See Previous | See Next Last week I complained about the lack of snow, so this week we did get a tiny dusting, which tried (valiantly) and failed to make last year’s garden scruff look elegant and white-edged. Once it disappeared the garden was back to looking brown from a distance, but showing creeping green and more and more tulip shoots in the close-ups. (Update: Well, Sunday night it really did snow (see inset), much more effectively (~4 inches?) and…
See Previous | See Next This week the state of my garden has mostly tended toward windy and dry. Though March is historically the snowiest month in Colorado, we’ve had very little so far, with only a bare smidge of rain sprinkled on top of that. Never-the-less, the tulips and the hellebore buds press their quiet way upward through the leaf litter. Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years, suggests that crocuses too may soon be coming our way. Looking…
See Previous | See Next This week there is less and less ice in my front garden, revealing the patiently waiting greenery of creepers underneath. And the dry brown in the back garden is showing the new green of young iris leaves if you poke beneath last year’s old, withered ones. Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years, we do seem to be balanced now between snow and ice, and new spring buds poking their way up, with either iris…
See Previous | See Next As ever, early spring in Colorado is very brown, and while that squirrel sitting in that fence/bush/hedge thing is cute, that whole brown-and-barren ambiance (often minus the cute) is very much what my whole garden looks like right now (and for large swaths of the year). But, if you look closely, there are green things getting ready to poke their heads up – or in the case of these hens-and-chicks, emerge directly out from under…
See Previous | See Next This week we had a blizzard, and now things really feel like spring. More hidden garden nooks are showing (very) tentative green beneath the new-melting snow. Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years there are other hints of new growth, reassuring that actual spring probably really is on its way. Looking back 2-4 weeks and 2-4 years gives us more buds but also lots more snow. March may mean spring coming soon, but in Colorado…
See Previous | See Next This week it’s definitely still February. There was some snow mid-week, but then things also melted enough that I can start to count the buds on my earliest hellebore (also called a lenten rose – one year with very particular weather, this particular hellebore started blooming for Christmas). Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years we see this is the time of year to feature hellebore buds, though based on the timing, this year’s been…
See Previous | See Next This week we’ve had another thawing cycle (though my front garden is in such deep shade you wouldn’t know it from that side of things – see front vs back in the two pictures above). Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years though there are still lots of pictures that have snow in them because a) here in Colorado the snow mostly comes later in the winter season and b) we’re entering the time of…
See Previous | See Next This week the best word to describe my garden is ‘bedraggled’. Last week it got very cold, but now that has passed, and things are melting again, and it’s that transition time when you just don’t look your best. (If you want to know what’s up with the cage in the left-hand picture, the answer is: squirrels. I have very few perennials in my kitchen-deck planters, but if they are to have the remotest chance…
See Previous | See Next This week is mostly continued coldness, the way so much of winter often is. My yuccas and my willows, as ever, persist. (There are little birds about, but not enough to get an easy picture.) Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years is a confirmation of snowy yuccas, with hints that maybe the earliest bits of spring will be soon. Looking back 2-4 weeks and 2-4 years keeps with the snowy and yucca themes (clearly…
See Previous | See Next The snow has been replenished again. My shady front garden is nearly completely buried and the back almost manages to make the straggly brown stems poking up above the white look elegant. Looking back 1-2 weeks and 1-2 years is a reminder how fickle the snow and the melt are, and also how reliable my tall sedums are for keeping the winter garden interesting. Looking back 2-4 weeks and 2-4 years gives a hint that…