In 2008 I posted an ad on Craigslist requesting divisions of perennials. We had just moved to the farm the previous year and had a large new perennial bed to fill, and no extra cash as we had plunked down all our savings on the down payment.  I even offered to do the digging (where has all that energy gone!?) A woman named Lori replied to the ad stating that she would have plenty of iris for me come spring. I wrote her back expressing my keen interest in her iris and mentioned that I just created a gardening interest group in Yahoo and would she be interested in joining? Lori joined and got all her gardening friends to join and shortly thereafter we all met face-to-face at our first Eastern Iowa Garden Exchange plant swap. Pictured are the irises Lori shared with all of us, which are the most sumptuous shade of purple in existence. I can’t to this day fathom how she could part with such beauty!  Join the group!

I have fallen head over heels for ornamental willows. Current favorite: Japanese fantail willow.

And then there is my ever expanding collection of curly willows. This year I’ve acquired golden, coral bark, and scarlet.

Today I started planting hardwood cuttings of red, yellow and copper twigged dogwood, bittersweet, sycamore and 2 pieces of Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick that were gnawed off my tiny new tree by a dog (ARRRGH!). I don’t expect Harry to root but I just couldn’t bear to part with the beautiful contorted twigs. Dealing with hardwood cuttings makes me nervous, as there are several different ways to do it, each of which seeming to defy the logic of the others and leaving me unsure whether I’m doing anything right. Will they be doomed since they were stored in a Rubbermaid tote in an unheated room rather than under ground? Were they harmed by temperature fluctuations? And now that they are planted outside will random night-time lows in the teens do them in? These are just a few of the questions that plague me about this underused propagation method. But in spite of all the uncertainty, I plan to keep on taking hardwood cuttings because A. It’s the only thing resembling gardening I can do in this climate in winter, and B. It’s low tech, requiring no artificial heat or light and I find that very attractive.

This year I’ve become aware that the winter garden does, in fact, exist and it’s more interesting than ever. I don’t think I would have been able to wrap my mind around this concept had my gardening style not evolved to appreciate foliage and bark color, habit and texture over flowers, which don’t last. Here’s the front perennial bed under a soft white blanket of snow.

I especially like the effects of the dry mullein stalks, which were planted by the birds. The large trees in the background (likely also planted by birds) aren’t bad either.
One of this year’s goals is to work some winter interest into one of my newer beds. Good candidates that I have or am acquiring: Japanese pussy willow, Japanese fantail willow, yellow curly willow, Harry Lauder’s walking stick, red and yellow-twig dogwood, red curly willow, black pussy willow.

Why so close? Supposedly they hate each other. (Please disregard the mess in the background.)

We moved the suet feeder closer to the window for close-up views of some of the more interesting suet-eating birds. Please help ID this one, Ann and Jim.

I finally got around to making an artisan bread recipe featured a while back in Mother Earth News:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

You mix up a big batch of dough, let it rise, then store in the fridge- no kneading required! Pull out a hunk of dough when you’re ready to bake, shape and let stand before baking at 450F with a pan of boiling water in the oven to produce steam. This bread has become the JOY of our existence around here. Just look at the crust on this thing!

Al alluded to a cat house for Doppel in his last post. Here it is now completed and in use.

Excellent design and meticulous craftsmanship by Al. It is fully insulated and has a fleece-covered goose down pillow on the inside. Al will build a fancy roof for it later, temps were plunging and there simply wasn’t time to complete that part as I was in a hurry to get Doppel into it.  And it’s a good thing we finished it last night as it was -11F this morning!

When we brought it into the barn last night, we put dry cat food inside it as a way to force Doppel in. We wanted to make sure he understood how to go in and out the little opening, which turned out to be in the shape of a piece of toast. He did it but seemed confused since that’s not where we usually put the food. Not knowing anything about cat house design, we were a bit concerned that the opening might be too small and that perhaps he might feel trapped if a predator were to approach. But when I came in the barn this morning, there he was all curled up inside, snug and fairly warm given outside temps.

And speaking of snug cats, Peaches does not appear to miss his barncat days. Just about a year ago he, too,  lived in the loft of the barn and spent many a -10F day.

Is Peaches looking in the mirror? No, he’s looking at his doppelgänger through our glass storm door. A while back there were random sightings of doppelgänger on our road, but never on our property. The cat bears such an uncanny resemblance to Peaches that I’m convinced it’s his brother. Where has he been all this time!?  About 2 weeks ago Al was looking out the window and spotted him right next to the house! And guess what, I’ve been feeding him ever since (that’s a no brainer). He lives in the loft of our barn where all the other feral cats used to hang out (RIP Scaredy Cat and Barney). And today he came to our door because he needed more food. He was very polite about the whole thing, much like Peaches before he became so entitled.

This morning the dogs and I harvested a tree branch to use as a Christmas tree. My first choice was some sort of evergreen, but the only ones that grow wild around here are ugly cedars. My second choice was a white cottonwood/aspen/poplar (not sure which, also wild), but as I got close to some I discovered the branches were way out of reach. Then I spotted a nice looking chokecherry (I think) with beautiful dark mottled bark and decided to cut one of the lower branches. And here it is with ornaments and a mischievous kitten in the background who obviously thinks this is a jungle gym with cat toys hung for no reason other than for his enjoyment.

Jake and Buddy and I just went out for a stroll in the snow. It was 12 degrees F when we left, which beats the -2F we woke up to. These dogs love navigating our country roads with me in tow. Strangely they don’t go on walks by themselves, even though sometimes I wish they would. They are typically way ahead of me, sniffing around in ditches and galloping through fields, but they’re very sweet about running back to check on me from time to time.

Jake and Buddy doing what they love best

We passed a small stand of plum trees I admire. These are growing in deep shade at the edge of a woods. Reaching for light has made them weepy and graceful, almost Japanese in habit.

wild plums

And we went by a stand of Jerusalem artichokes growing in one of our ditches. I plan to dig some of these in spring and eat a few and get a patch started somewhere where they don’t have to compete with invasive grasses. They produce beautiful sunflowers in late summer.

Jerusalem artichokes

Then we paused to admire the bittersweet, my favorite of all the treasures I’ve discovered in our ditches in part due to my orange fetish. The berries are steadily disappearing. Apparently they are poisonous to most animals except birds, who tend to eat them as a last resort.

American bittersweet

There were more berries a couple weeks ago and even more a month ago, but I didn’t get around to taking photos in time.

We used to use refer to the damage inflicted on our plants and trees by dogs (Jake and Buddy) as “DD” for “Dog Damage”. Each season there would be a casualty or 2, usually nothing I couldn’t get over pretty quickly. Jake has this annoying habit of creating doggy dugouts- digging a Jake sized indentation into the ground to lay in, regardless of whether anything’s growing there. He has a knack for dislodging newly planted perennials. You’ll find the dessicated remains several days later and kick yourself for planting anything near one of Jake’s spots. Obstacles such as inverted flower pots and wine bottles pounded into the ground help. I know of an even better obstacle- rose clippings- but I’m not that mean.
Planted trees are usually safe around here but if they’re still in a pot, watch out! Last summer while I was rolling a wheel barrel full of mulch over to some newly planted fruit trees, Jake went ape shit and chewed a 5 foot apple tree, still in its pot and which I was about to plant, to its death.
Now we’re dealing with a different DD- deer damage. Plenty of it, and of the type that makes Jake’s DDs seem almost laughable. We’ve lost 5 trees this year due to buck rubbing and munching. And I am absolutely kicking myself for not ordering 100 more tree guards.

buck rubbed maple

deer munched pear