Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to talk about some things, and show you some pictures, too. You may remember me from such posts as “A Windy Interlude”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
I’m waiting for a biscuit, which I received.
Not much has been happening here, which is fine with us. It hasn’t been below freezing at night, but some of the snow is still here, and everything seems pretty damp.
The guy I live with took some pictures yesterday.
This is Galanthus bursanus, still flowering.
This is Galanthus elwesii ‘Potter’s Prelude’.
This is Crocus pulchellus, flowering very late.
The guy I live with says this is very similar to Crocus kotschyanus but the base of the flower is all yellow in C. pulchellus, instead of just yellow blotches at the base of the petals in C. kotschyanus.
“Pulchellus” in Latin means “very pretty”. The “ch” is pronounced like “k”, like in almost every single other botanical name.
Really the main thing here these days, or rather nights, is taking pictures of the willow at the end of our evening walk. It isn’t the end of the field, but the area south of the willow has so much rough vegetation, even after being mowed, that it’s no fun to walk on. The nice path was on our side of the creek, but the guy I live with doesn’t want us to go that way, since there are dogs that jump the fence. We’ve had a couple of unpleasant confrontations and so now we just avoid going that way.
A couple of evenings ago we stopped, and the guy I live with took this picture of the willow, which he posted on Facebook.
It was almost completely dark here; the only thing the guy I live with could see was the street lamp off to the right, which illuminates the grasses.
Maybe the clear skies allowed the camera to see the shed in the distance.
This evening he took a couple more pictures. In this one it looks like someone is burning wood off in the distance, which is possible since these neighbors have a firepit.
But now you can’t see the shed.
This one, taken a bit farther away, and from a slightly different angle, is maybe his favorite so far.
If you were standing here you would not believe how dark it really is. But the camera gathers a lot of light.
You can click on these pictures to embiggen them, of course.
We may get some more snow early next week, and one thing I know we’re going to do is walk down there again to get a picture of the willow in the snow.
So that’s it for today.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Crocus pulchellus might be one of those simple (non-cultivar) species of Crocus that I noticed for sale from at least one of the bulb suppliers (although not Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, since I do not see their catalogue). Is it too rare for that? Crocus kotschyanus does not sound familiar. If I ever decide on a species of Crocus for autumn, I may limit selection to just one or two species. They look more natural that way, even if totally exotic. I am determined to eventually get saffron, so may be satisfied with that, even if it does not bloom as much as others. What I really want is the cheapy and common Dutch crocus for spring, but they are not reliably perennial.
It’s grown in The Netherlands and is sometimes offered by bulb brokers in this country. But it’s too late to order this year.
Oh, I would not order anything for this year. I do not even have saffron yet. That part of the garden is not developed like it should be yet.
Next year, maybe.
Perhaps. I would prefer to get them from someone who is already growing it, so would not pass up an opportunity if it comes along.
Stunning willow pictures. They look like paintings from an earlier century
I came here to say the same thing. Paintings. Just gorgeous.
The guy I live with says the camera should take all the credit, though he did use Photoshop to removed some glaring white spots caused by lights at the end of the field.
Thanks. I like to walk this way at night and the guy I live with just follow me with my lighted collar, though he does wear a headlamp, which he only turns on sometimes.
Night photographs can be very interesting.
They can be. The guy I live with was taken aback at what the phone camera can “see” in the dark.
I appreciate seeing these photos here since I am not on Facebook. They are amazing, and as one other commenter said, look like paintings.
Pretty cool what the camera can do. It’s a Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Naturally his phone provider keeps trying to talk him into upgrading, but he’s perfectly satisfied with the phone, and its camera.
In fact the little Canon point-and-shoot didn;t capture the color of the crocus properly, but the phone did.
Hi from sunny, warmish Albuquerque,
I can’t find your site on Facebook. What name do you go under there? All of the lovely, wet snow from last month is gone, except up on Sandia Crest, where the Rosy Finches live in the winter months. I created a new penstemon bed in my yard and scattered seeds I collected from around here on some mushroom compost while the ground was still damp. I want to try Nature’s refrigeration method this time, because before, after I sprouted them in wet paper towels, they did not grow after I transferred them into flats. I’m letting Siberian elm leaves cover the compost because of their small size that will allow them to break down over the winter. I chose a spot that is shaded in the cooler months but gets southern sunlight part of the day in summer. Wish me luck. Mani looks set for the cold on that nice blanket.
Susan H
He’s on Facebook under his name.
Sowing penstemon and other seeds outdoors is by far the easiest method. All you have to do is make sure the pots don’t dry out, and a covering of snow, here, works beautifully. The emerging seedlings are then exposed to the climate they’ll be growing in.
The guy I live with has tried the refrigeration method, which resulted in a lot of germinated seeds, and then dead seedlings after that, because it’s a rough ride for the seedlings being exposed to the sun.