I’m sharing this first photo of these bright ranunculus for no particular reason, but because I NEED COLOR.  We were spoiled in December with wonderful weather and we are paying now with more cold and snow. So this photo from last year was a must!  

~ So, what is new in the gardening home front? Well, I am trying to stay motivated by planning ahead to my little garden in 2019. If you followed me last year, you know that I consider 2018 my best year yet. So this year I am bringing back some old beauties and some new ones too! There will still be dahlias (of course!) but also some new flowers I have never grown. After much thought I decided not to give sweet peas a try. The debacle of 2018 when the high winds blew away the seed trays that had germinated, just broke my heart, so I am skipping them this year. 

One of the things I have been doing is going back on my journals from when I first started gardening and it has been interesting to read and realize how I have grown as a rookie gardener the past 5 years. From my first freak out moment when the corn rootworm beetle destroyed my flowers to this past year when I found a solution to it, that is not harmful to the environment. And my stubborness in thinking that some plants may just surprise me and grown in this (at the time) new hardiness zone when they were clearly labeled against it. Oh, the good ol’ days. But that is the beauty of gardening— always teaching you, is it not?

~ Spring/summer will show if my David Austin roses, which I planted in pots and are residing indoors in my garage, will survive. Fingers crossed!  The roses were labeled as good for this hardiness zone but something about the sub-arctic polar vortex type winters in the Midwest did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, so I planted in pots. We will see how that works out.

~ In other news— the 300 bulbs I planted in the fall behind our house may or may not grow (Read more HERE). Two weeks after I planted them, our city had some construction and the dirt from there was unceremoniously dumped behind our yard. Not inside our property, but about three feet from where our land ends. What this did was create a dike behind our property because the dirt is blocking the drainage line from our land.  So last week when the snow started melting, this was the situation. 

Below is one of the beds with the bulbs. There’s water hanging around the bed (you can see them in the background). This is so frustrating. The soil is frozen so the water has nowhere to go right now. And of course, the city is of no help until Spring. So, I am praying that these babies will bloom YET something tells me they will not.

~ As you know I started my Master Gardener’s internship and it is so much information! But it is great getting to use my mind for studying again! And being in this program has really opened the doors to meeting other people and getting involved in other events. We have a few local garden shows as well as in Minneapolis and St. Paul, that while not organized by the Master Gardeners, it allows us to come together and enjoy other gardening and landscaping activities. So, it should be fun and a great way to shed the winter blues! :)

What are you going to stay sane this winter?

Joining I may be found on one of these link-ups: In a Vase on Monday, Mosaic Monday, Home Sweet Home, Friday Bliss, Home and Garden Thursday, Pink Saturday, Nature Notes, Dishing It & Digging It, Thankful Thursday, Grace at Home,