I'm just now getting all the seed orders completed and trying to rein myself in - way too many things I want and far too little space and money to get them all. Also been out replacing a bunch of deer fencing that had either fallen down in the last heavy snows or trashed by hungry deer and cutting up all the tree branches that fell with the last snowfall. Started a couple of things inside for the cats to munch on but nothing much else going on but planning for the spring and reading up on more stuff to grow.

Been studying the trees of the area and searching out the biggest ones around. Trying to arrange for seeds of some interesting and unusual trees to grow. Did a lot of pruning of the tree I already have, though it is a little early for pruning still, the weather was nice enough for working outside.

I've ordered perennials and seeds. Seems like most of what I ordered is tall and red this year (for the hummingbirds?)

I'm planning what to pull out to make room for different plants inside my fenced-in garden. Lots of daylilies are going out (not enough bloom time to make it worth the space they take. Some will stay). Peony will go outside the fence because the deer don't eat them.

The spillway of the Ashokan Reservoir where I live is raging with this meltdown. Good energy there.

Alas, Susan, the deer DO eat peonies. Not always and not everywhere, but if there are a lot of deer around, they do eat them. I know personally of several cases in Woodstock, and one case in Stoneridge. They don't eat in my garden in Saugerties but I have only a little damage from them, and probably loose more to voles.

I plant leek or onion seeds now to be transfered to the garden. Spinach, bok choy, kohlrabi, arrugula in a couple more weeks, also to be transplanted in March when the ground is thawed.

Klavier, you have me scanning the countryside for big trees now.
There don't seem to be any really old trees where I drive or walk.
It's orchard country for so long, everything was cleared long ago.
There's a book I keep meaning to get: "Meeings with remarkable trees", (I think).

Susan, what are you getting? That "sunset hyssop" that's supposed to be
hummer cafeteria? Do they like Crocosmia?
(my favorite in the tall, red and handsome department)
"My" deer haven't touched a peony yet. By June they seem to have other forage.
They do make special outings for the lilies, though.

My rabbits have made mincemeat of a Euonymous hedge.
I discovered it too late, but covered them in chicken wire and hope anyway.

Corapegia, we were thinking of planting chard and arrugula in big containers this year
hoping to foil the bunnies. I don't have a fenced garden.
I mostly plant edibles other creatures don't like.
Thanks for the reminder about the onions! Those should be safe.
Nobody liked the red perilla, asparagus, garlic or any of the herbs.
Or the nettles, my favorite spring tonic, can't wait!

Here is a link that might be useful: Yen for a real forest

Doing a lot of winter sowing. Had great germination success last year with Giant Sequoia seeds. This year I have a few hundred Dawn redwood seeds and am sitting here counting them out into piles of 25 for each milk container. I still can't get over the success I had last year with winter sowing (outdoors). I never had any luck sowing indoors. Unfortunately I forgot about the little sequoia seedlings and they dried out (it is hard to keep track of a hundred milk containers), all but one died, and it is now planted in the ground in a sunny spot. I checked on it today and it is still green and hasn't lost its needles (the needles are more like a junipers foliage than needles really)

Are Giant Sequoia hardy here? I thought not, correct me if I'm wrong Klavier.

I have one Dawn Redwood, about 9', bought at a nursery sale.
I'm glad they're deciduous on a windy day like this.
This hot, dry summer, I left the hose dribbling over it for many hours twice a week.
Only second season in the ground. I think it made it.

Do you have a place to plant yours when they germinate?
The Metasequoia grove at Stonecrop is quite a wonder.

Where did you get 100 milk containers?
I could use another 40-50.
Most at the transfer station are crushed.
I prefer the gallon jugs to just about anything else.
They take care of themselves until it starts to get hot.

Hello,
I have been spending a lot of time on the conifer forum. Apparently they have gotten certain cultivars of Giant Sequoia (specifically "Hazel Smith") to survive in zone four with no apparent winter damage in 25 years. There seems to be a lot of success with growing these in ever colder areas. Do a google, you will find quite a bit about "Hazel Smith". I figure if I grow enough seedlings, a couple are bound to be tolerant of the cold, as they are borderline cold hardy to zone six to begin with. I think you are making Dawn Redwood out to be a more difficult plant than it is. There is no doubt in my mind it will survive easily with little care here. They are quickly becoming a widely used landscape plant, to be used as the norway spruce has. No body plants a norway spruce and thinks twice about it. Dawn redwood is now believed to be hardy to zone three, so hardiness is not an issue and I don't think moisture should be an issue, not in New York. Maybe during some really dry week it might need some watering, but not twice a week dribbling for hours.

Milk containers are in no short supply here. We go through six or so gallons a week ourselves, and my aunts family has a similar consumption, so it does not take long to accumulate over 100 milk contianers. I only have about a dozen out this year, so I am way behind.

Corapegia, the deer haven't even nibbled on any of my peonies for the 8 years I've been at this house. Sometimes baby deer eat things that they later decide they shouldn't, due to a horrible bellyache. LOL. That's how I explain it, anyway! LOL.

Linnea, I've ordered agastache apache sunset which I have found out is the one I had all summer (hummer food) and it's hardy here, supposedly. It smells like root beer when touched! I'm enjoying it now wintering over in a pot on the windowsill. I also ordered another one whose name I of course forgot...a short red one for the birds.

