Friday, February 10, 2012

January Garden Pictures

Sunrise from the Cascadia Garden January 2012

Berberis thunbergii 'Crimson Pygmy' January 2012

Agave toumeyana January 2012


Helleborus x hybridus January 2012


 Paeonia suffruticosa January 2012

January 2012 was colder & wetter, with much more snow than normal.  The mean temperature was 39.7F/4.3C, 2.3 degrees lower than normal.  The highest temperature was 55F/12.7C on January 1, the lowest 26F/-3.3C on January 15.  Total precipitation was 6.83 inches, 1.26 more than normal.  Total snowfall was 9.6 inches, 8.2 inches more than normal.  There were 2 fair days, 6 partly cloudy days & 23 cloudy days, with light rain on 21 days, rain on 9 days, light snow on 7 days, snow on 3 days, sleet on 1 day & fog on 22 days.  2.4 inches of snow fell on January 15, then 0.1 on January 16.  That melted on January 17.  6.8 inches fell on January 18, then 0.3 on January 19.  Seattle was pretty much at a standstill on those 4 snow-covered days.  The 2nd snowfall lingered as slush for 3 additional days, making driving & walking difficult.  I didn't leave the house for 5 days, except to shake snow from the branches of evergreen shrubs.  There was 1 large broken limb on Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Tempelhof' & several broken branches on Senecio munroi in the sidewalk garden.  Someone had dumped a heap of frozen snow on it from the roof of their car.  I cursed them for that.  Erica arborea 'Estrella Gold' leaned at an alarming angle under the weight of snow, but returned to an upright position once it had melted.  The last big snowfall, in December of 2008, caused much more damage to the garden.

1 comment:

Alistair said...

Hellebore is looking good so early in the year Jordan. Snow damage could have been a lot worse as you suggest. We still have not seen snow in Aberdeen this year, as yet.