Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We're entering mid-rhodie-season here, so a whole new bunch of rhodies are opening. This is a rather lovely variegated rhodie. The same shrub has a non-variegated sport.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Yesterday was rainy, and we found our first trillium in the woods. Although I like a sunny spring day, everything smelled wonderful after the rain.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Lots of things are coming into bloom here. This is one of my favorite -- tiny! -- wildflowers, Viola sempervirens. It forms charming little mats in areas that are just a little too shady for grass. I love the little whiskers :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We had family visit yesterday; they hit the road after breakfast. Great to see them, but lovely to settle next to the heater with some tea for a little rest. The magnolia stellata flowers weathered the rains. Too pure for this world!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Our earliest rhodie has opened, a full week earlier than usual. Not subtle, but it brings great cheer to the garden.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Please enjoy these cherry blossoms with bonus spider web. It is feeling more and more like spring here: The mason bees have emerged, the woodpeckers are checking out the snags, the jays are building a nest in the front yard :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Our Magnolia Stellata is opening. The beautiful, fragrant flowers don't always hold up well in our soggy spring weather, but we're only expecting light showers this week.

It was a nice afternoon here, so Rob and I went for a walk at a local park. Most of our woods are tall evergreen, but there are patches of oak prairie! This oak fell over when it was already old, and has continued to thrive. Be like the oak!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? This isn't a good picture, but I thought it interesting -- Wood ducks come to visit our tiny pond each spring. We put out cracked corn for them. Turns out coyotes like cracked corn! Keeping our kitties in lets us enjoy such wildlife.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Spring is springing here. The forsythia are blooming. Rather twiggy, but their clear gold is so welcome at this time of year! It's cloudy this morning, but should clear later. Planning to put wood chips on lots of new plantings!

@aimeeogdenwrites.com Congratulations, Aimee!!

@wiswell.bsky.social Congratulations, John!!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Our surprise snow is still melting, but yesterday was nice and sunny. Rob and I got out for a walk around Capitol Lake. I enjoyed seeing these daffodils planted in a cluster of pilings. I imagine someone in a canoe stealth planting :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We had a very surprising (for us) snow yesterday -- the first of the winter! A few inches of the sloppiest, wettest snow possible. It's now a skating rink out there. Planning to play with seedlings indoors this morning. (1/2)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Rob rescued this bumblebee queen from a spider's web. Happily the Pieris gave her just the meal she needed. She went from weak and uncoordinated to airworthy in about 20 minutes of sipping.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The flowers of our pieris are opening. It is always the earliest of the landscape shrubs to open around here. I haven't caught any bumblebee queens on it yet, but any day now!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? These are some lovely Meconopsis at Far Reaches Farms in Pt Townsend, WA a few years ago. I grew my first from seed last year, and this year I'm scaling up! (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Nothing like a crocus with a queen bumblebee to announce spring! I’m feeling distressed and helpless because of <waves hands at farcical tragedy of world stage>. I think I’ll go plant a tree…

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I'm excited -- I now have all the gear to set up my new seedling station in the basement! I will be starting lots of signet marigolds, among other things. This photo from last summer includes signet marigolds, zinnias, and herbs.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We had a little cold snap this week, and yesterday was a wonderful hair ice (frost flower) morning! This could easily be the last batch of the year, so I took half an hour off work to tromp around in the woods. (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Yesterday we went to Nisqually to get some sunshine and see some birds. This handsome fellow was 10' off the boardwalk. Look at his cape! In addition to lots of waterfowl, the birders were out in force. Lots of massive camera lenses :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? It has been toying with early spring here, but we're expecting some more frosts and sleet in the next few days. Happily, cyclamen coum really doesn't mind some inclement weather.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? These are Chantilly snapdragons that I grew from seed last year. Happily, our climate is mild enough that they overwinter, and it turns out they grow from cuttings! So I should have a bunch next year, with minimal effort :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Have salpiglossis flowers from last August! I had seen one reference that it was a "short lived, tender perennial, like snapdragons." I am delighted to report it's true: I have several that seem to have overwintered successfully.

I have a sprout! Always exciting, but even more so when it’s something tricky. In this case it’s a new-to-me Meconopsis, Hensol Violet. It’s a purple poppy! Will be. Hopefully…

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I got sad and unexpected news from a friend today. So... just a reminder to hug your loved ones. Have this nice clump of cyclamen coum. They bloom in midwinter, at least in mild climates like the Puget Sound basin....

