I just discovered my Sweet Peas are UP!!!! :)

Annie- You're at least a month ahead of us! How wonderful to see so much budding out, all around you. When did you plant your sweet peas?

We are having such similar weather to you, Annie. A few days ago it was 70. My neighbors hens are extactic and we have delicious fresh laid eggs galore, after them not laying for weeks on end this winter in the cold.
Although they were up earlier, the batchelor buttons have definately moved it along to look like the want to blossom soon. There is tons on new growth on the snap dragons and all the shrubs you mention. Tiny little white balls on the golden spirea are starting to show. I need to prune the roses today, badly!
I'm going to plant some garden peas today, and lettuces and fava beans. It's a wonderful time of year! I've been experimenting with a new organic fertilizer blend and I'm anxious to see how it does. It is mainly for vegetables but has a lot of alfalfa so I think the roses will also love it too.

Wha'sup?

Sadly, not winter.

Sadly, our week in Florida, though I'm such a homebody that it feels good to be home even with our winter.

I'm happy for you, Annie and GGG, that spring has sprung. It sounds great. I'll be starting flowers in my little greenhouse next month, and then, by golly, things will be up here at ThinMan Acres.

ThinMan

Yesterday it made it to 76! Everything is growing and coming up and acting like spring. Isn't it wonderful?! I hope it stays this way.
kay

We're just entering another snowstorm. There won't be green around here 'til mid-April. We did have a week of melting, so I was able to go out yesterday and clean up after my dogs a bit. At least it felt like I was preparing the yard for spring. This isn't a bad time for outlining new beds, either. I could put down cardboard and mulch to prevent the grass from ever sprouting in the spring. I even haave a pile of mulch I had delivered last fall that I didn't get spread. Unfortunately, the pile is still frozen solid. Well, I can live vicariously through those of you in a warmer zone. And I don't have to suffer through the kind of miserable heat you get in mid-summer. Happy Garadening!

Martha

I planted the Sweet Pea seeds in early January. It was before our first blizzard, so with three snowfalls, we got enough misture for them to sprout when this premature Spring arrived. I hope it is not just a warm "spell", for if it is, we may lose all the flowers of our bulbs, rhizomes and shrubs, not to mention fruit blossoms. (that happens more often than not here in Oklahoma). As long as it doesn't freeze, all will be well.

No green grass yet and no signs of leaves on the big trees. That could be a sign that it isn't the real arrival of Spring. And also, no peeper frogs singing yet, and they always sing when Spring arrives. Bummer...
My roses need pruning too. They got bit hard this winter with our record low temps for weeks on end. And the wild rabbits have eaten the tops out of everything and chomped back many of the tender stemmed roses. The cold temps burned the leaves on the upper branches of the Gardenias, but the leaves at the bottom are still green. The snow protected them, so they should come out of it. I did remember to cover the big Gardenia this year. I packed hay and leaves around it. The Phlox are making new leaves at their bases too. I can only hope that all will be okay this year. Surprised and delighted that the two Mt. Laurels made it through the severe winter, especially since they didn't get set out until late October.

At any rate, I am taking each day as it comes and enjoying what I am given to the fullest.

No Sweet peas here, we still have over 2 ft of snow still on the ground from the last storm and a new one on its way, maybe some time in April we might see thing coming up

Bear

It's suppose to get down to 20 F this week so I'm planing on putting mini green houses over the daffodils that have put out buds. Other than that my plants are not growing yet. They seem to know that this is just a pre-spring warm up.

I've very much enjoyed it. I've composted the veggie bed and planted the swiss chard and radishes that like a pre-chill. I've also rotated my wood pile so that I can add to it so I'm ready for next winter.

I love this time of year. It's chilly but that makes it perfect to garden at midday.

Snowbanks. We've had 15+ inches of fresh snow to add to our old snowbanks. After a week of warm weather some of the snow had melted so we could see around corners again. Not anymore!

I noticed in the area that had melted around a tree in a neighbor's sloped yard that the grass is still green under all the snow thanks to our cool wet autumn.

Been snowing hard since early afternoon here, and it's still coming down. 2" an hour the weather man says. I was suppose to go to a dinner with fellow retirees tonight at 6pm but got an email from the organizer that it was canceled due to weather. I was pretty sure it would be.

We stil have about 18" of snow. I'm sure lots of the small shrubs took a beating and as the snow is melting in the backyard I can see the tree peonies got very beat up. Oh well, usually everything comes back just fine after some trimming, hacking and TLC. I'm looking forward to the snow melt (and wondering just how much damage the voles are doing under there...). Hopefully it will be sometime in March as opposed to April, although we've been known to get blizzards in March here. Last year we had a very early spring and I was moving shrubs in March so I really can't complain that this appears so far to be a "normal" winter season.

I've done a bit of wintersowing and also set myself up for lots of indoor seed growing in one of the spare bedrooms so that has been keeping me busy and dreaming of spring.

These are up ....

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Sorry about the giant size - I always forget to resize them before I put them on photobucket. If you hold down the control key and roll your mouse wheel you can get them smaller.

Drat - 10 minutes after I took those pictures the sun came out and the crocuses have all opened up. You'll just have to imagine them :)

So pretty, so Spring. What are the pink flowers in the second photo? I really need to do some plantings like yours for early Spring, I just never know quite what to put in.

Hi schoolhouse. Beyond the Tete-a-Tetes is Pulmonaria rubra. It's tough as old boots and puts out a few flowers from very early on. In front is an ordinary nameless Pulmonaria officinalis seedling.

Does it count? My snowdrops and crocus are up and blooming but are now covered in another blanket of snow :(.

Flora, your garden looks so inviting and spring like, makes me want to pack my bags and head your way.

Annette

Magnificent, Flora!
My crocuses have only bloomed a few times. They come up every spring and that is that. No blooms.
They were so beautiful the first several years.
Your Pulmonaria are just lovely as can be.
I have a few Daffodils and Jonquils blooming. The rest are budded or beginning to bud. When all open, the yard will be a sea of yellow.
We had a week of early summer weather, and now we're back to early spring weather - dark, gray and chilly. But, we did get a lovely soaker rain, which we sorely needed.
Happy Days of Spring are not far away!