This week in the garden: Snowmegeddon!

I mentioned in last weeks garden post that I’m not much of a fan of spring bulbs. Specifically, that while they do provide a burst of color in early spring, their bloom time are so transitory that it is possible to completely miss out on when the bulbs are actually in bloom. As an example, these two pictures from the same spot in the garden were taken a little less than week apart:

Fortunately, I happened to be sitting on my patio enjoying the unseasonably warm weather when I noticed a spot of purple nearby. Had the weather not been so nice I might have completely missed these flowers.

I’ve also had problems getting my bulbs to spread out, or to use the gardening vernacular, I can’t get them to “naturalize”. The picture below is from the garden next to my driveway. This section bakes in the summer heat and it’s filled with drought and heat tolerant plants. Years ago, when I installed this garden, I planted over 60 daffodil bulbs of different varieties. As you can see, there are only a few survivors. Daffodils are supposedly drought tolerant, so I am not entirely sure why they aren’t doing well.

The last daffodil standing. However, the hyacinths are thriving, you can see one in bloom on the far right.

Let’s take a stroll to another part of the garden, specifically let us look at the leaf buds on the trees. I’ve noticed that the buds on several of my trees and shrubs are already starting to swell, which is a couple of weeks early in my neck of the woods. That isn’t in itself a bad thing, but even as I type this the Colorado Front Range is getting hit with “Snowmegeddon II”, a blizzard with temperatures forecasted to drop into the 20’s tonight. Because most of the buds hadn’t completely leafed out the plants should be alright. Last year my area got hit by a late cold snap that zapped the new leaves and set the trees back a couple of weeks (https://www.mrvintageman.com/this-week-in-the-garden-april-18-to-may-21/).

Some trees and shrubs are “smart”, in that they delay their leaf-set until they are “sure” that the weather is going to stay consistently warm. Below is a picture of the Bigtooth Maple (acer grandidentatum) that shades my patio. I was surprised to see that this particular tree already had swollen buds. Surprised, because Bigtooth Maple is a native of the intermountain west of the United States and you would think it would be programmed to wait until later in the spring to begin leafing out. That’s gardening for you; every year is a new surprise.

Swollen leaf buds on the Bigtooth Maple.

Post Script: fallout from the second major blizzard to hit the Denver Metro area in the past couple of months (Snowmegeddon II). Well, the most recent spring snowstorm has moved on, but not before dumping about 8 inches of snow in my yard along with overnight temperatures in the teens. As you can see by the picture below, the daffodils blooms I showed above are toast. The bulbs themselves will be fine. The concern about plant damage isn’t the snow. Most plants and bulbs in my yard can easily shrug off snow. It’s the low temperatures that are the concern. Temperatures in the teens can cause the moisture in the leaves and stems to crystalize and damage the vascular system of the plants.

Fortunately, the snow actually acts like an insulator from the worst of the cold, and with the temps rising to the low 40’s the day after the blizzard, the plants should rebound quickly. The daffodil blooms, however, are probably done for the season.

It’s the Snowpocalypse! The daffodils have packed it in for the season.

The silver lining from this most recent dark cloud is that I was able to get the lawn and borders fertilized before the storm hit. All that rain and snow is going to green things up nicely! Now I just need to get the lawn aerated. Anybody know a good aerator person in the Denver area that they would recommend? My guy stopped doing aeration.

If you have any pictures or stories of your yard or garden that you would like to share, please send the pictures and details to MrVintageMan2@gmail.com.

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This week in the garden: Signs of Life

Most of my garden is still quiescent, but there are signs of that it is breaking its winter dormancy. Seemingly overnight numerous shoots have started pushing through the ground. With the detritus from last years garden removed the soil is no longer shaded, allowing it to warm up and triggering the plants to reach for the sun.

Rocky Mountain Columbine spreading its leaves.

As you can see, a great many of plants that are coming up are bulbs. I’m not really a bulb person, but I understand their appeal. After months of cold and drear, seeing a spot of color in the garden can cause euphoria, no matter how short-lived that euphoria might be. The problem I have with bulbs is that their bloom times are so short that if one isn’t paying attention you can completely miss them. That is assuming a mid-spring snowstorm doesn’t destroy the blooms before they even get started. So, even though I am not a big fan of bulbs I still try to plant a few every autumn. To quote Avengers: Age of Ultron, “a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts”.

