Spring Signs

It really is beginning to look as though Spring will arrive!  The fish in the pond are swimming to the top, and I am amazed that they all seem to have survived.

The bricks you can see are holding down the enormous clump of waterlilies that fill most of the bottom of the pond.  I don't see any growth there yet, but soon I hope.





Today we put up the greenhouse on the deck.  It just seems like the kind year that I want to have it there for protection and transition help.

We also dragged out the patio table and two chairs and it was actually nice enough out there today to sit briefly and listen to the birds sing.

Many tulips are coming up around the yard, and some crocus are popping out though not blooming quite yet.



This has been the worst year ever for evergreens browning.  The dwarf Alberta Spruce took it the hardest.  And the Yucca plant is likely going to have to be cut down to the ground, which will slow and/or reduce the blooming.  They are really just on the border of being hardy here I'd say.  I lose the top parts at least every other year, though the roots do survive and regenerate the plant

 

March 8th 2014, 2013 and 2012

2014  (after 2 or 3 days of melting...)

2013

2012

Second Half of October, and Still Beautiful

The weather this fall has been unbelievably fantastic.  Day after day of perfect, warm, sunny days.  And with the amount of rain we got this summer we can handle the dry fall.  The yard is gorgeous even as it declines.  And it is so nice to be able to work on it an hour or two at a time instead of spending entire weekends doing essential chores.

Today a flock of Cedar Waxwings descended upon the spruce in our evergreen garden to savor the ripe berries there.  Two or three bold Robins joined them.  I expect that all of the berries will be gone by tomorrow or the day after.  The Waxwings are such dressy birds, like men suited up for a formal event.  Not flashy like the Cardinals, they are smooth and green, with a yellow border at the end of their tail and a small crest.  I noticed them earlier as they gathered at the top of one of the Ash trees along the creek.  They flew away then, but I suspected that they had identified the Juniper berries as a feast.  An hour later they were back, devouring the berries.  Couldn’t get any really good shots, but had a fun time watching.
 
Been cleaning up this fall more than usual, and have every good intention of being more disciplined next year.  This summer was so wet and hot, and I couldn’t get out into the yard very much when it mattered.  The vegetable garden was pretty bad, even though we did harvest at least 20 pounds of potatoes and 10 of onions.  Tomatoes died early, peppers never got going, great cucumbers for the first half of the summer, and must admit I let the zucchini get overgrown.  Next spring we will build raised gardens, with bark chip walkways between, and try to civilize the area once again. 

The pond was cloudy all summer this year.  But late in July I became aware that somehow the three fish that survived the winter had passed on their genes and created at least 30, maybe 40 offspring.  Some of them are almost two inches long by now, and I hope they survive the coming winter.   Working now to stabilize the Ph levels before we put in the aerator and heater for winter.

Well that was then...

The rains have come.  It is green.  Still cold -- except for yesterday when it was 84 degrees for a couple of hours.  Back down to 50 today, and likely going to stay there for at least a couple of days.  But the yard is greening up beautifully, and it has been perfect weather to dig, divide and replant perennials.  This is the time to do that.  Rarely have the time, but this year I'm "retired" and have all the time in the world.  Or at least all the time I'm willing to spend.  Now that the pond has been re-established, and we've gotten the area around it back to growing condition, I have time to look other places.  I dug, divided, and moved the one remaining original clump of Karl Forster grass a couple of days ago.  One clump became five.  Could take over the yard, I suppose.  

 

The green has really taken hold now.  The lawns all around the neighborhood are solid and bright.  The only things flowering are the spring bulbs and wildflowers, and you have to look hard or have planted well to find things.  But Forsythia, Daffodils, Darwin tulips, the Bloodroot, some tree flowers have taken the place of the early pioneers as stars.  Emerging in the next week will likely be the Pasque flowers, other species tulips and probably some of the hybrids,  the Choke Cherry tree that planted itself, maybe the Serviceberry. 

I've put the Canna roots out into the greenhouse.  And also the German Ivy that has been in the kitchen windowsill all winter, but which has developed an un-curable infestation of some sort of bug.  I'm hoping the Ivy can survive the cold, but he bugs can't.  Hope I'm right.  (Though I did take a few cuttings just in case I'm wrong.)  The Elephant Ears are out there too.  A big cold blast could be a disaster, but I hope it won't happen. 

