Just about every thing has poked by except for a couple of things. I agree we're really behind this year. Hoping the weather smartens up I live for this time of year and it's hard to wait

Behind here too. We really need a few days of some high temps to kick things into gear! My snowdrops and crocuses are just opening now (last year I had snowdrops on April 30th!)and tulips are poking up very slowly. Maybe half of the perennials are up. They're just sitting there waiting for some growing weather, though. I'm happy to see a new peony from last year(sea shell) poking up, as well as the little grocery store rose has now come through for 2 years now.
The buds on all the shrubs and trees but the 'summer wine' ninebark (Suspiciously looking like it has alot of winterkill) are really swelling up, but no leaves yet. I think the Ash Leaf Spirea has usually opened by now.
Hard to wait now, but all of a sudden things will kick in and catch up...I'm sure of it!?

I agree that spring is late this year. From what I can tell everything made it through, but I keep hoping that these frosts we are getting won't hurt the new growth that I have waited so long for! I was very happy to see that all three of my Fragrant Angel coneflowers are showing new growth (new last year), all of my peonies (6 new last year) are also growing, as well as my endless summer and annabelle hydrangeas. I am also relieved that 4/5 of my Rosanne geraniums are alive. I am still hopeful on the 5th one, but I was worried since I didn't winter protect them, since I forgot that they aren't rated for zone 3. I am anxious to get potting on my annuals as I keep bringing more home from the store, just to keep dragging them back in and out of the house. I just can't stop myself when I have the chance at the best selection! Also knowing that I am out of town on the long weekend, I don't want to settle for what's left after the big rush of shoppers is over.
I sure hope we have a great growing season this year!

Everything is way late here too. The crocuses were on time, but many of them got smooshed by all the snow we had a couple of weeks ago. Only one peony (Mollis) is showing any growth. There are a lot of things that seem to have come through the [long] winter fine, but there's no sign of others - time will tell on them.

Well, darn it; just looked out the window and we have a nice ground cover of snow. Just went to the local nursery and bought many annuals which I will be schlepping to and fro for a while I guess. I went shopping at 2 p.m. with a balmy 55 degrees and it's now around 31. Happy Mother's Day everyone - spring just has to show up some day!

Things are just starting to open up and grow, but yesterday's snow and cold weather just delayed everything.

The crab apples and lilacs are starting to burst and the buds are swelling on the rest. My tulips will bloom pretty quick here and the iris' are pushing up with vigor. Next weekend will be my big gardening weekend.. since I have four days to do it.
Things are 2-3 weeks behind here and it looks to remain that way with colder than normal weather for the foreseeable future.

Well I'm pleased to see that my Yellow Lady's Slipper that I planted last year is poking up (thanks Shelley)! The pink one from Dominion Seed House is not showing.

Sharon

I decided to photograph everything that blooms in the order they bless me with their smiley faces.

Here's so far...

Here is a link that might be useful: '08 blooms most recent are first

Lovely photos, cheerpeople! Especially the redbud...that must be so nice.

Well I got a surprise today when a fourth King Alfred daffodil came up where last year there were only three out of 5 that came up. Its a good 8-10 inches away from the others so I don't think its just another bulb increasing. Could it be an original bulb just sat through last summer and only came up now?

And lo and behold there's action on the buds on the Thunderchild Crab! No blooms yet, but there is action. They must be tough...I thought for sure they'd be a goner in March and April when the temps were so unusualy high for so long, then dipped so low a few weeks ago. I couldn't be more pleased...I think I'm the only neighbor around here crazy enough to plant a crabapple tree :)

We are hot here this week, after our last go-round of cold wet stuff - high of 29 for tomorrow, so things are popping like crazy. I can't find my peonies, lungwort, or some of the creeping jenny - I suspect there will be a few more casualties because of the lack of snow and the repeated swings from above normal temps to nasty cold stuff this past winter. It's wonderful to see the quaking aspens leafing out with that beautiful spring green.

