I see where places in the northeast coast is experiencing the S word, that is going to do a lot of damage to a lot of beloved gardens I would think.

How about your neck of the woods, typical or atypical weather this spring?

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Uh-oh, this morning I notice where a thread disappeared!

I think from now on though, I shall allow them to do that job, they do enjoy it so much.

All my sympathies to those getting snow today!

You're right about the other thing, Myl.

Big rain, snow, wind event last week - my neighbor lost a mammoth old spruce and it spanned her yard and quite far down into mine. I thought my old and glorious Mandarin Lights azalea would be crushed, but it survived intact.

I keep looking at my Norways and think maybe it's time to call in the tree guys.

This too shall pass :)

I thought there was a thread missing... interesting. Well, these things do happen from time to time.

Was watching the local fox news station this morn and the "weather guy" said snow would be "west" of us in Ashtabula county. For the non-Ohioans, Ashtabula county is EAST of Cleveland.

He ALWAYS gets the direction wrong!

gust of 60mph here, mid 40's. It's quite a change from the high 80's we had weeks ago.

Glad I am not driving cross town today :)

We had late May weather in March, followed by typical late March/early April weather. Actually, since the March heatwave broke, I suspect our April weather will come in about "normal" or perhaps slightly above normal, not due to any significant warm days, but because, while cold and often frosty, or lows actually weren't AS cold as they often are, falling only into the mid to upper 20s in most regions.

However, on the heels of extraordinary warmth, the 20's were enough to cause serious problems for agriculture. It has done a lot of damage to commercial fruit crops here in Michigan. Two of our most important crops, tart cherries and wine/juice grapes, are estimated to have suffered losses of 90 to 96%. Luckily, so far, the apple crop SEEMS to be OK, at least on the Eastern side of the state.

I'm afraid we need to get used to a world like this. One reason why diversity is so important, IMHO, in agriculture. Putting all of our eggs in too few baskets is asking for trouble. I believe its important to seek out new and alternate crops that might fare better with extremes of climate. Personally, I'm trialing various things such as honeyberry, seaberry, goumi, autumn olive, Prinsepia, buffalo berry, black currants, Cornelian cherry, all of which are good alternatives to more traditional fruit crops and which all are a bit more rugged than some traditional crops such as strawberries, cherries, or peaches.

Yes..lots of fluff. Miss Missouri.:)

My dear cat birds have returned and they are a week or two early. My friend and I feed them and I called her to ask if hers were here too and they are. Mine is fluffed up on the feeder and I took him some grapes. We know the same ones come to our yards because she has raisins on her porch and they go there immediately. Mine whistle for the dogs as I do.

Steve, what were you thinking? I guess you'll have to put blankets over them. Dennis, autumn olive is a tough adaptable plant, like all invasives. It makes fruit very reliably here with no attention whatsoever.

We set record highs for March. Tonight should be a record low at 45. The basil may not like it, but the tomatoes and peppers should be fine. By Wednesday it's back to highs in the 80s and more humidity.

Cool temperatures through the week, and maybe 'normal' temperatures next weekend - low 70s,

Fine weather for doing heavier physical work in the garden.

Purple Alliums are beginning to pop open, wild and hybrid Columbine are in bloom, and Iris of all heights and colors are opening.

The Creeping Phlox, in both hot pink and lavender, is about at its midway point, and the Peony Trees have already shed the petals on their first flowers, but there are more buds.

I was going to do some work out there today, but the winds have picked up and the temperature has dropped quite a bit. A cold front pushing the earlier warm front, so we're most likely looking at incoming storms or rain. I haven't looked at local Doppler yet, so I really couldn't say.

So many roses are budded, though! I can't wait to see everything open!

This morning I took a boat ride on The Great Sacandaga. It was pretty cold, but I had the lake to myself. Not another boat for miles.

We're supposed to have below freezing night time temps in much of the North Country.

In April, thats unheard of. July, before the rains start, is the usual.

as an aside, there is now a push to raise the mil levy for the fire district, continue the shift from a largely volunteer to professional dept, I have the mail in ballot. It will fail. In this county, they wouldn't raise their taxes if their houses were burning down.

