And my farmy wool hat. The mosquitoes haven't gotten going yet, either. Primroses and other spring flowers are holding their bloom. And things are leafing out nicely without being in a big rush.

Thanks for the positive spin on all of this gloom. Its good to consider the bright side (if you pardon the expression) while waiting for my iris' and peonies to burst into belated bloom. Thanks again.

My (herbaceous) Peonies sure all look fat and sassy!
And I just laid 1500 sq feet of sod, THAT's happy,
and three weeks of lilacs and tulips was nice!

I haven't seen a tick for six weeks, and, yes, the absence of mosquitoes
and black flies is a treat.
We're doing a show near Dallas, TX, it was 104 this past weekend, I'm glad I'm here!

Sorry about your tree peonies JoeyGirl, I didn't know they were that early.

Thanks, the tree peonies are about a full month ahead of my herbacious ones. They hold up to the rain better, too, they don't need staking.

No ticks, now there's another great thought about this weather! I also overseeded the lawn, so now I don't have to worry about watering it constantly. I hope it germinates in this cold.

My DW's lilacs (old variety-here when we moved in 25 years ago) are still blooming as are the bleeding hearts and primroses (newer plants-a gift to her a few years back), the peonies look like they'll bloom magnificently, the redbuds are finally fading (I love their spring show, and the crabapples too!),

I can't wait to see how my Black Dragon lillies look later on (cool weather deepens the color of the outside of the trumpet to a purple), the white trumpet, yellow inside, and purple flush are pretty, the smell is even better!

No ticks is good, a few early skeeters (not too bad), and the absence of black flies is fantastic!
Don

Let's not get all excited over this no tick thing! My husband was out cutting brush yesterday, and I was the one who had one of those nasty blood suckers! I thanked hubby for the gift. I thought I'd pass out trying to pull it off with tweezers. I guess you never forget your first tick!

This weather's great for transplanting. I still have a lot of winter sown seedlings to transplant, and it's nice that Mother Nature is doing the watering for me. When we had all those warm sunny days a few fried since everything was drying up so fast.

It reminds me of Iceland in summer. It's a wonderfully different place where no one gardens, everyone's friendly, and there are no trees. But there are glaciers, waterfalls, black sand beaches, volcanoes, and tiny wildflowers on the mossy volcanic rocks. Lady's mantle is blooming here now, which is a wildflower all over the gravelly edges of glaciers there. So I pretend I'm there again.

This weather is wonderful for poppies, especially the Mexican gold poppy seeds I threw all over the garden after falling in love with them in Tucson this winter. They have grown immense since this cold and rain, and I *hope* to have a splendid show before it turns hot.

Another good thing about this weather...the neighborhood kids are indoors, no one's mowing the grass, and it's very quiet outside. Just the birds chirping.

And if you're like me and you got your cold crop seeds (like annual poppies and sweetpeas) in late - there's more of a chance of them actually growing and blooming this year!

my selfish reason for appreciating the sloooooooow spring build-up... i was away for a good month, travelling with my friend's band. i had this nagging feeling "when i get back, i'm probably going to have missed a lot of spring..." well, i was kind of glad that i got back to find that i had missed much afterall.

--robbie--