Despite martial law having been declared in the garden (no burrowing, no more bulb eating allowed), I spent the morning chasing rabbits around the garden with a broom, and filling in burrows. The minute I filled in one burrow (feeling like a creep as I did it) and turned my back, another burrow appeared right next to it. The Havahart traps are baited with organic carrots and Romaine lettuce, but the rabbits don’t seem to care. I caught a squirrel the very first day, released it in the front yard, thinking it would be so traumatized it would go into someone else’s yard, but I think something else happened. There are still three squirrels in the back yard. (The average, by the way, is 1.5 squirrels per acre.)
It’s snowing. Over the next three days, the forecast is for Denver to be the coldest place on the planet. (Or close enough.) What joy. I looked at the forecasts for Fairbanks, Moscow, Murmansk, and Novosibirsk. Compared to Denver, these cities are all having heat waves. I would just as soon not be living in the coldest place on the planet, or even the hundredth coldest, but there isn’t time to move.
Merendera sobolifera about to get its rear end frozen right off. (Note munched-on crocus foliage.) “Everything looks fine. What could possibly go wrong? It’s spring!”
Cyclamen coum, a dark form, and a lighter form. Cyclamen don’t seem to mind having their rear ends frozen, which is one reason why I like them so much.
Farewell to spring, for now.
the miserable gardener 