Same to you, gjcore! I did a bit of a celebration dance on the first day of Winter because that meant the days will now start getting longer. Hooray!

I actually see a lot of surprising "green" in my yard. I see iris reproducing. I see dianthus is bright green and even some rudbekia. I know it's not time, but it did make me smile.

Some stuff is starting to grow too early because the ground is not frozen yet. Usually the ground freezes by about December 10. I think it's late this year because the cold streaks came after significant snow fall.

Happy holidays to everyone! Hopefully Santa brings us all little hail, an early last frost, and fertile ground for next growing season!

You’re not kidding about the ground not being frozen, Greg. I sunk the tractor up to the frame last weekend trying to mow cattails. I might hate the cold but come on, it’s DECEMBER in COLORADO! If it’s going to be cold enough to make me miserable, it might as well be cold enough to let me get some work done!

At work the crested wheat has green growth on it. The winter annual grasses like cheat and rye are also going gangbusters. The $5,000 worth of herbicide I sprayed last week will hopefully knock all these weeds back.

At home the Kochia is starting to sprout. After the holidays, I’m going to turn the chickens loose in there where I’m going to put the NEW garden and let them take care of it. They will appreciate the chance to eat some green stuff and I’ll appreciate the labor-free weed control!

Happy Holidays to all here on Rocky Mountain Gardening! And Happy New Year to each of our gardens!

December 21st is my Favorite Day of the year! And, yes, the days are already a couple minutes longer than they were three days ago! Actually, technically, that's not true, because they keep getting shorter in the morning for a few days, but the sunset starts getting later immediately, and that's the part of the day that matters the most to me!

I've been out cleaning up and cutting down perennials for an hour or two for each of the last few days, I have batches of Dutch Iris coming up all over the yard--normal for them, and one of my patches of crocus is showing already! I "worry" about the crocus every year, but they somehow manage to "come up," but don't start blooming until "the right time!" So for now I'll just be enjoying the new green foliage! I rarely have frozen soil in my yard--it's been frozen a couple times here, but is completely thawed again right now. There are other things I can see "budding" and raring to get going, but I'm not really worried about anything at this point. Like PopMama, I can see that the German Iris are "spreading out" and starting to form new fans. They're a Favorite Thing of mine, not only because of how pretty they are, but they're one of the few things that are fragrant!

Right now I'm really enjoying feeding and watching The Birds! I have 14 feeders out right now, and I regularly have Chickadees--my favorite, hairy woodpeckers, juncos, Flickers--both red and yellow--and an interbreed that's a really pretty salmon color!, and the usual house finches and doves, with an occasional bluejay. They don't quite qualify at "regulars," but today I also had a bunch of bushtits show up again--they're fun to watch!

Best Wishes to each of you for a wonderful Gardening Year in 2020!

Skybird

Steve