Warm and Unusual

After some bitter cold a few days ago it is back to being warm, unseasonably so.  60 degrees today!  And in the 50s the past couple days.  No snow, and it's all so unusual.

The tulips in pots on the porch are coming up.  Snowdrops are up.  Daffodils are sending up shoots.  It's early January!

It was so warm out that we could do garden chores easily.  We finally got the clamp off the Japanese maple in front, and drilled a hole through the broken stem, glued the center and added a 4 inch bolt.  Awkward work, but we got it done.  The clamp is back on to hold the glue in place, but I'll need to remove it soon.  I could see where it had damaged the outer bark quite a bit from being held in place all year.

I also tied up the side branch on the Diane witch hazel.  It completely lost its center in the October storm, and I'm trying to get the horizontal side branch that remains into a more upright position.

Also staked and tied the leaning sweetbay magnolia outside the bedroom window.  It did not lose any branches in the October storm, but it had quite a lean afterwards.  The ground was soft enough to pound in a metal stake!

And I re-tied the sourwood, it still leans.

snowdrops are so hard to photograph!

It felt wonderful to be out in the yard in springtime temperatures, puttering and fixing things.  But really.  It's January.