It's all about the Snow

For the last couple of weeks it has been all about the snow.  It just kept coming and coming, and building up and building up.  Bill did almost all of the shoveling - I did the deck a couple of times and our lovely neighbors blew out the big overnight snowfalls twice.  But it just kept piling up, becoming harder and harder to even know if it was safe to pull out of the driveway.  Hard to make safe turns at intersections throughout town, harder to drive into downtown on the few mornings that I actually had to go into work.  There were only three mornings last week, and three more this week before I retire!  Will be nice.  Mostly.

So, it was a bit of a relief last Friday when the temps were predicted to rise into the 40's.  Then they downgraded the prediction, but it was still supposed to be above freezing for most of the day and even overnight, for the first time in a long time.  Actuals did rise to 41, and then above that on Saturday.  You could almost watch the snowpiles recede.  We pushed off the latest 4 or 5 inches from the evergreens, and raked the edges of the roof.  Bill spent an hour or so chipping away at the ice dams that had formed in the valley on the north side of the house.  It was good. 

I wish that I had taken photos of the snow at its height.  And I wish also that I had stepped ou t into the fog that blanketed the yard during the melt to capture the recession at one or two points.  But I didn't. 

This morning there was a new cover of 4 or 5 inches, making things fresh and clean again.  But we had a place to put it.  The Northeast garage roof was overhung with a snow slide of significance, which Bill wisely pulled down this morning. 

I do hope that we don't have another extended period of daily snow accumulations.  But that could be perceived as a selfish hope.  The staff at Bubolz Nature Preserve (and those of us on the Board who are worried about the financial survival of the organization) are no doubt happy about the snow this year.  We take in a major portion of our annual income during ski season if it's good, and it hasn't been good very often lately.  And I know that the snowmobilers haven't had many good years lately and they are very important to the development of the trails that I love so much on foot and on my bike in the summer. 

Change is a Comin'

It is 42 degrees out right now, and rain is falling.  The snow, which had covered everything and was weighing down the evergreens already, has receded significantly.  I did go out today to get it off of things that were being badly bent by the weight.  Just wanted to make sure that it was gone before the massive drop in temperatures that is predicted for tonight.  The prediction is for a low of single digits tonight, and a high of single digits tomorrow.  That will surely freeze in place everything the way it is tonight, and many things will be stuck to the ground or whatever surface they are touching.  I've been trying to make sure that nothing is caught in a bad position, which could well last for the rest of the winter.  Or we could hope for a January thaw.

Photo at left is  one Bill took with his faster speed camera the on Friday evening before the warm front came in.  The snow was blanketing everything, and it was COLD.  On Saturday, later in the day, it warmed up, and things started melting.  Tonight it is wet, and raining. 

The snow has probably been reduced by half, and what is left will turn into a hard, dense layer at the bottom of the pile that will last for the rest of the winter.  I spent a bit of the afternoon today walking the path to the compost pile so that it would be level and not a bunch of holes that would be tripping us up for the rest of the winter.  We have had so much light, fluffy snow so far, and the temps had been so cold.  Now everything is compacted, and plants are exposed a bit more, and I hope I've been able to get the heavy weight off of the plants that could be damaged by it.  Time will tell. 

Lots of Changes, Not Much Writing

Haven't written much lately about the yard. Been spending most of my time finishing up at work, preparing for retirement. And the yard has been slowly becoming buried under inch after inch of snow. Amazing how much we've had so far, and tonight is likely to produce another 7 to 10 inches. Another big snow winter is likely ahead.

On Sunday morning I noticed that there was an apparent freeway for either mice or other small rodents to run between the garden and the edge of the house. Likely there is food in one place and shelter in the other. No mystery which is which. And the snow is certainly building up on the evergreen garden once again. Seems like only yesterday that I was documenting this the last time. Winters seem to come more quickly each year. Where did summer go?

The Difference of the Day

Well, good thing we were ready. Overnight snow amounted to a couple of inches, and this may be the end of yard work for the season. Bill did think ahead and bring down the snow shovels over the weekend, so he was ready to clear our drive and also the neighbor's. The first snow is, of course, lovely. But, I could learn to live without it.

I'm glad I snapped one photo of the planter with its holiday display before the snow fell. It will be fine, though the dyed red accent decoration may run and fade even if this melts quickly.

Also, one more of the gargoyle as he watches over the frozen pond. Seems so lonely at this time of the year. Nice to know that four fish have been saved in the aquarium in the basement.