The fish are well and happy in the pond now, though two of them have not survived.  I bought new basket planters for the water lilies and will try to do some further division of them soon.  Our neighbor's pond was alive with Spring Peeper frogs last night, and I am really jealous.  We've never had frogs evident in our pond, and there were many singing last night next door.  I hope the enlargement and overwintering changes will help us there. 

Oh, and this was the week of the "Red Death" display on the roads of the flower bud scales of the maple trees.  Always a mark of Spring for me.

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

A whole week has gone by and it has been cold and back to "early spring" weather. Snow has fallen several times, and cold rain on most of the other days. But the creek never really rose into the yard, and even the secondary channel wasn't too terrible. They say that the temps will be rising and it will be dry for the next week. That should REALLY bring the green. Even with the cold, the shoots of grass are beginning to poke through the old dead layer. Not the dramatic green that I love, but enough so that the real transformation will occur very quickly once the days warm up.

Either the fish have been hiding beneath the water lily or something has captured and eaten them. Haven't seen any for the whole week.

Today we drove out to make a bid on an old card catalog at a small library 35 miles west. It was snowing, but the roads weren't slippery, and grey but pretty. Then we took some back roads to my sister's house to wish her a happy birthday. On the way we say a huge flock of swans in a field. I've heard that they stop there or near there every year on their migration from southern US to northern Canada. Haven't seen them there before. A couple miles further down the road brought a huge rafter of wild turkeys in another field. And then, a bit later, a domestic herd of buffalo. Add those to the usual Canada geese, gulls, crows, numerous hawks hunting from trees, guys fishing in the flooded Wolf River, and we had quite the viewing day.

Once home, Bill made some repairs to the low voltage lighting fixture out by the willow, we replaced the windshield wipers on my car, and then did a short walk around the cold wet yard. This photo is from the culvert above the creek near Sunnyview Road. I've take a photo from this place many times over the period that we've lived here and it amazes me how much things have changed. One of these days I'll try to find an historic series of them for the blog.

The Light is Growing Stronger Every Day

It is almost light out when we are awakened in the morning, and we have more than an hour of daylight left when I get home after work. This is really the best time of the year for me - all potential, no disappointments yet. It has become impossible to document all of the new growth, all of the things beginning to grow in the yard as there are so many. A walk around this evening revealed more tulips, primroses, the Lime Ricky Heuchera looking as though it has been growing under the snow all winter, bachelor's buttons, swelling buds on the magnolia, sprouts of daylilies under the dried dead leaves from last year, and numerous other signs.

The ice went out of the pond on Sunday, just a day after the neighbor's cleared and we thought ours would be another week at least. As the water clears, it appears that the water lily has survived yet another winter. The water is filled with dead leaves and will no doubt smell bad in no time. We will need to drain and clean the pond, and this year do a number of repairs to the stone edge which have begun to fall and tip in. We are thinking about expanding the pond, maybe just digging a new one. But I still have an attachment to this one, and find it hard to consider abandoning it. That, and the fact that the goldfish downstairs really need to get out of the aquarium and into nice oxygenated water outside.

Most of the snow piles have gone. I told Bill this weekend that I was betting that the pile in the front yard would last until the first of May. That may have been overly pessimistic, but it is still at least 3 feet high and 6 or 7 feet in diameter and it will take some pretty warm days to melt it. We are expecting warmer days for the next week or so, so maybe...

I brushed the old dead foliage from the chives out in the garden today and cut some to put on the cottage cheese I had for dinner. A good feeling to begin using the outside herbs again. The Tarragon is starting to come up, the three different types of thyme are all still alive, and the sage is beginning to sprout. No mint sprouts yet, but no worries there. Still too early for the seedlings of dill and cilantro, and way too soon to put basil out. But summer will come.

Thanskgiving Weekend Grey

It was, typically, grey today. Windy and cold, with just a tiny bit of sunshine peeking through now and then. High temp about 35, low overnight about 30. Last night a beautiful ring around the moon. The pond is pretty much frozen over now, and the few fish left behind (because they were so skilled at escaping the net two weeks ago) are under the ice. They will probably not make it through the winter - not much air down there, and plenty of dying vegetation. But the water lily should survive once again, I hope.

Today's photo is of the east side of the house. We tore out a bunch of stuff last summer, and put up the two trellises. Next spring will bring the challenge of planting anew in this area, and I have to think about it. Should there be purple Clematis on both trellises? Or different color on each? There are hardy hybiscus on either side. Never tried those before and hope they do well. Then some Hydrangeas, which I've never had bloom, but which were beautiful in other people's yards last summer after the long drought. Would be so nice not to have a drought next summer...