March Lion & Lamb

Well, March did come in like a lion, but it seems to be going out pretty lamb like.  Here are some photos from March 2nd.

 

  

And here are some from today.  A bit of a difference, wouldn't you say?

 

Rule here is once something blooms I have to keep something blooming until the end of October. Sometimes a challenge, but not always. It’s usually the snowdrops that bloom first, but this year it’s crocuses.

Winter Just Keeps on Coming!

We can't seem to shake snow and cold this year.  The yard has been snow covered since early December, with no end in sight.  Even though the temps may rise above freezing for a few days this week, lows are projected to go below zero for three days again over the weekend and early next week.

The photo at left is of a plant stand that we left out over the winter.  It is at least a foot from the bottom to the level that is just being met by the snow.  And this is right next to the house where the snow is much less deep than elsewhere, as well as before the 5 or 6 inches we are projected to get today.  












We're working to keep the pond open in one small spot, but the combination of very cold temps and deep snow is making that really difficult.  Had to buy a new heater, and even that is having trouble keeping up.  Add the fact that they say the frost is VERY deep this year, I'm not sure we will have any fish in the spring to feed the Heron.






If you take a look at the snow on top and below the bench in the gazebo you can get an idea of how deep it is everywhere.  I walked around the yard the other day to check on things and it was a major effort just to get out to the creek and back.  At least 2 feet of snow in some places. 

A Very Different Kind of Winter From Last Year

 Note the photos below from last March 8th.  Now here are a few from yesterday in Sunnyview Gardens, and there is more snow falling right now.  I'm ready for winter to leave, but it appears it will be here for awhile.

Clean New Snow

A light snow overnight has made everything pretty and white again.  Still not really much on the ground, but at least it looks like winter.  The birds are everywhere lately.  Lin next door gave me her peanut butter suet recipe, and we made a couple of birch log suet holders.  Many different birds seem to like them a lot, including the chickadees, a nuthatch, and woodpeckers. 

 

 

The favorite suet feeder in the yard seems to be the ceramic feeder in the gazebo.  It’s never worked well with seeds, because the holes are too large.  But stuffed with suet it attracts all types.  Looks pretty gross, but birds do seem to love it.

 

A group of English Sparrows has taken over one of the feeders, and they are also occupying the forsythia bush near the deck.  Don’t really want a sparrow tree in the yard, so I may discourage them. 

 

The new snow was pretty for sure.  I don’t love winter, and I don’t love snow.  But if I’ve got to put up with winter I would like some of the beauty of snow, especially in January. 

  

 

 

The gargoyle is still guarding the hole in the pond created by the aerator and sometimes the heater.  I haven’t been able to see the fish for awhile since the snow covered the ice over most of the pond.  Hope they are hanging on.  Looking forward to the melt in another month or two. 

 

Peanut Butter Suet Recipe:

Melt ½ pound Lard

Stir in 1 cup chunky Peanut Butter (or creamy PB and fine ground peanuts)

Add 2 cups yellow corn meal

2 cups quick oats

¾ cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

Store in Refrigerator or garage in winter.

Snow Ducks and Garden Beds

After getting home following a morning and noon of meetings, today’s major activity was keeping the two Mallard Ducks who have been hanging out around our yard out of our pond and our neighbor’s. 

It is snowing again, with 6 to 10 inches expected before it is all over.  Just when we thought Spring had arrived, and just a day before Lee and Lin are due home from Florida, this happens.  I’m sure the ducks are just looking for a place to nest, but I really don’t want it to be in my tiny pond.  There are 40 or 50 small fish in there, having survived over the Winter.  I didn’t keep them alive all winter to provide food for ducks! 

This is the day after I saw a Turkey strut through our yard.  A single turkey, which I think is a rare occurrence, especially at this time of year.  She walked through along the creek, very deliberately, and I haven’t seen her since.  It is the first time we’ve had one in this yard that I am aware of. 

Yesterday I went out and cut a vase full of not quite open daffodils so that we can enjoy then outside.  I fear that there won’t be any more after this heavy snow.  Also cut some forsythia branches, fearing that the shrub outside would also be crushed by the heavy snow.  It will be a bonus if I’m wrong. 

Bill got the raised garden beds finished this morning, and in before the snow started.  I won’t get much chance to see what he’s done til all this snow melts though.  Here are the first two, finished last week.  We almost ordered 10 yards of bark mulch yesterday, and now I’m pretty glad we didn’t have it delivered.  No way we’re going to be able to truck it out there for a week or more now.  Spring work is on hold for awhile.

Then and Now

Here is last year on March 15th in Sunnyview Gardens.  

 

 

 

 

 

And here is this year on March 23rd. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a difference a year makes.  I hope we catch up eventually.  The 12 inches of snow we got yesterday and the day before were discouraging for sure, especially since most of the previous huge snowstorm had melted and I was beginning to see the whole yard and begin planning.  It is melting again quickly in the bright March sunlight even though the temperatures are still way below normal.  The robins and redwing blackbirds and sandhill cranes that arrived last week are not the happiest birds I’ve ever seen.  Robins gather around the few places where there were deep puddles before and the grass still shows through.  I hope they can find at least enough worms to keep them alive til the rest of the yard thaws. 

