January 1, 2020! The first day of the Twenties!
The flora in our gardens north of the Tropics must think we are crazy for making such a fuss about it while they are trying to sleep. Even flora south of the tropics does not understand. All flora everywhere is more concerned with how the seasons change according to the position of the Earth around the Sun. Precise dates, times and numbers are meaningless.
It sort of seems odd to me that within each time zone, it is the same time and date both north and south of the Equator, but the seasons of each side are opposite. Today started in sparsely populated regions of the Pacific Ocean, worked its way through Australia earlier, and is somehow still the same ‘today’ that is here now. Yet it is winter here, and summer to the south.
Now, if January can be in the cool time of year here, and the warm time of year in Australia, it seems to me that winter could be both the cool season here, and the warm season in Australia. If the dates are the same, it seems like the seasons should be too. Alternatively, if the seasons are half a year early or late in opposite Hemispheres, it seems like dates should be too.
According to such logic, it could be either winter or July 1 in Australia and elsewhere south of the Equator right now! . . . But would that be July 1 of 2019 or 2021? Too many technicalities!
Well, it is more than the flora in the garden is concerned about anyway. It is winter here now, and summer south of the Equator. It is the beginning of January everywhere that the Gregorian calendar is used, north and south.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Note: ‘Horridculture’ will resume next Wednesday. It did not seem appropriate for the first day of 2020.
Tony Tomeo 
Happy New Year, Tony!
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Happy 2020! 🎉🎊
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Happy 2020 to you as well.
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Happy New Year!
I’ve wondered about that question too. There’s a massive convenience in not needing to ‘translate’ dates. You’ve made me think of the powerful associations some words have – spring, summer, autumn, winter bring up clear pictures in my mind of a scene in an archetypal season – a house in a winter wonderland with snow, or an autumnal woodland with walkers wearing gloves and scarves. If I run the months through my head, the picture is less clear, associated with plants that typically flower or have interest at that time of year. The link is weaker and might be more easily altered, given a few years of life in a different place. I can force some kind of mental picture of March, but it doesn’t have its own energy or the cultural associations.
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The kids I grew up with from Vietnam had a different concept of seasons. Their seasons were surprisingly similar in regard to temperatures, but without the long dry season through summer. I would not expect it to get very cool in winter there, but persimmons and peaches grew there.
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Happy New Year to you, Tony. I hope it blooms beautifully for you!
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I hope yours blooms well too.
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That’s too much to think about. Have a good New Year!
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That is the correct answer!
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Here’s to a good gardening year in 2020!
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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Well, whatever the season, a very Happy New Year to you.
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Thank you. It is January here now. It is also winter . . . the sort with cooler and rainier weather than that of summer . . . which happens between late June and September here. Happy New Year to you as well.
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Happy New Year! Love the Camellias
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Happy New Year!
These camellias sure are pretty. They were not used for the project that they were brought here for, so they are blooming with a few few flowers here where no one can see them. They will probably go into a new home before they bloom completely.
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