Just got to love the PNW. We get a small taste of winter and a fairly long spring.
I am so sorry dirt for all that snow. I can see the sculpture. Are you going to continue working on it?

The sun is shining.
Going to work out in the beds today. I will use a 5 gallon bucket instead of a wheelbarrow.

Tim your photo made me want to go out and work yesterday, but we had company, and when I did go outside the wind was really blowing. Nearly froze my hands.

so jealous I am of your climate out there!
No, I'm going to wait for the current blizzard to wane a bit and then go relocate that white stuff...again

Can't wait to see the finished sculpture.

Both Lynn and Dirt, please take care of your hands while working/playing outside. No new body parts available at milestone birthdays. I wear something to support my right wrist when I bring out shovel and bucket to do work/play with my semps...thank goodness, we don't own a wheelbarrow anymore. The last one conked out from all the moving of rocks in NM.
Happy playing you two!

To late with the advice Bev. I just came in from a glorious time of working in the semp beds. I got 4 beds done, it makes me so happy.
Took me awhile to get my hands clean again, but here I am at my computer.
I only took 3 photos, one because of something odd going on, the other because it is the first semp showing signs of new growth this year.

S. calcareum 'Tip Top'


Bad news for my S. calcareum 'Fire Dragon'. I lost most of that beautiful colony due to rot. That is one that I did not remove the dead leaves last fall. I did manage to save 4 or 5 offsets and replanted them after cleaning them up. Keeping fingers crossed.

The strange happening was with 'Pastel'. She has hard seeds in among the leaves of the mature rosette. I've never seen this before. This is another colony that did not get cleaned up last fall. Tho it is unsightly it still is healthy. You can see the seeds in these two photos.



And here is a close up of one of the seeds. They are very hard.


@JungleShadows
Kevin have you ever seen this before?
Going out with a magnifying glass to take a closer look.

Pastel wasn't a secret stash place for some critter wanting to hide food supply?
Love the photo of the precious Tip Top mini-colony

Now that is a thought, thank you Bev.
In the morning I will go out and see if maybe birds have been putting grape seeds in the leaves. I'll look to see what the grape seeds look like, do a comparison.

'Tip Top' is the only calcareum putting out new offsets at this time. Early bird.

Yup, that's my thought too--critter stash!

Jealous!
Again, I will exclaim.
My hands have been super clean all day.
Blizzard $!@#&*!! blizzard. No sculpting, just shoveling and blowing. I did even have to climb up a pile to shovel it down because I couldn't throw it high enough anymore. It is still coming down too. Will repeat again tomorrow. Woe is me and all that crap. Last year we had crocus in January, or was that the year before? Whatever, it's not this year

Dirt, this is for you.

Thank you dearly! These are rough times. At least I had help in the 'hood today and didn't have to do all the sidewalks

No gardening for me yet but we are loving our feathered visitors. This was thru the patio door so not the greatest pic - The Flicker (woodpecker at top) used to be king but today a Piliated Woodpecker took over. He's over 12" I bought a bigger suet feeder to accommodate him

Dirt it is good to know you had help. Did Asa come for a visit? Can't wait to see you two in April.

Patty that is a wonderful photo. Wow, just look at that woodpecker.
No gardening? Is it raining up your way?

Suppose to be another sunny day today. Hope to get home from work in time to do another bed or two before it gets to cold and dark.

Well, last year in the weeks before the SempFun(tm) in Oregon, @dirtdorphins decided to tear up a whole lot more of my lawn and dump a couple of 10-wheelers full of boulders (and who knows how many of soil amendments?) into a new rock garden/semp bed. Pics are somewhere but not right at hand.

Poor woman has been home maybe three times in the last five months (and once in the last three) and asked me to take a pic of said bed for her (during this morning's blizzard...not to be confused with yesterday's blizzard or the day's before or the days' (see what I did there with the possessive?) before that or the one before before before that...you get the point).

Phone pic. Deal with it:


Anyway, last year I took a pic of a honeybee on a crocus on 31 Jan. This year...??? Ugh.

Oh, for scale (because it really isn't apparent), I have a 32" inseam...and ended up with a wet butt hiking out (to the middle of the little remaining lawn) to take that pic.

un-disclaimer (for the sake of clarity): NO hyperbole was used in the production of this post. Seriously. Just WOW at the weather the last month or so.

disclaimer: I'm pretty sure no animals were harmed in the production of this post. But it's hard to tell. Was hard to see and maybe I did hear a cat yowl as I neared the porch, snowblind and snowy butt-ed.

Thanks hun

A year ago, on this very forum, I promised to never again complain about our weather. It seems I was unable to keep that promise. Try, try again.

WoW!... ...32" inseam...
Gee Asa, thanks for braving the outdoors with camera to get that pic for Dirt and then sharing with us.
I looked at the pic and dealt with it and wonder at top of photo, what is the snow banging up against? ... as I need some PERSPECTIVE, man!

webesemps said:WoW!... ...32" inseam...
Gee Asa, thanks for braving the outdoors with camera to get that pic for Dirt and then sharing with us.
I looked at the pic and dealt with it and wonder at top of photo, what is the snow banging up against? ... as I need some PERSPECTIVE, man!

That's our BoB (bug out bus): Retired 21-seat specialty bus (mass transit system thing for special needs/wheelchairs/etc.) with a few modifications (ramp on the back that you can drive a side-by-side up and in), for example.

I'm slowly turning the inside into a camping vehicle...everything modular/take-out-able/moveable/etc. Hope to have it habitable by the time SempFun(tm) rolls around again. But I'm a good bit behind because the thing is buried...as is my workspace.

It's a neat project and should serve us well for road trips, boulder trips, plant buying trips (yes, it does have a trailer hitch if 160+ sq ft of floorspace isn't adequate vs. dirt's optimism), dog chauffeur-ing, and whatever else we can dream up.

Lynn,

That is something very odd on Pastel. The spores of mustard seed fungus look a bit like that so keep an eye on it.

See the rest of you have been BUSY. It's sunny and pretty here so I'm going outside to work. SPRING IS COMING albeit more slowly this year.

Kevin

Hah!
He probably should mention that's a hill too, the bus is up in the driveway, which is about 3ft higher than where he was standing in that little bit of lawn he has left, to get that terrible picture of my semps

I am having some difficulty using my imagination to see the rocks/boulders and all the lovely semps, but I won't give up.
I feel very cold now from looking at your photo Asa.

I just got home, it is cloudy and cold here. There will be no working out in the raised beds. I am bummed. Maybe tomorrow?

Kevin, they are very hard seeds of some kind. that seems to be the only rosette I've seen with them.