Cloud Pruning

The 'Gold Mop' Chamaecyparis pisifera got cloud pruning training session #3 today.
Before.

After.

Before.

It happened after Solly and I went for a short walk in the garden this morning. The little bit of vomit this morning was all hair, no food. That's a good sign.

I'm having a major urge to dispense with the emergency backup bottom skirts on my Niwaki kind bushes. It may be time to cloud prune the bottom and aim for a more tree like form. Some bondage will be required to pull this off. I need to think about how to do that.

This training session might not be quite finished.

The Firepit Bloom Day

A lot got done today. The chop and drop is basically done with just some minor touch up needed here and there. A mile of trash was gathered along the scenic byway.

There was enough time left over to light the hairball of pick up sticks on fire before the ring of crocus around the pit starts to bloom.

I remembered it was Bloom Day after it was a bit too dark for more pictures. The Witch Hazel 'Arnold's Promise' will have to suffice for flowers in my garden today. If you need more, keep scrolling to older posts or visit Bloom Day headquarters. The bulbs are rising in many gardens no doubt.

Imagine if you will, a ring of crocus around the firepit. They will be along shortly. I had to be careful not to step on them.

Speaking of hairballs. Solly Kitty has been throwing up her dry food for the last three or four days. Something needs to come up. She spent a few hours outside in the garden with me today and had a chance to eat some grass. I hope it helps. We can go for another walk in the garden tomorrow.

It was a productive day. Amazing how that can happen when the weather is not cold and wet and gross. The winter garden chores are pretty much done. In perfect time for the bulbs to rise.

The Bulbs Are Rising

I never did get a good meadow crushing snow.

Winter still manages a pretty decent knock down. There has been a lot of that evil wind.

Now winter is ending and the bulbs are rising.

I have been out between showers. The chop and drop of the remaining remnants of the tall flower meadows over three acres of ground is well under way.

The bulbs are rising.

Solly Kitty greets me at the front door now.

 I stand there in an open door and Solly shows zero interest in going outside. Zero.

She's not ready to give up her warm winter den. It is cold and wet and gross out there.

Yet the bulbs will rise.

The chop and drop should be finished over what looks like a dry weekend. There will probably be enough time to pick up the trash along the scenic byway. Damn Litterbugs!

Solly Kitty needs to get more socialized. She is also going to have to learn how to go back outside. We just might be having a garden date this weekend.

The Sunshine In Between

There was one whole day of sunshine that melted the snow. There was one day when what I saw with my eyes managed to show up in pixels. One day those Witch Hazels will be ten foot high shrubs.

One day it will be dry enough, calm enough and warm enough for me to get to the chop and drop.

The bulbs have started to rise.

But the rinse and repeat has begun.

Three more days of warm rain in an already saturated Appalachia will be followed by snow.

The chop and drop may have to commence between showers. The bulbs are rising.

To And Fro

There was no wind. It was a lovely day for a walk in falling snow.

Full Cat

Two days of rain will be followed by two days of snow. There will be a rinse and repeat for next week it seems. We are house bound.

Solly Kitty has achieved full cat in her house bound habitat. She seems quite content and pleased with twice a day visits. A personality is starting to show.

On A Warm February Day

Some hot days of rain are on tap before a brief return to snow this weekend. Snowdrops and Witch Hazels much prefer sunshine to stay open, than have issues with temperatures.

They open for business when conditions are good for the bugs to be out.

Conditions must be good because the inside of the house is crawling with Lady and Stink bugs. Damn bugs. I live in a multi-purpose den.

This year the Witch Hazels are all blooming together. They opened in the same succession as usual, 'Jelena', 'Diane', 'Arnold', but a couple weeks earlier and reaching peak bloom sooner than in colder winters.

Close enough to the usual time for normal at least.

At this point they have had a solid month of bloom time and that is pretty remarkable for a winter garden.

But it ends rather quickly when they decide they are finished. The petals all drop in two or three days. There is just no way of telling when that will be. Today, on a warm February day, they are all in full color bloom.

Queen Of The Snowdrops

It was snowing when I walked over to Solly's house.

That is where the motherland of snowdrops resides.

It was cold, grey and windy. The catalog quality pictures do exist, in countless fleeting moments.

Today in the sun, the snowdrops opened up. The wind had decided to roar. The wind is evil.

Do you believe it? I know. I know. She is a major happy purring machine.

The was no room left in the other warm winter den. There was in the land of snowdrops.