I think it DOES!

I am with you!

PLEASE LET THE SNOW & COLD WEATHER BE OVER WITH!!!!

I have over 100 daylilies sitting in my garage waiting to be planted

Maybe my mind refuses to retain painful memories...but on the local news tonight they said that April 2002 was very much like this 'spring' in regards to snow/cold.
For the life of me, I don't remember...I think my brain may still be dormant.

Speaking of daylillies......mine are all about......4" or so up in my front yard! Will they survive the snow?They are at least 5 years established..maybe more...survive this???? What about Calla Lillies.....I have like 25 of them that are over 12+" tall and need to go out!!!!! Tell me please.....do you think May 1 will be o.k. for things like Calla's? I would say yes to daylillies for sure as soon as the ground unfreezes...but Calla's what about them?????????????????????????????????????????????????????!

Oh, I sure hope spring is finally going to show up, hopefully to stay. I'm not sure I'd risk the calla's that quite that soon. I've planted mine in the ground by then, but by the time they emerged the weather was more settled. That said, Who Knows?

Anyone else have experience with Calla bulbs??? I think like 4 of them are going to flower inside my house!!!!

I also have daylilies and irises that had put up leaves before getting hit with the cold/freezing weather...it's a bit of a setback but I expect them to come through.

I've never had Calla lilies but if they are like regular lilies (lilium), I would think you could either pot them up now and plant outside in a week or plant them outside now and mulch heavily. From my understanding, they can take some cold-just not freezing.

I'm actually thinking of planting some canna lilies this year, the two people I know that have them every year just consider them annuals and buy new bulbs each spring, I'd like to plant some and dig up the bulbs in the fall.

How much of a hassle is that and how well do these bulbs overwinter inside in storage?

Over wintering Cannas are so easy!! It is silly not to save them!
I lift them after frost damage- I lift them from the soil and leave them for a sunny but chilly day or two- and then cut the tops off and remove most of the dirt- I give them a couple more hours of cold sun to heal if the stalks are sill a bit moist.
I then put them in a paper grocery bag till the soil mostly dries- and then put them into a plastic bag with the dirt still in the cracks, and store on the cool basement floor.
They stay this way till I wake them up- or they wake up in the early spring. I will then wash off the dirt- break off the individual eyes where possible into more plants- and if I start them early- I will put them into pots and start indoors till after last frost date- or just plunk them into the ground.
I have yet to have one dry out or rot this way. They are much easier than dahlias or geraniums for that matter.
They are fun to start from seed as well! I have several "new" varieties just starting to sprout- and several old roots just waiting for a glimmer of warmth and moisture!
I think I better go look at them... and maybe pot up some dahlias in honor of the snow melt....

Julie

Julie...
THANKS for the info about Canna's! I've been wanting to try them (I think both the flower and the folage is GORGEOUS) but didn't like the idea of just letting them die and replacing them next spring. I am definitely going to try some-there's about 4 that I've had my eye on for a couple of years.
I'm glad to hear they are easier than dahlia's, I tried them and just didn't feel they were worth it...for the most part, if a plant can't survive the winters here I don't have the time, energy or inclination to do all the digging up, etc., but I would definitely make an exception for Cannas...they are just GORGEOUS!!!

THANKS again for the info!!!!

I purchased canna bulbs at Bachman's about two weeks ago and ploped them into pots here inside the house! I figured since my Calla Lillie bulbs over quadrupled just last year I should keep going! Ummmmm......I dug up my callas last year...threw cut off the plants about 2" from the top, tossed them in a huge bowl and let them sit outside for a few days to dry out...or if it rained I moved them to the garage!Then I dumped them into a paper grocery bag, rolled the top down, and put it on the shelf in my basement laundry room! About a month ago I checked on them and they were all already having little sprouts! So....here this year I got Canna bulbs,and CALADIUM bulbs to go with my hostas AND one HUGE ELEPHANT ear bulb! So.....now I have a ton of digging up to do!

Thanks for the recommends on my callas!I will probably risk it and drop a few in this weekend if I can get my shovel in the ground!

Any recommends on Caladium or Canna bulbs? Or this huge elephant ear? I am waiting for all of them to sprout here in the house right now....Canna's go good with Callas right?

Anyone else going to try to hit the garden this weekend??

I'm definitely going to be working in the garden this weekend...I still have some clean up from last fall to do and I want to starting surrounding some plants with chicken wire and breaking out the rabbit repellant for others. Plus, I overwinter some plants inside that I need to have get 're-acqainted' with the great outdoors for the coming summer (fig trees, banana plants, taccas and passionflowers).