I had no choice but to bring everything potted outside early this year as it was already breaking what little dormancy it got.

And now, the weather is so up and down... I can't help but notice things slightly out of sync... it's not a normal year, and was not a normal winter.

Not wanting to jump the gun, I have not begun a lot of my veggies yet, planted from seed.

I remember springs when trees had fully leafed out and were then badly damaged or killed with the weight of the snow on the leaf cover by a fully "in season" snow storm on May 15.

The weather here is now well within normal patterns. Puxatawny Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog only has a record of being right only 39% of the time. He was only partly right this time. I am sorry for the food producers who may have been hurt by the warm spell. A lot of trees that flower in the spring may have lost blossoms before fruit could be set. A lot of seed planted too soon will have rotted this year but spring has always been chancy for farmers and gardeners. At least I got a head start on cleaning up the yard. I expect food bills to rise as a result.

What does a paw-paw tree look like? I don't think I've ever seen one.

Apparently, and trees are not my area of specialty, but both male and female trees are needed to produce fruit from the Paw Paw. There are other trees in town and within a 5 mile radius, so it's not an impossibility for this lone tree to fruit.

I've heard the fruits are quite tasty, but I've never had one.

The frost cut-off date for our area is usually around May 10th or 15th, so this is a very unusual year.

We had several summer-like days/weeks in March, and everything came out of dormancy. Buds formed, and the sturdier of plants kept growing through the frosts and chilly weather that followed. They showed burned tips, but survived.

But the Paw Paw and all of my Crepe Myrtles lost leaves and buds, and now the Crepe Myrtle looks quite dead. I just have to wait and see if it will produce a new array of buds.

Now, the Oaks are running on a timed schedule, it seems. They are just now beginning to bud and show tiny, baby leaves.

It also seems to depend on where the plant is placed... where it's offered some protection from winds, or is against a light colored building, it seems able to escape the issues of frost.

I do, however, have a potted Kiwi vine that's supposed to be hardy to this area, and a potted Wisteria also hardy to this zone, both of which are not looking good following the frosts we had after the weird and warm March. Both pots were placed against the east side of a protective building, so they should not have been overly bothered by the cold.

All the roses are budded, and the more protected and hardy types have been blooming already. My Star Magnolia in the yard never bloomed, but the ones I have in pots did... go figure. The Peony Trees are just gorgeous, and a lot of other bulbs, later types, and other perennials are beginning their normal blooming.

My partner saw the bare Crepe Myrtle today and announced everything needs water, when I already know the ground is plenty moist where it needs to be. It was the cold that killed the buds... not dry ground. (Sigh) It's a constant battle...

The flavor is somewhere between a sweet apple and a banana. The texture is like a slightly over ripe banana. Too sweet for my taste. What I most strongly remember was all the bees and yellow jackets that swarmed the tree when it was blooming or in fruit.

I'd like to try it myself--carefully!

I will remember to carefully try a Paw Paw, should it produce this season. Thanks!

I realize that Crepe Myrtles don't require drowning... no plant does... especially at this time of year, in this zone. My issue is with my partner who wants to jump the gun on everything, and insists that every form of wilt or burn can be solved with a dousing of water. It's an uphill battle to keep her occupied elsewhere, so I can do my job the right way! :-)

Not 5 seconds ago, she was insisting, as she has been since early March, that we need to get going on cuttings. No, we do not. Not only is it too cold and too early, it's also too much. I'd like to get rid of some standing stock before we begin to make more work... that I'll end up doing myself, anyway. I'm one person, and not even a whole person. She sometimes forgets that I know what I'm doing, while she's all over the place with a million irons in every fire... and that there's a time and season for everything. That time is not now. We don't have a heated greenhouse or cold frame.

If anything, we're a bit ahead of the game, so it could be considered less work for later!

I'm just hopeful that the Crepes survive and push new buds, and that the Paw Paw and Kiwi vine can recover.

Trillium here has been blooming for a bit... I found a white colored one with purple edging among the patch of purples we have... it's very unusual and lovely... not something we planted, but rather a fluke of nature.

