For a little extra, you can have a double-headed dog.
On a certain fixed date in the autumn the German stakes his flowers and bushes to the earth, and covers them with Chinese matting; and on a certain fixed date in the spring he uncovers them, and stands them up again.

If it happens to be an exceptionally fine autumn, or an exceptionally late spring, so much the worse for the unfortunate vegetable.

No true German would allow his arrangements to be interfered with by so unruly a thing as the solar system.

Unable to regulate the weather, he ignores it.
Among trees, your German's favourite is the poplar.

Other disorderly nations may sing the charms of the rugged oak, the spreading chestnut, or the waving elm.