A mouthful of snow

What's better than retrieving big sticks? Trying to catch snowballs, of course.

With temperatures like we had today and what's forecast for the week, there won't be many more snowballs until next winter.

All of a sudden ...

... there's a lot of snow out there.

Leap Day snowstorm

The view through the living room window this afternoon.

Winter finally arrived today. Much wind and snow all day.
 

 The front yard.

 Drifts by the garage.

And drifts by the deck.

Composting and the law

These are three of our six composting bins. 

Six bins might be -- might be -- just enough to meet our needs.

Composting ordinances? Who knew! Minneapolis considers changes to its ordinance on Monday.

Seventh Day February ...

... is up for viewing. One of the crazy things about this February -- about this winter -- is the lack of snow. You'll notice patches of bare ground in some of the photos. Crazy, but true. See for yourself. (Or check it out at right.)

Zone love

The USDA has updated its plant hardiness zone map. Some areas of the country are in warmer zones, some not so much. The zone at sillydoggarden is about the same. Entering the Zip code initially gets us to 4B (-25 to -30), but looking a little deeper on the map puts us into 4A (-30 to -25). These are average annual minimum temperatures -- we've been known to have bouts of minus 40 degrees.

The new map probably won't change our approach to plant selection. We've always used the zone map as a guide and not as gospel. Pushing zones is a time-honored tradition -- you can't go crazy, but there are other factors to consider when deciding whether to choose a particular plant. Drainage, light and humidity are just a few things to think about. And, of course, you may have microclimates in your garden that make a big difference in survival.

But the new map is nice -- there are both interactive and static versions. It's easy to find your zone if you know your Zip code. Try it.

An offering to Pantone

'Autumn Flame' daylily blooms in late summer, early fall.

The color gods have decided that Tangerine Tango is THE color of 2012.

May I just say that a "spirited reddish-orange" has been in our garden in for some time. As evidence, here are a few riffs on orange/red that we enjoy.

 'Alabama Jubilee' daylily. This one has just enough ruffle.

Marigolds are easy to grow from seed. 'Safari Orange' is one of the mainstays of our annual garden.

Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty.' After three attempts we found the perfect location for this perennial. Those are tiger lilies behind it.

Gaillardia is another annual that we grow from seed.