Weather 2012

[Tim Ingram]

We probably get much more excited about snow when it comes, and much less ready to deal with it! This the first day we have had this winter when it has even stayed down close to freezing, with fine sleety snow. I must admit to enjoying it when the snow does come - the landscape just lights up and life slows down a little.

[Jandals]

Have been away picking seeds for a day or two . It snowed overnight http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/195741/midsummer-snow-south . Still harvested the next day but having fun getting it all dry now . Mandy doesn't look all that happy with how much I brought back

[Hoy]

Not much snow here just bone cold. However the sun shines from a clear blue sky. A pity the days are still very short.

Jandals, are you sure it is seed in all those trash saks?

[Jandals]

700 trash sacks of seed heads. Harvested from introduced weeds

[cohan]

That's a lot of weed seeds! Those are destined for burning?

[Jandals]

Actually,Cohan, it's a curious sort of win-win situation in the environmental awareness stakes . I remove the seeds of bad weeds in NZ  ( Sedum acre in this case ) and they end up on green roofs in Europe . Everybody is happy .

I used to collect seeds of our finest alpines but relatively few people grow them so now I collect seeds from weeds . I guess they are easier to grow

[cohan]

Hah! That is ironic! Re-patriating them...lol.. if only we could get them to take back the dandelions, clover and the damned buttercups...lol

[Hoy]

Actually,Cohan, it's a curious sort of win-win situation in the environmental awareness stakes . I remove the seeds of bad weeds in NZ  ( Sedum acre in this case ) and they end up on green roofs in Europe . Everybody is happy .

I used to collect seeds of our finest alpines but relatively few people grow them so now I collect seeds from weeds . I guess they are easier to grow

I would rather have seeds of your alpines! Sedum acre is fine but I have it

[Tim Ingram]

Winter snows have arrived in south-east England and really brightened the garden up! But not too likely that they will last very long.

[cohan]

Nice views- always fun to see palm trees in snow- guess there's been a lot of that across southern Europe and North Africa!
Still no fresh snow here, and none forecast, but what we have shouldn't melt much this week, with daytimes from -5C to +3C and nights -6C to -18C.. still nothing we'd call winter weather!

[McDonough]

No snow and comparitively mild again this week. Walking around the yard this weekend, I see the white of closed Galanthus buds, and one white purple-striped bud on Colchicum kesselringii, unheard of this early.

Dramatic winter scenes there Tim, fortunately we're not seeing such scenes here this winter so far.

[Hoy]

Tim, it is almost like here! How do your palms cope with this weather?

Mark, I could see the white buds of snowbells weeks ago but now they are all covered by a blanked of hard crusted snow! Does that kind of snow have a specific name? Here it is called "skare" (pronounced something like sk as sk in skate + ar as ar in NARGS + e as e in bell! (Cohan, lesson no 5 )

[cohan]

Trond, in northern North America we try to mostly pretend we don't live in a northern place- we don't have a full set of words for kinds of snow (you need to use a phrase/adjectives to describe it), we don't build our towns/cities to make winters more pleasant (eg- no sun at streetlevel in Toronto in the winter- unlike some European northern cities I have heard of have laws to control where tall buildings will cast shadows).. etc etc..
There is an effort the last years in places like Edmonton to try to make a lot more winter festivals etc, so maybe we will learn yet!
Maybe I need to learn Norwegian after all-- or Inuk!- just in order to have words to describe snow- I can recognise many kinds of snow conditions, even judge general temperature by looking at the snow on the road- but there are not specific words for it 

[RickR]

Our St. Paul Winter Carnival started in 1886 and continues every Jan-Feb to this day.  I remember as a kid sliding through an ice castle and down a hill near the Mississippi River. It was a pre-made run, of course.  Gee, that would've been 40 years ago...

We even have a Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul_Winter_Carnival

Some postcard pics of more recent years' endeavors:
Photographer unknown.

   

[cohan]

Cold enough for ice castles this year, Rick? Festivals are great for sure, to help people get through winter, though I'd like to see more attention to making the cities pleasant to live and  get around in in winter (earlier comments about shading etc).. of course now it doesn't affect me much, since I'm not in any sizable city anymore, only a small city for shopping once or twice per 2 weeks..lol