I've just gotten up and had my breakfast, you make me want to go back to bed again. Ugh. That's alot of work, but will be great rewards later.

I won't be out digging around for a couple months yet. We have a big snowfall yesterday and over night along with icey back roads.

You lucky girl - to be working in your yard! If you can post pics of your yard, it sounds great and it would go a looong way for the rest of us with snow and ice still on the ground. Thanks!!

Oh, schoolhouse,
I feel for you sister, but you will have that moisture for your spring flowers, so it is such a blessing that you are getting it now, although I don't envy you the dreary winter days that comes with it.

valree3,
in Oklahoma, we have spells of warm and then cold and then warm and cold all winter. You never know what the weather will be from minute to minute. Will Rogers once said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it will change for you."
That is totally accurate.
The changing weather can be nice in winter, but for gardeners and farmers, it can be dangerous and damaging to trees and plants. We might have a long spell of warm weather and everything starts to leaf out and starts budding, and then here comes a cold spell, which kills all that tender growth. For spring-flowering plants, that can mean no flowers or ones that are severely damaged. It can also mean no fruit on the trees. If we make it through March and April, then in May we have Tornado Season. Ugh!

I just finished planting my tulip bulbs and some fancy daffodil bulbs. Dug a bucket of wood ashes from the burn pile and sprinkle them liberally all over the holes and watered it all in good. If all goes well, and the spring late freezes don;t ruin the flowers, it should be a very colorful area in April and May. There are lots and lots of irises, alliums, and of course, my roses. Lavender, sage, and rosemary too.

I am going to the Herb Fest in April to load up on some new herb plants. The drought we had in 2005-2006 wiped out so many of mine, about 98%, so have to start over. I will on the scout for some new roses, too (wink wink).

In Oklahoma, everything is severe - severe cold, severe heat, severe winds, severe thunderstorms, severe tornadoes, severe flooding, severe droughts. The weather radio always says, "Here's your Severe Weather Report for Today", and they ain't kidding!

As most of you know, but the Newbies don't know, my property is all hill and the soil is very sandy, so it dries out quickly. That makes it nice for winter gardening and I can get out in the spring garden earlier, but it also makes it a pain once it gets hot and when we have dry spells. You win some you lose some. Right now, we are in drought since last June, and coming out of a two year drought, we only had a few years of light rain fall amounts before this one hit. Established trees and plants are still stressed and struggling, so I have had to water every day. Even now, I have to water twice a month or more just so the plant's and tree's roots don't freeze dry.

I will go take some pictures and if they turn out okay, will post a few for you to see. Not much to look at now with everything dormant and brown, but you can see the bare-bones structure. I really love my new arch. It really sets off the garden having that tall element at the back. With my property on a slope, the back of the rose garden is up hill from the front of the garden, so it needed a tall structure. The American Rose that is growing back there by the gate on the west side will now have something to clamber up on, if the voles will just leave her alone (darn varmints!). Last fall, I trimmed back the Plum tree that grows over the henhouse on the east side and shades part of the garden on that side too. That should give the American rose more sunshine. It looks pretty with the plum tree hanging down on the one side. Will be lovely this spring when it is covered in snowy white flowers.

TTYL

I just did an hour or so tidying up after the snow and cold snap we had before Christmas. It was the coldest December we had had for at least a hundred years (the records only go back that far apparently.)

There was a lot of ragged, sodden foliage on things which had been taken by surprise by the cold before they had even dropped their leaves. But I was ALSO taken by surprise to find the burgundy buds of hellebore flowers nosing up through the autumn leaves, some Pulmonaria rubra in flower and some snowdrops already showing white. I thought they would be late but they just seem to have shrugged it off. I haven't seen anything completely killed off - even my oleander in a pot appears ok and there are lots of Geranium maderense seedlings sprouting from various cracks. I also planted a Clematis Perle d'Azur which had been sitting in its nursery pot all through the cold weather. I'll have to wait a bit before I know if there's any permanent damage. Fingers crossed!

Oh, I too am envious!! Imagine having a whole year, instead of squeezing it into 5 months!! That would be nice. Sounds like spring is on the horizon for Annie and Flora!! Sigh.

Nancy.

Not sure if you can see BBC programmes where you are but here's a link which might let you do a bit of vicarious gardening and keep you amused for a while in the chilly depths of Winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: National Gardens Scheme

Winter gardening, I wish. We must have had a bout of the same kind of weather as Flora only we had it in november, everything is still looking ratty and sodden. It snowed last night, today is sunny and clear which means all the slush is going to freeze hard tonight YUCK. There's no way I can get any cleanup never mind gardening done in the near future.

Annette

Thank you for the LINK, flora_uk.
We get the BBC news channel and the old BBC TV comedies, and Masterpiece Theatre with the British Classics movies for TV (which I never miss). There are others, too, like Dr. Who and the like, but I don't recall finding anything pertaining to gardening showing on the Teli here in the states, at least not here in Oklahoma.

I am cutting back on my Veggie gardening this year - just growing a few tomatoes, peppers, a cabbage or two, some Lemon Cukes and a small patch of Okra this coming season. With just the two of us, it is too much work to fight with the crazy weather. I can buy it from the Farmer's Market cheaper than I can grow it and in more varieties than I have the space or ability to care for anymore. Just focusing on my roses and perennials, and adding more evergreens. Will be planting more ornamental grasses too and adding more herbs.

Here are a few pics of my winter garden and the new arch:

{{gwi:631498}}

{{gwi:631500}} The Arch under the plum tree

{{gwi:631502}} Patio garden area

Boyz in the hood - woodland garden
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Back yard view in winter - looking back toward the house
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Greenhouse garden area

{{gwi:631506}} Looking back thru the rose garden toward new arch

{{gwi:631508}} Shows enlarged rose bed and changed flow

{{gwi:631510}} Shows new roses where path used to be

{{gwi:631512}} This pic shows the enlarged rose bed. The old path went through the place where the green planter is in the photo. Look at Mr.Binx - he's wondering where the path went. :)

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Side view of the new arch, looking toward the henhouse.

I'll post a few snow pics on another topic post.
~Annie