Wild Asparagus is coming up along the roadsides, too... time to go hunting for that!

Notice quite a few trees/plants that look like they have "freezer burn" from the early warmth and then seasonal cool.

Our frost free date is also May 15th and that is when I will put my tomatoes/herbs outside on the roof ... the lettuce and spinach are doing well, never got the peas planted.

It's funny, though... this has really shown me which varieties of my plants can handle abrupt changes, and which are too sensitive. It gives me more knowledge to put away for future purchases.

I haven't even thought about the veggie end of it yet... too soon. I'll get the area prepped, then sow seeds sometime mid-May, I'm thinking. I just can't do it any other way. Not without heating the greenhouse.

I'm one person with a million mile list of things that require my attention! I need help that actually understands what to do without being stood over and watched! That, or a trade-in on a new body! ;-)

I'm glad some of you will be able to get things earlier... now watch; we'll have an early and freezing autumn this year, and I won't get any produce! Wouldn't that just figure?!

Our last frost date is mid may but I usually get it all in on the first with safety. I'm not too sure I'll push it this year.

The weather has been crazy... with cold fronts, heavy storms, then summer-like conditions. Today, hot and humid... I'd love to crank on the AC, but we'll try to hold off until it's absolutely necessary. As for the cold, I keep an extra quilt folded at the end of the bed. Just in case.

We never used to have to worry about tornado weather in January and February... that wasn't until around June. Here it is, only the beginning of May, and we've already had a lot of nasty weather countrywide.

We did get rain, so it makes weed pulling a lot easier. I can finally get the whole things, roots and all!

Right now, the Iris in all heights, colors, and sizes are simply lovely!

I love the sound of the wind, rain, waves, running water and thunder at night.

I went waterskiing and wakeboarding for the first time without a wetsuit several days ago. It was quite chilly, but refreshing, plus we had some nice swells and whitecaps.

Its so tempting to set out tomatoes and peppers, which usually happens the first week of June. But its getting so hot in the greenhouse now that I may be forced to do something.

The roses were gorgeous and now they are pretty much spent, the cherries on my neighbor's tree are fully red and only the size of a cherry seed, my lettuce that I sowed TWO months ago is maybe an inch and really pitiful looking, the spinach hit one inch or less and bolted ... the birds are singing at 4 AM.

Oh and where is the rain ? Next to none in April and literally rains for about 30 seconds and moves on.

Not planting a garden this year ... the roof will be bare.

It seems like most of us are in the same boat... very strange spring. It makes me wonder what summer will be like.

The plants that flourish in relatively warmer temperatures are beginning to grow in advance of the 'June gloom' which usually lasts from late May to early July.

The justicia carnea are blooming gloriously - come on over hummingbirds! - and some of the impatiens balfourii are blooming. The salvia chiapensis has been in bloom for some time.

Remember Albrecht's wise words: "fertility is the best drought hedge".

....of course it isn't, the climate is changing and the only disagreement is whether we humans play a role in that. Anyone who continues to deny it, well anyway ... we got some light rains early this morn, the weather people said storms with thunder, but then they are having difficulties "predicting" these days as no matter what they say it does the opposite.

Nancy your flowers are lovely ... :)

Up and down back and forth, where it goes no one knows.

Eggplant and peppers are coming along; I plan to cage my tomatoes today and replace some bedding plants in my large containers, as well as haul off limbs and debris from the 50+ trees on my property I had to have cut and removed due to hypoxylon canker.

A cool front has brought a nice breeze, low humidity and temps are low 70s right now, but will get back up in the 90s. What was lush green three weeks ago is now brown.

Hope you have some help with the hauling.

I'm in zone 5, and I've NEVER seen plants of any kind pop out of winter dormancy in February! That's not natural! Nor are the incredibly hot and dry August-like conditions we've been experiencing since March.

The saying goes... and has gone for as long as I can remember... April showers bring May flowers. But that's not what happened, and this is a first. There's nothing natural or cyclical about that.

This is something much more, with the definite fingerprints of humankind and industry on it. Fields of corn and soybeans that were planted early this year are in severe stress from the heat and lack of moisture.

