Even in winter months, I'm thankful for the garden

Most people may choose Christmas as their favorite holiday, but Thanksgiving is at the top of my list. I love its less hectic pace, the time spent with family around the dinner table and its focus on family instead of presents.

Before this Thanksgiving becomes a distant memory as we focus on the perfect gifts for everyone on our lists, let's consider all the gifts we already have. I am most thankful for my family and friends, of course, but my garden is next on my thankful for list.

From the moment the first snowdrops and winter aconite bloom in early spring until the last flowers of sedum fade, I am thankful for the beautiful flowers in my garden. Bulbs, perennials and shrubs share their blooms year after year. Annuals allow the opportunity to try new flowers in containers and in the garden.

In addition to the beauty of the flowers, I love the scents of the garden, too. In spring, the gentle fragrances of pansies and stock are lovely until the perfume of Korean spice viburnum and lilacs fills the air. Roses and the blooms of mockorange and summersweet sweeten the summer air, and sweet autumn clematis keeps the garden fragrant in the fall. The benefits of aromatherapy are as accessible as a walk in the garden.

I am thankful for the food the garden provides our family. Strawberries picked at the peak of sweetness, peas eaten right from their pods, the taste of potatoes dug moments before cooking and kohlrabi peeled and eaten like an apple are my favorites.

My husband would cast his vote for the tomatoes he enjoys chopped in salads and sliced for burgers. Because they are grown organically, the fruits and vegetables grown in my garden are delicious, nutritious and free of chemicals.

Lots of birds, butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects, frogs and toads, and other wildlife call my garden home — some for the season; some are permanent residents. They have plenty of food — flowers full of nectar, berries and seeds for the winged wildlife; slugs, spiders and other insects for the frogs and toads. The pond provides plenty of water, and shelter can be found in hedges, evergreens, wood piles and native plants left standing for the winter. I am thankful they take advantage of my hospitality and fill my garden with life.

The garden is a mood lifter, stress reliever and a source of exercise — all at the same time. Whether thrusting a shovel into the soil, pulling weeds, pruning the branches of trees or shrubs, shoveling mulch into a wheelbarrow or deadheading annuals in containers, I am happy.

I am thankful for people who love gardening as much as I do. They understand the excitement of seedlings emerging, the joy of the first ripe tomato and the elation when a sought-after perennial is discovered at a local garden center. They share seed catalogs and divisions of perennials.

I am especially thankful for my husband. Even though he is not a gardener, my landscape wouldn't be the same without him. He helps me move mountains of mulch. Together, we have dug ponds and built rock walls. He has built arbors, pergolas and fences.

And yes, I am even thankful for winter in the garden. It's a time to reflect on the past season, plan for the next one while the snow covers the garden with a blanket of white.

• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.