While the chilly weather may encourage cuddling up to a good book or movie with a nice fire, it’s important to get to major chores in the garden.

Planting and transplanting hardy trees and shrubs should be number one on the list.

Cool temperatures and dependable rains make this the idea time for developing or adjusting the “bones” of the garden. So, get cozy with Homeland Security and secure passports for those woody plants.

Finish planting spring bulbs by mid-December to allow sufficient cold weather for proper growth. Deep planting (6 to 8 inches) of tulips and daffodils will go a long way to ensuring that they return the following year.

If using bone meal for good root growth, be sure to mix it into soil beneath the bulbs. Surface application is largely useless and will attract varmints (mice, rats, squirrels) who will dig up and eat your new planting.

SHOPPING for Christmas trees can be a garden project, too. Live trees are available at most full service nurseries. So, if you are planning to put in an interesting new tree, like Afgan pine (Pinus elderica), or Serbian spruce (Picea omorika), or Korean fir (Abies koreana) or Spanish fir (A. pinsapo), think about using one for holiday decorations.

Live trees should be kept inside no longer than two weeks to reduce the risk of breaking dormancy. Keep them away from significant heat sources (furnace vents and such).

After celebrating, place the potted tree in a sheltered area outside for about two weeks to get acclimated again. When ready for planting, prepare the location, plant the tree (do not amend native soil) and keep well watered through the next growing season.

In a few years, you can have your own ethnic forest!

ON those days when the weather just is too ferocious or bleak to invest in active gardening, we can always tune up our easy chair and steer into a good book.

Here’s where we get the inspiration, the information and the resources for garden innovation and ambition.

First published in Denmark in 2003, Portland, Oregon’s prolific Timber Press recently brought us Gardening with Hardy Geraniums by Birgitte Husted Bendtsen.

Living on the west side of Jutland (that final bit of mainland Europe jutting northward toward Sweden from Germany), Birgitte gardens in a more challenging climate than tourists find to the east in sheltered Copenhagen. In many ways, her situation has similarities to marine Washington.

Hardy Geraniums proved an early favorite to her because of their dependability, beauty and durability. Writing from her personal perspective, in this book we learn the full range of geranium qualities while keeping grounded in their utilitarian value.

In addition to seasonally beautiful flowers, many hardy geranium species prove their worth as durable foliage background. Leaf forms ranging from dark and sultry to sunny and bright are specifically highlighted in this book.

While we see few of the more interesting forms in local nurseries, Geranium phaeum, often called Mourning Widow for its dark, brooding flowers, displays some of the most diverse leaf forms.

Excellent color plants illustrate the dark leaf markings of ‘Samobor’, echoing the dusky maroon flowers. In the varieties ‘Lisa’, ‘Conny Broe’ and ‘Margaret Wilson’, leaves are gilded in differing patterns of golden yellow. Though more available, the form ‘Variegatum’ simply doesn’t hold a candle to the more sophisticated cultivars.

So, perhaps our local nurseries could find these for us?

An encyclopedia of hardy geraniums, Birgitte has actually grown and proven dependably hardy follows a practical discussion of garden uses and proper cultivation. She easily proves that hardy geraniums are appropriately popular and deserve better marketing.

WHILE ensuring our own holiday festivities, take time to share the bounty with local wildlife. Over-wintering birds make good use of the fats from black oil sunflower seeds and suet blocks.

Ignore those packages of mixed bird seed because the birds will. Our locals just don’t care much for milo and millet. They’ll just toss it aside, to the delight of unwanted critters like rats and invader squirrels.

Be sure there’s a source of open water available in shallow pans or bird bath. While sipping morning coffee, venture out and break any ice that formed overnight. Yes, you can buy electric heaters for birdbaths, but the trip outside will do you good.

E-mail inquiries and suggestions to lazy.gardener@comcast.net