Though an amended ripoff from T.S. Elliot’s Little Gidding, shared sentiments of our respective Unimaginable seasons stuck in place like cars on an icy hill are quite similar. His were the days of a seized-up late winter while waiting for spring that seemingly would not come. Mine are the dark and soggy, alternating with blinding sun; a late autumn caught in an endless loop between the high thirties and mid forties.
A rather large collection of Begonia species at Windcliff are, on January 3rd, 2026, providing an unexpected, never-before-experienced season of backlit foliage.
If this was our norm, I would not be pushing quite so hard to liberate our bottomed-out autumn from the deep ruts of a muddy road. The days are getting only minusculely longer, but minusculely enough for those clever plants of mine to notice. The flower buds of too many shrubs and trees are being seduced and juiced into growth two months too early. Galanthus and hellebores are in full blossom. Begonias and the hardy gingers (Hedychium) are still in active growth. It will take only a minor aerial operation through the Fraser Valley of British Columbia to do seriously bad things.
Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Windcliff Sunrise’ is a second generation seedling selection from my original collection from NE Sichuan in 2004. It has always blossomed significantly earlier than the more frequently offered forms of this species in commerce, however showing color by New Years Day is a first in our garden in Indianola, WA.
My husband will confirm those things you have always suspected of me. Whatever is happening in my garden, at this precise moment, I want….the polar opposite of things that exist, Kevetch about weather? I just can’t resist, the Pacific Northwest where the rains they are legend as long as you really don’t live here I reckon to see that our soils become dusty dry, (by June if we’re lucky) with smoke in the sky, and our winters are mild… “Right!”, said with a grimace, as the garden gets smaller, no plant with much bigness, and then when it rains, well it comes in a river and measured by feet or at times by the meter. DJH
The early winter flowers of Polyspora longicarpa from northern Vietnam (left)are frequently damaged by early freezes while Steve Hootman’s collection of Polyspora speciosa from Guangxi Province, PRC (right) is generally more resistant to moderate frosts. Both are providing a sensational, extended showing this year. (note to Steve; mine is bigger)
An unexpected and generous harvest of Yuzu (Citrus juno) from our garden specimen on December 27th, makings for enough marmalade to last a few days. Robert eats a lot of marmalade…….
I have tried to get things in order but I have failed. (I can’t do this alone, people!) Today, on January 4th, two days before the shameful anniversary of January 6th, when our Resident-in-Thief began his systematic dismantling of our constitutional democracy, I surrender to what will come by way of a vastly-human-altered and capricious climate. It is windy but warm, the fragrances of Daphne and Sarcococca are aloft, and the sun
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier, T.S. Elliot
Robert and I, along with the staff and volunteers at Windcliff, wish you all the best gardening of your life in the months ahead in this new year. DJH 1/4/26
Windcliff Plants (updated inventory here) is available to visitors by appointment Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (which can easily be scheduled by emailing windcliff2@centurytel.net ). If you are visiting for a specific plant, please ask regarding its current availability prior to your visit. Additionally, a selection of our plants are for sale exclusively at Heronswood, Ravenna Gardens of University Village in Seattle, Crazy Hill Gardens and Botanicals in Belfair and Bay Hay and Feed on Bainbridge Island.
A long half-day of backtracking from our night’s stay in Hezeng led us to the basement of our target elevation of 2,000m, what we consider the goldilocks zone for observation of plants appropriate in zones 7-10.. The 100 Li of Rhododendrons (essentially 100 kilometers of Rhododendron) is a municipal reserve of mostly second growth Rhododendron forest in near monochromosis, comprised of R. delavayi, R. irroratum and the ubiquitous R. decora, the later being reminiscent of the evergreen azaleas prominent in American horticulture; a few of the latter were in off-season blossom in tones of blazing salmon-pink, proving the forebears of the modern hybrids themselves often possess a general unpalatable character. 
During the 1.5 day drive to the western border of Guizhou (with Sichuan Province) and its highest peak, we find ourselves approaching that point in any trip when the creature comforts of home seemingly outweigh any opportunity to witness plants in their rightful places. With hours on jolting roads, we have had plenty of time to ponder the transitioning landscape (to that of more mountainous), the differing minority cultures (from the Maio to the Yi) and variations in cuisine (from spicy to combustible). Indisputably, in the relative luxury of our modern travel, the process of getting from place to place and often times to places that in retrospect one wishes one had not bothered with at all allows for a more profound respect for our celebrated counterparts of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Assuredly they traveled for days and sometimes weeks to get to promising territory only to find germinating disappointment. 
A bruising 9 hour drive south and east of Fanjingshan delivered us to the base of yet another of the major mountains in Guizhou, the Leigongshan, and the sublime luxury of three full nights in the same location. On the 9th floor of a nearly empty grandiose hotel, I had the opportunity to become well acquainted with a rodent-of-unusual-size that shared my room.
