After living in Florida for 13 years before our move to Missouri, I forgot what the winters were like. My first two winters here were horrible. I was shut in the entire time and felt totally claustrophobic and of course that lead to a full blown seasonal depression. Over the course of the last few years, I really started to try and implement ideas that would help me get through the cold and here are a few of my best tips that have helped boost my happiness:

Birding

I have found tremendous pleasure in feeding my birds. I use feed from a local Backyard Bird Center and I buy the “Boardwalk Mix” that is a blend of a variety of different seeds and nuts. It looks good enough for me to eat it! Anyway, I installed a bird feeder and a baffle to keep the raccoons and the squirrels away – it has worked like a charm. The best part is the birds flock to my back yard, sometimes as many as 60 birds will be back there eating and chatting away. I have it placed right outside my kitchen window so I see them multiple times in a day. Just watching them is therapeutic and the bird varieties change as migration ensues and the weather evolves – it’s always a show of beautiful colors and sounds. I even bought a track of birdsong off iTunes and I play it on my computer when I’m in the house alone. Makes me feel like the windows are open and it’s spring. I love it.

Indoor Gardening

I’m a total freak over houseplants. Now that I’ve been doing this for a few years, I have really fallen into a groove. I know who needs what and when and all that good stuff. The days of me being the “black thumb of death” are long over as I have really become quite the houseplant pro. I have houseplants in every room that has good light and if a room doesn’t have good light but light is minimal, I have low light varieties like ZZ plants and spider plants. I have quite a variety going on around here, these are a few of my favorite easy to care for houseplants:

Spider Plant – my favorite and when it throws babies off, cut them and put in water and they will grow roots!
Butterfly Palm
Schefflera
Fig tree
Dracaena (Marginata and Massangeana varieties)
Zamioculcas zamiifolia (aka ZZ plant) – If you cut these at the base, they will root in water in 6-8 weeks!!
Boston Fern
Jade Plant
Banana Palm -You can cut the fronds off and put them in a vase. They will live for months like that!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

Succulents – I purchase end of season on sale at Lowe’s off the manager’s rack. They always have incredible bowls that have just grown too much as they sat there all season. ๐Ÿ™ They are usually very inexpensive. I scoop them up and bring them home to propagate or divide and plant into small jars or into my tea service pieces.

I also love bulb gardening and will purchase Amaryllis and Paper Whites for the winter to grow indoors and give as gifts.

On my list to acquire this winter are:
Croton
Snake Plant
African Violet
Streptocarpus
Gloxinia

Some can be easily propagated so that is always fun to share with my other friends. I also have a number of hibiscus and other shrubs that I bring indoors for the winter. I keep them in the basement near a window and they did really well last year. I highly recommend this if you specifically want to care for plants over the winter. This allows me to water, check for pests and treat as necessary. Anything to get my hands in the dirt when it’s snowing outside.

For more information on indoor houseplants, check out this article:
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/houseplants/projects/easiest-houseplants-you-can-grow/

Sowing Seed Indoors

I have gone totally crazy with this. I started sowing seeds on my dining room table years ago – they all died. Fast forward to today – I now have a full blown indoor winter grow room equipped with grow lights, mylar film on the walls for reflection, heated and humidity controlled. I bring potted plants in for the winter and I start tray up on tray of succulent babies and flower seeds to transplant into the gardens in the fall.

Flowers

I make a point of purchasing flowers to keep indoors at the kitchen sink and in the family room…even carnations…anything…to have in the house over the winter. Check your local grocery store or Sam’s club has amazing huge bunches of well priced flowers. Take care when you bring them outdoors. I like to cover them with bags before I head out to the car.

Projects

In the last few years, I have assigned myself a variety of large projects to tackle over the few months of cold. Painting a room or an accent wall, organizing closets, pantries or drawers. We had a large tree taken down last year and I had them tree service save the bottom 18″ of the trunk for me. It has been drying in our garage and I plan to strip it and finish it to make an incredible table for our family room this winter. Look around the house and see what you would like to change up. Painting is usually always a winner. It’s cheap and makes a tremendous difference, even if you’re just painting an accent wall.

By the time I get through all of this work, it’s spring again!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

If you have any additional ideas for getting through the winter, please leave them in the comment section below.

Godspeed to spring!