Greetings and salutations everyone; yes, once again it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, who is busy readying the garden for a change in the weather. You may remember me from such change-oriented posts as “A Change Of Pace” and “Change In The Weather”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristically pensive pose.
Well, things have been pretty much the same for a long time now, and the guy I live with says that things being the same is one of the ways to define sheer excellence, so long as the things are okay, and things have been okay. A turkey got smoked yesterday. This doesn’t happen very often. I got some; it was good. 
But now they say we’re going to get snow and a low of 9 degrees, which is minus 12.78 celsius, if you measure that way. That’s not really all that cold for us; I can still go for my walks and stuff, but we might not have all the doors and windows open for a while.
Some protective teepees were made to cover things that needed covering. They don’t really need covering, of course, but it makes the guy I live with feel better, you know, like he’s actually doing something, instead of just sitting here helplessly in the face of what he claims will be “awful weather”. 
It isn’t all that unusual for it to get cold this early, though our serious cold usually happens right before Christmas, and when the guy I live with worked outside in telephone repair, that was the coldest time of all, and there was a lot of traffic on the icy streets, people doing last-minute shopping, which he says he doesn’t miss at all, though my mommy was at home, waiting for him, so I’m not sure that everything he says is all that true.
Like the business about Daylight Savings time. I still don’t get why my dinner has to be so late, since I know what the angle of the sun means, and my tummy clock is ticking. He says we go through this every year, but that doesn’t seem right to me.
The reason for the teepees is that he’s been waiting for the snowdrop, Galanthus reginae–olgae ‘Cambridge’, to flower, but it’s been growing very slowly. “Nothing is happening”, according to the guy I live with, but, in fact, a couple of weeks ago there wasn’t anything there, and he thought he’d misplaced the snowdrop, and was getting old and losing his mind, because he remembers everything, but couldn’t remember where the snowdrop was, which was unfortunate, since it was a gift.
But then one day he saw the green poking up. This is what it looked like today. 
The guy I live with says the snowdrop was named for Queen Olga of Greece, who was born in Russia, and who married George the First of Greece, who was born in Denmark. That’s almost as bad as the Daylight Savings business.
Anyway, this snowdrop is to snowdrops as autumn-flowering crocuses are to crocuses. It’ll get a teepee for sure.
While he was out in the side yard (the side yard that’s on the north side of the house, so, the shade garden) he noticed this. Another teepee will go here. 
The label says Galanthus elwesii, so he said this was variety monostictus, but he could be wrong.
You might well ask how this snowdrop went unnoticed when there has been a daily pilgrimage out to Queen Olga’s snowdrop, but it did.
Sometime things go unnoticed here. I’ve noticed that a lot, which is why I’ll leave you with a picture of me trying to be noticed. 
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Hi Chess, extremely cute photo of you trying to be noticed. I do like snowdrops so that was a nice change from all the crocus that have been appearing. -12 a little cold for me, we went as low as -2 in winter, wouldn’t want it to be any colder, but it is the day time temps when you really feel the cold more. A turkey, smoked, that’s a lot of bird to eat and you only got a little bit. I guess because it is smoked it will last for some time. Keep up the cuteness…
Thanks; I think I was noticed after all. The turkey only really lasts a few days in the refrigerator, but it can be frozen, which I think was the intention, since it was purchased fresh.
Yes, -12 is cold. We’re tough, though, as maybe you can tell.
Ah, Chess, pensive at the top, perky at the bottom, all terrific. Another thing that’s a little bit ungettable is why when things have been okay and pretty much the same for a long time it’s a definition of excellence yet when “nothing is happening” with the snowdrop it means things are not okay. I guess some things are just mean to change. I am glad the guy you live with eventually found Queen Olga’s snowdrop. Keeping track of gifts is important, and I know we will see a photograph when the snowdrop blooms, now that he recognizes where it is. Love the photo of the gallant little Galanthus elwesii raising its head. Do you think it knows snow is coming? Smoking a turkey I think is a great way to respond to a change to snow weather and is in my opinion the best way to cook a turkey. Smoky drippings make tasty gravy too. Hope your guy was not too tuckered from draping fabric teepees to take notice and give you a bit more turkey. Hint: Put on your “notice” face to get some gravy too.
