Vernal Witch Hazel and Glance Under Hoop

Last week, as I looked at pictures of last year in the garden, I realized that it was time for the vernal witch hazel to bloom, so I went out in the snow to take a look.  Sure enough the bottom branches were starting to bloom.

First yellow blooms on the vernal witch hazel bush.

Stepping back to see the whole vernal witch hazel bush, which was planted in the fall of 2012.  Just the bottom branches are starting to bloom.

Wednesday morning brought six more inches of wet, heavy snow, which weighed down the shrubs.  I had to go out to the yew bushes in the front of this picture and the viburnum in the very back and shake the icy snow off of each branch to keep them from breaking and get them to stand up straight again.  Then on Friday the weather was in the 50s and the snow started melting quickly.

The ice around the low hoop finally melted enough so that I could open one side and get some fresh air in.  Although it looks pathetic after months of freezing weather, I was heartened to see the onions growing and new leaves on the kale and tatsoi.  I could probably throw some lettuce seeds in here in a little while and see what comes up.

Although the yellow kale leaves are only good for compost there are new green leaves starting in the center showing that the plant is alive. So I should have this plant producing food again soon.

The pak choi roots have sent up new leaves!  There were also a couple of leaf lettuce plants with new leaves.

Strawberry leaves poke out of the snow in the garden.  I saw quite a few strawberry plants coming up, so once it is a little warmer I will need to clean out the dead material and extra vines around each plant.

Various types of sedum are greening up around the garden.  I don’t want to clean up the leaves too much because we are expecting more snow and cold weather on Sunday.

Animal sighting:  I saw a skunk meandering near the little pond I can see from the window at work.  Later in the week I was driving through my neighborhood and smelled the strong smell of skunk.  Seems like the wildlife are ready to come out of their hibernation now, too.

Ducks in a Row

I took an afternoon walk down by the Village of Worth canal area.  Here’s what I saw…

The ducks are in a row at the edge of the canal.  Or this could be called “duck dating.”  Once the water warms up there will be a little waterfall here.   In the foreground a swan is sleeping and in the left corner a gull is checking out the ducks.

The swans sipping some water.  Several swan pairs live in the area.

After sipping the water the swans settled down for another snooze.

The gulls were lined up, too, facing the wind.  I love seeing the gulls gliding through the blue sky on these cold winter days.  According to my bird book these seem to be ring-billed gulls.  My bird book also says they commute into the city of Chicago every day during early morning hours.  Is this true of these birds that already enjoy the canal waterfront here?

I was taking this walk by the water reclamation plant.  Once the weather warms up this will become a little lake.  Water from the water reclamation facility will pass through the lake on its way to the canal.  A lot of people come here to feed bread to the ducks, geese, and gulls.  There are no signs discouraging this, as there are at Lake Katherine.

I took a walk along the canal and was grateful that there was no ice on the sidewalk.  I was hoping to find birds here, but it was very quite in the middle of the afternoon.  Just tall bare trees and a big sky.

Back in our yard a female cardinal worked on a crabapple.

Tonight will be the first night in a long time that the temperatures will be above freezing.  I decided I finally had to dig in and try to lift the plastic on the low hoop.  The kale leaves inside all looked very yellow.  It look me about 10 minutes to loosen the ice enough to lift some of the plastic and open a crack for air.  Tomorrow the temperature is predicted to be 54 degrees Fahrenheit, so I would like to get a little more of the plastic rolled back if possible.

Compare Five Winters in Chicago

It has been a long winter with snow again this morning.  I wondered how this winter compared to March of the past five winters so I went back in my archives to see what happened.  To see the complete posts you can look back in the archives.

2010

In 2010 we decided to dig up the sod by the patio and threw the sod both in the compost pile and in the easement.  We eventually also added the crabapple tree to this bed.  Since then we have expanded this bed to the right to double it and provide privacy for the patio.  There was no snow on the ground at this time. Though I think a little bit dusted the garden later in the month.  We were probably working in the garden a little too soon, but I must have had an itch to get going.

During that same week I received all but one of these plants for my pre-planned drought garden in the mail in the middle of March!  I potted them up and brought them in and out of the house for a while and then planted them in April, I think.  The lavender and sea holly didn’t survive in my garden, maybe due to the humidity here.

2011

On March 13, 2011 the crocuses were poking up through the ajuga.

2012

On March 13, 2012 my mini daffodils were blooming, so that was an early spring.

Crocuses were coming to the end of their bloom time.

2013

On March 9, 2013 it looks like a robin is working on crabapples that had fallen into the snow….

But by March 17, 2013 the crocuses had started to bloom in sunny spots.

