Gardeners can choose to work ? or dream ? in winter

We were teased with a couple of freezes, but our fickle Ozarks climate still hasn't delivered anything like real winter.

I don't get it. Is it global warming or just the luck of the draw? (Of course, by the time you read this, we may have snow on the ground.)

I like winter. I like cold. I like snow. I'm ready. Bring it on. I know some people think my roof is missing a few tiles for feeling that way, but that's how it is. I guess I never lost the enthusiasm for winter and winter things that I felt as a child.

Winter raises a question for gardeners and landscapers in this part of the country, where we can have days of icy chill mixed with relative warmth. Are there chores gardeners and landscapers should take care of over winter?

Leroy Uber, who at the time was running the James River Nursery, once gave me a nifty answer to that question. He cited only one "must" winter garden chore: "With broadleafed evergreens like hollies, azaleas and rhododendrons, when the temperature is in the 20s or teens and the ground is frozen, and the sun comes out, and the wind blows, wilt can happen," he said. "Plants need water. In a dry winter the root zone has to kept moist."

Happy to say, except for tending to those evergreens, winter garden work is entirely the gardener's choice.

For those who love to garden and those who want to get a jump on spring, here's a checklist of things you can do or not do in winter:

When soil is workable (unfrozen)

Plant shrubs, trees and perennials. (Prune tops to allow for root loss in transplanting, if the nursery hasn't already done so.)

Plant bulbs. Even bulbs planted later than Christmas may do well, although usually the later the planting, the weaker the flowering.

Divide and replant perennials.

Prepare soil. Warmer winter days allow for spading, tilling, and amending soils.

Anytime

Remove spent annuals.

Cut back perennials. Leaving 3 or 4 inches on stems creates a framework that can hold mulch in place.

Mulch where useful. Mulch protects plants, holds moisture and can be attractive. Mound cottonseed hulls, rotted sawdust, peat moss, leaf-mold or other organic matter a foot deep over plant crowns.

Prune shrubs and trees. Now's the best time to prune shrubs that bloom on wood to be produced in the next growing season, such as abelia, crape myrtle and summer-blooming spireas. The best time to prune shrubs that bloom on year-old wood is just after blooming. (They can take winter pruning, but it will cost them some flower-bearing wood.) All trees can be pruned in winter, and dead wood, of course, can (and should) be pruned out any time.

Maintain tools. Winter's an ideal time to apply boiled linseed oil or penetrating oil to protect shears, saws and other metal tools, or to sharpen shears, spades and shovel edges.

Make a garden calendar. All you need is a notebook and some transparent tape or glue. Add any garden notes, photos, or other garden goodies you like.

If, on the other hand, doing winter work in the garden isn't for you, and you prefer instead to enjoy the seed catalogs and dreams of gardens past and yet to come, please feel free. We may even join you in a bit of that.

In any event, happy gardening, whatever the season.