I did get some turkey, but the guy I live with says that too much turkey has a, well, you know, negative effect on me.
We like it when nothing changes, but when plants do what they’re supposed to. Maybe that makes more sense.
You know, really, the guy I live with rarely cooks turkey (I mean he cooks it, not just until it’s rare, ha ha), but he decided to, because they were on sale.
Queen Olga’s might not bloom if it snows and then stays cold until March, like the guy I live with says it probably will. If it warms up again, then maybe. The other autumn flowering snowdrop is Galanthus peshmenii. We don’t have that one yet, And maybe never will, because of import restrictions.
Hi Guys,
Australians only seem to eat turkey at Xmas so it’s not a high target comestible. In fact serving roast meat when one’s self is roasting (summer) is now being looked on as slightly daft. It’s only taken over 200 years to twig.
I saw a very interesting documentary about a wildlife officer in Kentucky? who raised a clutch of turkey chicks from egg to adult. He put in a great job as Mom and he had the full repertoire of cheeps and squawks. Eventually they all left bar one, the biggest and baddest, and he took on the guy. Luckily not a fight to the death, the turkey turned tail, but not after knocking Mom down. Fight for territory? Attempted mating? One very mixed up turkman? I dunno.
BTW Your monostictus should have ONE inner mark as opposed to the usual two. I think this differentiating term was used to try and account for this variation and to stop plantspeople from calling the form G. caucusicus=alpinus. People seemed very casual about naming things in those days and it was muddying the taxonomic waters terribly in relation to these two completely unrelated species.
PS Very envious of “Cambridge”. Mine, from dear Kath Dryden, is virused and going backwards.
Cheers from Marcus from Downunder
Funny turkey story. The guy I live with related a story about this farm, or ranch, with horses, south of town, and when he worked in telephone repair there was this 95 lb (43lg) male turkey who strutted around like he owned the place. The owner had bought the turkey and then didn’t have the heart to slaughter it (which the guy I live with wouldn’t, either). One time a co-worker went down there, and the turkey wouldn’t let him get down off a telephone pole. The co-worker was from NYC and not used to farm animals. I guess big male turkeys are pretty tough birds. Well, duh, monostictus, one spot. The picture was posted on the SRGC website and they said Hiemalis Group, but the snowdrop book says Hiemalis Group is monostictus. An investigation by flashlight was unsuccessful. Come to think of it, there were “Galanthus caucasicus”, which I guess were elwesii var. monostictus, that bloomed here at this time of year, but they suffered from trowelitis, which is a pity. I guess if we lived in the U.K. we would be mostly growing snowdrops. (The season here is roughly the same as there; snowdrops done by March, usually.) What a delightful obsession. For one of us, anyway.
Hi, I guess it all came down to bluff and buff. Its always a dangerous situation when one lets a farm animal have too much say, even if it only weighs 95lbs.
Interesting exercise in logic re hiemalis=monostictus. My understanding is that hiemalis means early flowering. I am not sure if all one spotted elwesii are in the category hiemalis or there are early flowering two spots in there as well or indeed if there are late flowering one spots.
Bit dangerous to combine the two classes. Re galanthus: they do get to you but alas all new imports are beyond my means now. I have started collecting and sowing seeds from Trym and yellow lines.
Cheers, Marcus
The report from the SRGC website is that if they are monostictus then they’re in the Hiemalis Group, but there can be some elwesii which flower early but are not monostictus. One wonders if there are arguments over this at breakfast. Or at plant shows. Posted a photo of Eritrichium aretioides for comic relief. It seems like all imports of snowdrops are beyond anyone’s means. “Vast international snowdrop-smuggling ring exposed yesterday. Authorities point to 95 pound turkey as ringleader. Smuggled snowdrops gobbled up by greedy collectors, sources say.”
LOL, M
We thought maybe a change from the heavyweight intellectual content of the blog might come as a relief. And so no one here complains about the sudden drop in temperature this afternoon, from about 60F to 10F. What is that, a little less than 16C to –12C? Ridiculous, but not uncommon at all. And not the largest drop in temperature by any means.
Snowdrops already!
That last photo of Chess is extra adorable.
Thanks; the snowdrops were the other day. Now it’s zero outside, or colder (-17C), and so, no snowdrops. (They’re protected, but still ….)