Previews Of Coming Attractions

Gosh I miss my plants!  Today's weirdly warm weather allowed for a quick preview of coming attractions in the garden. This perfect little round clump of bluets in the garden down by the road means there will be beautiful little blue flowers arriving in the spring.  They are not to be missed!

This coral bells will be a coming attraction for the hummingbirds in the neighborhood.  True it has been nibbled on a little, but the mound of foliage with slender stems and tiny reddish pink bells will come back strong and have me all a buzz along with the hummingbirds!

This perennial flax is clearly planning to  put on a show of beautiful blue flowers.  Each delicate pale green feathery stem will have blue flowers on the top.  Individual flowers fade quickly, but keep coming and the plant looks great from spring to fall.  For me it is a must see!

Ed's pinxter is a budded and ready for it's dazzling pink display coming in May.  If you have never seen this native plant in person, you have missed something very special!

Cardinal flower is having a special grand opening here in 2018.  These magnificent stunning red native plants loved by hummingbirds and gardeners alike are still in the production phase.  We will tell more when spring arrives.  The rain has begun and our sneak preview is over for now.

What You Don't See...

 I knew when I looked out the window this morning that last night I missed a party in the garden. Finally we are having a heat wave of sorts.  The garden has been silent, covered with a smooth if relatively thin layer of snow.  It seems that many of the creatures simply slept during the days of bitter cold.  Overnight, footprints appeared all over the place.   Some were big, some little.  Some tracks were straight others wavered like a drunk on a toot.  Obviously there was some digging going on as well.  The sun comes up late here because of the ridge which accounts for the blue tint in these pictures.  It was after 8:00 AM when they were taken. 

With so many prints to choose from I decided to feature the ones that I know I can identify for certain.  I would recognize Ed's footprint anywhere.  It doesn't take an expert tracker to see that a feline creature was out and about after he was.

These prints on the top of Ed's curved wall are also the cat.   Check out those prints all in a single line. I can't do that in the daylight on a smooth flat dry surface!

More prints right next to what's left of a catnip plant makes makes me confident that I know these are cat tracks! I can't help nut notice that Kitty's tracks are not as straight now.  Word is that the temperature is going up.  Instead of a fresh layer of snow apparently these tracks will be washed away by rain.  There is talk of ice jams on the river  too.  We have had this kind of a January thaw many times before.  We are happily and firmly planted here in the Stone Wall Garden.  Just like the plants we will stay put and bloom  as soon as  we can!

First Tick Removal Of 2017

Recent warm days found me wanting to be outside working on something.  Frozen ground placed some limits on reasonable choices.  We have a sizable flat meadow that has been ignored for years.  Goldenrod and milkweed are now the dominant plants.  A few Japanese honeysuckles and conservation roses also dot the field.  Last year a process of reclamation was started.  I believe that the goldenrod will soon give up if it is mowed several times a year.  The milkweed will likely persist but that is fine with us since we like to help Monarch butterflies.  The second honeysuckle was cut off flush with the ground.  That was my outside work for the past two fabulous days.  I also slowly drive my truck across the previously unmowed area.   Truck tires flatten last season's weeds.  They also safely roll over small woodchuck burrows and protruding stones.  The stones will be levered out and the burrows filled.  So far these precautions have made possible safe mowing.  A surprise was waiting at the end of a truck pass.  High up in one of the white pines I saw this!

At first glance, I thought that this might be a humming bird nest.  That idea was quickly cast aside since the nest is far too large to have been built by a humming bird.  The tan base was likely a larger bird's nest last summer.  The white fluff is milkweed silk.  Mice frequently line their winter quarters with this.  It must have required a huge number of trips to find and carry this much up the tree.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth feel like I am chewing cotton.  Becky had to see this so I drove front to get her.

I usually do not drive on the area near the pines but to take a good picture of the nest I had to back the truck up close to the tree and climb into the bed of the truck to get my picture.   Waist high dead plants surround the trees.  This is where Becky walked to look at the nest and to avoid being hit by a truck moving in reverse.   Later, before bed, she found a very much alive tick attached to her calf.  We were stunned.  Our careful tick checks do not usually start until warmer weather.  Wrong again.   We have a pair of high quality tweezers whose jaws are at an angle to the handle.  This allows a fair sized section of tweezer to rest on the surface of the skin.  From that position it is a simple matter to close the jaws of the tweezers on the mouth parts of the tick.  No bodily fluids are pinched from the tick and it is pulled free completely intact. Since she could see the wretched thing but could not reach it, I had to remove it for her.  January and another tick season is already underway.  Yuck!

January Fun With Ed And Becky, Part One

We woke up this January  morning to cool dry weather that was absolutely fantastic.  No doubt about it we were going to get dressed, get the camera and go outside to play!   One of the first things to capture Ed's attention was this temporary stone pile. It had developed a big bulge and a few stones had fallen out.  Ed said "I can fix that! I'll go get my pry bar."  

If some of the stones in this picture are a bit blurry it is because they are moving.  In the contest between Ed and his pry bar and gravity, gravity was the big winner.  Our morning was off to an exciting start.  The loud grating noise of the falling stones was unforgettable.  Ed still has those catlike reflexes when he needs them.  Not a single stone touched him!

It was all over so fast!  We both decided to let gravity work by itself on this stone pile.  When spring comes Ed will be back!  He has his eye on the big stone  just to the right of the stone avalanche.  It is a perfect stone  for his rock garden project.  