The little green shoots in the back are Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica). I planted them several years ago, but they only started blooming last year. Weather permitting hopefully they do better this year. The grey/green plant in the foreground is “Basket of gold” ( Aurinia saxatilis ) that should bloom in about a month or so.

One thing you might have noticed in all these pics is even though I’ve cleaned up the garden there are still a lot of twigs and leaves left over. This is for two reasons. One, I’m much too lazy to spend the energy it would require to make my garden look like something out of a magazine spread. Two, leaving twigs and stems in the yard is good for the birdies. They use them to make their nests. So it’s a twofer: I’m helping the environment and saving my back. Win-win all around.

Ornamental onions (Allium) on the left and False Forget-me-mot (Brunnera macrophylla) on the right. I use Brunneras in the shadier parts of my garden because they somewhat resemble Hostas but are much more drought tolerant, which is important in my semi-desert region of the country.

The only fly in the ointment so far is the weeds. They have gotten a big head start on the rest of the garden in breaking their dormancy. That human ability to forget the bad things in life often extends to gardening. Every spring I am shocked at how fast and furious the damn weeds spring up, and I get so busy trying to eliminate them I rarely have time to actually enjoy the garden.

Damn weeds getting a jumpstart on the other plants in the garden.

I went ahead and pulled the tarps off of the patio furniture and got the cushions from out of storage this week. Perhaps you’re thinking; “isn’t that a little premature MrVintageMan? After all, April in the 2nd snowiest month in Colorado”. You might be right, but I got sick and tired of looking at the boring tarps, and I want to be able to sit on the patio when the days are warm and sunny. Should we get hit by a spring blizzard in the meantime, so be it. That’s springtime in the Rockies for you: heavy coat and mittens in the morning, flip-flops and shorts in the afternoon.

Nothing says spring like breaking out your patio furniture. I don’t care what the thermometer says or the fact that April is the 2nd snowiest month in Colorado.
It’s Springtime, dammit! So, by God, I am going to act like it’s spring.
First bloom of Spring: crocuses entertain a visitor.

So that’s it for this week. Would love to hear any comments or suggestions. If you would like to have pictures of your garden posted on my blog, send your photos and descriptions to Mrvintageman2@gmail.com

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This week in the garden: Spring Cleanup

Tulips prepare for their grand entrance in a few weeks time.

While Spring may have officially arrived, it hasn’t made much of an entrance yet in my Zone 5 garden. Which is not unusual at all. While warmer parts of the country undoubtedly have trees and bulbs already in bloom, my region of Colorado has a short growing season and thus there is not a whole lot going on here, and there won’t be for several weeks.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t things that can be done around the garden. While I would never say that spring cleaning my yard is fun, there is certainly a feeling of accomplishment that comes from cleaning up the ruins of last years garden. I have discovered as I have gotten older that spring cleanup is definitely more enjoyable, and less painful, if I take my time and not rush it. All that bending and stooping can make my hamstrings suffer for days if I’m not careful

The first thing that I do when I start the cleanup is to take a stroll around the yard and look for damage to….ok, the first thing I need to do is pickup all the dogshit! Dammit, all over my new shoes.

Alright, with that out of the way, the second thing I do is take a stroll around the yard and look for obvious signs of winter damage. This includes looking for broken stems on trees and shrubs, plants that heaved out of the ground due to cycles of freezing and thawing temperatures, and searching for damage to fences and other hardscaping. Once I have done my walk-around, I then devise a plan of attack on where to begin the cleanup and repairs.

Some broken stems on this shrub. I think it will buff out though.

This year there wasn’t too much damage evident, so I will spend the next couple of weeks chopping, raking and mulching all the plant beds. Once that is accomplished I’ll get the lawn aerated and fertilized. By late April and early May my yard is going to hopping with plants, animals and bugs getting it on! It will be like a giant swingers party out there, and I’ll be the peeping Tom sitting on my patio observing it all. Can’t wait.

The glacier that has been in my front yard since December is finally receding

Below are some photos of the work I managed to get done before the latest round of snow hit the Front Range. Ah, springtime in the Rockies, where a heavy coat and gloves are needed in the morning, but shorts and a t-shirt can be enough attire in the afternoon.

The front of the deck: before…
and after.

Next to the patio: before…
and after.
More tulips on the way.

If you have any pictures of your yard or garden you would like to share, please send them to me at MrVintageMan2@gmail.com, and I would love to post them.

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