Late Fall Cleaning

This was the weekend to finally finish all of the winter preparations. Now, we are ready!

Cut the grass one last time to grind up the last of the leaves before snow covers the lawn. Moved the patio furniture up to the garage and brought the winter birdbath down. Put the plastic liner pots from the deck down on the garden below so the deck will be easy to shovel. Seems twice as big this time of year with nothing on it.

I gathered all of the screens to store in the garage so that the light can shine in without obstruction. We finally got the storms on the front and back doors - I guess that is the final concession to winter - no screens providing even the slightest hope of a balmy day.

This year I cut back the heuchera along the front walkway to the edge of the walk. It will be easier to sweep or shovel this winter. also cut back the plants around the mailbox and the peony that I had somehow forgotten. Bill walked the roof to check the gutters and look for any problems. We blew the leaves out of the garage one more time.

After the cleanup work we had a little time to get ready for the holiday season. Some lights on a few of the evergreens will make the back yard nice to look at in the dark evenings. We put up the wreaths in front, and got the wiring ready for the porch tree lights.

A Pretty Late Fall Bonus

The Barberry bushes that we planted several years ago along the garage wall are beautiful for most of the summer, but especially nice in the fall. They contrast starkly with the blue-gray cedar siding, and I love their graceful form. In order to have them look like this each year we have to cut them back severely in the spring, and the thorns on these branches are evil.

The most difficult part is to find a place to put the cuttings, as they are deadly to come upon. We try to put them down along the creek, in a place where we don't often visit. There you could find the spent remains of several cacti that we've parted with, several years of barberry prunings, some juniper trimmings, and all the other difficult to handle botanical castoffs of our yard.

First Snow of this winter

It was beautiful... But thankfully just a short lived snow. Sunday morning last week, I think just a week after the beautiful warm Halloween evening on Friday, we had our first snow.

The view was quite lovely from the bathroom window as we dragged ourselves out of bed, and so, since it really wasn't all that cold outside, I put on some shoes and a sweater and went outside to grab a few photos.

I think I have taken more photos of this yard in the last year than anything else. Far more than can be reasonably added to this blog. This is the bane of digital photography - it is so easy to just keep snapping shots, and so difficult to cull through them. The space they take up on hard drives is huge. But I suppose it isn't as huge as the boxes of old photos that I have from my grandparents and parents.

The pond is basically ready to be put away for the winter. But we haven't had time to try to rescue any of the fish. We did manage to acquire a new filter and set up the aquarium in the basement. I hope the ice stays away until next weekend so we can try to capture at least one or two of the big guys in here to save them for next spring's larger version. I've decided to let some of the plants around the pond go, so we can expand and deepen it. Lee and LIn's pond is really only a little bigger than ours, but they are able to keep it open all winter and find much to watch even in the coldest weeks. Their fish reproduce and multiply, and they don't have to deal with them in the house over the winter.

This shot is of one of the sedum clumps at the sides of the vegetable garden. Some small creature has been digging down and around the roots of the plant and has managed to weaken the stems so that they aren't able to stand on their own. The main reason I love sedums is the structure of the plant in the fall, so this is something of a theft of all my hard work over this season. I think I'll have to dig it up and replant it this fall, hoping that it is able to establish itself well enough to re-grow in the spring. I'll leave some as they are just in case.

This is a photo of the east side of the house, after one growing season. Last spring I dug and killed pretty much everything here, hoping to re structure things and create some more mature beauty. I've had to use some Round-Up here and there, and I like it so far, but it has not managed to live up to my vision yet. Maybe next year.

The Beauty of the Declining Days Always Surprises Me

Haven't written in awhile, but fall has marched on. I do take the time to observe and photograph the yard every couple of days, and it is beautiful as it dies - well settles down for the long sleep. I hope that most of it will come back next year. Here are some shots that I like.

The euonymous 'burning bush' in the tricorn garden is quite a star for the last two months of the season, and I like the contrast with the grasses on three sides of it. They don't bloom every year, and this year has been a close call, but it looks like they will actually be able to push out their flowers by the time the season truly ends.

The Juncos are back, I think they've been here for a week or so, but today I was able to see one for absolute sure. Mostly just been seeing the white flashes of the sides of their tails, and it should be totally clear, but I like to have a close up view. Today they were having a bath and a drink in the pond, right below the window I was sitting at reading the Sunday papers. So, along with the zebra grass in the last photo, they comprise a full annual circle for this blog.

