Every year, two of our ski resorts have a friendly competition to see who can open the earliest. Last year, they were open by the 10th (one opened on the 7th) due to the massive amounts of rain/snow we'd gotten through the year. This year, everyone's running late. They're starting to run the snow-guns. http://www.denverpost.com/news... Mother Nature helped out a few days ago.




This is Long's Peak. This is the mountain that is on the Colorado Quarter. It has an elevation of 14,259 ft. I've driven right by it in the Rocky Mountain National Park. As the crow flies, I'm about 60-70 miles away and it's a good 2 hour drive away from where I took these pix.


I'm not really looking forward to winter. I'm looking forward to moisture of any kind, but I'm going to miss my roses. This year, I didn't get to enjoy them as hardly any of them were blooming. Plus I lost sooooo many due to lack of moisture (no rain, and I didn't water because it'd be cloudy, but it wouldn't rain, or we'd get that "virga" rain (rain that evaporates before it hits).) and my own incompetence. But, I'm hoping that next year will be a better year for my roses, and for me in general.

A toast, to the end of the 2010 Growing Season for us Coloradians. We can dream of greener pastures in Texas, Arizona, and California, but don't wanna pay the electric bills in the summer!!

I always water just before it rains. That way the new moisture pushes my watering fluids into the ground. :rolleyes:

Actually, since I cannot read clouds, I simply water when the ground is dry and it's not raining. In fact, those of us who live where the soil and air both tend to be dry may find that watering when it's overcast and darkening toward dusk uses moisture efficiently because it has a long time to soak in before the surface of the soil is baked by the sun.

In any case, it's getting cool here, and I will be spraying my roses with Freeze-Pruf once a month through April so that roses that don't drop their leaves have a chance at getting in a little root growth over the winter. No ski slopes here. Maybe no snow till January. Maybe some daytime highs in the sixties through much of the winter...

Yep, that has been my theory too Steve, which is opposite of most parts of the country. I always water at night, just as the sun is setting. It gives the water time to sit there and soak in, and get drank by the plants, before the heat of the day falls back up on them.

Beautiful here this morning, and I'm on vacation next week, so just going to putz around in the garden and enjoy the full week off of work.

Alan

Sounds great, Alan. Sometimes just being at home and hanging out in the garden is the perfect thing to do.

Winter is here.

Today it's hard to believe that there are a baker's dozen plus two rose bushes in this photo. We woke to nine degrees Fahrenheit this morning, add in a fairly brisk breeze and it's downright chilly. I, of course, have new rose stock on the way here!