Saturday, April 6, 2013

After The Ice Storm

Just two days ago anything that wasn't hugging the ground was encased in ice.



























I wasn't imagining things when I stood on my front porch and listened to the forest crashing down around me.





















Considering how it could have gone, the carnage was minimal. I was pretty much spared. The ridge top garden was a little dinged. It's all cleaned up and out of the way now. Let spring gardening begin on the glorious warm sunny day that followed the melt.



























It is spring like enough that the spring ephemerals of the deep forest floor have begun to wake up. Anemone acutiloba is one of the first native wildflowers to bloom. Two days ago they were pelted with branches, twigs and ice and you would never know it.





















I was happy to find two of the trilliums I bought last year have emerged. They were sad looking things when I bought them. I bought three new species to add to the existing four species that are already here. Now if I could remember where I planted the third one.





















Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica is another early arrival. They are super tiny, not much more than a single leaf and a couple flowers. Their great numbers make up for their small size.





















Hiding among all the white anemones is a pale pink one.





















I got busy on the slope below the cozy cabin. I may have bought a few more Scabiosa from the discard rack that got planted. Then I spent a little time weeding out the fescue grass off to the left and out of this picture. There is a lot of bare dirt now, but the time of the Lush is coming. All kinds of germination will begin to happen. The editing process will continue from there. The fescue grass is a definite not wanted while the Flattened Oat Grass, Danthonia compressa is being left and allowed to spread.





















I woke Button up for his one big adventure of the daylight hours and forced him to go on a stroll. He is becoming more determinedly nocturnal as the night time temperatures have risen. It is now a choice between sleep and letting him out at night. He wins. I can only hope his first encounter with a larger wild varmint scares the crap out of him.

Miss Collar is only willing to supervise for so long before it is her bedtime.





















Spring indeed is in the air.

6 comments:

Dianne said...

Glad to see you have recovered and not a lot of damage. I have truly enjoyed this warm day. I fertilized some azaleas and roses. Tomorrow I will take care of the Blueberries and hopefully start some weeding and get prepared for mulching. Gonna use bark this year. Maybe that will stop 'em!

chuck b. said...

It wouldn't be a garden if there wasn't some kind of weather affliction.

chuck b. said...

(I must add that I find it heartening to see Miss Collar has not gotten herself vanished into the woods or anything tragic like that in my long absence from your comments.)

Lola said...

There is always litter when the wind blows, seems. Glad it wasn't too bad. I have heard large pine trees "pop" in such conditions, while there. Scary when they come crashing down. Glad you got a chance to get them up.

Phillip Oliver said...

Glad you didn't get too much damage. Ice storms can be scary.

Sallysmom said...

Looking at Button close to Miss Collar, makes him/her look like a ghost cat.