Still Winter

I was starting to think it's time to change the cover photo, since the snow had all melted.  Well, after temps above normal last week, in the 50s and 60s, winter came back, and it started snowing late morning yesterday, and continued through most of this morning.  I didn't hear the official total, but someone local said they got 6 inches.

Last night, I noticed stems of the cup plant were drooping over the sidewalk, so went out to tie them up so the people delivering the newspaper would have a path to the porch.  I planted it there so that it wouldn't have as many directions to spread, but am thinking that it would have been better farther from the sidewalk.  Still, I'm tickled to have it in the yard, and have seen birds eating the seeds.

This is one of the several bird feeders in the back yard.  We've had doves, juncos, gold finches, sparrows, blue jays, and the occasional cardinal in the back.  There are squirrels aplenty, and there is at least one rabbit that lives under the deck.  My husband, Larry takes care of the feeders, and puts out dried corn for the squirrels, but they still eat from the bird feeders as well.

It is fun for me to see the little piles of snow on things.

The stems of plants are drooping more in this snow, which must be wetter and heavier than some we've had.  I don't clean up the beds until spring, because I like to leave seeds for the birds to eat, and some insects overwinter in the stems.   Plus, I feel there is still beauty in the plants all seasons.

It looks like the sparrows ate the rest of the suet.  The plant on the right is Wild senna. It seems to be more upright than the other one and many of the other plants.

 I took this photo of the junco later in the day than the previous one.  All the other photos were taken in the front yard. 

Some of the seed heads, such as the Illinois bundleflower have little snow hats or crystals on them.

I hope birds eat more of the cup plant seeds before spring gets here.

Wild quinine:

The coneflowers always seem to wear their snow hats cheerfully.

Yes, it looks like it is still winter!

Heidi was disappointed I didn't take her out with me, but I didn't plan on spending much time outside, and did not want to have to dry her off.  Besides, she doesn't really like to be out when it is snowing.

I am glad that I went out and planted a little patch of lettuce, radishes, carrots, and maybe some spinach on one of the nice days.  I used to always plant what I called my gamble garden in February, but lately have started earlier and earlier.  It won't come up until the soil is warm enough.   Sometimes when it is warm enough it is too wet to work, so that 's why I like to get some in early.  Now, it has a nice snow blanket over it.  The summer before last, I planted some lettuce for fall that did not grow large enough to harvest.  It survived the winter, and grew in the spring, so we had a harvest from it after all.

I am so glad the days are getting longer, and spring is on the way!  I hope all is well with you and your gardens.