Long After The Storm

When I plow the driveway with my lawn tractors, adjustments must be made for working with tools too small for the task at hand.  My plow will not move much snow to the side so a clear area must be there to receive the plowed snow.  When the job is done my driveway is nearly two lanes wide so that there will be a place to push the next snowfall.  The recent storm overwhelmed both me and my machines.  The pro that rescued us is familiar with how wide I plow but not the reasons behind it.  When he left a mountain of snow was piled where the blower tractor had to be driven to place it in the shed.

More than a week of sunshine and rain had reduced the size of the snow pile.  On two previous days a path through the pile had been opened.  Sunlight working on the exposed face increased the size of the opening.  The remaining snow that needed to be moved was incredibly heavy.  My flat long handled shovel limited the size of each load.  Patient persistence finally opened a sufficiently wide path.

The big tractor is now back in the shed.  You can see just how high the blower is presently set.  Riding over the fallen snow created a surface that neither tractor could cross on the steep part of the driveway.  That and the rate of the snowfall at lunch time overwhelmed both machine and operator.

Above freezing temperatures and cloud cover filtering the sunlight prompted me to move my cardinal flowers, the first transplants of the season, outside.  They have been trapped it the basement for more than two weeks. That is far too long.  The two rows at the left were obviously plants grown from seed when they were disturbed.  Their new growth has raised a question.  A cardinal flower plant from seed is reported to grow only a low basal cluster of leaves during its first year.  A stem that flowers grows the second year.  Some of the from seed plants are nearly as large as the daughter plants that started growing from the base of the old plant last fall.  These from seed plants may now be in their second year of growth.  If that is true, then I still do not know what newly emerging plants from seed look like.  So old and still so much to learn.

This last picture was taken from the opposite side when compared to the first photo.  The location of the almost dead transplant will help sort out the confusion.  One tray is totally daughter plants that will flower this year.  The other tray contains both daughter plants and plants from seed.  In one month there may be no discernible difference.  Perhaps the time is right to plant a tray of lettuce seeds.