New Beginnings

Weather: Some welcome rain, and a little snow that melted quickly on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  By Thursday, the surface of land in the sun already was dry, but it was wet a few inches below.  Ground in the shade still was frozen.  Yesterday, the parts of the gravel driveway gave when I walked on them because moisture was trapped by frozen ground below.

Last token snow: 1/3.  Week’s low: 16 degrees F.  Week’s high: 55 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 30 mph in Los Alamos and Santa Fé on Friday.

What’s still green: Needles on pines and junipers; leaves on cliff rose, yuccas, alfilerillo, coral bells; bases of blue flax and Mexican hats; new growth on Dutch clover; green moss

What’s still gray or gray-green: Leaf buds on winterfat; new growth on snow-in-summer

What’s turning purple or red: Stems on some roses; sprouts on apricot; twigs on peaches, and spirea

What’s turned yellow: Branches on weeping willows

Animal sightings: Instead of the usual crows, I heard some western chickadees twittering around noon on Saturday.  Four were sitting on the eave of my neighbor’s metal building.  They disappeared when they saw me.  The watch bird moved to the utility wire, then left when I walked toward that area.

Tasks: As part of my year-end housekeeping, I reviewed notes on what I should do this year and prepared plant orders for suppliers who use the US mail.  Seed prices had not increased much, but plants had.  No cherry tree was less than $40; a few years ago they were $15.  Rugosa roses that once sold in packs of five bare roots for $25 with more than that a piece.  As usual, I am going to pay more for less.

Weekly update: Garden publications divide plants into trees and shrubs, perennials, biennials, and annuals.  We’re told how annuals die when temperatures fall below freezing.  Apparently, this is because water in cells freeze and destroy the walls.  Trees change color as their hormones change with water and temperature variations.

Nothing much is said about perennials, except that they go dormant.  I notice this year, that leaves on most did not die when morning temperatures fell.  They might wilt, but then revived in the warmth of the afternoons.  It was only in December when afternoon temperatures stayed in the thirties that they dried up, collapsed, or darkened.

This past week we had some rain, and that, with afternoon highs in the forties, allowed some plants to put out new growth.  It wasn’t uniform, but mainly on plants that were located in the sun where they enjoyed more benefits from the heat.

The blue flax never quite died away.  There always was some green at the bases of plants.  This week some that get the most sun had definite new growth.  And, as happens in my yard, these are seedlings of plants I purchased that decided my gravel path was superior to their bed.

The Dutch clover also revived in one place where the sun beamed between some shrubs.  Elsewhere there were signs of new growth, but not as much.  This explains a mystery.  Last summer I swore the legume did not do well in the raised bed by the front gate, but when I cleaned the bed this past spring there were lots of remains.  It seems to have a limited period between the cold of winter and the heat of summer when it will grow, but when it does it covers the ground and hopefully enriches the soil.

The violets are growing about eight feet east of the clover patch.  The stems definitely all were prostate when I looked at them on December 17.  That was when we were in the middle of a week of temperatures in the thirties.  Now these aren’t the violets I planted; these came up last summer some feet away.  Since the ones I purchased struggled each year and barely bloomed, I’m not sure if these are seedlings or the results of runners.  Like the flax, they have taken control of their fate and decided where it is best for them to grow.

Notes on photographs: All taken 7 January 2022.

1.  Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) growing under a flowering crab tree, whose leaves provide some cover.

2.  Blue flax (Linum perenne) growing in a gravel path on the west side of the house.  The leaves probably are from a lilac.

3.  Dutch clover (Trifolium repens) in a sunny opening with leaves from a rose of Sharon or beauty bush.
 
4.  Violet (Viola who knows) growing at the base of a rose bush that gets periodically.