the miserable gardener

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to bring you up to date on all, or at least some, of the thrilling and chilling events since my last post. You may remember me from such posts as “Mister Fabulous”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose.

This picture was taken about a week ago. Since then, it rained a little, and so the cool-season grasses in the garden have turned green, and are starting to grow.
Actually, very little has happened here. The guy I live with has been doing a bunch of stuff not related to gardening, and he made an appointment for me to see my doctor next week, to get stuck with needles. He told the person on the phone that I might be sensitive about comments relating to my heavy winter coat…

Well, we had to get a new water heater. That was fun. The one we had was leaking; the guy I live with said that water heaters do that, and that the one we had was at least twenty-five years old, so now we have one that has a flashing light and all the latest stuff.

Even the warm-season grasses are starting to turn green, though they grow much more slowly at this time of year.
This is the buffalo grass:

There are a lot of plants in flower, too. Cyclamen coum is everywhere in some parts of the garden.

As is Corydalis angustifolia. This is scented of vanilla cake. I’ve never had vanilla cake, but it sounds pretty good to me.

Some of the other corydalis are flowering, too. This is Corydalis schanginii subsp. schanginii, flowering in a sea of Phlox longifolia.

This is Tulipa humilis ‘Alba Coerulea Oculata’ or some such name.

Iris aucheri.

The other thing, and I guess this is a big Other Thing, is the amount of damage we’re seeing from the drought of last summer.
The guy I live with was taken aback when he saw the trough that used to be filled with sky pilots (Polemonium viscosum). The plants had been very happy for over a quarter century, flowering in March every single year, but look at the trough now.

The guy I live with was pretty sad, but then he said “Whatever”. I guess the garden is heading in a different direction, now, and plants that need regular watering will just go by the wayside.
A lot of the plants that were growing happily in the troughs have died, so the sky pilots are just another casualty.

I guess that’s it for now. We’re struggling mightily with the new WordPress editor, which the guy I live with said is unbelievably difficult to use, like so many other things dreamed up by computer people. So if my post looks weird, that’s why.

Until next time, then.

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to tell you that it has finally stopped snowing–for now. You may remember me from such posts as “It Might Be Spring”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose. You can see there’s been a change here.Finally, huh. After the big snow, it snowed again, and then it snowed, and then it snowed some more, and then again, and then it kept snowing, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed.
It was very boring. I wanted to go out and work in the garden, but there was just snow everywhere.

Looking at snow is pretty tiresome, but on one of our walks a few days ago there were these weird patterns in the snow. I think because it rained a little before it turned to snow.
The creek had water in it, too. That was different.Even though it snowed and snowed (and snowed again, etc.) the guy I live with was able to get his first shot of the vaccine, and that made him feel pretty good. Mentally, I mean; physically he was kind of super tired for a day or two.

So, now, there are bulbs in flower. Even snowdrops, still. This is Galanthus nivalis. It wasn’t planted; it just appeared one day.

These bulbs (corms, really) of ‘Firefly’ have been here for a quarter century, at least.

There was a bee in one of the flowers. I got pretty interested, but the guy I live with said my nose might get stung.

There are a lot of bees buzzing about, these days.

Some corydalis are flowering, too. You can see that some of the flowers got frozen on this one. I guess that’s okay. These corydalis have started seeding around, which the guy I live with says is “totally excellent”.
This one is Corydalis glaucescens, which is self-infertile, so the reason this is seeding around is because there are other plants of this species in the same part of the garden.I guess that’s it for now. I hope you found this post more interesting than the ones with all the snow in them.

Until next time, then.