Bill managed to roto-till the garden last weekend - I really didn't think we'd be able to do that this fall. It does make it so much easier in the spring though, so it is good to get done. I suppose ideally we would do it a little earlier and be able plant a winter cover crop, but it is always so hard to be able to just get it done between all the other tasks and the vagarities of the weather.

I think that I have been able to successfully identify the unknown tree that has established itself just east of the birches in the front yard. It is pretty certainly a choke cherry. And another young one is growing at the far south eastern corner of the yard, just next to the creek near the bench in the woods. They are edge dwellers, and also common along creeks. As the sandbar willow recedes the natural succession includes them. There are also a couple of black walnut trees, one of them at least 30 feet tall already, that I never noticed establishing themselves until the last couple of years. Planted by squirrels most likely. They will change the area under them, as they are known to discourage any growth within their umbrella.

We are almost done with the conversion to the winter season. Today I cut back and boxed the cannas finally, after letting them settle in the garage for a couple of weeks. I have four boxes full of rhizomes, and one of elephant ears. Hope they all make it through the winter. There are still a couple of pots that need to be emptied and stored in the garage for the winter. And the patio furniture is still out - it seems so final to take it in. Plus we need to move the plastic liner pots off of the deck before the snow flies. But it really isn't more than an afternoon's work left to be ready.

We do have to gather vines from the creekside to add to the holiday tree on the front porch. We made it into a rather tacky ghost for Halloween. But it does need to be spruced up and filled in before we add the holiday lights.

It was one of the best Halloweens we have ever had in this house. The neighborhood was turned out, with people out in every front yard. And the kids were able show off their costumes without any coverings to ward off the cold or wet conditions that are usual. The street was full of multigenerational groups - for the first time I saw multiple tiny tots in strollers and cool costumes. We had over 100 treat seeking visitors, and the mood was festive throughout.

Fall Glory

It is really beautiful in the fall, even though things are dying and other things are shedding their leaves to prepare for winter.

There is much work to be done, digging the cannas is a huge task, as is cutting back the stalks and stems and then pushing them through the chipper/shredder. Some years we burn things, but when it is possible we prefer to shred them so we don't pump a bunch of smoke into the air. 40 years of asthma makes Bill sensitive to particulates.

Even with the diminishment and death that is going on, the colors are beautiful and the afternoon light in the fall is gorgeous. Most of these photos were taken a week or so ago, but I'm just now getting around to writing. This is a busy time away from home, and then there is so much to do here in the few hours we have.

Yesterday and Saturday we had a charitable event to work on, and spent probably a total of 12 hours since quitting work on Friday. But we also had to dig the cannas, cut down and shred tons of spent perennials, cut the lawn, haul a bunch of ceramic pots to the garage, clean up dead plants below the bedroom, outside of the atrium, in the kitchen garden, along the vegetable garden, in the evergreen garden. Also, used up the leftover herbicide on the last of the flourishing weeds, cut down the sunflowers, and a multitude of other small tasks.

But it is beautiful out in the yard and I love being out there even when I am dead tired.

Another Summer Past

Oh Well....

Frost happens. I thought, hoped, that maybe we could get through this week without a big frost, but it was not to be. I suppose that an average date of October 15th requires that some years it is earlier, some later.

And even if the frost didn't come, the growing season would certainly end some time around now, as the hours of daylight dwindle. But it is hard.

On the other hand, it is good to begin the cleanup that is inevitable. We cut down the Viburnum bush at the corner of the deck that was imposing itself upon the Forsythia. They have both been hearty, but the viburnum has really been going overtime, and it is time to rejuvenate it.

And then cut down the cannas and the cleomes and the elephant ears in the deck planters. I dug up the geraniums that might be able to survive through to the spring in paper bags in the basement.

The basil, coleus, four o'clocks, zinnias, and other tender annuals became compost fodder. We had two frosts, one Thursday night, one Friday. The Mandeville survived Thursday, and I foolishly hoped it would make it through Friday as well. But it didn't. My decision about whether to bring it in for the winter has been pre-empted. It is now a stump, and maybe I'll bring in the stump to see if it sprouts. My money is on "no".

There is much more space now on the deck. The grill can be lighted without fear of singeing a leaf of some nearby plant. We carted off many of the clay pots to the garage for storage. Put away the spray bottles of insecticide and fertilizer. The final hauling of chairs, table, planters, etc. may be a few weeks away, but winter is at hand.

