Crazy Weather

We've had crazy weather this month, first the "Big Freeze", followed by a week of record or near record highs in the 80's and then 5 days of rain during which we received nearly 2", which is almost a quarter of our annual average of 8.64".  All this has made it difficult to do much in the garden, but I did manage to prune the grapevines and I'm trying spur pruning instead of cane pruning in hopes of increasing yields; I left one vine cane pruned so I can compare results.  I also planted some chrysanthemums in the window box outside my office window to add a little pop of color.

One of the amaryllis on the front porch finally bloomed and I'm still hopeful that the others will follow suit.

There's another new resident in the ever growing troupe of gnomes and this time it's a single gal, so all of the bachelors have been coming a courting.

She's been serenaded

She's been showered with gifts

She's been read poetry by moonlight

And she's been offered a ride around the garden

Who will she chose?  Check back to she who else comes a courting and then she who she chooses.

After 4 days of rain, finally a rainbow to signal it was almost over.

Looking east from the backyard

Starlings against a backdrop of color.

Lastly, I finally got a picture of the Cooper's Hawk that's been terrorizing the backyard feeders.