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.