Mcpeg,

Here in Halifax we have been seeing our brown lawns for most of the winter. There was only one snow accumulation/storm to speak of, and in the last few weeks there has been very little precipitation. This is worrisome as the water levels are down considerably for this time of year. Buddy up the road decided to do some grass burning the other day and had to call the fire department after it quickly got out of control and spread into and up the spruce trees on the adjacent property! Not good!!

Because of this, I have to remind myself constantly that it's still only the end of March although the weather and the fact that there is no snow make it seem like the end of April. Getting 'antsy' too soon to remove some mulch and see what's under there. LOL!!

So I'm creating another garden bed, planning a veggie garden with DH, winter sowing some more, doing/finishing garden projects, and cleaning/painting things.

Just hoping for rain soon...

I'm doing some re-arranging in my garden, and moving some roses to the back of my hill garden to make room for all the new butterfly plants that I will have soon (I hope) that are now sitting in pop bottles using the winter sowing method.

There is lots of clean-up to do as well because I don't cut down anything in the fall.

Today I have coffee grinds to spread and maybe move a few perennials.
It will soon be time to begin my rose pruning and fertilizing. That takes me a few days :)

AAAWWW...life is sweet !!!

I'm still waiting for the snow to melt off of the garden area. It is getting better and better everyday. Today, the fleamarket to scour for woodworking tools and garden items. This means I should come out of there with something totally not on my list - judging by past experience!
I am eyeing up outside thinking of new garden beds.
I will also be mulching heavy this year because of the heat waves. I heard that cocobark is not good for hot areas because it can ignite.

As for the ding dong lighting grass fires - not the first and probably not the last. I hope he got fined for his stupidity! I saw a similar incident years ago just as a farm field burn was going out of control. DH and I went knocking on doors to make sure the homeowners nearby were aware of the situation.

Tiffy, that sounds like very unsual weather for your winter. I hope it rains soon too!

Msjean - what kind of butterfly plants are you growning? I too am wintersowing - anything and everything!

Cheers,
Anxious for Spring!
McPeg

I already had quite a few plants that butterflies love...but needed more.

This is some of the winter sown ones...
Chilean Glory Vine
Ipomoeax imperialis Sunrise Serenade
(This were seeds swaps)

Asclepias...Butterfly weed
Paw Paw trees
Giant Zinnias
Amaranthus...Velvet Cirtains
Moon Vine..for the Moths
ordinary zinnias
Asters
Aubrietia..rock cress
Rudbeckie White Swan
Lobelia Crystal Palace
More HollyHovcks
Sweetpea
Sunflowers
Thumbergia Vine
Corkscrew Vine
Pink Milkweed
Swamp Milkweed
Last year I planted 3 pipe vines and they all made it through the winter...so that is good news. I'm going to try to take cuttings from them...hope I can :)

I also have a beautiful Passion vine that I overwintered...so it will be beautiful this year.
Peatpod is going to send me a brug cutting when the weather warms up...so the butterflies will love that too.

I have a lot of planting to do :))

I remember the grass fires when I was growing up. Everyone set them deliberately every spring...and LOTS of times they got away. Sure made for some excitement !!! Scary though !!

When I get desperate enough, I go out and actually lift big slabs of snow off my flower beds! The plants underneath look great - FIRST open CROCUS yesterday! I have finally had it with the Blanc Double de Coubert grafted on a wild rose root-stock! It suckers wild rose canes all over the place. Yesterday I cut it down to the ground - my sweetie will dig up the root. I will replace it with another BD de C - but this time, on its own root.

Today was the big clean up day - or at least the big start day :-). The last bit of frozen ice disappeared last week, and now the back is clear.

It was sunny and 23C!!! I actually got a sunburn on my neck (I'm a gen-u-ine 'redneck').

I took the trash bags off all my big terra cotta pots (protects them from cracking from too much moisture). I hauled down all the morning glory vines from last year. I took almost all the newspapers I use for mulch off. There was only one bit still in full shade where the ground was frozen - everywhere else I could feel down three or four inches. The Irises are growing, there is one big allium up a couple of inches and several more with the tips just poking up. I was sent a gooseberry and a black currant bush last summer, and I see that there are buds swelling on those (I did a serious happy jig when I saw that!). Pretty well everything else is still burried under the extra shredded leaves and dirt I toss on, so I won't see what else has made it for another couple of weeks at the earliest. I start removing the last of the extra winter protection when the average nighttime temps are around zero, and that'll be really soon now!

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I think that'll be the end of my outside activities for a few days.

BP

My Therese Bugnet Rose suckers a lot too. I just dig them up and pot them and give them away to my friends. They are always happy to give them a new home.

The last of the snow has melted from my garden. Still too wet to clean the lawn and nothing yet on my winter sown pots. We do have rain today forcasted for the Ottawa area so that should help move things along.
Indoors at work I have a ton of babies, my tomato plants are a good 6-8" after being repotted from their sprouting stage.
I looked at my garden catalogues with the plants - perennial geraniums about $7.00 with tax....I have 5 so far growing from seeds indoors. Thank heavens for seeds and trading/sharing with fellow gardeners. It is so expensive to buy plants. Saved the seeds from my petunias last year and they are doing nicely on the windowsill as well, pansies, chives, gaillardia, lupins. I will try to grow anything and everything. Today I will have to get some more dirt at lunch and hit a few more window spaces in the office. They have been pretty good about my seedlings and very interested.
The only smart thing I did last fall was turn my garden beds, clean them up and cover them with landscape fabric so they will not be full of weeds this spring for my new babies. I will be incorporating bags of leaves I saved and some fresh compost. We have also decided to do a wooden deck as our patio stones have more than seen better days. I am saving the bricks for the garden, going to recycle the fence that is being replaced into wooden planters with benches and paint them bright colours. I will line the planters with pond liners so the wood doesn't rot out. Also have morning glories starting at work too. I may just keep them at work and trail them around the windows.
That has been my spring so far. Dragged out the plastic table and chairs on Sunday. Digging out my garden shoes and starting to look for shorts!

Almost all of the snow in our yard has melted and this weekend we are doing our clean up, raking etc. I am so tired of winter and so looking forward to spring and my flowers!

Me too! Snow is gone but still too wet to rake the grass yet!