Snow and an Orchid for Valentines

I have recently noticed other garden blogs discussing things like "thaw" and "seeing the lawn again". Meanwhile, we sit under a fresh and generous blanket of snow. I don't anticipate seeing our lawn until April (I confirmed this sad fact by looking at past years' pictures).

It was a lovely cold sunny day, so I tried to get pictures of Kona in her luxurious winter coat. I threw a few large marshmallows out into the snow, where she nosed around looking for them. As it turns out, sniffing for marshmallows in the snow is not a skill of the husky-malamute.

Here's Kona and her "snow nose". It was about -23 C here today, which is about perfect weather for a dog like this. I heard her bark this afternoon (fairly uncommon for her) and noticed some young men cutting through the back woods. They sounded somewhat intoxicated from their language, at one point trying to imitate Kona's bark. We don't worry too much about people getting into our yard though, since the dog is big and folks generally have a healthy fear of dogs around here.

On reviewing my photos, I was surprised to see that this Paphiopedilum "Magic McNavy" also bloomed on Valentines Day of 2008. Prior to that, it bloomed March 2007 and November 2005. I think it has finally closed in on Valentines Day as its blooming season of choice. It is a unique flower in its own creepy bug-like sort of way. That's okay, since I don't see myself as the pink-roses-on-Valentines-kind-of-girl anyways.

My basement seedlings include these Aquilegia vulgaris "Clementine Formula Mix" and Jovibarba mix (a succulent closely related to Sempervivum). Both plants are very easy to grow.

The Jovibarba are probably going into the alpine garden bed, as they are low-growing and form a nice mat. They are nearly indistinguishable from Sempervivum (Hens and Chicks), with only their flowers setting them apart. So say the books anyhow; I will be waiting until summer to see their flowers.

Happy Valentines, and Stay Warm!

It is February 14 and half my basement light garden is full with seedlings already. I am holding onto these Jiffy pellet trays for annuals I will start in a few months. Do you like the Jiffy pellet heart? Nice huh?

Osteospermum, strawberries, and impatiens:


We had heart-shaped buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. They were good for warming the heart, especially since it was -42 degrees Celsius outside! Honestly, that made me gasp this morning, since the Canadian Challenge dogsled race started yesterday in Prince Albert, a city south of us. The 8 and 12 dog teams are currently racing towards La Ronge. It is a 500+ km (320 mile) race and is a qualifier for the bigger races like the Yukon Quest and Iditarod.

I find dog sledding fascinating, and I also admire these people and their cold endurance. They have to sleep outside with their dogs during this race, for goodness sake! I read through the rules this morning and noticed that the mushers are NOT allowed to have radios, cell phones, satellite phones, or GPS. I think I heard that the Iditarod is allowing GPS this year, though. Oh yeah, and the dogs may have to submit for urine drug testing if performance-enhancing drugs are suspected. Hmmmm. I hope my dog doesn't get messed up in that steroid-abusing-dog crowd.

The yard at 10:30 this morning -- the sled teams will arrive not far from here.

While warm conditions (warmer than -10 C) are dangerous for racing dogs, the conditions were really cold 2 years ago and the mushers were putting little jackets on the dogs and underwear on the males, because their genitals were freezing. In fact, you couldn't find any underwear in town that weekend, because the stores were bought out.

My Paphiopedilum "Magic McNavy" orchid starting to bloom.