Proof of Life

A peony with red foliage making way.  The foliage greens up about the time the buds begin to form.

Winter, you shall not take us down.  You might win a battle here and there, but there will be gardens and there will be
flowers.

And lots of them!  These globe alliums have been seriously hindered by the Austrian black pine I removed after last summer's garden walk.  This will be their year!

 Although out of focus, you can see the results of the scratch test (scraping the outer skin to reveal that shimmer of green)on the akebia quinata:  proof of life!

Akebia quinata scratch test

Native geum triflorum, prairie smoke

A small alpine plant I grew from seed, which I am going to have to check my records to identify!

Crocus under the white pine

My own seedlings of 'Palace Purple' heuchera

Bergenia, or pigsqueak, grown from seed decades ago, and even here evergreen!

At least one of my Pink Knock Outs made it!

Russian achillea, 'Love Parade' looks like it means to fill in some significant real estate left vacant by the black pine.

Ah, tiny bud growth on a few of the branches of the Japanese 'Bloodgood' 

There are a lot of healthy buds on this clematis alpina 'Blue Dancer', which blooms on old wood.  Last year it bloomed two blooms near the ground in mid-May.  This year it looks like it will have a good show, but at eye level.

The privet are thinking about it, but until they leaf out there is the opportunity for the scilla to put on their opening show with a shimmer of blue.  I mean to move them (or some of them to a better location but life pre-empted me.

THIS JUST IN!

Report from the Outliers: The Bee Keeper says this was a good winter for bees.  Although, extremely, bitterly cold, there were none of the extreme temperature fluctuations we have seen in more recent years.  Her father's hives look good and are robust.  As you might remember her hive's queen was attacked and killed by marauding hornets.  The surviving bees were sent to their cousins' hives.  The Bee Keeper reports she will purchase a new queen and the bees will be back in a week or so.

Central WI: Cold Zone

Rose 'Eureka' and Russian Sage

Not a black hole, but a white hole...

Someone, a mathematician and programmer, has put together an algorithm using census data to design an interactive map showing one dot for every resident of the United States.

So I guess what i should be saying that instead of central Wisconsin being a black hole, it's actually the white space between everyone else.

I have been thinking a lot about the plants I want to grow, and those I actually do grow. Especially when it has been so bone-chilling cold as it has been the last few days.

The thing is central Wisconsin is where the cold from the Artic sort of drips down into the lower 48 states. And as there are large bodies of water nearby, one doesn't have to travel to fair to jump a zone or more. The closest botanical gardens are in these areas. The result is I don;t have to travel too far to get huge cases of zone envy. Camera in hand, I have taken pictures of many of these, like the rose Eureka above that grows well in Olbrich Botanical Gardens just 90 miles south.

The other plants in this post also fall in that, "I can't quite grow that zone".

Eremurus - foxtail lilies

Lenten roses

Manchustripe maple

One of my neighbors has a snake bark maple closely related to this one. It has made its way through at least one winter, so this might be a possibility-- if I had room for one more tree. It has survived for the people over at the Paine Art Museum.

Japanese silver grass

I tried this one one year with several plants. None survived.

Oakleaf hydrangea

This is the more likely candidate for a place in my garden, maybe this will have to make the short wish list, if I come across it on sale.

I have started to notice I seem to have a micro-climate on one side of my house, between my house and the one neighbor I never talk with. There is a fence between us with good cause. This space is approximately 12 feet wide, 4 feet of it covered with a pea gravel path.

My son and I have lately talked of making this accessible through his room by exchanging a window for a French door to a landing and maybe a hot tub. I have often thought of adding a hot tub or outdoor Finish sauna to our landscape here. It is one of our more private spaces in the yard. Not a goal for early this year with the garden walk looming, surely, but it is an idea we often discuss.

Needless to say, this area in my yard is scheduled for change or perhaps evolution.