Official 2022-2023 Colorado Winter and Snow Thread (Durango, Georgetown: move, associations)

[pikabike]

BDL, photos that show 2015 edition from CO state (I don’t know how often they revise them), and the latest edition (2021? not sure) from Montezuma County. They both rank the weeds by A, B, C, but I like the county booklet better because it is specific to this area and because it provides details about minimizing/killing each species.

If you don’t have Ouray County version, see if the library has the huge weed bible called Weeds of the West.

I find it strange that the CO cover shows what I’m pretty sure are Indian Paintbrush, which is a “good” plant. The county cover shows a bona fide noxious weed.

[brightdoglover]

I can call the Weed Board woman and ask what they have in my county, Thanks.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

^^^ Thanks so much. I seem to have gotten new invasive last year. Am trying to get selected wildflowers to grow, have a sprinkler system, and very little luck. The lot was part of an empty field for many years, as were my neighbors' and they don't seem to have the mess I have.

What often happens is that a long-dormant bank of dormant seeds that were produced years ago waits for better conditions to germinate. Disturbing the soil (which happens with any excavation or homebuilding work), different climate conditions (*grimace*), and even your watering the soil could have caused The Bad Seeds to whoop “Yippee!”. When you water the things you want, some of that water also helps the unwanted things.

Be careful with wildflower mixes; they are known to have some percentage of unknown seeds, and if they are not blended for your ecosystem, you might get some invasives, prettiness notwithstanding.

In my neck of the woods, a good source of various seed mixes and related supplies is Southwest Seed Inc., between Cortez and Dolores. If you describe the conditions in your town, they might be able to recommend suitable candidates, depending also on what you want. I remember them asking not only what geographic part of the county I live in, but also the elevation, existing natural plants, typical precipitation amounts, sun exposure, etc. Type of soil matters, but for a yard you can add soil amendments if relevant.

They’re knowledgeable and helpful.

[brightdoglover]

^^Thank you.

I have a landscape woman who has planted the wildflower mix two years now and not much has come up. I had new invasive last year and had them pulled up. Added soil each time.

The weed woman stopped and told me that there were invasive daisies in my seed mix. Who would think that.

I'm ready to go for Astroturf!

[brightdoglover]

^^^
Just contacted my landscape woman and told her about Southwest Seed. I'd be happy to order from them for a wildflower meadow in front of my house.

[DOUBLE H]

The tail end of the cold front that pounded Denver has come and gone. The morning was 10 minutes of flakes. 5 o'clock saw a blizzard but 10 minutes later it was gone (in Fruita) Earlier this morning Douglas Pass was closed, not sure about the Montrose/Ridgway/Durango area.

[pikabike]

The morning brought some brief, light snow.

I hope that will be it for a long time. We have plenty of snow from the last storm. Everything is a mess of snow, slush, ice, and mud. Old, old juniper trees had thick branches snapped from the weight of all that wet snow, worsened by wind gusts. Junipers are one tough species, but the schizo swings between long stretches of exceptional drought broken by frozen Pineapple Express make for extreme stress.

[DOUBLE H]

The weather has been fairly quiet in mesa county the last several days but we are about ready for a change, possibly a big change. GJ will be 50 tomorrow and then come Monday night here comes the snow. The southwest is likely to get hammered, even GJ will get a few inches out of this. I took a ride up on Grand Mesa the other day and it was good to see that amount of snow, Powderhorn is checking in with a 63" base, been a long time since I've seen that much up there.

[DOUBLE H]

Well, the first wave came and went but the GJ/Palisade/Fruita area got two to three inches of heavy wet stuff, it's melting quickly and the temp at my house is 35 degrees. KKCO's Zach Webster said that the SW is getting a good dumping, started last night in Telluride and they are up to 16 inches. The downside is a sizable temperature drop in a couple days. The jet stream has dropped down to El Paso,Texas so we are not done with moisture here.

[brightdoglover]

Significant snow here Tuesday and Wednesday with a hard freeze. Should make the road impossible until it warms up.