Many Yoopers are snowbirds. They migrate to warmer climates and closer civilizations for the winter. Not us. We migrate laterally. People can’t wrap their brains around the idea that we go somewhere cold for the winter. We are skiers and we love the mountains. But anyway . . .

Our arrival back in NW Montana was well timed — nice dry roads and lots of green as we crossed the Continential Divide and dropped into the Flathead Valley. The day after we arrived it started snowing and didn’t stop for weeks. Yay for skiing! Yikes for the fall planting.

The Boss has assumed his winter persona: NW Montana Skierman.

We had planned to plant some tulip and daffodil bulbs once we arrived. But Mother Nature had other plans. As usual, the Boss was motivated and came up with a strategy to get the bulbs planted despite the frozen ground.

As the snow came down, the Boss diligently dug and raked and prepped and dibbled the planters and I stuck the daffodil bulbs in the dirt as far as they would go, hopping it will be deep enough the protect them through the winter.

Nothing like waiting until after the last minute. Tucking in the daffodil bulbs and looking forward to a big bloom in the spring.

The tulip bulbs were a little tricker. As the snow kept falling and the temperature kept dropping, we realized there was no way we were going to be able to get them in the ground. So the Boss got creative. He dumped a few bags of compost/soil up against a few four by fours and voilà, we’ve got a makeshift flower bed.

We had the bright idea to bring tulip bulbs from the UP and plant them here in Montana. Mother nature got busy before we did so we had to get creative.

I pressed the tulip bulbs into the nice, soft (and cold) soil. The Boss covered them up and tucked them in. It’s an experiment. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll let you know in the spring.

That’s it for gardening for 2024! (I think, but who knows with the Boss). We’ll be back at it in 2025. Time to go skiing We’ll be taking the winter off. If you enter your email below, then you’ll get the posts delivered right to your inbox and you’ll know when we shift back into garden mode. Thanks for your support!