I keep looking out my back window and thinking that soon it will be the perfect time for initial yard clean up. Once the leaves are down I can see what’s really out there. The weeds that like to hide under the currants and dogwood are easy to spot now.  I like doing my major planning for pruning and cutting back now. I like to wait until February or so to do the actual cutting, after the coldest part of the year is past.

Cold weather in the forecast, and more rain. Snow level down to 500 ft. which means I’m likely to see some of the white stuff too. Hopefully not so much that I have to shovel. Still, it’s time for the snow tires.

The Arthur Menzies haven’t actually flowered yet, but I’m thinking any day now.

Pretty strange weather the last couple of days, highs in the sixties, lows in the mid 40’s. It definitely feels like fall and not an accelerated spring. Today it is supposed to start to cool down and dump a bunch more rain. I hope the sand bags hold. Next weekend it will probably get below 32 at night, the first real freeze.

Time to cover the faucets.

Failing Storm Water Infiltration System

9:30am on Saturday, rain is coming down in buckets. Certainly enough water to do the trick. The photo here is the sandbags diverting the overflow away from my driveway and to the side of my house. There is a stream flowing down the walkway and into the backyard. The adjacent lot is undeveloped wetlands, so no damage there. I’m just thankful my planning paid off. The basement is dry and I’m here typing this post, not bailing out another flood.

My sister loves to tease me that I’ve been sandbagging again.

I’m the unlucky recipient of my neighbor’s stormwater runoff. This spring I already suffered about $30k of damages from my basement flooding.  I’m not terribly excited about a repeat performance. An inexpensive and effective short term solution is to redirect the water flow around the house using sandbags. 

There will be an opportunity for a real test this weekend. The three day forecast call for continuous rain from now until Sunday. I’ll post pictures if anything interesting happens.

Well, maybe it’s not winter yet, but yesterday was certainly wet and windy. Yesterday I had one quarter of an inch of rain fall in an hour. Saturday looks to be wetter.

There are a few great weather websites I follow:

• Cliff Mass Weather Blog at http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
• Kirkland Weather at http://kirklandweather.com/, which happens to be based about a mile from my house.
• and the University of Washington Probability Forecast http://probcast.washington.edu/

Everything else pales in comparison.

It has been a tough winter for getting out and working in the yard. Last snow was again on April 15th. Friends gardens have definitely suffered. Fortunately the worst damage was to a lone mahonia in the back yard. ‘Charity’ lost the bulk of it’s branches and sort of looks like a clipped poodle at the moment. It wasn’t exactly my favorite plant, sort of a payoff from the landscaping company for not being able to find the ‘Arthur Menzies’ I wanted. (which, by the way, lost a few branches but otherwise held up very well)

The sole damage was self induced. @#$! is all I can say. I put too much iron sulfate on the creeping thyme while attempting to kill the moss. I killed everything. Instead of trying to repair the bed this year, I’m going to put down newspaper mulch to keep the weeds down, and then next spring bring in a power rake to clean up the debris. I’ll bring in some new topsoil and then replant the creeping thyme. It will be ugly this year, but I can then tend to the rest of the yard which needs some serious clean up.

Free workshops throughout Seattle and King County

Please join Stewardship Partners and WSU Extension for a hands-on classroom workshop on rain garden design and construction. Several classes are scheduled throughout King County and the Seattle Metro area beginning January 22nd in Bellevue.

A rain garden consists of native trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses planted in composted-amended soils in a shallow depression and strategically placed to effectively capture rainwater and slowly infiltrate it into the ground. Rain gardens work like native forests by capturing and infiltrating stormwater from rooftops, driveways, and other hard surfaces. Rain gardens reduce localized flooding; help recharge groundwater aquifers; provide beneficial wildlife habitat; and filter oil, grease and toxic materials before they can pollute local waterways.

Workshop participants will receive a rain garden handbook and other useful materials. They will also be invited to participate in several full scale rain garden installation workshops scheduled later in the spring and summer.

Classes are from 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Thursday, January 22: Bellevue, Bellevue City Hall
Thursday, February 12: Carnation, Carnation City Hall
Tuesday, March 3: Renton, Renton Technical College
Tuesday, March 17: Downtown Seattle, Seattle Aquarium,
Thursday, March 26: Seattle Tilth in Wallingford
Thursday, April 23: South Seattle, NW Environmental Education Center
Workshops are free and registration is required. Participants will be sent site-assessment instructions in advance to help maximize their learning at the workshops.

Visit www.stewardshippartners.org for more rain garden information.

There was a short break in the winter storms, which means here that it’s in the low 40’s, usually with broken clouds.  The unusually heavy snowfall is nearly all melted except for a few spots on the north side of the house. I ducked out for about an hour to whack back some clematis that is overwhelming the roses, and put down some iron sulfate on the creeping thyme. I meant to put out the iron sulfate BEFORE it snowed, but I wasn’t quite on the ball. The moss certainly waited for me.

The daphne odora has some serious frost damage, but only to the leaves. The chinese witchhazel ‘Pallida’ has some buds just starting to open. The mahonia ‘Arthur Menzies’ looks fine, but the flowers did not do well with the cold weather. There are still some blooms yet to open but I don’t know whether there will be much fruit this year.

And the weeds didn’t seem to mind the low temps at all. Oh well…

This just arrived. Local salvage events on December 6 and December 13.

See http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/pi/pdf/December2008salvage.pdf for more information.

The Mahonia ‘Arthur Menzies’ is blooming.  I spotted a single bud open on November 18th, but now there are enough flowers to attrach the hummingbirds. What a great plant. I should have blooms well into late February. The heather ‘Kramer’s Rote’ is just starting to show buds too. The yellow/purple combo is great, and once the berries start forming the purple/purple is equally attractive.

I took a stroll in the yard yesterday. The neighbors snag finally gave way and fell in my yard. I’m tempted to leave the bulk of it to promote a more natural woodland ecosystem. A couple of the Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ (dogwood) lost a twig or two, and one of the Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ (redbud) has two broken branches. Everything else looks unscathed.

The hellebores are starting to show their buds and the moss is definitely taking over.  Time to apply some iron sulfate and lime to the creeping thyme.  Otherwise I let the moss do what it wants.

I was at a friend’s house yesterday, and I thought he had just trimmed his lawn. He laughed, and said I wasn’t used to seeing grass, it stops growing in the winter. It has been awhile since I’ve had a grass lawn. I haven’t missed it at all.