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January 30, 2010

More Winter, and More on Birds

Filed under: Creatures,Winter — Tags: , — Judy @ 6:27 pm

Ol’ Man Winter has come back again! We have single digit temperatures now and the thermometer dipped below zero last night. Brrr! The thing about snow and cold now though is that you KNOW that Spring is only a few weeks (OK, months!) away, but you feel like maybe you can get through it. The sun has a tad of warmth to it, and the fresh snow sparkles with its brilliance. Oh, I know that there will gray days with gray slush and gray clouds and gray dispositions, but still . . .

Today was a great day for watching the birds too! They were very hungry, trying to stay warm with this cold weather. Both mama and papa cardinals (we counted 12 of the males all at once!), blue jays (squawk!), chickadee-dee-dees, tufted titmice, busy nuthatches, silly mourning doves, tons of little brown birds (mostly rusty-capped sparrows), ugly starlings, cute little juncos, and the most fun of all – a red-bellied woodpecker! Why they call him red-bellied when it is his head that is red is totally confusing to me, but that’s what the book says!

So, how many birds can you count in this picture? (Hints: 1) Click on the picture to open it larger. 2) There are 3 different species in the picture.)
Count the birds

January 24, 2010

The Colors of January

Filed under: Our gardens — Tags: — Judy @ 7:43 pm

What do you think of when you imagine winter in upstate New York? Lots of snow? Lots of white and gray? Yep, sounds about right . . . usually! But today was another beautiful day in the high 40’s with the snow melting rapidly. I took a walk to get some fresh air and see what interesting sights I could find out there. The garden beds are still snuggling under their leaf and bark mulches, but the lawn already looks greener to me after getting a good dose of that “poor man’s fertilizer.” I can see that the primroses, Jacob’s ladders, and other early bloomers show promise of things to come, but almost everything else is sleeping like it should. I really didn’t expect to see much as we still have about 2 more months of winter to get through, but look what I found! See? Winter here is not all gray!


The Colors of January 2010 Slideshow

January 16, 2010

Signs of things to come

Filed under: Flowers,Our gardens — Tags: , , , — Judy @ 1:43 pm

We’ve had some warmish temperatures (in the high 30’s, low 40’s) over the last few days and the snow is melting rapidly, exposing some of the early Spring bulbs. They will certainly get blasted again by the cold and snow because winter is NOT over for us yet! Despite that, it is a sign that things will be looking up before too long.

Daffodils in January

Daffodils just poking up.

Snowdrops in January

The snowdrops even show signs of budding. What might be hiding under the snow in your garden?

January 14, 2010

Winter sights

Filed under: Our gardens — Tags: , , — Judy @ 1:49 pm

Grasses in winter

Today is a beautiful sunny day. Cold, but definitely an encouraging day to go out and get some fresh air. The camera went along and we took some pictures to show why winter is another wonderful season around here. Above, the shrubs and grasses wear little snow berets!

The Blues in winter

This year I didn’t cut The Blues (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’) back before winter. I often cut the whole bunch and use them as decorations in the house, in vases or on wreaths, but I wanted to see what their winter interest would be this year. I love the way the grass goes from green through blues through grayish-purples throughout the year and its contrast against the snow is very pretty.

Blueberries in winter

And then there are the blueberry bushes! You can just see the little reddish buds, all ready to burst into bloom when the time is right. Oooh, I can just taste those berries now!

Cabaret grass in winter

And finally, the Cabaret grass (Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus ‘Cabaret’) – full and dramatic in its golden winter coloring against the snow. I must remember to cut this grass down early as it will shatter all over the place in the Spring winds. But for now, Cabaret is awesome next to the big rock.

What is interesting in your garden now?

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