We also spent a few hours cutting back overgrown and unwelcome woody inhabitants of the creekside and yard. Willows that were dead, Dogwoods overgrown, Buckthorn and Box Elder. A limb here and there from other trees and shrubs. We have plenty for the Town to pick up this week the last time they will do it this year.

But some things are at their most beautiful. The "tricorn" garden really doesn't come into its own until fall. The Duarf Euonymous 'Burning Bush' shrub begins to develop its flaming presentation, the grasses are fully grown, and in a good year they are in bloom. (I'm still hoping they will bloom this year. The tips of the stalks are swelling, indicating flowers inside.) The sedum is blooming and fully structured. This is the picture I see in my mind all year, even if it doesn't really exist for more than a month or two at the end of the season.

Glory in the Morning

Finally, at the very end of the summer, the 'heavenly blue' morning glories that I planted to grow up and around the mailbox have begun to bloom. They are just now beginning, and they have many many buds of flowers yet to come. If we are lucky and avoid a frost they could keep going for another couple of weeks. Would have been nice if they had started in August. I've noticed morning glories coming into bloom for the first time all around the city - have no idea why they are so late this year.

It still seems like Summer

The weather is still lovely, and although it does cool off at night, the days have been in the upper 70s for the last week. Makes it difficult to contemplate fall chores like cutting things down, planting bulbs, etc. And many flowers are still pretty, like the lovely turtlehead Chelone obliqua at right. Not dramatic from any distance, but very nice close up. A prairie native, and very hearty and dependable.

We've gotten about 2/3 of the pile of wood chips dispensed around the yard, and built two new beds - one in front between the tricorn garden and the birch garden. The other between the first berm and the creek. Bill intends to plant a mass of tulips in one of them, probably the one in front.

Haven't been home much in the last two weeks to do anything ambitious. I did cut down the compass plant and alot of the purple coneflowers near the gazebo. And many of the spent daisies and monarda along the creek. We need to severely prune the lilac bush and I think we'll also cut back the viburnum at the corner of the deck all the way to the ground.

This may well be the last year that I allow many of the New England asters that have sprung up pretty much everywhere to stay. They are pretty from a distance for a week or two at this time of year, but even now they are scraggly close up. And there are way too many of them. Along with echinacea they just take over too much space. Also the lambs ears - Stachys, which will just spread forever if allowed. They are also popping up all over the place from seeds. RoundUp does a nice job on clumps of them, killing them off at the edges. I will be ruthless next year - though it is always easier said in the fall than done in the spring.

Plants on the deck that will be coming in for the winter got their third spraying of malathion today, after a, ,, busy day of shopping, Octoberfest, taking a book up to Dad in Green Bay and then finally being able to do a little work here by 3:30 or so. They are still going strong out there, but I worry about a snap frost. It is the time of year where that is a distinct possibility, and it gets dark so early that I often have very little daylight after work to get much done. I did get everything moved up to the deck, which is very crowded now. And transplanted some of the cacti and succulents that were overgrown in their community planters.

Work Cut Out for Us

Bill ordered 8 more yards of bark mulch last week, and it was delivered on Friday. Despite the anticipated wet weekend, we will try to get as much as possible rolled out to the locations needing it. We expanded the perimeter of several of the gardens, and created a new bed in the front corner. Plus there are many bare spots around that ne ed a shovelful or more to cover the bare dirt.

But it is going to take awhile to dispense with 8 yards, and I just hope we can finish the pile before the snow flies. With any luck we won't have to do chips next spring.

Summer Fruits

Sunflowers and tomatoes. This is September

September Must Come

There is an amazing transition right after Labor Day. It seems as though Summer has a firm hold, and the weather is still hot and dry. But the Tuesday after Labor Day it is Fall - no matter what it might feel like. Kids are around in the morning finding their new bus stops, and everyone gets "back to work," leaving the leisure of the summer behind.

The garden is tired, and mostly spent - though the glory of Fall is yet to be seen. T he tomatoes are ripe on the vine and abundant, the potatoes are ready to be dug, the peppers are heavy on their plants, and the sorry eggplant has yet to produce its second fruit. Sunflowers fill the garden, even though this year I swore they would not.

We are planning how to expand the beds, and when to purchase the mulch to do it with. We want to make the pond larger and deeper, but I still haven't figured out how to do that and preserve the ligularia and the lilies that are on the southeast side where the expansion would be most likely.

