Spring forward

Every year I hope that someone somewhere manages to do away with Daylight Savings Time. It doesn't "save" any "time". It just annoys us all. Pick one and stick with it!

Meanwhile, spring is creeping into the yard. Today I spotted these snowdrops. Some of the "Tommies" (Crocus tommassinianus 'Roseus') are up as well.

I have a "new" camera, a SLR one that I am struggling a bit with. I prefer to use the autofocus feature, but it keeps focusing on the wrong thing. I guess I will have to step up and learn how to focus it manually.

This past week I sowed the rudbeckia seeds directly in the ground, as they need to be exposed to cold to germinate. The forecast shows the temperatures all over the place, so I am hopeful.

The latest piece of metal yard art (or fence art?) is up. I love it, but may move it to the side of the shed.

The other day a landscape guy stopped by to see if he could talk me into having my trees trimmed. My trees are not that big, not even the 35+ year old "Crimson King" maple in the front yard (the slowest growing tree in the world). I can't imagine hiring someone to cut off a lower limb or two that threaten my noggin while mowing. He left his card, which I later noticed included mosquito control as a service. The last guy who came to the door offering *that* got an earful from me. No wonder the bird population is declining so fast.

Harbingers of spring

Thursday I spotted a redwing blackbird at the sunflower seed feeder. They normally avoid the feeders except in spring when pickings are slim. They are much better signs of spring than robins. Ditto vultures and crows, both of which are back.

(Not a very good photo, as I had to use my camera phone from inside.)

The Home and Garden Show is in progress; we went on Thursday. I purchased another piece of metalwork that I may hang on the front porch, after shifting the current fair weather piece to the back fence. It is time to remove the (plastic) winter wreath, before the sparrows start nesting in it.

I also purchased some seeds at the show: Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Giant Zinnia Mix (Zinnia elegans), Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia speciosa), and Black Hollyhock (Alcea rosea nigra), from a company called Circa Seeds. The black eyed Susan needs to go in the ground NOW, as a cold period is necessary for germination. I was going to buy plants, but seeds are cheaper and easier than hunting down this particular variety. I like giant zinnia because they grow three feet tall. Mexican sunflower is on my list, as it is very attractive to pollinators. And the black hollyhock (which won't bloom until next year) will be for dyeing yarn.

The fact that there were no native plant nurseries at the show was disappointing, but perhaps not unexpected. I'm sure booth rental is expensive.

Fall clean-up continues. Most of the frontyard looks clean(er). The forecast for the next week looks like lots of rain, so I'm not sure how much will get done then.

It ain't over til it's over

Last Wednesday night it stormed, complete with thunder and lightning. In the morning, it hailed (see pix below). Last night it snowed. So despite the "January thaw" we had last weekend, winter is not leaving yet.

Before things went south weatherwise, I managed a bit of fall cleanup (which I do in the spring). And dog poop pickup. There is still more of both, of course.

The starlings that were absent most of the winter are back, from the north or south, I don't know. They don't like a lot of my offerings and can't reach most of what they do like, but they make quick work of the suet cakes and peanut splits. Jerks. But they are also patroling the lawn; I hear they like grubs.

The Internet is making me cry

I recently read (or rather, listened to the audio version of) Enshitification, by Cory Doctorow. Today I experienced some of what he rants about - how horrible search results have become. It nearly brought me to tears.

All I wanted to do was order some straight native plants for spring. One site that offered many of what I wanted would not let me order a measly three or twelve plants of each variety. Trying to find alternatives was a nightmare. Regardless of my search criteria, all that came up was barely related to what I asked for. At one point, I was even getting obituaries.

That was on my laptop. For some reason, the results on my tablet and phone are much better. One link took me to the Indiana Native Plant Society site which listed in-state nurseries that offer native plants. Whew!

Some of the sites listed are suspect, as I think they went out of business, but I'll take note of the ones I plan to look into and/or actually visit.

• Bernacchi's Oak Valley Greenhouses (La Porte)
• Blue Fox Farms LLC (Wawaka)
• Chapman Lake Nursery (Warsaw)
• Hardy's Farm Market (Fort Wayne)
• Heartland Restoration Services (Fort Wayne) (Wholesale)
• Laura Stine Gardens (Fort Wayne) (Designer)
• Naturally Native Nursery (South Bend)
• New Leaf Nursery (Nappanee)
• Riverview Nursery (Fort Wayne) (I think they are closed)
• Rozelle Lawn and Landscape (Fort Wayne) (Designer)
• Sanctuary Natives (Roanoke) (this is the outfit that redid my landscaping a few years ago)
• Saving Grace Gardens and Gallery (Kendallville)
• Spaulding Restoration (Plymouth) (Designer)
• Stantec Native Plant Nursery (Walkerton) (Wholesale)
• Wyatt Way Landscapes and Nursery (LaFontaine)

I'm guessing the designers and wholesalers won't want to sell to me, but I'll keep them on the list, just in case. There are a LOT more I did not list here because they are points south where I rarely travel. However, if they ship, they are also an option.