I only thank reason that we are able to get water to our rose and perennial demo beds, and to our hay fields, which we need for winter feeding of livestock.

It won't be good if farmers, big or small, lose crops to drought and heat this year... giant sprinkling systems for farms are extremely expensive.

The overcast sky blocks a part of the color spectrum and some colors absolutely glow in this light.

Just part of earth's cycle, for whatever reason.

Natal, yes it was very nice with low humidity this morning.
The breeze off the water was actually cool enough for a sweater.

I hope you got some of the rain we missed!

No, I don't have help today, and no way can I get it all done--I am concentrating on cleaning up just around the house, as out of town guests are arriving tomorrow evening.

I agree that weather extremes have always existed, but not to the extent that we've been seeing for the past few years. I can remember 10 years ago when we always could rely on afternoon summer showers. Now they're practically non-existent.

This has happened before; same as the winters--sometimes it's -40F; sometimes a heat wave of -15 or -20 in January.

We'll take all the growing season we can get.

Eh, who needs forests anyway. Can't hardly see the trees.

I'm very familiar with Impatiens Balfourii. VERY.

It's a cousin of the VERY common Impatiens capensis, the orange Jewelweed, and Impatiens pallida, the yellow version of the same looking plant.

Here in this part of the country, a part that gets 3"-4" of rain in the Summer months, the very common Impatiens are a real gardening nuisance. They're the easiest plants to pull as weeds, but they never go away.

Impatiens Balfourii makes these common native weeds look tame in comparison. I would imagine that you live in a much drier location and perhaps in a closely packed neighborhood, but BEWARE!!!

I gave some to a dancing/gardening friend about 8 years or so ago before I knew about its wicked ways. I found out within a year of that time that it was terribly invasive and warned her that she should try to eradicate it from her garden before it took over her entire neighborhood. Her neighborhood being the typical medium sized town street with lots as far as the eye can see.

Just coincidentally, I needed to go by her house this past week. I hadn't been there since 8 years ago.

We walked over to the edge of her lot, to a wooden fence that was about five feet tall. Looking over there we could see her neighbor's yard which had a section of untended garden. IT WAS, QUITE LITERALLY, A SOLID MASS OF IMPATIENS BALFOURII.

My friend says that she spends her garden weeding time cursing me under her breath and wishes she had paid more attention to me when I warned her 7 years ago.

I fully expect that Balfourii will continue to spread in this neighborhood and will eventually take over the East Coast of the United States.

I can appreciate that you may have a totally different environment, but you've been warned.

Everyone else should remember this post and the name Himalayan Impatiens, AKA, Impatiens Balfourii. Avoid it like the plague it is.

Your friend,

Hay

Went out this morning and it was so cool I came back in for a jacket.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that nine tornadoes touched down, all of them in Maryland.

The strongest were in Howard and Harford counties.

Those were EF1 storms with wind speeds of up to 110 miles an hour.

nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary, just a natural cycle.

However, a big front moved in last night with some small hail, rain and 30 degree lower temps. Tomorrow morning is highly likely to bring an honest to goodness frost, the kind where weather people are warning to cover tender vegetation!

I have lived here since 93 and never have we had a frost this late, ever. As a matter of fact, the last predicted frost date tends to be May 15th and I always wait until that day before putting out tender plants - and am the last in the neighborhood to do so. Every year I always swear that I'm doing what everyone else is doing and putting them out May 1st because the neighbors never have a problem losing their tenders due to a frost - but this year I once again waited because the temps has been so unusual. So did all my neighbors - this year they decided to wait with me.

I just got three more hydrangeas in the mail, am waiting before planting them until that frost warning passes, they were so darn expensive - along with the enormous shipping charge!! and are very small and very tender. I would have gladly given my local nurseries my money (would have gotten much more mature plants for far less) but they didn't carry perfectly ordinary hydrangeas I wanted. But being so tender and already stressed from being shipped in 90+ degrees temps in a thick cardboard box, I'm sure they will gladly wait until the frost date has passed and then I'll get them into the pre-prepared, amended spot!

