You might be right Karyn! Yesterday all day I heard and saw squirrels running up and down a palm tree chasing each other. Appears like mating season is here, although we certainly don't need more squirrels!

Beautiful flowers. Is the orange one a quince? I've never seen a dark pussy willow -- beautiful!

I'm hearing more birds but not any increased activity from the woodland critters yet. I don't mind the squirrels too much. It's the freaking deer that destroy my gardens. That's a quince but the blooms are actually more reddish then orange. Soon the stems will be completely covered in flowers. I don't care for the taste (except jelly) of the fruit but the smell of it is nice. I just leave a bowl of quince in the kitchen and it lasts for weeks.

Everything had begun blooming a couple weeks ago and I was sure they'd have frozen with last week's temps but almost all appear alright. The only real damage I see is the foliage that had come up on the Voodoo lilies but they should recover.

Looking at your flowers looks like the spring is coming.

Karyn, what is the name of the flower in the 3rd pic. I think I have them and I would like to know the name.

I do not have problem with dears but I have a big problem with squirrels. They are all over the place running on my roof, chew the air vents and got in my attic, they are eating everything, digging in my pots to hide or look for acorns and destroying the plants roots.I hate them but I'll never get rid of them unless our 6 oak trees die.

Pat

The 3rd one down is a quince. It's a shrub but can get quite large.

The only problwem I have with the squirrels is that they dig up bulbs and bury nuts in my container plants then trash the plants looking for the nuts they previously buried. They also eat my figs and berries. The deer eat everything and what they don't manage to eat they trample.

Does it makes fruits or is just the flowering bush? I have 3 bushes which looks like yours. I'll take a pic to see if they are the same maybe i am mistaken.

Mine produces fruit.

Karyn, do these flowers look like yours?
{{gwi:460367}} {{gwi:460368}} {{gwi:460369}}

Nice to see your spring blooms. A few tulips are poking out of the ground here and I heard a new birdsong yesterday. A sure sign of the coming spring when the birds begin to sing.

Pat they look the same but I don't know if that means they are the same variety. I've seen a lot of quince blooms that look the same. We have a huge quince shrub (about 10' tall) at the farm. The flowers look like the one in my yard but it doesn't produce fruit.

I went out last night and the Frogs were loud.. Usually a sign for us.. I do have a plants blooming and the Voodoo Lilies are up.. Nice pic's!!

Kylie

Yes, I think mine are just flowering bushes and doesn't produce fruits. I wish they were :-( I love quince.

Pat what do you do with the fruit? The only thing I know to do with them is make jelly, which I've never tried. I just use them for fragrance.

Kylie my voodoo lilies started coming up last month but the foliage that was showing was frozen during the cold snap last week. It was only about 5 inches and I'm sure they'll recover but might look odd for a while. It's supposed to get to 70 today but only a high in the mid 40's by Sunday. Grrrrr!!!!!!

It was 83* here yesterday 60* today BUT the sun is shining and the wind isn't 25mph..
My Voodoo Lilies are that size also.. I just planted them last yr.. When do they bloom??

Karyn, you can cook with them. We were eating them quite often back in Romania. My parents used to make a very delicious dish. I like better quince jam who has pieces of quince in it than jelly. It taste delicious.
This is a recipe close to what my parents used to make. You can eat it without meat or with meat(chicken or pork).
http://www.len.ro/cooking/quince-recipes/

This is another Romanian recipe for quince and chicken. Use google translator to translate the page since I could not send it translated. http://brindusascheaua.blogspot.com/2011/12/mancare-de-gutui-cu-pui-chicken-with.html

It's cold again (low 40's) but that's not as bad as the 30-50 mph wind we're getting. It's been pretty consistant since last night. I'm glad the GH is holding up to it aand we haven't lost power.....yet.

Pat those recipes look good and similar to what I do with apples when I serve leg of lamb (I don't do mint jelly but hot pepper jelly is a good substitute). I'll definitely try it with the quince. I've never had quince jam, just jelly. I've never even seen quince jam for sale. Thanks for posting the links.

There's a couple of things budding out. One of which is a hellebore that Edna sent me several years ago. It never bloomed from me except for the initial time, but this year -- I have blooms! The bees are busy getting nectar from the citrus trees and their blooms (trees, not bees, lol!) perfume the entire yard!

I love the bloom of the quince and recently almost bought one from OSH, but went for a Lapins cherry instead. I haven't tasted a quince since I was a kid (many moons ago). Even then, I would just eat it straight from the tree even though it would make my lips feel dry, but the chewing would bring out it's sweetness.