Last year’s resolution was quantity over quality and I may have failed in both departments when it came to this blog so why not just recycle the idea for 2022? That was easy! I don’t even have to move on to other topics like losing weight, exercise, eating healthy… I can just reach for the Nutella and grab a spoon and be done with it. Wow, January second and I’m already checking things off the to-do list 🙂
With each December milder than the last, ‘Mrs Macnamara’ has finally found my garden to her liking. Usually the cold cuts her down and beats her up, but now she’s pristine, multiplying, and maybe ready for dividing and spreading around.
Now that we’re through resolutions let me open up on what the rest of the winter will look like. Snowdrops and construction. Maybe more of the former and less of the later but I won’t even try and tone down the snowdrop obsession this year, apologies in advance.
Just a few years ago these bulk buy Galanthus elwesii would come up early but always on the spring end of winter. The last two years they’ve been surprising me in January.
Here’s all I really want to say about construction. Mud. That and the hunt for perfect rocks continues. Given long enough I think I’d have stone walls surrounding the garden, but as fill is moved back into position I’m not as tempted to actually dig rocks back up.
The stoneyard, or snake condo as my friend Kimberly would likely call it.
Temperatures are dropping today and things will freeze up, and maybe the mud won’t be as depressing if you can actually walk over it rather than through it, so to prepare for ‘maybe winter’ here’s a photo from my ‘maybe greenhouse’ aka ‘winter garden’ in the back of the garage.
I knew I killed almost all my cyclamen, so last spring I started a few primula for winter blooms. January first they came inside and under lights and I hope will soon amaze me with fantastic color.
So you’re aware, snowdrops and construction will be dropped as soon as it gets really cold outside. These primrose coming into the garage are only the tip of the winter garden iceberg, and I may be guilty of a few too many cuttings and containers this winter and it’s only barely January. Oh well. It’s not like I’ve started any seeds… yet…
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2022. We could all use it 🙂
sorta like suburbia 
There’s no construction here but we have no shortage of mud as we have had an inordinate amount of rain lately. We are confined to the house today – newspapers, books, tv and internet. I went out and took a few photographs in one bright spell and the breeze nearly skinned me.
‘Mrs. Macnamara’ is looking well with you and the bulb buying of elwesii seems to be a good way to chance on something different.
The idea of random beautiful days here and there in winter is very appealing, but the prospect of day after day of cold and gray might be more than I’d want to deal with. All that mud is also a lot… says the gardener who will be hanging on your every snowdrop photo for the next two months as I wait for mine to reappear from frozen soil 😉
I find bulk snowdrops to be a fun diversion as I wait to see what every new treasure looks like, but I hope soon I’ll get the same excitement from home-grown seedlings which are (slowly) coming of age.
Happy new year, Frank! I look forward to watching the ‘reconstruction’ of your new garden areas. Let’s hope for the best of weather.
Thanks and Happy New Year to you as well. I’m sure 2022 will bring nothing but the best of weather!
I love your optimism! 🙂
Happy New Year! Hope the year is filled with favorite plants and family.
Thanks, and the same to you and yours!
Looking forward to all the new year brings in the way of plants..foliage and blooms.
I’m already itching for new plants and fresh blooms! Hopefully this dose of winter will nip my spring fever in the bud.
Those free rocks are as pretty as Mrs. Macnamara. Cold enough here that the snow we got is necessary for insulation. I am spending my time making lists of what to order and then doing it. I will be broke by mid-month. Love the lush green of those primroses.
Me as well! I’m putting plant and seed lists together, all the while reminding myself that there will be more important things to worry about such as prepping beds and rearranging what I already have. I now what I should do, but…
Wishing you happiness and fun in your garden in the new year Frank! Love those rocks. 😃
Thanks Cathy! You know all the fun involved in a new garden. I have the added benefit of an older section to hide away from it all in 😉
As the stone pile grows so do the ideas I would imagine. So exciting to have a pile of stones in my opinion. Your Galanthus are quite a nice touch this time of year. Mine aren’t peeking out as yet.
Many of my galanthus are still laying low, which I wish more of them would do since winter is sure to have a thing or two to say about fresh green sprouts.
I’m open to all kinds of stone suggestions. One day I think there aren’t enough for anything significant, the next I think I have way too many of the stupid things.
No mud here, but we may get way too close to freezing by the wee hours. I love snowdrops, I do miss them.
I guess snowdrops without snow could be a thing, but I’m sure you can squeak by through the winter with just camellias, sweet box, and paperwhites, all enjoyed with (at worst) a light jacket 😉 On this snowy day you’ll get no sympathy from this frozen garden lol
Muddy here too but the frost makes it easier to walk around. What are you going to do with those beautiful stones? We have lots of stonewalls, don’t know if you’ve watched my garden tour on youtube last year? They’re a haven for wildlife. Monsieur is very good at building them, I’m lucky. Wishing you all the best for the new year, keep enjoying your garden
I will need to look at your youtube videos again. I enjoyed the scenic drone flights but don’t remember the garden and stone walls showing up so I suspect I missed some. I may possibly have enough stone for a little wall, but for now stepping stones and a few larger rocks fit into the slope will be the plan.
Of course I’m more focused on the plants between them, but the snakes also seem to enjoy a good rockpile and I’m happy to see that… even if the sudden slithering always gets a jump out of me!
sounds a great project, Frank, what kind of snakes do you have? we’re delighted to have snakes around the house but they too make me jump at times when I come across them while weeding