We walked the path up to the big hemlock tree.  The best way to maintain a path is to walk on it. We each took our turn to relax against the big tree. Next  Ed went to get a closer look at this red maple nearby.  It's trunk has a great hollow to stand in so you can relax against the tree not unlike Ed's favorite old maple in the back.

A little moving of stones was necessary to make a really comfortable place to stand.  From there we headed back to the garden.

Ed decided to cut back the October Sky asters that were blocking the path into the stone square.  When it was blooming the billow of flowers was worth taking a detour.  Now the  dead stalks are just dropping their seeds in the path.  By the Ed finished we both realized that it was time to head inside and have lunch.  We had a fantastic morning playing outside together!

First Order

This is the time of year when we begin to feel trapped inside by winter. We are therefore easy marks for garden catalogs.  Our resistance is up this year as no plants have been ordered yet.  That situation will soon change since we do have new ground ready for plants.

These new pots were ordered with a specific use in mind.  Every spring some Cardinal Flower plants are potted up so that they can be moved indoors when late frosts threaten.  The process has always started with a frantic search in our mountain of used pots.  This year will be different.  Two trays holding a total of thirty new pots stand ready.  That is a slight exaggeration since our order was one pot short.  A previously used pot filled the open spot.

We have never placed thirty Cardinal Flower plants in pots.  There is no plan in place for that many new plants.  Two different wild locations are under consideration to see if we can establish nongarden stands of this native plant.  There was a price break on fifty pots so some control was in place.

The vacuum formed trays are as flimsy as expected so we will use two trays nested.  They will still likely break as we move them but doubled up they may not dump their load.  These trays do show a design improvement.  An earlier order for similar trays were short on engineering savvy.  Individual pots fit snugly into the square receptacles but there was no room at the top for the adjacent pot.  Since the trays are useless they really need to find the trash.

Snowdrops were planted alongside of the memorial bench that marks the final resting place of Becky's parents.  This location may be perfect for the snowdrops.  Left alone, they now cover several large areas.  On a recent walk here, I was disturbed to find a good sized clump fully exposed.  Even the yellow and white parts of the stems could be seen.  Nearly all of these plants grew from seed that simply dropped onto the surface of the ground.  How those seeds develop underground parts suitably deep in the soil remains a mystery.  I am not the first to raise this question.  John Burroughs observed that Trout Lilies will not form flowers until the bulb is more than six inches below the soil surface.  He found the process that each year moved these bulbs ever deeper mysterious.

Our weather has been somewhat bizarre.  Recent days have seen temperatures that remained near or above freezing overnight.  Even exposed ground remains frozen and I am looking for some modest snowfall and slightly lower temperatures.  It was surprising to find that seventy-two year old gloved hands quickly begin to ache on what was seen as a beautiful January day.

January Thaw

Winter in upstate New York displays several different faces.  A warm spell is so common during this month that it has a recognized name.  Most winters snow is so deep by mid January that some melting is much appreciated.  This year there is little snow on the ground now.  My neighbors likely thought me slightly batty when I plowed for only the second time this morning.  Never one to allow public opinion to shape my actions, I thoroughly enjoyed time working outside in mild air.

We are due for a propane delivery soon.  It seems only prudent for me to keep my uphill driveway clear of snow.  In the past my pickup truck has slid backwards down this section of driveway.  That long slide with almost no control remains a memorable experience that should not be repeated.  The gas truck must be guaranteed safe passage.  The picture was taken earlier today.  With bits of gravel exposed to the warming sunlight, there is more open roadway exposed by now.  The softened tire tracks will provide needed traction.

It might appear that I have gone overboard considering the width of the plowed path.  My little lawn tractor equipped with not much of a plow cannot push mountains of snow to the side.  A wide clear area will give me a place to put future snowfall since it will of necessity be deposited inside of the present plow ridges.

For now, we are in good shape.  The lane is clear for the gas truck.  With this next delivery we will have a sufficient supply to carry us through the worst of a typical winter.  It makes us feel secure to know heat will be ours for most of the remaining winter even without another delivery.  Seeing just how low the price of propane has fallen will likely bring a warm smile.  

January Thaw

The lovely blanket of snow that covered the garden has slowly been shrinking because of warming temperatures up into the fifties.  Still, yesterday quite a bit of snow remained in the garden.

Warm temperatures and overnight rain caused most of the snow to vanish .

The snow left the stone paths and walls first.  Only a few plants were peeking out of the snow that remained on the planting beds.  This is how the inside of the stone square looked yesterday.

Today only a few traces of snow remain. It's a perfect opportunity to walk in the garden and see what has been going on with the plants under the snow.

This is one of the long stone paths in the vegetable garden.  Here again the snow left the stone paths first.

Most of the snow here vanished overnight as well.  The snow in the distance remains because with the north facing hill at the end of the garden that area is not in contact with direct sunlight.  A January thaw is quite common here.  It can be a very useful.   It clears the roads and driveways making travel easier.  It gets rid of the ugly dirty snow.  It gives the the river a chance to get rid of some of the runoff to lessen springtime flooding.  But it also leaves my plants uncovered subject to frost heave  and melts the kid's snow men.  Perhaps if we are lucky, this will be a quick thaw and my nice blanket of snow will return soon.