Spring before Winter

Phenology in the Cottonwood Gallery

Allison, Judith, and I made the observations for the Nature's Notebook project on Monday morning.  The Great Backyard Bird Count folks had already made their early morning sightings and were largely gone.  The Siberian elms were dumping pollen and the golden current was breaking bud.  Otherwise, all was quiescent. 

I took a side trip to the Japanese garden to see what the Zelkovas were doing--nothing at all.  Afterwards, Judith and I had a pleasant chat about things botanical:  landscaping with native plants, the Bosque trail issue.

An Afternoon in the Garden

Ric and I took as stroll through the winter garden on Thursday afternoon.  It was my first jaunt with a (borrowed) docent's vest.  I clocked 2.25 hrs of General Grounds towards my 60 hr annual requirement.  

Pasque flowers, crocus, iris, and Forsythia were blooming.  In the Mediterranean Conservatory there was a riot of Cyclamen, Kalanchoe, and other colorful nursery plants.  We drifted through the Desert Conservatory and then out to the Japanese Garden.  All in all, a great time to take early season photographs. 

We passed some birders from VT who were armed with 800mm of Nikon and Sony glass.  Ric had a splendid time chatting with one of them, JC.  We looped back along the west side of the pond.  While Ric photographed wood ducks, I captured a couple photo spheres.