The Count Before The Storm

It rained. It thundered. I would imagine there was lightning.

But during the lull between morning and late afternoon waves of this bipolar warm rain cold snow storm I went and took a second census of emerging bulbs. There has been a lot of progress.












I was surprised to find that there are now a lot of Crocus coming up. A few of them have blooms. They were not included in the count because they did not qualify as clumps.













The new count, are you ready..... is 245. That is almost double the 129 clumps of bulbs I counted one week ago today.













From a distance it still doesn't look like much is happening. A major part of this mountain meadow garden's charm is that you have to walk the meandering paths to really see what is going on. It literally is like a walk through the woods except that people who know plants will be shocked at the diversity in such a relatively small area of a forest.














So 245 clumps of bulbs knot 20 bulbs per clump ciphers to 4900 bulbs. At the more generous 25 bulbs per clump that is 6125 bulbs of the predominantly Daffodil/Narcissus looking foliage.

So far.














I gave up counting the Wood Hyacinth. It is beginning to look more like a carpet in spots than clumps.

The Pulmonaria are blooming a bit too. In a way that is a shame since they look so much better plant wise later in the year. It would be nice to have the flowers and full foliage together.














After the great bulb count I went back to work on the you know what.














The second dry stacked stone wall is turning out better than the first I think. The deliberate slower pace in fitting the stones is giving it tighter joints and a more polished uniform look. I am still worlds away from a truly fine stone mason.












Then it rained. It thundered. I would imagine there was lightning. The tiniest dollop of sun, a suggestion of warmth, was followed by a rapid cooling. The stones stopped fitting together and it was time to call it a day.














By the time I got next door the rain was sounding like kernels of rice landing on very dry paper, but it wasn't solid white rain yet. You couldn't see it. It's changed again since dinner and the world when I wake up will be winter white once more and back to 20 degrees.

I sure hope these bulbs know what they are doing.