Tom and I attended the UNC Charlotte Garden Symposium in January.  One of Tom's sessions was “Landscaping with Fungi: Mushrooms as Environmental Multi Tools”.  He purchased 
Tradd Cotter's book, and that is how our mushroom adventure began.  

The gorgeous willow oak in the upper garden was needing some attention in the way of balancing out the canopy.  Some large limbs were cut, and since hardwood is what is needed to grow most mushrooms, those are the limbs we used.  Tom ordered five different spores from Tradd, and got started.

First he drilled many, many holes in the logs, pounded in the plug spawns with a mallet, and then painted the plugs with melted wax.  
The logs are stacked in an area in the upper garden.  The colonization phase can take six to ten months, depending on the type of wood, temperatures, and spawn spacing.  Now we are in the wait and see mode.  Time will tell!

Beginning the building of our mushroom farm

Tom begins the inoculation process.  

Hammering in plug spawns

Painting the plugs with wax

Stachyurus praecox is not a pretty shrub at all ... until it blooms in late winter and then it definitely makes up for being so nondescript most of the year. 

For the past several years I had added another woodland poppy to a bed in the upper garden.  They are expensive, so it's only been one, or maybe two, a year.   The seeds pods are quite ornamental. 

My squirrel trapping (with a trip to the park) this spring started out pretty well with nine trappings so far; however, I have run into a bit of a problem.  "Skippy," our collective name for chipmunks, has discovered the trap.  He is going inside the trap and eating all of the bait (I use raw peanut pieces).  Skippy isn't big enough to trip the trap, so he happily goes along his way leaving the trap empty for the squirrels who now have no interest without the bait.  

I do remember having this same trouble last year with Skippy, so I tried smearing peanut butter inside the trap.  I had moderate success with the peanut butter, and Skippy didn't seem to care for it.  By far, using the raw peanut pieces works better, but I will give the peanut butter a try again this year.  

On a humorous note from last year's trapping ... 
One morning I looked out our window to see Skippy STUCK between the wires of the cage!  His jaws were so packed and he had gotten himself wedged along the side of the trap.  I guess he had forgotten that there is a big opening at the entrance of the trap he could have used to get out. Anyway, I went outside and gave him a BIG PUSH through the wires, and off he went.  

"Kiwi," our Cesky Terrier, has earned a new name ... KILLER!  The other afternoon, Kiwi caught a SQUIRREL!!  I suppose she figured I wasn't having enough success with my squirrel hunting, and she would help me.  I chased her around the yard trying to take the squirrel from her, but she was having a big time shaking the poor thing to death.  I finally was able to corner Kiwi, and get the squirrel from her, but sadly, it was already dead.  I had a little ceremony for the squirrel and buried her in the garden.  I know Kiwi had planned to eat the poor thing and then come inside an throw it up!

"Kiwi" ... alias KILLER!

It's not unusual to have damage when temperatures are unseasonably warm (like 60+ in February) and plants begin to leaf out, and then temperatures dip into the teens.  It's difficult to witness the damage.

Every year we lose Camellia japonica flower buds,  but usually not all on a particular plant.  This Camellia japonica 'Nuccio's Gem' which we planted last year, sadly, lost all of its buds.  Maybe next year ...

Burn on the dwarf mondo grass.

Climbing Fig always takes
a hit in the winter as it's
much happier growing
in Charleston, SC

More winter burn ... 
Acorus gramineus 'Minimus Aureus'

The coldest January in 37 years ... Brr!  The damage from the 10 degree night from the 2nd, and the 8 degree night on the 8th are beginning to show.  

   
 
More snow pictures from January 17, 2018

Our first snow of 2018 was January 17th.  It was beautiful capturing some pictures as I walked through the garden.  Only bird tracks and my footprints on the freshly fallen snow.  

  

One of my favorite winter bloomers is Witchhazel.
This poor 'Jelena' Hamamelis x intermedia is trying to bloom.  I decided to help Mother Nature and pick off the leaves one by one.  

There now ... much better.  

I do enjoy our birds in the garden, and I'm fortunate that Tom doesn't ask me how much I spend on birdseed each month for our 14 bird feeders!  

I remember my mom taking me to Wing Haven as a young girl to visit Mrs. Clarkson and watch her feed mealworms to the birds from her hand.   That is such a vivid memory, and I would love nothing better than to be able to do the same with our birds here.  

Various birds are already conditioned to my ringing of a bell and whistling.  They will come to the platform feeder outside our sunporch where I put their mealworms every morning.  

I have an adirondack chair positioned right behind the platform feeder where I am now sitting every morning when I call the birds to get them accustomed to me.  This is my first step in my process to hand feeding... I hope!

Just came in from a quick walk in the garden and happened upon this gem:  'Kramer's Beauty'

Camellia japonica

You never know what you may find as you move leaves around during the winter.  Don't know why this little guy is tied up in a knot ... I guess he was all snuggled down in the leaves and I disturbed him.  I said, "Sorry to disturb you," and covered him back up.