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Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 20.51 - Solstice! [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2024-12-21
Good morning and welcome to the Saturday Morning Garden Blog! We are a gathering of people who love anything plant or garden related. Pull up a chair, bring your photos! Let’s dive in.
When I lived in Summit County, CO (near Keystone ski area) at 9,400’ in elevation, the winters were long and cold. We started getting frost in August, and finally saw dirt again in May. I love my home state of Colorado, but this got to be too much. One winter morning the temperature was -30°. Most of the time it was in the teens and 20’s for a high temp. Too cold for me. I moved to a lower, warmer elevation about 20 years ago, although I still have mountains blocking the sun in the morning and evening. It’s not as bad, since I also live on the sunny side of the mountain.
During those dark, cold years living in Summit County, I learned to search out the sun to keep from getting too depressed. As a result, Christmas pales in comparison to the daylight hours getting longer. My favorite day has become the Solstice in winter. Even though summer Solstice comes in June and daylight starts to wane, the effects aren’t felt at my house until December.
Not the Solstice, but close. Early December sunset last year.
January can be somewhat depressing but since I’ve retired, I take the winter off from the nursery and enjoy the sunshine. By February it’s all warming up and I have daffodils peeking through the snow.
This winter has not been too cold. Sometimes there’s not a lot of snow when we cut our Christmas tree, on a nearby mountain range called the Flat Tops. The spot we usually find a good tree is about 8,000’ in elevation. The Forest Service has contracted out some logging in the area. I’ve been documenting the changes from year to year in the summer here. There are clumps of mature trees and also some open stretches, which allow for some serious mountain views.
A view from the Flat Tops above New Castle/Rifle area looking across the Colorado River to the Grand Mesa and beyond.
The logging is crucial for forest health, as it takes down the apex pine forest and lets other habitats regenerate. Aspen groves and open spaces improve the habitat for forest creatures. Our practice of suppressing forest fires for decades has left us some very unhealthy forests and I am happy to report, progress is being made.
Mixed conifer and aspen habitat
Charlie let us break the trail for him. Lots of critter tracks to sniff.
Thank goodness for snowmobilers. A nice road to drag out our tree on.
As usual, we found a tree that looked tiny next to the giants around it.
We ended up cutting over 3’ off the bottom.
The tree looks very nice in the living room, once we got it to the right size. The cut end had some nice branches for a porch pot, which looks kind of pitiful to me but gets compliments from the neighbors.
I purchased a game camera for the backyard. I got many, many waving branch photos the first week, lots of photos of the neighbor’s cat, and this...
Fox captured on the game camera
Even in winter there are flowers. I don’t usually buy a poinsettia but I love this combo of white flowers and red poinsettias. A little red helps keep the blues away!
Holiday red and white
I found a photo I’ve been looking for. A friend in Redstone had an old gate she propped up in her garden. I was visiting one winter day and the photo opp was perfect.
Lindy’s old gate
Whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, I hope for all of you a joyful and wonderful season!
Don’t let Old Man Winter get you down. Gardening season is coming soon.
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