The local home and garden show is in a few weeks, so I'll see what nurseries are there as well. Meanwhile, I will dry my tears.

One side effect of searching for nurseries is plant creep. I ran across some clematis that grow in the shade. I have a trellis on my front porch where I have tried to grow a variety of things, including clematis, over the years. Maybe a shade-tolerant clematis will do the trick. And then there is the desire to grow dye plants like dyer's coreopsis. And wouldn't another spiderwort (or two? or three?) be nice? The question is, how out of control will I get?

I blame the weather. The snow is melting. In fact, the forecast is for temperatures in the 50's and 60's over the next few days. Besides making me itchy for spring, that should reveal a lot of dog poop in the backyard.

Almost done with winter

I still like looking at snow. I don't mind driving in it. But I am tired of slogging through it on dog walks and I'm tired of winter wear - long pants, long sleeves, wool socks, parkas, etc. By the end of the month, I should be completely over it.

Inside, the Thanksgiving cactus is blooming again. A pleasant surprise.

I almost submitted a purchase for some plants yesterday, but didn't pull the trigger. Not because I don't want the plants, but I could feel my decisions being influenced by the sales and groupings in the catalog. For example, there is a build-your-own-tray offer, but not all the plants I want are available for that option. I did not want to build a tray populated in part by plants I did not want or too many of the plants I do want. A more methodical method of shopping is required.

February and I'm still not tired of winter

This weather feels so strange! I grew up in the Chicago area, and this cold and snow matches my childhood memories. But here? Of course, I am discounting the Blizzard of '78 and similar winters that followed. Compared to those, this is nothing.

I am fond of saying that February is the longest month of the year, but here it is and I'm not done looking at snow. Ask me in a month, though.

A robin has been hanging out under the mealworm feeder along with several juncos. I can understand the robin, but juncos eat mealworms? They never try to enter the feeder even though they are small enough. I'm just a little surprised.

I'm also surprised none of the birds have stripped the winterberry holly plants, either. Maybe this week, when it warms a bit?

Otherwise, not much to report. Gotta get those plants and seeds ordered!

Powdered sugar

I frequently gripe about the lack of snow in this area, but I can complain no more, at least this year. It started snowing last night and is still at it. Just lovely.

The best neighbor in the world lives across the street from me and clears my driveway and sidewalk with his snowblower, but the snow is so light and fluffy that I could not resist doing some shoveling myself.

Clio doesn't get that the weather is bad until we've slogged through the snow for a few blocks. When we finally make it back to our house, she is more than willing to call it quits. She didn't even want to hang out in the backyard for more than a few minutes while I filled the bird feeders.

Later, I fetched the skis, poles, and boots from the garage and skied up and down the block. I don't have the stamina I once had, plus I had to "break trail", so I was not at it very long. I just wanted to be able to say I did it.

The temps promise to stay cold for the next ten days or so. There is not much on my agenda this week, so maybe I will actually make it to a county park for a little slippin' and slidin'. The roads need to be plowed first, though.

My SO offered to get me a new camera, but after perusing what's available, he decided a better option was one from his collection. (Newer cameras are meant for vlogging by influencers, with pricing that is a bit steep.) This one is a Sony DSC-HX80, which still has more features than I know what to do with. Much better than by phone camera, though.

With such cold temps, the snow cover is a good thing for the ground and the plants in the ground. I still have not ordered anything for spring planting. It just feels too soon, but soon it will be too late.

Hope you are safe and warm wherever you are!

Brrr!

The weather has been its usual up-and-down lately, but now we are heading into a frigid spell, plus winds, so wind chills will be low enough that Clio and I may just have to skip a dog walk or two. I can bundle up - baclava, YakTrax, layers - but there is not much I can do for Clio's paws. Not that she understand this. Maybe we will take a quick one around the block.

The local avian community is presumably appreciative of the feed I provide. While visiting a friend who lives in a rather woodsy setting, I sat amazed at all the cardinals at her feeders - at least a dozen. I'm lucky to get one pair. My daughter had to remove most of the trees from around her house and hasn't started landscaping the yard yet as she is having the fence replaced, so her birds are even more infrequent. They like to have a spot to roost.