I've been thinking about adding an elephant ear or two, maybe one of the green and one of the black--I just love the giant leaves! I wonder if it's okay to grow these in pots or if they are better off in the ground and dug up in the fall..?

You can do either with the elephant ears. I like putting them in pots, then I just bring the pots to my root cellar for the winter. This works well for the EE's that form large tubers, those that don't I usually overwinter as house plants. Remember that these are tropicals as are callas and caladiums and they do not like the cold, so don't be in too big a hurry to put them out.

It's way too wet to do anything here this weekend, but the snow from the other day has pretty well melted, and it's supposed to hit 60 on Monday!

By the way...Bachman's has elephant ears bulbs for like 5.00 a piece.....it is just the standard green ones with some verigation to them but still they are like the size of melons and the bulbs are still like 8.00 less than any I found online! They just have one big peanut barrel of them so if you go looking they are on the end!

I decided to try one for the low price and if I like them next year I will order some more online!

If I put it into a pot....how large of a pot? Like the large size ones from Sam's Club....are they like 15"? Is that large enough? Then I could just set it out in the garden right? I put the one I got about 2 wees ago into an 8" pot with soil and still no baby shoots yet! I hope to see something soon!

I hear that yes...they DO have to for sure some in for winter and should not go outside until the very end of May...am I right?

If I put it in a pot is it hard to keep happy? Moisture and food wise? It says they are prolific eaters!

Advice?

A 15 inch pot should be fine. Eventually you'll have to take it out of the pot and separate the baby bulbs. I'm talking a couple of years in the same pot. I've found them to be very easy to take care of in a pot. I usually keep mine fairly near the house(wind protection for those big leaves). Keep them moist and I feed them every couple of weeks.Last summer when it was so hot for so long, I put a big saucer under the pots and kept water in the saucer all the time.(They can be grown in ponds too.) Otherwise I was having to water at least twice a day to keep them happy. Usually once a day is sufficient or less if it's cool and rainy. Don't give up on your bulbs. Sometimes it takes them awhile to wake up.Have fun with them.

Ditto what Hostaholic says-
They can take full sun if you give them ample water- Mine are in most shade- so they no longer get to the size they did when they had more sun.
Funny thing about them- they will actually drip (a small amount of) water from the point of their leaves- when they are happy and the weather is right.
You could bring them out on sunny warm days- and haul them back in for the evenings till we get warmer 50 degree nights if you wanted-
For the winter, I just bring in the whole pot- and let them go dormant, and water very sparingly. In the spring- I will lift and break/cut off the babies and pot them all up again- mom back where she came from- and the smaller ones in their own pots. You won't need to buy more to have more- they will supply you and your friends with more than enough in a short while.
This year- I am excited to see what the upright variety will look like- they refused to go dormant- and are looking good already- I cant wait to see what they will look like later!

Julie

Thanks sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for the advice! I did digup the EE bulb in the pot and look at it and it does have roots coming out the bottom now...so maybe it will start to come up the soil soon! It had a little left over leaf from where it was cut so I knew to plant that part up! I planted it for starters in an 8" pot right now...the top of the left over leaf only about 1" under the soil! I keep it moist (good drainage) and it is in my window! I keep watching!!!

My Canna's only have 1 (of 4) that is sprouting and my Caladium has none out of the soil yet (4)!

I am sooooooooooooo excited for this elephant ear! I am going to put it into a large pot and place it in a mostly shade area..thanks to all of your recommendations!

As for this weekend..I put my Callas out during the day and brought them in at night on Friday! They seemed o.k.....I just took the two gallon containers that I have about 4-5 bulbs in and are 12" tall out! They NEED to get into the ground sooooo badly!

I got some elephant ear "tubers?" at the Wally World yesterday and thanks for the tips on these they were 3.34 each. Hope they will grow. They look like very weathered croquet balls don't they? I worked outside all day and forgot how tired being outside can make you! I hope this is Spring for sure this time, cause everything looks ready to explode. If we get rain on Tuesday--we should definately see GREEN. Thanks for the tips on the EE's. I have a calla lily in a pot and it has 1 huge leaf unfurled so far. I put 3 in 1 large pot. Now I wonder if I should have potted them seperately. Any thoughts???
Happy Digging!!
Cheryl

I spent the weekend sorting and spreading compost. I have two wire compost bins (3x3). The stuff was still a bit frozen, which I take as a sign the ground isn't ready for me to plant anything. Not even potatoes or onion sets.