Connie

Cheerpeople - love "Frank" does he help with the gardening? So far I've got Johnny jumpups [love them], a white dianthus that seems to have spread throughout my little bed, 3 roses are leafing out [1 the mystery variety is very dead] Japanese Iris are poking through - my Thyme started the season all green and still is doing its thing and I'm so excited that my clematis that I bought from a lady selling plants in her yard last summer - I've never had them come back ever before. But where are my lupins and hostas?

Fern

I am so happy that all of my OT and OA lilies have poked there noses up.And most are showing some increase. I am still waiting on "Dizzy" Oriental, but the rest of the Orientals have come back again.
A super nice surprise for me was seeing my Stainless Steel Monkhood that I planted last spring. It disappeared early last August and I thought it was a goner.
Almost everything is up now. I really do not see any major losses. Like everyone else, the plants are a little slow this year. Now that the heat has arrived, I need to water the beds, so everything grows.

Shelley

Today the nanking cherries, mongolian cherry and the prickly pear tree row are all in bloom through the winds and all. I have 2 irises blooming, my Harmony reticulata and French Wine MDB iris. Some tulips are going and the crocuses are just about done.

Looking through my flowerbeds there are only one or two of the new 400 or so perennials I put in last year that have not made it up yet. All the clematis I planted last year are emerging, my new little ITOH peony now has 4 little shoots on it (it had one for the longest time) and all the new irises, peonies and daylilies have made it (except for the one iris that the grasshopper ate off in August last year). Even though we only had a foot of snowcover on the beds in the winter, it is looking good.

I am busy planting up the spring perennial orders as they come in but am still cleaning off leaves and foliage of the perennials in the flowerbeds in the yard. My next perennial sale is on May 23 so I have a little time yet before I need to spend all day dividing perennials.

There is a 40% chance that we will be getting rain on Monday. Hope that it is 100%. We sure need it or I will be watering the beds, just as you need to, Shelley.

Brenda

We sure need the rain too, I'm hoping it will rain Tuesday when I get my tree seedlings in from treetime.ca.

I noticed today that my Trillium Wake Robin is up and ready to flower, although the bud is really small.

With this warm sunny weather, things are popping up fast now!

Spring is here!

Sharon

Well when I walked thru the yard yesterday looking for stuff to take here with me the only things showing any sign of life is the maltese cross (which won't be coming out here) the Bergenia from you Brenda, and I did find one blooming little Johnny jump-up. A few of the day lilies look like they are just starting to green up but I was very lazy last winter (it did come early, Oct 30 and never left) because we had just gotten home from holidays at the beginning of Oct and I really never had time to get anything cleaned up before the snow arrived.

As for this new place, there is NOTHIN, NADA, zero gardens so I am right back to square one. Thank goodness I put a clause in the sale agreement that I can go back and dig what I want. All my clematis and most of my day lilies and 2 roses will be potted up and trekked out here to spend their first few months in pots until I can find places for them to live. I hope this summer is a good one cause I will be spending lots of it otside by the looks of things.

My Oriental Dizzy lilies have shown up. This morning I was out planting some other Oripents and dug out a Gaura that I planted in the ground last summer. It is alive.It has roots similar to a daylily. I bought some last year as annuals for pots and stuck one in the ground. Now I wish I would have stuck the other 3 in the ground when I emptied my pots in the fall.

Shelley who finally got some rain.

Most of my stuff is up, and was pleasantly surprised that my Mona Lisa, Kissproof and Muscadet oriental lilies are coming up. (have tried before but this is the first time they have come back for me) Hoping my favorites Casa Blanca's show up!
I bought a Gold Heart Bleeding Heart last spring and three days after I planted it, we got gale force winds and it snapped off right at the base:(
I could of cried! I thought I would try rooting the main stem and by fall, it was looking good, so planted it in another spot. I was doing a happy dance last week, as BOTH are coming up really well!!
I owe it to the good snowcover we got this winter cause it certainly isn't my growing skills. HA!
Deb

My tulips are blooming, my iris' are about 8" tall, and the peonies are poking through the soil...

