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Thursday, January 25, 2018

In the beginning......

Crocus leonidii X 'Early Gold'
A wonderful, Hardy, Early and floriferous hybrid of  C. angustifolius and C. reticulatus
So is this the true start of the growing season? The first Crocus has appeared above ground. I suppose it's safe to call this one a winter bloomer and say it's still not spring yet. But honestly this winter has been a weird one, Phenology is defined by the Mirriam-Webster dictionary as: a branch of science dealing with the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena (such as bird migration or plant flowering). 

So in the interest of providing some sort of phenological data, last year this particular bulb wasn't full open until Feburary 23rd. which is almost a full month away. I've noticed quite a bit of stuff being extra early this year, in fact lot's and lot's of Fritillaria's are in bud with many more breaking ground. So the Flower storm is beginning in earnest now and it doesn't surprise me with how mild this winter has been. My only fear now is that winter doesn't arrive with a vengance in Feburary or March as has happened in Winters past. 

So get ready for the flower storm and pray for mild weather. 

Today it's a bit rainy and in the 50's. 

Cheers, 
Mark

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Fighting The Winter Blues

Or the Calm Before the Flower Storm

There is always this downtime after the holidays, but before spring starts nipping at the door, things can get a little glum. The hustle and bustle and purpose of the Holidays have passed, some new diet is either working or not working, and you are trying to decide if those resolutions are really going to stick. Normally this time of year, I'm spending almost every weekend exploring some new cross country ski trail, but as luck would have it this year has turned out to be a bit of  bust as far as snow is concerned. So I thought I would spice things up a bit with a little winter getaway, this would chase away some of those mid-winter blues and let the budded Narcissus species in the greenhouse finally open up. This past long weekend, the kiddo and I headed up to Astoria to where the Columbia River meets the sea in a rather dramatic fashion. Below are some highlights to kill time before the onslaught of flower pics that are just around the corner.

Anya checking out a herd of Elk at Jewell Meadows

Some really cool metal art in the Garden of Surging Waves, Astoria Oregon.

Really old drawing of a Monkey Flower at the Cape Dissapointment Museum.

Where illahe comes from

The weather was in the mid 60's! At the beach in January!!This is looking up the long beach Peninsula from Cape Disapointment.

The people that know me the best, know I have a thing for early botanical exploration. If I could have I would have ridden with William Dampier on his voyages around the world. Wouldn't think twice about joining up on that one if I could have had the chance. I still feel I was born at least 200 years too late. Seeing old stuff always reminds me of this.

Lot's of flowers are starting to emerge now and especially with this mild weather we have had, I expect it to be a pretty early year. I suppose time will tell. It won't be long i'm sure before Winter blues are giving way to the rebirth of Spring.

Heavy rains moving in tonight, but still a mild mid 50's day.

Cheers,
Mark


Monday, January 1, 2018

The First shall be Last

As the sunset on 2017 burned a fire red glow,.

So the First morning of 2018 dawned crisp and bright.

Crisp and cold to start the new year, seems like the slugs have enjoyed the warming conditions in the greenhouse as that summer sun has been getting temps up into the 50's. If you look closely, our unidentified hoop petticoat Narcissus in the background had a stem eaten off. 

Cheers and Good wishes for 2018.

Mark