I took unfinished compost off the top of the bins and it went into a big pile in what will be part of the vegetable garden. Finished compost was combined into one bin and the excess spread on the rest of the garden. Then the unfinished went back into the now-empty wire bin. So now instead of having two bins each containing half finished and half unfinished, I have one finished and one unfinished.

I also recruited 7 bags of oak leaves from a neighbor and stacked them on the still-frozen ground where the sun don't shine. ;)

I don't think I'll be planting my cool-season veggies until next week. It's supposed to rain this weekend (4/21), so I figure as soon as it dries out after that will be a good time. Meanwhile, I'll dig in the compost, lay down newspaper, straw and leaves in my pathways, rake leaves from the yard, etc.

I have some hosta to transplant and I'm thinking we might put in a rain garden. It's not like I don't have lots of things to do. Last year a friend of mine planted some beans about this time of year and they nearly all rotted (those that didn't were nearly all eaten by a rabbit - only one survived!) I learned a lesson from that and I'm going to try hard not to make the same mistake. Another thing I learned was that I planted 24 corn seedlings inside in pots, then transplanted them. At the same time as the transplant, I planted the rest of the corn seed in the ground. They all ripened at the same time. Same thing happened for tomato plants - to get the varieties I wanted, I had to buy plants of different sizes. Some were 4 inch tall seedlings and one was a 12"-18" tall good sized plant. The starting size didn't make much difference in the result.

So because of last year's experience, I'm going to wait until the date gets here and try not to jump the gun and get things in a bit early. It didn't seem to do any good last year.

Most plants have a preference for certain soil temps for optimal growth or germination. When you try to rush things that like warm soil temps you're probably doing them more harm than good. I do know some people lay down plastic to help warm the soil faster for planting melons.

I have a few more things popping up everyday now, I can see the tips of a few of my hosta eyes. Depending on location and soil in my yard. I have completely bare spots to locations with lots of green. I have some early tulips that layed done and never straightened out...they look terrible but one was flowering today, the bloom was layed out too. I still have later ones that are just coming up so not a total loss. It's hard to remember just how cold it was a week ago. I have lots of plans and am working outside as soon as I come home and then again later on. Don't you just LOVE Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My husband was planting potatoes today--he can't wait anymore either.

"It's hard to remember just how cold it was a week ago."

My memory must be a little better because I know it was in the teens each nite and barely 30's during the day. Bel said it was a ten day stretch. I'll believe her and her forcasts which sound good for the next 5 days. Even some welcome rain this weekend.

My tulip bed on the boulevard was up about 3 or 4 inches when that cold snap hit. I laid down some straw about the third day into it and removed it last weekend and they didn't suffer much damage and are growing nicely now. Mother Nature does need a hand once in awhile.

I had a container of spinach that had sprouted during those couple of days of warmth. Two inches high then and then frozen clumps of green for that ten day stretch. I left them and only removed the cover when it warmed up a few days ago. Most of them are recovering. I didn't think they would come back from the frozen state but they are. I will transplant them soon into a raised bed. What I brought into the house (WS containers) now wants to get out badly. Don't plants know what April 15th means?

THANKS for all the advice on Canana Lilies! I got several different varieties (I LOVE the ones with the striped and varigated foliage like Stuttgart and Striped Tiger) and can't wait to seem in full bloom/foliage this summer!!!

~Michele

No kidding about April 15th (the 17th anyway) Last year everything was up and growing by then, I left a note to myself on the date. everyday first thing when I get off work, I walk around and see what's coming up and really hope that the rain does come this weekend and help things pop a little!

After that last cold snap everything's probably afraid to peek out. I'm anxiously checking each day for signs of life.

Just watch now. First the temps get to the seventies and then the rain across the Dakotas and West/Northern Minnesota will spring things to life. Already seeing it here in the Twin Cities. Trees are bursting their buds and a rain will make them all pop open. Some plants in the ground are just laying in wait for that to happen so that they don't get scorched by a too warm spring sun. They know.
We guess.

As a fisherman who always watched a lake/fish cycle it is evident that everything is dependent on timing/temperatures. No skipping. Each happens in sequence. Or so I think.

I put my potatoes, most of the onions and a bunch of radishes in the ground yesterday. Today I'll try to finish the onion sets and plant some garlic that sprouted in the pantry. I figure these are all pretty cold-tolerant. I might even plant some lettuce.

