Garden Chores #1 and 2

I was out Saturday doing what's always the first chore of the garden: cutting down the grasses.  I've learned not to wait too long to do this because the new grass starts growing earlier than one thinks.  As I positioned myself and the buck saw (the culms are thick!) to chop down the Ravenna grass, I thought I spied a piece of trash out of the corner of my eye.  It was the first crocuses of the year, of course.

Our garden has the 'new haircut' look, with awkward grass stumps everywhere.  My compost pile looks like a Monet haystack.  I realize looking at the grasses that more than half of the clumps are large enough to split.  Yeah!

Sunday I started the traditional second chore of the year: cutting off the old foliage of the hellebores. I amazed at how many I have now.  I'm always finding space to plant out seedlings, especially the purple ones.  After a few years, I get to see the new (blooming) faces.

The climbing hydrangea has a shadow twin these days.

Crazy Winter

Zero degrees Sunday morning.

Heavy, wet snow yesterday. 

Predicted high of 55 degrees today.

The Swiss stone pine seems unfazed, but spring will tell what the true toll is from this bizarre weather.

Wintry Friday

We got the school district's robocall at 5:30 AM: 2-hour delayed opening.  By 8:30 AM they called again: no school.  The kids were elated.  

The snow was gorgeous in the morning, turning the driveway into a little winter wonderland. By the afternoon it was slush.  Looks like more is on the way this week.

Winter Calm

The snow isn't lasting long with these balmy temps.

It's Snow Problem!

The forecast on Friday was for 6-12" of snow from the storm, then I saw 6-18" but that evening.  By yesterday afternoon it was 24-28".  We got at least two feet when it was all over.  

By yesterday afternoon, the view out on the deck was already ridiculous.  Those are some of the troughs on the left.

My wife and I shoveled our way out in the late afternoon, fearful that if we didn't, we'd never get out the front door today.

Snow selfie, or portrait of Sarah and Todd Palin, as my sister snarked.

My Subaru is under there.

The front garden, post-cleanup this morning.  I couldn't throw the snow any higher.

On the left is the driveway this morning.  On the right is the same view last Monday.

The tender plants were warm and cozy inside with us.

Remember when winter used to be spread out over a few months, instead of all delivered all at once?

What's Going On?

It was sixty degrees today, the 10th of January, and it rained like crazy.

Hellebores have started blooming, 

with more waiting in the wings.

It was 9 degrees Monday morning, and looks to be cold again this week.  The bitter cold day pretty much destroyed the nice show that the winter jasmine was putting on.  At least this chamaecyoaris thiodes 'Red Star' is doing its purply thing on schedule.

I love the pinkish cast it takes on in the winter.

Even soaking wet and windblown, I can appreciate the mix of evergreen sweet box, skimmia and pale grasses in the beds along the garage path.

Achoo!  Even the fern is still green this strange winter.

I don't know whether to root for winter to finally set in and stop this silliness, or for spring to just start and forget about snow and cold.  I feel like an insomniac at 4AM.  Should I keep trying to sleep or just admit it's over and make the coffee?

Merry Too Warm Christmas

Winter began warm this week here in the Northeast.  The lawn is still green.  Some of the annuals are still blooming in the flower boxes that I deinstalled from the front of the house in order to make room for Christmas decorations.  I noticed today that the gorgeous mauve hellebore in the front yard is blooming, right under our huge, lit wooden snowflake decoration.  I did a 23-mile bike ride yesterday morning after the gifts were unwrapped, and had one of my best times of the year.  It's a bizarre wet, and warm weather pattern that we're in.

On the bright side, the winter jasmine has bloomed all at once, instead of winking on and off.  It's a dose of pure yellow sunshine even on these cloudy, short days.

This annual mallow in the garden I planted near the loading dock at work is a dead man walking.  It should have been struck down by cold and snow by now, but it's blooming its beautiful head off.