Yes where would I be without my funny mugs for coffee? Well I have some nature notes/garden notes this morning:

We have a red squirrel living in the squirrel house we put up for Eastern Mountain squirrels. It’s not a baby it’s been around a while, it’s small, and it’s very red. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t think they’re normally in Pennsylvania. Of course the amusing thing is I have seen Eastern Mountain squirrels going in and out of this squirrel house so I’ve got some kind of a squirrel commune going on.

Freeze dried mealworms. Otherwise known as favorite food of bluebirds. I noticed that the feeder we put mealworms in was empty so I put my garden boots on (and yes I did go outside in my nightgown), and I filled it up again with mealworms. Bluebirds, which are usually kind of shy, were on that feeder before I was even 3 feet away! I have never seen anything like it.

Wooly worms. Those big black fuzzy caterpillars that according to my mother’s German friends are a predictor of snow. Well I saw two this morning.

One of my friends who owns a nursery is going to be doing a garden talk. On zoom for their customers. I have been asked to participate. So right now I’m going through photos and I am thinking about shade and woodland gardening. My readers, do you all have any suggestions based on what I’ve written about before that I should definitely include?

I have decided to give up on the magazine Gardeners’ World. I love Monty Don I learn from everyone on his show and him, but I will have to stick to watching the television program because when I got my renewal for the magazine it was £69 which is somewhere in the $95 dollar range and for a magazine I can’t justify that. Think of all the plants I could buy with that, for example.

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I did however find a good 2:1 deal on a subscription to Gardens Illustrated and Horticulture. I have never tried either of those publications so I’m going to see what I think. I have course also subscribe to Fine Gardening. The other problem I had with the magazine Gardeners’ World was the ever growing ad content, not all garden related either. I was subscribing to the magazine for the content as in what I could learn about gardening. Not all the ads. Here are the top gardening magazines according to The Spruce: CLICK HERE

None of my hellebores which are above the snow are blooming. The ones who are still buried in snow I have no idea what they’re doing. Waiting for snow drops (gallanthus) somewhat impatiently.

I’m thinking I need to start my seeds soon. I will have to consult with the back of the seed packets. And then I can’t wait till the weather improves so I can start to put together the greenhouse I got for Christmas.

Well that’s all for me today happy gardening or should I say garden dreaming at this point since it’s February.