Next weekend I must think about taking things inside for the winter. That means the first of probably two or three sprayings of insecticide. I really don't want whiteflies in the house this winter, and I struggle with whether that means spraying heavily or just letting things die outside. And also with whether to try to take in whole plants or just cuttings. The hardest choice will be with the Rex Begonias. For several years I have dug them and put them in pots and kept them through the winter in the light gardens downstairs. This year I took a few leaf cuttings a couple of weeks ago from which I hope to grow new young plants. But I know that I will have to confront the choice of letting the beautiful adult plants on the front porch either die in the frost or be dug and brought inside. I think I will likely dig at least some of them. Maybe this year I'll cut them back heavily when I bring them in.

Other choices: do I bring in the geranium that has been the sentinel plant in front of the garage for many years or let it finally slip away? I really don't like it's color there, but it is so hardy and dependable it is hard to let go of. Also, the two hibiscus that I bought this year were pretty lame. But I cut them both back heavily and the new growth that came was shiny and beautiful. If they can be brought in and protected from the whiteflies that seem to inevitably attach them in late February or March they would be lovely next year.

But the job of keeping things alive and thriving over the winter is not trivial. We'll see.

Pictures for this week are about the light and the structure of the garden.

Hard to Keep Up with Everything

  This week's stars are the PeeGee Hydrangea in front of the vegetable garden and the sedum clump in the west side garden.  They are coming into their best days, and give an important late boost to the declining garden.  Coneflowers are fading.  They still look very nice from a distance, and give alot of color to the yard, but when I  go out and try to find some nice fresh ones to pick  there really aren't any.  Wave petunias didn't do as well this year as usual.  Some combination of rabbits and maybe even too much rain was not the best for them. 

Speaking of rain, we haven't had any since the 4th, and it is really dry around the yard.  Hard to believe, but the grass is starting to brown out at the edges and over the rocks.  The creek is still pretty high, meaning that the groundwater situation is still fine.  But the gardens need some surface water. 

The Hibiscus that we bought at Ebert's in Ixonia has produced saucer sized blooms of a gorgeous dark red that are unbelievable.  Sure hope it survives the winter and blooms each year.  The bush cherry has its own little spot in the Northeast corner of the yard, but Bill has plans to turn that area into another bark bed. 

It is the time of year that I am starting to think about what was successful and what wasn't and planning for next year's plantings.  Sometimes I think that I really need to thin out the stuff in the first berm, but then I realize that even though it isn't perfectly manicured and elegant, it is always in bloom with something.  The area around the pond is not as nice this time of year as I wish it was.   But that is an opportunity to consider enlarging the pond and not worrying about what plants may be lost in the process.  Fall projects are starting to stack up.  

The robins have almost completely stripped the pagoda dogwood of its berries by now.  Our new cat, Grace, likes to sit in the bathroom window and watch them.  I think she'd like it better if she could leap out and catch them. 

Catch Up Week

Had the week off, and was able to get caught up on a lot of things, including the garden. Cut back some iris on the west border that seemed as though some animal had been sleeping in them. Throughout the week I was able to put in an hour or two of gardening each day, and then also catch up on filing, weeding cleaning and so forth inside. Also had a little time to be out and about. All in all, a good week.

Photos this week are of the garden stars. The Joe-Pye Weed in the late evening sun is lovely, and now that the Rudbeckias are blooming too, the purple and yellow are so great together.

The Mandeville in the pot on the deck is spectacular. Not a native, nor able to over-winter here, it is none the less one of the nicest tropicals for the deck. I have over-wintered them once or twice, but inevitably the white flies take over around March and all of the effort goes for nothing. I may try again though - it is so hard to see this beautiful plant die in the frost. If I do decide to try to bring it in, I will need to decide soon and begin to spray it with malathion to knock down the white flies as well as possible before late September. Have to do that for the Hibiscus anyway, so might as well.

The Casa Blanca lily in front is the first prize winner this week. It is as nice as it has ever been, and really stands out. So nice that a photo of it has become the wallpaper for my new iPhone - for now at least. I hope that it lasts at least until Thursday when the Torch Summer party is here.

And the forth photo is of the Barberry bushes that we planted several years ago on the West side of the garage. They are basically a pain in the neck to maintain, having very vicious thorns, and growing profusely every year. But even so, we cut them back to almost the ground each spring and they reward by giving us beautiful young growth each year, contrasting nicely with the blue stain on the cedar siding. Pretty high maintenance for a foundation shrub, but as long as we can handle them they are worth it.