December21, is the 2023 winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, which includes North America, Europe, most of Asia, and Northern Africa.
The Earth orbits the sun on a tilted axis, half of the Earth is pointed toward the sun, while the other half is pointed away from the sun. It is when the Earth is pointed away from the Sun that the winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere.
Those planning a Winter Solstice party have a very short window to celebrate the exact moment of the solstice. In counties surrounding Lubbock, the winter solstice occurs at 9:27 p.m. CST, Thursday, December 21 (timeanddate. com).
December 21 has two unique occurrences: it is the shortest day of the year, with the fewest hours of daylight and conversely, the most hours of darkness. The second occurrence unique to this date is that the winter solstice marks the official beginning of the astronomical winter.
The winter solstice is of interest to gardeners because the photoperiod, the number of hours of daylight/darkness a plant receives, affects the growth and development of daylight-sensitive plants, those that are influenced by the length of daylight/darkness. Photoperiodism is a physiological response of plants to the length of light hours versus the length of dark hours.
A bit of trivia from interestingengineering.com about Stonehenge: on the morning of the Winter Solstice people gather in Wiltshire, England, to celebrate as the sun rose over Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone circle built on a solstitial alignment. Stonehenge is a remarkable feat of engineering, built with crude tools in 3000 BC.
For gardeners, the winter solstice has significance because on the day after the solstice, hours of daylight begin to lengthen, signaling the potential return to the garden.
Two plants traditionally connected with winter and the observances of the Winter Solstice are both evergreen: mistletoe and hollies.
Mistletoe in medieval time was thought to bring blessings for the new year, which may be one of the reasons people still consider kissing under mistletoe to bring good luck.
Hollies with their glossy, dark green foliage and red berries, are a favorite in many Christmas songs. The song written by Johnny Marks and made popular by Burl Ives is a Christmas tradition: “Have a holly, jolly Christmas; it’s the best time of the year. “
Wishing all Texas Spur readers a holly, jolly, Merry Christmas.
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers.
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