I put my snapdragons in my garden today! They were like.....3-4" tall and crowded! I hated the way the seeds looked and figured if they dont make it, o-well! I put them in along my 6' privacy fence (no wind even) in full sun. The soil was WARM! I have hardened them off over the past few days and they were totally fine so now I will just cross my fingers and hope! Even if a few of them come out o.k. that's fine with me!

Anyone else put some things in??? My morning glories from last week in my window box is starting to climb too! I have covered them at night with a towel!

Put in my onions and potatoes today. I'm considering peas and beets tomorrow. But we'll see if I can move tomorrow.

Forty five, fifty five, sixty is giving way to 80's for half of Minnesota. Dakotas get the rain. That's ok, I will keep watering by hand for now and keep moving things from the cold frame to the ground. Finished the 'little hill' with rocks and annuals. Saw more sprouts poking up and some that may not. Time to get the veggie bed ready for seeds.

I month and a half ago I said I would be putting things out by April 15th this year and gamble. I'm still gambling but a week late. (I loaded a container with discarded straw at the city compost area just in case we get a snowstorm).

Well, it's raining here this morning and a welcome sight it is. Just what I need for those newly planted onion plants.

I thought we were going to get some rain yesterday (we do need it)...but the clouds just blew away. It was actually a tad too warm, in my humble opinion, for April! Even the breeze was warm! I want some nice, 60 degree weather for a couple of weeks to do all the heavy work in the garden.

Today it's looking like/threatening rain-I hope we get this time, we need it!

I got some rain!!! YEAH!!! Not a ton but enough to make my hostas ALL start poking their noses through! Aside from those...there is a bunch of things all about 1-2" up...name a few.....
Astilbe
Rudbeckia
Lady's Mantle
Sedum
Assortment of Iris's
Tulips - of course
Daylilies are not like 6" tall
Fern's
Liatris
A few more but I can't remember! Seems like the SUN part of my perennials are more on the up and up!

Even my PARADE rose (a little rose!) that I got last year for my flower boxes was put in the ground and mulched heavy and is already showing green shoots!! I got it for like $5.00 a piece at Walmart...they bloomed little roses/like in a little bush with little dollar coin roses all summer and I thought they would not make it but obviously did!!
The Snapdragons I planted last week are doing FABULOUS and so is the morning glory! I am impressed!

I live in the Minneapolis area..Hennipen county...can anyone tell me...if I am DARING do you think I can put some cucumbers or squash out there? I started them indoors (I always do!) and theyare like 8" tall (squash-zucchini) and have multiple leaves, and like 5" tall (q-cumber)! They are soooo ready to go out there and keep asking me but I was scared....they will go in in the same area/sort of, as the snapdragons up against the fence/trellis with no wind!

Anyone think I can drop them in this week???? Weather looks like 50 will be the night low after Tues.!!!! I am anxiuos I know!!!!

Also...can anyone tell me...we are going to move my veggie area to a few NEW raised bed areas....it will be like 12" deep....what do you recommend me using for filler?? I know I need soil, compost manure, and maybe some sand? Anyone know what amounts of each?? Is there a ratio?? Also....I can't use TOP SOIL so should I just bite the bullet and buy all bags of the expensive potting soil for the "soil" part?

Thanks much in advance!
Becca

It's way too early for squash, cucumbers, etc. Plants in the curcubit family like warm soil temperatures and they are not there yet.

Of course I agree with hostaholic and anyone else who knows that soil temperature is the key. So even putting things out too early, while they may not perish, does them little good. They won't 'live long and prosper' until the cold soil warms up.

I only have a few squash and cuke plants grown from seed and I planted them on the south side of a garage and along a fence. The squash are just about the same as when I put them out a week ago but still ok, the cukes aren't looking so good so I planted some more seeds in the house.

I think putting things out before the sun and soil are proper (mid May here) is not even gambling. (When you gamble with Mother Nature, she always wins the big pots). I am more or less experimenting in a city yard garden in St Paul proper and if I loose most, I have backup seeds to direct sow.

Those with large garden areas with many varieties of hard to replace plants or are vegetable gardening should follow the rules.

FYI I checked soil temp in my garden and it was just at 59 degrees yesterday. Since I am out on the prairie I don't have a heat island. Would be interesting to know about soil temps. in the metro area. So way too soon for those heat loving plants.