Snow Harvest

Well, if we did harvest snow, we would have an abundance!  It will be awhile yet before we see the ground...  sigh.  Enjoy a few recent pics.

Bird's Eye Frozen Dinner

I (Shannon) spent a blizzardy afternoon spying on this skiddish downy woodpecker enjoying the frozen suet block. Despite the blustery afternoon lots of birds were out and about.  Among the tally were blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, crows, juncos, morning doves and a pileated woodpecker along with the above mentioned downy. A red squirrel uses the top of the chain link fence as his personal highway while the larger grey squirrels wade through the snow.

Oh where did my green garden go?

The snow isn't as deep as last year at this time... however, it seems plenty deep to our old dog Rooper. Yes, we are down to one dog now.  Ubu passed on last year.  We shovel paths for Rooper as he isn't agile enough to jump through the snow.  Sometimes we have to carry him... all 65 pounds of him on the stairs.  He is over 15 years old now.

Snow peak nearly reaching the deck.  Trails for the dog to use.

I bought this glass globe on clearance last fall and hadn't done anything with it.  I revisited it while cleaning this past week and removed the skinny silver thread that it hung by.  I didn't think it would support the additional weight of soil, water and a plant.  I created this "noose" as Timothy calls it from sisal that we use in the garden.  Now I had to find a plant that would not mind tight spaces, be small and grow slowly.  Also, because of where I wanted to hang it, this plant had to be ok with low light conditions. I will often by-pass a plant because I don't want to spend the money and can't justify the purchase to T.  After all, I have plenty of plants inside already right?  Well, not one that would be happy in this little globe. I found a 3" pot of Selaginella kraussinana 'Aurea' at the grocery store and thought it worth $2.99 and a try.

Shannon's latest plant creation.  Selaginella "Golden Moss"

Since the moss was too big, I ripped about a third of it off and planted it in a large glass cylindar that I purchased at a second hand store sometime ago.  I collect marbles and so raided my stash for pretties to add.  The blue glass insert has more clear glass marbles and a tea light in it.  It too is an acquisition from a second hand store.

New terrarium #2.

Finally, in my afternoon of playing in the soil, I planted these Lantana seeds that I saved from plants I had purchased in 2013.  Usually I just save cuttings from the plants but an early frost took them out this past year.  I soaked them for 24 hours and laid them on the top of the soil.  According to Google, they need light to germinate.  They also need warmth so they are currently living on top of my toilet tank as our bathroom is the warmest room in the house.  Germination time is 6 to 8 weeks so I will have to be patient.  The next seeds to start are a little more useful in the culinary realm, parsley get planted on Sunday.

Lantana seed starts.