2014

This year has the most snow on the ground of the five years.  There is ice under the snow so it is thawing very slowly, though warmer weather is expected this week.

I went looking to see if I could see if there were any bulbs poking up, and sure enough these crocuses were popping out of the snow on March 8th, so they should be blooming before too long!

Conclusion?  Even though we are behind when compared with the last years we are not that far behind.  As the snow starts to melt everything is ready, set to grow.

More Snow…

We had two or more inches of snow last night.  The next time the weather will be above freezing will be Friday, March 7th.  Then it will stay around freezing for a few days.

The snow pack is lower now, but still substantial.  Even though everyone has lost patience with the weather I heard birds chirping as we shoveled.

The hicksii yew shrubs have gotten some brown needles from wind burn, or whatever.  I wonder how much damage there will be from the cold weather.  Hopefully the snow cover will have protected the plants through the winter.

The Christmas poinsettia is still cheery in the house.

My house plants are generally pathetic this time of year, but this one put out some fresh green leaves.

Slow entertainment:  I am enjoying keeping my eye on the live stream of this bald eagle and the egg it laid.  http://www.ustream.tv/jordanlakeeagles

Hope Rises As Snow Starts To Melt

We had three warm days last week before the cold weather came back.  Today it is sunny, which really helps, though this week promises more sub-zero temperatures.  Here are some snapshots from this past week.

The snow melted off the gnome and he is getting some fresh air again.  This gnome is a toad house, so maybe something is hibernating underneath it.

The snow has melted off the compost pile, so I was able to chuck my kitchen scraps in again.

This was how high the snow was on Tuesday morning.

This is the same shot three days later.  There is quite a bit of ice under the snow so it is taking a while to melt.

Very near our home is a former mining pit that is now a lake.  It is owned by the army corps or engineers and so is off limits to local traffic.  Still the chain link fence has a big opening used by locals and the deer.  The lake looks pretty frozen.  Every fall and spring, if I have time, I join some volunteers in going in and cleaning up trash from all the illegal visitors, many of whom are fishing here.  It is a good way to explore this off limits area, which provides a natural habitat for a lot of wildlife in the area, including some swans.  The corps wanted to dumps dredged material from the canal in this pit, but it has been disputed for many years, while they try to find an alternate location for the dredgings, which contain pollutants that could harm the ground water in this heavily populated neighborhood.

Nearby was a huge old oak.

Winter oak leaves and a blue sky.

Sea gull in the winter sky.

Well there is nothing green in the garden to take pictures of except for the moss, which seems very green poking out of the melting snow.  But I could be seeing daffodils in a month, if spring is not too late this year.

Amateur Birdwatching

When the weather keeps me out of the garden, but I really need to get outside, it’s time to combine some amateur birdwatching and amateur photography.  It was a cold but sunny morning and I headed out to see what birds lived in our neighborhood.

 

In a stand of old trees at the end of the block I saw this male red-bellied woodpecker.  I heard his bird call first and then spotted him on some dead wood.

In this shot of the red-bellied woodpecker you can see the long beak for pecking on the wood, his red forehead, and his zebra back.  I love the very blue sky!

I was taking pictures of another red-bellied woodpecker down the block and realized when I got in the house that I had taken a picture of a female bird, with a gray forehead.

This is the only shot I was able to get of a downy woodpecker.  The red patch means that it is a male.  Yesterday I had a great shot of a downy woodpecker all focused and the battery on my camera died, so I had to venture out today and see what I could see.

I snapped a shot of this mourning dove all fluffed up to withstand the cold winds. It seems to be enjoying the sunny day.

This was as close as I got to getting a shot of the male cardinal, though I could hear the bird song.

The sparrows really love my bluebird house.  I have only had one pair of bluebirds in the yard and they were unsuccessful in raising their little birdies during a very hot summer.  I keep having to push the sparrows out each spring, to see if I can get bluebirds to come back.

I see the sparrows peeking out of the birdhouse every day now, especially when it is cold, windy, and snowy.

The berries are hanging on the Chicago lustre arrowwood viburnum shrub.  I wonder when they will be tasty enough to attract the attention of cedar waxwings or some other birds.

At the bottom of the viburnum I spotted this junco, I think.  The picture is not clear, since I was zooming in from the kitchen window, but the bird seems to have found a cozy place to sit in the sun.  Maybe the junco tried the berries or maybe they are too frozen yet.

Other birds seen in the neighborhood:  A big hawk flying high in the sky, a robin, and other small common birds.  I read an article yesterday that there is a bald eagle pair who have been nesting in the forest preserve a few miles from us the past two summers.