I have had a cold for the past two weeks, which has left me semi-comatose from either the cold symptoms or the cold meds. TV and jigsaw puzzles are about all I have been able to manage. It's finally abating, though.

I like jigsaw puzzles where I can immerse myself into the scene and pretend that I am there. While we have had some snow this year, it hasn't been enough to get the cross country skis out. But I can dream, can't I?

Project 2026, part 2

While telling my SO about the last post, I realized that I had forgotten the following goals for 2026:

• Replace dead Canada hemlock with gold mop
• Replace dead/dying ninebark with another? Something else?

How many times does a shrub need to die before it not only gets replaced, but replaced with something different? The Canada hemlock has already been replaced once, as have two of the ninebarks. I let the landscapers remove the gold mop in my front yard, as it had become quite unruly, but if I plant one in the backyard, it can become as unruly as it likes (within reason). I'm not quite ready to give up on the ninebark yet, though.

An odd coincidence with all three plants is the hemlock is located pretty much over the natural gasline that runs to my house, while the ninebark are in an easement where a natural gas main runs. Are there small leaks that I can't detect with my human nose? Would that affect the shrubs? And why these and not others?

It's seed catalog time. Even though I don't order plants and seeds like I used to, I still get offers from all over. This week I noticed as odd phenomonon in one catalog: colorless flowers.

I'm a little surprised anyone would choose to grow beige flowers in their yard, but hey, it takes all kinds.

Project 2026

January is one of my favorite times of the year. The new year is a blank slate, just waiting to be overlaid with our hopes and dreams. It's expecially fun for gardeners, as we can finally get our plans in order for the coming growing season.

I did a pretty good job meeting my goals for 2025. Sometimes they morph into something else, but that's okay. It's important to be flexible.

Here's to 2026!

1. The only food I plan to grow is a little clump of asparagus, strawberries (assuming they survives this crazy winter), and garlic I planted last fall in the strawberry bed. And maybe I'll take another shot at green beans.
2. I discovered that the chokeberry plants the landscaper installed by the den are non-yielding, so I want to plant a row of four fruitful chokeberries in front of them; variety will depend on height and berry production.
3. I've always wanted arches over the gates to the backyard and will try to create them from cattle fencing like the neighbor behind me did. The climbing rose can crawl over the south gate from one side and maybe something else from the other side (like a clematis). The north gate could support the honeysuckle vine.
4. I will deliberately plant more safflower, to dye yarn with.
5. The 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia will be eliminated from the Meadow.
6. Rudbeckia hirta will go in the bed around a serviceberry in front yard; it is supposed to actually attract pollinators, plus it's pretty.
7. Arrow-leaf coneflower will join the coneflower cultivar (that was supposed to attract pollinators but didn't) in the bed by the front walk; maybe I'll shift the cultivar to the front of bed, because it is short but blooms a long time.
8. Gotta plant some Mexican sunflowers (in containers?)
9. Also gotta plant some zinnias (in containers?)
10. I want to repeat having pineapple sage, planted in the ground this time instead of a container, as it gets rather big. It's great for an autumn pick-me-up
11. Weeds choked out a few of the plants in the coneflower bed, so I'll order replacements.
12. The penstemon in the Meadow is too aggressive! But before I eliminate it, I must check the plants I moved to the south side of the house, to make sure it is established there, where it can duke it out with the northern sea oats and bee balm.
13. The wild geranium volunteers from the front yard are going to the area next to the goutweed. If the geranium does well, perhaps it will replace the goutweed someday.
14. The Meadow will be limited to the coneflower, the cupplant (which may need to be cut back a bit), the hickory tree, the rattlesnake master, the common milkweed, and some fleabane if I don't accidently pull it. (Fleabane looks like baby's breath from a distance.)
15. More packera, nodding onion, and hairy beardtongue will be transplanted to the backyard.
16. For the rain garden, I will add some ironweed and marsh blazing star.
17. I want to rearrange the portable fencing so the tallest panels are on the south side of the house, holding back the tall plants there, and the shortest panels are around the meadow (to keep the dog out).
18. I've never had much luck with butterfly weed, but someday I would like to try establishing it, maybe in the fire ring (once I'm done using it for fires).
19. REMINDER: Cut back the aromatic asters and goldenrod in June, to see if they behave better.

Everyday, I try to spend some time watching the birds at the feeders, from my recliner in the den. Most of the time, it is the usual suspects. The other day a white-breasted nuthatch joined the red-breasted nuthatch, which is unusual. Meanwhile, a fluffed up red-shouldered hawk sat in the neighbor's silver maple, but none of the other birds seemed too concerned.

Despite all that is going on in the world, something as simple as a bit of wildlife in the backyard can be very healing.