Winter's Arrival

Inkberry 1/29/20

Well we didn't get out of it quite that easy, winter's snowfall finally arrived the day after my last post and since that time it has snowed 4 or 5 times 2-4 inches each and a couple days were quite cold, in the single digits with lows falling to few degrees below zero. The snowdrops have been buried since which is of course a good thing when its expected to be cold. This year is reminding me of last winter in terms of snow when we had no snow until mid January until it all came at once- hoping February wont be quite as snowy as last years. Above is an Inkberry Holly I planted last summer, this is supposed to be evergreen in our area an great for part sun sites and so far that has remained nice and green. We will see how it does and winter wears on.

1/29/20

  One huge different so far from last year though is cold, it hasn't yet been nearly as extreme last year, it fell to -20 but so far the coldest it has been is -5.F. It's an easy winter for this Southern Magnolia being tested for hold hardiness in my backyard. Remarkably it still has retained all of its leaves well and they are even very green. Prolonged cold temperatures caused the leaves of this tree to turn brown- if successful ( fingers crossed ) those leaves will fall off and new growth leaves will return in May. This is the second attempt at trying this species for me. Year 1 I had significant die-back by half but the tree did survive the winter, the remaining half was killed in the winter of 2019 when we had that low of -20.F. Hoping for better luck this time around.

Little Lucky 1/29/20

The Dinos are a fan of winter- low humidity and cool temperatures kill any rust formation- Much better then the humid rainy Iowa summers.

First flower of January

Snowdrop Elwesii bloomed 1/9/20

We're a little over a week into the new year, we had quite a bit of cold and snow back in October and November, but since then it has been very warm. It was 60 on Christmas Day and nearly 60 today, this patterned has allowed for the first flower of the season to emerge. I've been following the first bloomers for a long time now and well it used to seem out of place for January blooms in Iowa but out of the last 6 years 90% of the time Elwesii snowdrop has bloomed before the months end and nearly guaranteed by Februarys end. Last year it arrive January 6th so its a bit late this year. I've also seen Daffodils with buds starting to come out of the ground, something that is new to me, When the weather does finally turn we'll be hoping for some snowcover for much needed insulation.

Front view 1.9/20

Outside of a dozen or so sprouting bulbs throughout, everything otherwise is very brown in appearance as expected in mid winter. Its interesting though normally I'd be talking about evergreens and their importance, it just isn't needed just yet. Not many people can see the beauty in the brown, but if you start to look at the different colors seedheads you can start to see at least some form beauty. It helps to have great combinations of grasses mixed in, some perennials don't have winter interest value, example Peonies or Hosta. However something like Little Bluestem grass or even summer blooming Allium is another story with very visual appearances even in the dead of winter.

Prairie Garden 1/9/20

View of the prairie garden doing its thing. Rusty the T-Rex likes to be hidden within the prairie grasses. Rhett the Raptor in the back doesn't care and likes to be more bold and stand out.

Morgan the Hatching Triceratops

For one of my Christmas gifts my brother Chase gave me a little Hatching Triceratops which most cannot deny has a cuteness to it. I gave this dinosaur the name Morgan named after the street my brother lives on. I looked online for large false eggs to make the nest more realistic but I only found very high priced ones so I settled for this idea of the egg-shaped rocks which looks close but not quite, maybe when Easter comes around I can find something more suitable.