Yes it snowed.  The garden is resting quite nicely for a long time now I think.  Those of you who live nearby are probably sick of snow pictures, but I thought I would share some photos with readers out of the blizzard zone.  We had 32 inches of snow here in the flat part of the yard as measured on my yardstick.. drifts were much higher.

This is the view out the back door with a path shoveled for the dog

Here’s the back fence and “patio”

Esther and I crossed the driveway “Alps” to get the mail

This is the basement door out to the yard – I’m not going out that way

The other side of the door

A pretty drift ridge

This snow wave is hanging off the roof

Esther surveying the woodpile – I’m glad I brought a bunch of wood in before the storm

I took this through the window – here’s Esther sitting on the back step last night enjoying the fluffy snow

Its going to be awhile before we see grass around here……..

Big blizzard on the way, so they say.  The birds are all over the feeders.. their version of stocking up on milk and bread and twinkies.

Carolina wrens on the suet

Some more amaryllis bloomed .. this one seems appropriate for an impending snowstorm.

I also have two Christmas cactus that chose to bloom in January.

Time to hunker down, sit in front of the wood stove and watch it snow.

Gardening is often about experimenting.  You try stuff you read about and maybe it works or maybe it is a colossal flop.  I tried a couple things this year that worked.  One is orchids.  I have been given some lovely ones  and I have tried all kids of things to get them to spike again.  Last summer, I put them out on the side porch (western exposure) and pretty much ignored them.  In October, I brought them inside, put them in an east facing window and voila!  They are throwing out flower spikes and one has bloomed.

The second experiment has to do with amaryllis.   I have a lot from two years ago that just didn’t bloom again.  I left them in their pots and put them outside under a tree and kind of ignored them too.  They got watered when I watered the other pots.  In August, I put them all in one big pot so it was easier to manage them.   Then I brought the whole thing into the garage in October and ignored them until December.  I started watering again and they are going crazy.  Here’s some buds and one popped this morning.  I love it when stuff works out.

And then there’s the Clerodendrum I got from my Mom.  I finally cut it back after 3 years of letting the vine keep growing.  It bloomed.

The new year began wet, gray and dreary in my neck of the woods. It has now given way to brutal cold, wind and snow.  I am actually glad we have a bit of snow cover to protect the plants during this windy cold spell, however.  The seed catalogues have arrived, and plant lust has begun.  I have lots of projects lined up for the coming year.  In the meantime, there are other things to do.    Now that deer hunting season is over, I’ve been back out walking in the woods.  Our beaver neighbors were very busy during the last month.  For readers who live nearby, this is on the trail behind Williams Barn.