Greetings and salutations everyone; yes, once again it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here to bring you the latest and greatest news from our garden. You may remember me from such posts as “No Pain, No Gain” and “‘Hepped Up On Goofballs'”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a rather debonair pose.
I’ve been feeling pretty darn good lately, what with my live-in chef at my beck and call and stuff like that. I don’t take goofballs any more, by the way. I have a different medication. The weather has also been exceedingly excellent. Right now, it’s 76F (24C) and 12 percent humidity.
The guy I live with has been planting daffodils. You can see some bulbs being soaked here.
These came from Old House Gardens; they sell “heirloom” bulbs, and the guy I live with said that’s what he wanted, since he said the modern hybrids would look out of place in the garden here. I guess he knows. (What he really wants is all the little species from Morocco and southern Spain, but they don’t seem to want to flower in the middle of winter here, like they ought to, and just put up leaves every autumn instead.)
He consulted the authority on old daffodils.
And then he ordered. He says soaking the bulbs is a good idea, but I already talked about that.
The bulbs still aren’t all planted, because the pace of life around here is very, very slow.
I guess it’s time for the obligatory crocus pictures, too.
Crocus pallasii
Crocus niveus
And, Titanopsis calcarea has started to bloom. The guy I live with says the plant thinks it’s still in South Africa and this is spring, because it blooms on and off all winter.
That’s pretty much it, for today. The guy I live with went and bought an electric leaf blower to get the leaves off the rock gardens, and it makes a lot of noise. The gas one that we had decided to leak, and that isn’t really the best thing, but it did last for many years. Leaf-blowing only happens here about three times a year. The guy I live with says brooms and rakes are better. They certainly make less noise.
Oh, and the bird bath got cleaned, and then two blue jays came right down and took baths, and flew away as soon as the guy I live with got his camera. That sort of thing happens a lot.
I’m going to go back to doing what I like to do the most, now, if you don’t mind.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 