Last Dusting Of Snow Before The Thaw

Looking back on my blogs it looks like there has been snow on the ground for the past two months.  We have heard that the high will be around 40 degrees a few days this week.  In the fall when the weather goes down to 40 degrees it seems so cold, but in the spring 40 degrees seems wonderful.

I walked around Lake Katherine for about 45 minutes this morning and did not meet a soul.  The sky caught my attention, with the sun trying to peek through the clouds.

I took a walk through the back woods to see if I could see any fresh animal tracks in the snow.  I was not the first one back there and did not see anything.  Also, after watching PBS shows about coyotes in the Chicago area I did not want to walk too far here by myself.  I have seen coyotes in these woods and I don’t think one would bother me, but I did not want to find out.

I only came across rabbit tracks.

Walking along the canal I saw this single swan swimming.  Eventually the swam came to ice blocking the way and could go no further, so it swam in circles for a while.

Here is the sun and shade a little after mid-day in the back yard.  I am hoping that by Friday the snow will be mostly melted.  Then I will have to take a look inside the hoop and see what happened to the vegetables.  Maybe the mud that is coming will be worse than this pretty snow.

Winter Moon

It seems like I have taken a lot of snow pictures this year.  So I turned my camera up to the sky this week.

The sky was so blue and then I saw the moon. The day was so cold and crisp, without a cloud in the sky.

Back on the ground, in the front yard, it is becoming hard to find places to put the snow.

These thorny American plum bushes grew so quickly last year that we had to stake up the branches, which were hanging down and breaking.  There were no plums, but I am guessing that it may take a few years for these bushes to get established before fruit is produced.

This kale that is outside in the garden finally looks really dead, but is it….?  Last year it came back with green shoots off the stalk.

I heard some birds singing today, despite the cold snowy weather. More cold weather is coming this week.

Snow Quiets the World

We had another snow storm yesterday.  As everyone stays in for the super bowl it is quiet outside.  Of course, there were the snow blower noises and the sound of shovels.  January was the third snowiest month on record in the Chicago area, with 33.7 inches.  Then the first day of February we got another 6 – 8 inches.  Those in low-lying areas should prepare for flooding when this thaws, but since we live on high ground drought is usually more of an issue, so I am thankful for the snow to build up the ground water.

The little river at Lake Katherine was beautiful this morning.  The small waterfall at the top of the stream was full of icicles.

Facing the other way, the little stream flows into Lake Katherine and, along with a bubbling fountain, keeps some water open for the geese and ducks.

Ducks hang around at Lake Katherine, in the water and on the ice.

Neighborhood trees on a snowy day.  Our neighborhood used to be an oak forest.  Many large oak trees still stand tall in the area.

The oak tree across the street at sunrise today.

The evergreens down the street near the railroad at sunrise.  These trees that look somewhat shabby in the summer really look gorgeous covered with snow.

Farm Story and Seed Catalogs

As I write, Dan is cooking and we are listening to an audio book called “The Dirty Life” by Kristen Kimball.  I saw it recommended on a garden blog and checked it out from the library.  It is a story about a city woman who marries a farmer and their experiences on an organic farm.  It is great fun, since Dan grew up on a farm, and can relate to the stories.  Since I don’t raise food full-time it is fun to hear of others who do this and to follow their adventures.

This is one of the farm implements at Lake Katherine, where I went for a walk this morning.  This reminds us of a time when farms were small, so they were more manageable for people who wanted to try to make a living this way.

I have never ordered from this company, but they seemed to have a lot of perennials that I am usually looking for.  I ordered purple monarda and venus heliopsis for my little meadow, to add flowers to the tall grass.  I also bought yellow butterfly weed and a small butterfly bush.  I ordered two kinds of mums to go along the east fence, a hakonechloa grass for a shady spot, and a peppermint ice hellebore for an early winter flower.  My goal is to have flowers from early spring to late fall to keep the bees, butterflies and insects happy.  I also ordered tomato and pepper transplants from Seed Savers Exchange again.

The snow pack is very deep in the back yard.  It may be a long spring thaw.  The hoop has been covered by snow for many weeks, so I do not know what is going on under the plastic.  It has been too cold to want to investigate.

I have two buckets of kitchen scraps that need to go in the compost pile, shown in the back of this picture.  This is the first time that it has been such a challenge to get the compost in the pile in winter.

Squirrel munches on crabapples.  It is a challenging time for wildlife with the deep snow cover.

Vegetarian kale soup.  I cooked up some soup yesterday and put most of it in the freezer to have when I get home from days at work.  It was really tasty!