I have a feeling that we will have high temps even through late October. For quite a few years after we moved here, I used to know we would probably get our first snowfall right before or even on my birthday in late October, but that hasn't happened in a very long time, I don't even think about snow/late October anymore.

I pray that the winds blow in a direction which will prevent more loss to individuals - losing a home is considered very nearly equal in stress as losing a spouse, and the stress lasts as long with equally lasting residuals of issues.

After all, what is just "stuff" to everyone else, is so often the total representation of a family's entire life's work and representations of memories of their past.

I love my great grandparents, grandparents and my parent's things that I own far less because of intrinsic value or only because of their true beauty, but by far and away because when I see or use them, they have that unique, magical ability to bring those who are long gone from me to come back to me in the form of smiling, fond and loving memories at those very moments - if only for a little while, in an intense way.

I feel sad when I see nice things for sale which are obviously very old. I know it's not probably true, but it always strikes me as someone is no longer a valuable, beloved memory to their ancestors - or that a family line has died out. Someone has finally been forgotten. I know that is not true, but I've always felt that way when seeing obviously old "family" pieces for sale. Maybe it's my deeply southern DNA rising again!

Having, using and loving my deceased family members things makes me feel close to them once again, in a way that memory alone doesn't always quite accomplish. They heighten the memory experience. Their beloved things compound the memories - with their things, I can touch what they touched, love what they loved, use exactly as they used those mere things.
They don't represent, or take the place of human life, not for a minute.

But, when it comes to the emotions of losing all of that, or all of what a single family have carefully accumulated and the memories attached to them - that I really get it. I deeply hope that sort of a loss never happens to me and always feel so deeply for those families who do lose "everything" in disasters. It happens so often, we forget how vunerable we are to so much of the unexpected dangers in our lives.

Of COURSE one is always 'on their knees' grateful if the family gets out without any physical harm - of couse that is of the highest and first concern - but once the high emotions of that begins to fade and the "stuff" loss begins to be tallied, it can be a very painful emotional and very tally, indeed.

One of my sisters had to flee the state when Katrina was coming, in the fury of packing, her littlest (7) forgot to pack her beloved, carefully accumulated collection of used perfume bottles. She cried over those forever lost cheap little bottles for three days. She had no interest in starting a new collection of perfume bottles.

David, I hope you and all of your loved ones stay out of the way of the flames.

On a very odd side note, probably inappropriate to this thread - if this fire decimates most of the dead/dying/infected trees due to the invasive beetle (saw that on the news last night) - in the very broad view and big picture, is this a good thing ecologically?

I uderstand that fire in and of itself is good from an ecological point of view ONLY - but is this also one way that nature can eradicate a distructive insect?

I hope that question doesn't strike anyone as heartless or thoughtless, I honestly don't mean it that way at all.

Every time rain is forecast for our area, it just misses us... or we get just enough to evaporate with the morning sun. Today is hotter than blazes, and we're running hoses and rain birds to keep the hay fields and gardens alive. We don't have a choice at this point.

Here the garden pests are very minimal, hard pressed to locate a squash bug or cuke beetle which is unheard of this far into the season....that might change in a heartbeat. Still a bit dry but not too dry yet. Garden never looked better, cukes, squash, and snaps coming out our ears. Corn so close that I can taste it, melons begging to ripen, been a sweet spring, hoping summer is as forgiving.

I'm now in Denver, and the entire northern horizon is smoke/haze from the fire.

In two days, we are predicted a high of 92.

Off to work, have a wonderful day.

Peace

I'm expecting record numbers of heat related illness and deaths this year, though I hope it isn't so...

The zoo way out in our western regions flooded and Berlin, one of our Polar Bears escaped - big and white should have been easy to spot. Eventually captured and returned without incident.

This is going to be another summer in a long string when AC is simply not needed.

But with all that, my gorgeous impatiens which I've grown for 30 years are mostly dying. I heard there is a fungus attacking them ,and I'm not the only person. It's happening everywhere. Anyone here?

Seems to be a lull in the rain, but it's supposedly not over yet.