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 many things. Not shoes and ships and sealing wax, but just things. You may remember me from such posts as “Before The Deep Freeze”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
You can see that there’s still a little bit of snow in the garden. It’s been warm enough that working in the garden is pleasant, but not warm enough for all of the snow to melt.
The soil is still very damp, even in the field.
And apparently not cold enough to do away with all the yellowjackets. I saw one just this afternoon.
Today, the guy I live with was “going to do something”, but he didn’t know what it was, so aside from filling the bird feeders (they eat a lot), he went around taking pictures.
This is Lilium candidum. There used to be five of them, but “someone” sliced through some of the bulbs with a trowel, and so now there are only two.
The guy I live with said you used to be able to get the bulbs almost anywhere, but not any more. You plant the bulbs about an inch deep, in August or September, and shortly after that they send up these leaves which overwinter.
These are very poisonous to cats, by the way, but not to dogs, which I’m.
Here’s another picture of ‘Potter’s Prelude’, showing how well the bulbs are increasing. They were planted in the shade garden where they didn’t flower very well so a couple of years ago they were dug up and moved to a place where they get sun now.
Technically, I guess, this is a selection of Galanthus elwesii var. monostictus Hiemalis Group, though the marking on the inner segments is larger than most in the Hiemalis Group. (Hiemalis means “winter”.)
Personally, as a border collie, I don’t really care about any of this. Seeing snowdrops flowering at this time of year makes the guy I live with happy, and I do care about that.
There are other snowdrops that flower at this time of year. I’ve already shown Galanthus bursanus and ‘Barnes’, which is in the Hiemalis Group, but some others have not done as well as the guy I live with hoped they would.
These “should” be in flower now, and so the guy I live with is going to put a flag by them and transplant them next spring. They’re in too much shade where they are.
Speaking of shade, the guy I live with went into the shade garden today to look at things.
There are some Cyclamen hederifolium.
One leaf of Arum byzantinum:
And then he saw this, emerging from the deep leaf mold. (It’s taken about thirty-five years for all this leaf mold to form.)
It’s not really safe to walk in this part of the garden right now, but the guy I live with knows where to step. He pulled back some of the leaf litter and looked into the deep, damp leaf mold. (I know this doesn’t sound like Colorado at all, but here we are.)
If you look carefully, in the bottom right of the top left quarter of the picture, what look like little white worms are really snowdrop seedlings.
There are dozens and dozens of snowdrops just in this picture, under the leaf litter and leaf mold.
You may be wondering why the autumn-flowering snowdrops don’t do well in the shade garden, when there are snowdrops up there right now.
They do okay there, but they don’t flower as early as they would when they get more sun, that’s all.
And that’s the gardening part of my post.
The other part, and maybe you guessed this already, consists of willow pictures. I like walking along the path on the other side of the creek, though it doesn’t go all the way down to the end of the field like the path on our side does. It’s always been overgrown, and full of mowed-down stumps from another species of willow, Salix exigua.
These two pictures were taken yesterday evening. It’s interesting how different they are.
The guy I live with says it’s best to click on them to see them better.
(Editorial note: the guy I live with realized how dark these pictures were and so lightened them up a little.)
Then here’s the one taken this evening. Again different.
This one is even darker but if you click on it you can see it.
So that’s it for today.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Goodness, how we all watch for the first emerging tips of these precious plants! We live in hope
The guy I live with says that’s so true. It’s always nice to see the “main flock” of snowdrops begin to emerge now.
Here’s an article you may find interesting: https://red.msudenver.edu/2018/the-truth-about-winter-in-denver/
It is good to read the description of your winter as it contrasts so much with our experience and it is difficult for us to imagine what it is like.
It’s not uncommon for us to see people wearing shorts on a sunny day in January.
Someone once told the guy I live with that the sun is so intense here we get the same calories as Cairo, Egypt.
That can cause problems in the garden. A lot of broad-leafed evergreens just fry in our hot winter sun.
Like one February when it didn’t go below freezing all month a plant of Dryas octopetala (of all things) was killed, because there was no snow cover. That was back in the last century, though.
The air pockets in the leaves of Galanthus ikariae tend to swell and burst, too, unless it’s growing in shade.
On the other hand, the sun tends to “ripen the wood” of a lot of otherwise non-hardy shrubs, so they make it through the winter.
What does not sound like Colorado? Is Colorado supposed to lack foliar litter? That region supposedly has some of the best quaking aspens! I would expect more foliar litter there than in some areas of Southern California.
Well there are aspens in the mountains, but not many here in town.
They likely formerly grew near Aspen.
I am amazed that TGYLW was able to hold the camera still long enough to get a decent night time photo. There could be anything hiding in the dark underneath that willow tree. Good thing he has you along.
He says that the “night” setting requires the phone to be held still, even while I’m tugging on the leash to go sniff stuff.
There doesn’t seem to be any difference between “night” and, oh, you know, “day”, as far as how the pictures turn out.
It’s also about ten to fifteen degrees (F) colder along the creek, which makes it even more fun.
Those cyclamen leaves – wow! The green makes me hungry for spring, as snow swirls about.
They stay green all winter, unless the soil freezes and there’s no snow cover.
Mee-yow wee missed commintin on yore preeveeus post Mani! Wee apawlogize.
So many purrty flowerss still flowerin there! Wee were under 3 feet of snow! Wee love THE Willow fotoss inn both postss. #1 inn other post iss our faverite! Wee hope thingss stay calm an nice there.
***purrss*** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks.
We had three inches of snow the other day, but a lot of it has melted now.
Our snow had melted alot two Mani. Now wee got another snow storm rollin in again…. **sighss**
We would not mind more snow, but none is in the forecast for us. December is a dry month here.