I have johnny jump ups blooming all over and looking quite vibrant and colorful compared to other years.

It must have been the deep snow (we had about 2-3 ft of it on that little flowerbed all winter long).

The trees are really popping here as well with the willows and aspen really greening up. My crab apples are also leafing out. I even noticed the buds on the bur oaks beginning to turn a little green.

But alas, we have a freeze warning tonight, so all the plants I bought will stay in until this weekend.

How are everyone's roses coming along? All the explorers seem to have a few little leaves already, and Bonica has leaves coming too, but some of my Bucks haven't shown any life yet. Only Distant Drums and Folksinger have shoots, but I'm still waiting on Hawkeye Belle, Golden Unicorn, as well as Iceberg, Love, Scentimental, and oh yes, even Morden Sunrise isn't looking alive yet. So needless to say, I'm starting to get a wee bit worried.:(

I only have the 3 own-root Bucks Country Dancer, Hawkeye Belle and
Prairie Princess and all leafing and sprouting out. Carefree Beauty from ValleyK is on the bus and will be here soon.

But, go figure, my Winnipeg Parks has no signs of life!

I hoping this rain were having today will help.

Sharon

I am blessed again, every rose of mine is growing. I did move some around on the weekend after making my rose bed bigger. Hopefully this doesn't do anything bad to them.

Shelley

I only have hardy roses, but most of them look really good already. I am impressed how much live wood I have on my hedge of Champlain roses, since I expected them to have to mostly come back from the very bottom.
One of my Morden Fireglow roses looks iffy, but I think it is in slightly less sun than the other two, so I hope that it is just a little bit later to leaf out.

Morden Blush is starting to leaf out and Winnipeg Parks is definately behind Blush, Sharon, but there is a couple buds showing.

I got another surprise today when I found some garlic chives that I never saw at all last year from a perennial exchange the year before that...freaky things are happening in my garden this year! Another peony finger is poking up ...Mme. E.Debatene, but still waiting on Japanese Ikua. Fiesta Maxima peony looks like it has expanded and so have the King Alfred Daffodils and Glory of the snow bulbs. Lovely :)

My Morden Sunrise is coming out strong. Lots of leaves already creating new stems. But my Sunrise Sunset seems to be a goner :( Oh well, I planted it super late in the season so I don' think it had time to adjust :(

Darn! It isn't sounding good for my roses, but most of them were covered with leaves in a wire cage, and there was a good size snow drift over top, so they should be ok...I hope. Last spring, Scentimental didn't show any growth until well into June, so I'm going to keep my hopes up that these guys are just slow.......

The only one of my roses that has started to leaf out is Delicata, but then everything is way behind here. Of all the roses, only Show Biz and J.P. Connell don't show any sign of life.

I'm very happy to report that though the main blue poppy has disappeared, there's a baby tucked in under some heuchera leaves. :) Speaking of heuchera, Silver Scrolls is MIA. Darn it.

Rose update. M. Champlain really took a beating this winter. I was hard pressed to find a bud on him anywhere. :( The two White Kosters had a lot of winter-kill as well. Topaz Jewel, Morden Sunrise, Blanc Double de Coubert, Marie Bugnet, Delicata, Martin Frobisher, Hawkeye Belle and Hansa all seem to be fine.

Pulled out the Sunrise Sunset a couple of days ago. It didn't root into the surrounding soil. No wonder it didn't make it.

That'll teach me to plant something in September.

Also, my Bridal Wreath Spirea took a major beating. I pruned it back hard to see if that's going to revive it.

