting time.
– Keep track. Make a list of your orders. Print out those e-mail confirmations or save mailed ones and clip them all together. That way you won’t buy the same thing twice. And while you wait for planting time, you can get started on figuring out where to put it all.
See www.mailordergardening.com for more tips.
Oh, cheer up
If you have the January dismals and are wishing for some winter color, cheer yourself up by planning to plant a bright new dwarf bloodtwig dogwood this spring. It’s compact enough to fit in smaller gardens.
Arctic Sun dogwood (Cornus sanguinea `Cato’) from Spring Meadow Nursery grows about 3 to 4 feet high and wide, with white spring blooms, green foliage and, in winter, multicolored gold, red and orange bark. The color is best on new wood, so prune some stems to the ground each year to keep new wood coming.
Bloodtwig dogwood tends to be rather thin and sprawly, which mutes the effect of the bark color. But the growers of Arctic Sun promise that its branches are more numerous and dense for more impact.
Arctic Sun likely will be widely available in catalogs and nurseries.
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ebotts@tribune.com
