Greetings and salutations everyone; it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, once again. You may remember me from such terrific posts as “Revenge Of The Rodents” and “Grace Under Pressure”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. I’m roughing it, as you can see.
Well, today the guy I live with said that winter was taking a long time to be over. I have some news for him, but we won’t talk about that today. It was a pretty nice day, and he went out and took two pictures.
You would think that after six nights of below zero (F) last month that things would look pretty icky, but see how excellent the rosettes of Lilium candidum look. 
He says that this lily is native to places like Greece, which as far as he knows doesn’t often have six nights of below zero (F) in a row, and yet the plants look perfectly happy. His brilliant answer to all this is that life is strange.
So, he’s been reading this book, or rather, sort of reading this book, which he says he’s enjoying, and that makes sense to me, because I know he won’t read things he doesn’t enjoy. Some books he reads from beginning to end, but most he reads in a desultory way. Oh, and this is funny. He used to pronounce it de-sult-ory until one day he learned it wasn’t pronounced that way, and was glad no one ever heard him say the word. It comes from the Latin describing a vaulting action, jumping around, which is sometimes the way he reads. The stuff you learn, huh.
This is the same Bertram Anderson who had so many plants named after him. (The book isn’t really crooked like the picture shows.)
There are some funny things in it. “…I had great hopes of the new Daphne × mantensiana, burkwoodii ‘Somerset’ × retusa, that for a few years grew rapidly and flowered freely, and the suddenly departed to where daphnes go when they die. The daphne heaven must be very crowded!”
“The lovely Kniphofia ‘Maid of Orleans’ should be nearby, yet I am always afraid of seeing only the label marking the spot and no plant reappearing ….”
The guy I live with was relieved to learn that this happens to other gardeners, especially to people who garden in England. He has a lot of labels that have no plant to go with them. (He says, in theory anyway, that this is to remind him to replace the plants.)
Also, he’s all in a tizzy because just like at this time of year every year, the saxifrage, Saxifraga × kellereri ‘Johann Kellerer’ (not making this up) is showing buds. In a week or so they’ll be turning raspberry color. Even if it snows, which it’s supposed to this weekend. This bud business happens every year but he still gets excited. 
I guess that’s all for today. Winter creeps onward. 
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 