Unusually glorious January day

That is all.

Lurking under leaves

I finished raking today!

I found a few things lurking under the leaves.

There were two of these little lizards (although both pictures are of one). Last year I mistakenly identified these as salamanders, but as my dad pointed out when he saw a dead one a couple weeks ago, they have scales. So lizards.

Why are the alliums coming up already (foreground)?! Is this very bad? Is it because the leaves kept the ground warm?
Also the nettles and forget-me-not still look very much alive, despite winter. We'll have more frost later this week so we'll see what happens.

And what are these coming up in front, in my tulip patch? Crocuses from last year, it looks like?

Not pictured: some fat slugs, which were dispatched.

Bulb planting map

I finished planting bulbs ages ago but forgot to post the map.

I am still raking, of course, but the end is near. I probably will have done about 50-60 bags this year when all is said and done. I didn't do the front because we paid someone, so that probably accounts for the difference from last year (75ish), and maybe I got more efficient (I now know to rake when the leaves are damp, because they pack best).

I have started looking for a replacement for the threadleaf coreopsis moonbeam that did so poorly in my back plot last year. I see mixed things about the need for sun among moonshine achillea (yarrow, A. hybrida), and mixed things about deer resistance among shasta daisies. Yellow corydalis (Corydalis lutea = Pseudofumaria lutea) seems like it is worth a shot.

Bird sounds

I just discovered this catalog of bird sounds!

http://macaulaylibrary.org

Raking leaves

I took a different approach this year with leaves than I did last year. Last year I started raking in September; this year I waited till end of October or early November. Much better. The leaves are still falling at a crazy rate, so it's not like you get to finish early if you start early. So far we've done about 25 bags' worth. I've been raking a section then mowing it, then tackling a new section some other day.

Did I ever post this picture before, from a public garden? I liked the transition of the bricks from orderly path to garden.

Bulb planting season

Time to get those bulbs in the ground! I have not finished, but I have put in some daffodils and grape hyacynths. I am also improving my map from last year, to be published here when it is done. Here are the locations of the bulbs I've planted so far:

The new bulbs are planted on the right. The dark compost is a little misleading, as I also put some over where last year's bulbs went on the left. 

Same spot, different angle

Along the north-facing side of the big tree at the back middle of the back yard

The trowel, shovel, and pad point to the spot - a little to the right of where bulbs went last year.

Allium bulbs: three visible on the left, and the fourth where the trowel is pointing.

I pulled out a lot of this weed over the summer, but couldn't be bothered with the rest, and now I confess I think its flowers are pretty. (update: see May 4, 2017 post to learn the identity of this plant!)

I have no idea how the plants in the front are supposed to change as the seasons change, on account of I don't even know what kinds of plants they are, but this one has turned a nice yellow, whether that is good or not:

When I was a kid, we used to find these kinds of puffball fungi up by the track at the high school. I loved squishing them so the spores would whoosh out:

The back plot that I designed and put into action this year has not lived up to potential. The threadleaf coreopsis sort of gave up, and the wood's pink asters (below) are having a rather pathetic bloom, and it's just not filled out very well, but I can try some different things next year. The lungwort has done beautifully, and the artemesia has spread beyond expectation (perhaps a bit too much). Everything else is sort of okay.

Topiary is the final touch

Whilst I was away yesterday, apparently the landscapers added the topiary to our plot, thus completing their efforts. The grass has grown in nicely. Now we just sit back and wait two years for it to really look done. *looks impatiently at wristwatch.*