It was sure a tough winter for my roses, but happily there is growth coming at the base now on Hawkeye Belle, Golden Unicorn, Scentimental and Iceberg. And go figure, but Morden Sunrise, which is in the same bed as the rest, seems to be toast. There's also still no life showing on Love, but it was in another part of the yard. Meanwhile, Folksinger and Distant Drums are getting flower buds on them.:)

Yesterday, I think I saw a tiny shoot coming from my variagated brunnera, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll come through. Still missing are the Toad Lily, Milky Bellflower 'Favorite', lilies 'Visa Versa', 'Triumphator', 'Queen's Promise', and a species type. Oh yes, and the only daylily to not make it was ' Betty Winkler'. Also every one of my daylily seedlings made it back too and without any sort of protection either, so they've got to be tough little guys.

So it was definitely a harsh winter....mind you, I think it must have been that cold snap the end of November when we didn't have much for snow. That's my theory anyway, and I'm sticking to it! ;0)

I have several hostas that I didn't remember planting showing up in the last couple of days. I really need to do a better job of marking my plants.

My losses for the 2007/08 winter were:
Ernest Markham clematis-Although my mom picked up some clematises cheap. She asked me which one I wanted instead of a card for my b'day and I took EM.
Salvia Eveline
I see no more signs of life on my rose "The Fairy". It was budding leaves before the crazy freezing winds this spring. But now there has been no more signs of life and it is totally black.
One of my Yellow Submarine Roses as well does not have leaves yet. I moved it earlier this year.But the stems are still green. So I am not entirely sure if this one is a goner yet or not. Maybe some heat will bring it back to life.

Shelley

I'm not entirely sure, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of life on my echinacea 'Sunrise'. Boy, i hope that's not entirely gone - i LOVE that plant! It blooms and blooms all summer.

Earlier, i was sure the my Clematis 'Ville de Lyons' wasn't coming back, but it's there now, thank goodness. Oh, and a loss that surprised me was Lychnis coronaria. It was lovely for two summers and this year - nada. I still have seeds, though, so maybe i'll see if i can start another one.

After posting yesterday, I decided to go start digging around my 2 roses in question. Yellow Submarine is coming. And so was The Fairy although I managed to break off the part on this one. I should slap my fingers.
I forgot to mention that one lily hasn't shown up as well....Something Else.

Shelley

Well my one rose that I thought was toast is now growing beautifully and about 2 feet tall. I did pull out the 2 nanking cherry bushes and planted pink lilacs instead. The mice got the nankings last year and I replaced them....but these new ones, didn't take the winter well....so it was just easier to replace them with something else.

What has been showing up in this cold wet weather is lots of mushrooms. Slimey, gross, really big mushrooms. Eeewww they have to goooooooooooo......

Sierra

Yeah, Sierra, i was noticing mushrooms growing out of some mulch on the weekend. And i don't think they were a kind that you could eat. LOL

Most of my Goblin galliarda seem to have disappeared. I've had them for quite a while, so I'm not sure if they just got too old, were choked out by the cranesbill, or just didn't make it up through the mulch. The cranesbill is awecome though. I also lost almost an entire row of 6-10 foot manitoba maples, though I'm hoping they come back from the bottom. I guess the big snow in early June last year, followed by spray damage from ariel spraying, followed by no snow cover/cold snaps/really dry winter was too much for them. I have two big manitoba maples in the back yard (my shade garden's shade) that look really bad too - they have very sparse leaves, so their time might be limited. A few old maydays and other trees in the windbreaks also bit the dust - probably the spray damage again - it killed anything at a vulnerable stage or that had compromised health for any reason. On the other hand my bleeding heart is awesome, and the old purple iris and dames rocket are in bloom.

Connie

Good news! There might be some foliage starting where that echinacea is - fingers crossed! Also, the catalpa tree i started from seed a couple of years ago isn't dead after all. While i was supervising dh and his weed-eater, i found a couple of buds on it!

Marcia,

I have one pink echinacea that is really slow to get going in the spring. So hopefully yours is just slow. I started some white ones from seed last year.....and they actually came back. I had bought white plants a few times and they never made it through the winter. So when these little guys came back this spring, I was quite pleased. Now lets hope when they flower they are actually white. lol.

Sierra