I’ve been thinking about different ways to look at the temperature data from my local weather station. Maybe our extreme cold temps have gotten milder, but do we actually have fewer cold days each winter? I decided to look at various thresholds of cold days. A friend plotted some graphs showing the number of days…
I’ve been thinking about how people say Utah’s winters aren’t as cold as they used to be, and there isn’t as much snow in the valley as there used to be. Well, I found some great data at a site created by Utah State University, allowing me to download min and max temperatures daily for…
Last night, crazy fool that I am, I was up till 1 AM baking this apple pie. I’m so tired today! But I NEEDED PIE!!! These were the last of my Granny Smith apples, picked about a month ago. They were the smaller, less ripe ones, so I guess they had a lot of shelf…
I’ve been waiting to harvest the Granny Smith apples, because they haven’t been ripening well this year. It could be a number of factors, including the spider mites that attacked the leaves this year, probably making it less productive of sugars, and it could be that our fall got really cold in mid-September and stayed…
In my previous post, I mentioned seeking advice from GardenWeb members about making the backyard flowerbed better next year. The design forum turned out to be the landscape design forum, and most people there are interested in major redesigns, when I was just looking for some flower and plant arranging ideas. They suggested moving the…
I posted on GardenWeb’s design forum asking for ideas on our long, narrow flowerbed that curves around our backyard lawn. We’re hoping to make this flowerbed much more of a WOW next year, with a longer bloom season and more harmonious colors. Right now, it’s too much yellow and purple, high-contrast, with a lot of…
I’ve wondered why I never see Lavatera tauricensis mentioned online or anywhere, since it’s been such a great flower for me. And I noticed when I visited the Denver Botanic Gardens this summer that there was a very similar, if not identical, flower growing there, but it had different, more lobed, leaves. Well, I may…
Well, the season is getting pretty late now, but there are a few late bloomers hanging on, hoping for warm Indian summer days! Here are some of the things we’re still enjoying in our yard: The ‘Pink Simplicity’ roses have done better this year, with more regular watering and fertilizer. I finally trimmed them back…