We have more birds at the feeders and under them than we’ve had in a long time.  Even the redwings are coming close to the house for whatever food they can find.  The chickadees are consuming much of the seed, but also hanging upside down on the limbs of the evergreens picking at something I can only guess is small bugs hiding there.  A song sparrow, who we haven’t heard in many months, is sounding more mournful than joyful as it sits atop of the dwarf Alberta Spruce. 

I was ready to start the yard work this week.  We have a lot to do getting the new raised beds built and installed.  Also want to move a bunch of perennials around.  Gonna have to do everything quickly this spring I think. 

That was Yesterday…

And this is Today:

Oh well.  Spring will come eventually.  I hope.

The Melt begins… and ends.

I’ve been taking snapshots of our yard over the last week to document what I had hoped would be the beginning of the end for our deep snow cover.  And although it has been pretty dramatic, the snow beginning outside of my window this morning foretells a reversal of this good fortune.  Tomorrow’s post will show the results of today’s storms, but for today, the week past in pictures taken each day at about 4:30 PM, starting last Sunday.

These are views of our pond

And here the view from the deck to the willow

Thought this was supposed to be an "El Niño" Winter

Catchup post (preparing for a New Year's Resolution to start blogging again..): 

Maybe I just jumped to the conclusion that warmer temps would mean less snow.    But, so far that is not the case.  There was no snow at all until after Thanksgiving.  But then, on December 9th we got hit with about 15 inches of wet, heavy stuff.  It weighted down the white cedars and covered everything with a white blanket.  branches bowed down on nearly every tree, the pond aerator had a hard time keeping a spot open, and we had to turn on the small heater.   It was beautiful at first for sure.  The Pagoda Dogwood is particularly nice with its structure outline by the contrast between branches and the snow. 

The thick blanket may well keep the frost shallow this year, especially if we don't get a total melt down before really cold weather. 

And, looking now at the NOAA site about El Niño predictions, I find that around here for the next month or so we have "equal chances" of above and below normal temps and precipitation.  So far this year we've certainly had a mix of warm, cold, dry, wet.  What might come next?

Today, on Christmas, it is raining and 37 degrees in Green Bay where I'm staying with my Dad.  Supposed to get cold tonight, and the rain will likely change to snow before its all over. 

Still Waiting, but Working Hard

The last tiny spot of winter snow has finally melted.  We may get more snow, but I swear we will not shovel it, and we will not make piles that take longer to melt than the surrounding area.  I think that when the spring finally really comes it will come with a bang, and things will spring to life quickly and there will suddenly be way too much work to do.  I have to figure out a way to do gardening work and clean up quickly for some meeting or another, and come back and do more gardening work.  I think that people will have to accept my dirty fingernails (or I will have to be willing to  not care.)  And my gardening clothes will have to be easy to change in and out of.  Spring work is the dirtiest, it will be easier in Summer.  But, as I said in a post a few weeks ago, now is the time for time to slow down.  I want to relish every moment at this time of year and not pine for the next phase. 

Bill has been tweaking the edge of the new hole that will become the pond.  It is close to level now.  I hope that this weekend we will be able to at least fill it with water and bring out the fish and move the water lily from it's tub to it's new home.  The fish are really ready.  They should have been out a month ago.  Maybe next winter we can leave the outside all winter, and they will be happy to be swimming in unfrozen water at this time a year from now. 

The water lily is suffering in the tub we bought for it.  The first night outside the water froze, at least the top inch or so.  I didn't realize that would happen so quickly.  The rest of this week I've been covering the box and laying on some insulation and the water has remained liquid.  But I noticed that the parrot weed stems that had survived the entire winter were now dead.  And the water has an unpleasant smell to it.  I hope that we are able to keep that plant alive for another few days and that it recovers once installed in the bottom of the new pond.  I've been looking at websites  giving information about dividing and planting lilies.  May have to go out and buy a few laundry baskets to serve as pots, and break down and divide the huge rhizomes.  Hope it goes OK.  Lots of variables going on here. 

Sprouts of many perennials beginning to show. Some of the wildflowers are showing barely.  A day of warm rain would bring things out amazingly, but it is dry for at least another 4 or 5 days. 

A Week of Change

It was over 50 degrees and sunny on Friday, two inches of snow fell on Saturday morning, then the temps came up again, and all the snow was gone before we were home from serving breakfast to over 400 people at Maple Syrup Saturday for Bubolz Preserve.  We put up the greenhouse on the deck, brought down the table and chairs, moved the planters back to where they belong for the summer, and were totally exhausted by about 4:30.  But then it was still nice enough and warm enough to sit out on the deck for a glass of wine and a relaxing look at the evening.  The grass is still very unstable, and I hope we didn't do too much damage to it as we walked and pushed the wheelbarrow over it. 

Over the last week I took photos each day of the progress of the melt.  It is pretty dramatic.  Though I do have to learn about staging a photo the same way repeatedly.