Klavier, this Dawn Redwood looked pretty stressed by July, half browned-out.
It's out in a north-facing field, exposed to all winds.
It now has a golden Ginko for company. It's my golden oldies field.
They both have buds.
Thanks for the Hazel Smith info. All news to me, though I'm not tempted. Yet.
The conifer forum does seem to get busy in winter!

Susan, that's the one I meant.
Here, I have so many butterfly bushes the hummers visit, seeding everywhere,
I hardly know where to put all the seedlings any more.

I've started my winter sowing, although slowly. I only have 34 containers so far, mostly poppies, columbine, and foxglove. I have tons of new seeds to try this year so I'm pretty excited.

It was nice to be able to work outside a bit over the last week or two. Now it's getting cold again and I'm really longing for spring!

I was outside burning paper in the fire pit and thought I'd get the last
neglected Peony stems.
As I cut them off I saw two Peony buds peeking out.
Yikes! I'd better cover them with something now I deprived them of their own mulch!
I checked for early crocus and daylilies, but they're smarter than this peony.

That's about how many I've got blackcat. I'm going to do the rest in March.
Feels like March, almost.

I was out gardening all day yesterday. (people looked at me like I was nuts when I told them I was gardening...ha...non-gardeners don't understand. LOL) It was a good time to cut down all the dead stems and pull some spring mat-like weeds. I even left a meeting to garden...said I needed it for my sanity. In the middle of winter it just feels so good for the spirit to be doing this.

I sat there and planned out where I was going to put all the veggies, and what daylilies I was going to move. I realized my flowers were taking up more and more space each year.

Linnae, burning paper produces some very toxic smoke, like dioxins used as chemical warfare. Please don't burn paper...bring it to the recycling center. Your neighbors who breathe it will thank you.

Some of my snowdrops are up about an inch or so. no blooms yet, but they will bloom even under piles of snow. In past years I've accidentally cut off some of their heads while redistributing snow for quicker melting.
Susan, I second your plea to burn NOT. Our neighbor had burned all their trash, including plastic. I've finally convinced them to burn only the paper. I've tried everything including giving them a file full of information on the airborne by products of their actions but short of calling the police or fire department (they have been members of the volunteer force for more than the past 30 years) I have no recourse. I hate going out on a lovely day to find the world smelling like it's on fire.
Also, the deer have never touched my peonies (oh right, except the year they 'trimmed' my yellow tree peony)
in the 30 years I've lived here, but they ALWAYS ate all the peonies of a friend who lived on Mead's Mountain in Woodstock. The places they seem most vulnerable are on properties at the edge of woods. At my house, the daylillies and the Solomon Seal seem the most vulnerable. This year, for some reason, I havent seen the small herd anywhere around, and they didnt come into my vegetable garden over the winter like they have in the past. I've found transplanted frisee (sp) pulled up and spit out..I think they dont like the taste. I know they never used to eat holly in Woodstock until the winter we got about 4' of snow that stayed all winter. I think that coincided with a population explosion. It was around when hunting for food became less popular. Now, there are very few bushes except for forsythia that survive anywhere it the town. I hope I'm not being too hard on the little bambis but since I make my living in landscaping, it has become very difficult to find things they wont eat.

Ouch! That hurts!
I googled paper and wood burning and learned all kinds of unpleasant things.
I've been a nazi about keeping any plastic out of the fire pit since it was dug,
I thought paper and wood were ok.
There is no residence within 1000 feet, but still, okay...

This is such bad news.
There is something deeply human about a fire. I will miss it terribly!
My whole life since early childhood, the garden cleanup fire meant spring
and renewal. Good husbandry and contemplation.
Connecting with deep roots.
People around a fire and everything associated with it, cooking, storytelling,
spinning, mending and gathering in the warmth after a long day.
Selma Lagerlof wrote an ode to the hearth fire that went to the core.
MANY MILLENNIA of human history here.
Brought home by the familiar whiffs of a wood fire.

This is now dangerous?!
Doesn't the fire department still issue burn permits?
Will life be worth living in a "safe" world?

Sorry about the rant.

Yesterday was beautiful.

My family uses wood for heat. We burn important documents, that we don't want to get into the hands of others, and infected plant material, as is suggested to do in most gardening books when there is a threat of the spread of disease. Burning is a natural part of the environment. Before man put fires out, fires used to be quite common in woodland settings. They removed under brush and dead material that choked out young and developing trees. If you have ever seen briars growing in the woods, that choke out young oaks and hemlocks and such, you know what I mean. I know in sequoia groves, fires are necessary for the survival of the species. Around here, does one think some of the older pine forests developed, because all of the other trees decided to move out of the way and let these sun loving trees grow up, or that some farmer decided he didn't want his field anymore? These are fire forests. Take a drive by west point. The burned out hillside is tomorrows pine forest. You get more dioxins eating out of a plastic chinese food container, than you would from a neighbor burning some old newspapers.

Gotta disagree. Paper isn't natural. It's made with about 10 different chemicals which cause cancer. Really, it's not about nature anymore. (Not only plastic causes cancer).My neighbors are 5 acres away and we have to keep our windows shut during their "burns", which occur almost everyday if you count wood stoves. Our house fills up with smoke and it makes us sick.
Our town is just making an ordinance against open burning of toxic materials like paper and garbage. It isn't pleasant to breathe. people think of burning as a ritual and also as a relaxing activity. It's about health now, not just nature.

I don't mean to hurt anyone, just want to make people aware.