Motley Monday Garden Edition - February 16, 2026

 So, it's Presidents' Day.  When I was in elementary school we had days off for Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays, whether they fell on a Monday or not.  February 12 for Washington, and February 22 for Lincoln, although Washington was born February 11, 1731 under the old Julian calendar.  In 1752 Britain and the colonies switched to the Gregorian calendar and his birthday was "moved" to the 12th.  The Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect in 1971, changing some, but not all, federal holidays to Mondays.  Lincoln's birthday was never a federal holiday, but was a state holiday in about a dozen states, including mine at the time, California.  It still is a state holiday in a few.  Some states treated it as a school holiday, but not an official state one. 

Getting on to the garden, here is what was going on yesterday.

Autumn crocus, not actually a crocus, grows its leaves in late winter/spring, they dry up completely before the blooms emerge in fall.

Broadleaf stonecrop, a purple variety native to Oregon.

Dwarf/Creeping English wallflower's first flowers of the season.

Crocus!  It seems early, but looking back I found they were starting at the end of January in 2024.

Tet-a-Tet daffodils are the only kind I grow.  I got tired of the big ones' foliage hanging around after bloom!

Flowering quince is on time, again in 2024 it was a few weeks earlier.  Seeing it makes the rest of winter seem easier to bear knowing it will end!

Garlic, started years ago in a different bed with a sprouted grocery store bulb.

With the garlic is self-seeded Italian parsley (flat leaf) and black cumin, not a cumin at all, but related to Love-in-a-Mist and just as prolific!

Something has nibbled the top of the hyacinth. 

One Bird's Nest fungus, and at least three different mosses.  

Yesterday had nice weather, turning not so nice.  This week is supposed to bring storms and even some snow.  That will be the first for the season, I was just thinking a few days ago that we hadn't had any!