Experimental Garden January Bloom Report

Not much going on in the experimental garden today. 

Fish pond is frozen.

wild life is frozen

birds are busy feeding

fly away

 a few herbs surviving in the green house

I do not have indoor blooming plants like by darling daughter click here





kid is snuggled in bed with the cat for a long winters nap

Days are getting longer, spring cannot be far away.  Tune in for the February report.

Christmas 2010

I have deleted the following songs from from my iPod:
"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"
"Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow"

This is our fourth snow this December.  We usually do not even get one.

 Veggie garden

 Dogwood tree

 This candle holder has been banned from the house.

Fake Icecycles have icecycles

 Early morning accumulation and it kept coming.

Lucky three times???

Snow three times in December - record breaking.  You have to realize there are years where we do not see this much snow in a whole winter.  Five years in a row we did not have enough to measure. 
Just look what we have at 3:00 pm on Dec. 18th, 2010.

Experimental Garden December

Early snow in NC.

 Hope in the garden.  Buds will bloom again.
Fountains and ponds will thaw.

Snow in NC?

Who would have thought?
We seldom get now in Dec. much less a good one.
The weather reporters said we might get a light dusting and it certainly would not stay on the ground because it was too warm.

Butterfly bush weighted down.

Add caption

 bee hive is closed for action

 

Feed the birds

We enjoy our bird feeders.  Apparently we are not the only ones.  This beautiful red shouldered hawk decided he might find a snack if he staked out the feeders.  First the feeders in the back yard.

Looking looking looking


Then the bird feeder in the front yard.

We never witnessed him catching one of the song birds that frequent the feeders.  Needless to say they were noticibly absent.
It was fun to watch him and imagine what he must be thinking.

Disaster in the Experimental Garden

We have maintained a small water garden with gold fish for ~20 years.  The gold fish reproduce and it is not uncommon for us to have >50, all sizes, ages, and colors.  They live through the NC winter thanks to a depth of 18" in the middle.  And can be seen even on cold days slowly swimming.












We also have a wide variety of frogs and toads. 
















Last summer the pickerel and water lillies took over the garden and we removed them because the pond was full of roots and plants.  The plan is to start again next spring with new plants. 

One day last week, disaster stuck when nature took over the fish pond.  Harry walked outside to find a beautiful large Great Blue Heron feasting on the gold fish.  It was to his advantage that the plants have been removed and the water was cold and they fish cannot move quickly.

Results:

Empty, baren water garden/fishless pond.

Next spring we will again invest in gold fish and new plants.  The expense of gold fish (>6 for $1.00) will be worth the pleasure of watching them survive. 

As for the Heron, hopefully he will not visit again any time soon.  We love the Herons and love seeing them, just NIMBY.