Hello! How are you holding up? What are you up to this weekend? My day has been a bit topsy turvy because I had to do some work, but now I’m enjoying a sunbeam with Nova. Next up, prep some seeds to plant tomorrow :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? I'm feeling dispirited this morning. Many days, I can hold on to the idea that this cruel, incompetent regime will pass... but they are destroying so many lives in the meantime. Please accept this hair ice/frost flower among the thorns, and stay safe.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We've had a clear/cold (ish) spell here, above freezing during the day and a little below freezing at night. It's a perfect recipe for hair ice! I'll do a longer thread later this weekend, but here is a long growth from a little stick.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Emboldened by my success growing blue poppies from seed last year, I decided to try some more meconopsis species. The seeds were only available from the UK, so now I have a seed importer's permit :) Look at all these guys!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We just got back from a short trip to get some sun and warmth. We were lucky enough to see a vanilla orchid in bloom! They only bloom for a few hours, and must be hand-pollinated during that time to get the pods.

@princejvstin.com This made me think of you :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We're back to our normal drizzly winter here. Here are our local misty woods. The trees in the foreground, thick with moss and ferns, are Big Leaf Maples. The spindly trees in the background are mostly alders.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We're back to rain here -- which is 90% of our winter, so I can't complain! It means we have lots of lovely moss. Please enjoy this clump of moss on an old piece of driftwood.

Happy New Year! Over the last few mornings, we had a lovely little stretch where conditions were suitable for hair ice (frost flowers) to grow. That doesn't mean "lovely" for tromping around in the woods, since it has to be slightly below freezing, but these beauties are worth some discomfort! (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We had our first hard frost last night -- much later than usual! -- and with it, the first frost flowers/hair ice of the season. (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Today will be nice-ish -- cold but clear -- so we'll plant some young trees. This Sitka Spruce that we planted out a couple months ago narrowly escaped death-by-dead-alder in the last blow.

Happy solstice! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Here at the solstice, in the dark of winter, I am dreaming of my garden at the summer solstice. Here is a snapshot of what was in bloom within a week of the summer solstice. First up, breadseed poppies and feverfew. (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Since we're coming up on the winter solstice, I find myself looking back at the garden at the summer solstice, and making plans for next year. This was my first year trying salipglossis. I will grow them again next year :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Yesterday was sunny here. We can't really enjoy it at home (the tall trees cast long shadows at this time of year), so we ventured to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge to enjoy the sun and birds. Lovely afternoon! Today will be chores at home.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I knocked out a batch of pecan toffee first thing. Here it's melting chocolate chips. You can just do that and spread the chocolate -- but it breaks the temper. I will add a layer of tempered chocolate, but this layer helps it stick.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We had a fair westerly Friday night, which brought down a bunch of alder branches. Each is a tiny ecosystem of lichen and moss. Today I'll be making my first batches of holiday candy -- chocolate clusters and toffee. Have a nice day!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The woods are now winter green. Although the leaves are off the deciduous trees, our native Big Leaf Maples support a massive ecosystem of moss and licorice ferns. The ferns are dormant in the summer, so the trunks are most lush now!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The garden is mostly dormant -- which makes anything that is still blooming that much more noticeable. This Mexican creeping zinnia is a couple years old now, and is spangled with tiny golden flowers from June until first frost.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? It is continuing mild, so the pineapple sage is looking splendid. Its saturated crimson doesn't photograph especially well, but it brings me great joy. I wish I could transmit the full effect, including the fragrance of the leaves!

Happy Thanksgiving! I know that this is a difficult day for many, for historic/justice reasons, for personal/family reasons, or just because they are going through a lonely time. To those for whom it is difficult: I hope you can find another day to enjoy good food with friends and family. (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? It's late fall here, and although it has been unusually warm and dry, there isn't much blooming. One of the exceptions is the tea -- camellia sinensis. It has very delicate, simple white flowers, unlike its showier cousins.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I'm gearing up for Thanksgiving (US edition). Doing a little grocery shopping today. Have some nice Turkey Tails growing on a local log :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The last lingering autumn color here is a subtle one: the hydrangeas! They turn a rather lovely purple around the edges, and a faded yellow in the middle. We're very acid; I'm curious whether they show different colors in base soil.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I disturbed this lovely little salamander when moving potted plants as part of my winterizing -- a common hazard, since they like it when hard surfaces meet duff. Fortunately it's warm enough for him to find a new hidey hole.