January pics - spring is wispering

Here is a pic of my daphne odora. She had a tough winter and it shows, but as you can see she may be beaten up but there are lots of buds. And she smells soooo pretty whenshe blooms.

wow - she kept her leaves. Mine have all lost their leaves, but there are buds galore. It is a fragrance I wait anxiously for each year.

I am so bored with winter. But I am seeing little sprouts coming up through the soil.

Just poking thru

I planted about 250 dafs last fall. (long story). Here are some of them just poking up.

It's so early!! I just hope that we don't have another cold, cold spell coming . . .

My daphne looks much the same - do you strip off the brown leaves or let them fall on their own? I find Daphne a difficult plant, but well worth it when she blooms. Mine also gets very leggy, any suggestions on pruning (when, how much)?

Here's a portion of my front bed cleaned up from winter, with sedum, corydalis, chives, columbine, spurge, daylillies, heuchera, and geranium all poking their heads up.

This message was edited Jan 15, 2010 8:33 AM

I have been debating throwing some more mulch on them. It's a sure bet we will get some more really cold weather. Will it hurt the little sprouts if I put more mulch on them now?

I don't do very much to my daphne. I wait until she starts to bloom and pull some of the worst leaves off but I am always afraid to do to much to her. She is leggy and I plan on pruning her a little this spring. I have no idea how to do it.

I love her smell.

I usually get a dump truck load of topdressing (compost/mulch combo) delivered in early spring. As I clean out my beds, I scratch in some organic fertilizer pellets, then mulch heavily between plants, with a very thin layer directly on the crown of the plants. Makes the whole garden look neat and tidy, and I've not had any problems with the plants growing through the topdressing.

Daphne pruning - i was brutal with my felcos last spring - it has paid off. This is one plant worth the time necessary for formative pruning. Otherwise, the very straggly branches can be weighted down in our typically heavy snow, whic may cause them to split open where they join the trunk. I do nothing for my Daphnes except pruning. wait until they have flowered unless you don't care about losing the flowers. Can't see why anyone would want to deprive themselves of the flowers, though. I would recommend taking off about a third of the newest growth. so far, this has worked well for me.

Mstish, I am really glad that you started this thread! I have really missed the photo threads, and was tempted to start my own this week because I am really really ready for the garden to be dry and alive again!

My daphne's also lost most of their leaves on their own, but are full of new buds. I had asked for advice on pruning them last year, but then was never brave enough to follow through. I will have to this year as a couple are encroaching on some of their neighbors, but I will wait until they are blooming and then bring the blooms from the pruned brances inside (popping one or two in the cloner I bet...just to try!)

This last weekend was beautiful (IE over 45 and it didn't rain too much) so I spent it playing outside. Only a gardener can appreciate how satisfying it is to clean out a garden, chop leaves for mulch (hopefully chopping lots of slugs hiding in the leaves in the process) and seeing the end result... a garden ready to spring back to life!

This is the result of my cleaning and mulching this weekend...it would be a lot more satisfying if it was even a scratch in the surface of the garden cleanup needing to be done, but it made me feel really good to see at least one clean and mulched bed.

lol, I can relate. Rarejem. We finally had a dry day here and I went out and raked leaves and cleaned out flower beds. It felt so good to get my hands dirty again.

I bought a small yard shack and plan on putting it up when the weather gets better. So I have to move a Rhody, an Acacia, a jacobs ladder, 4 daylilys and a hydrangia. I did the day lilys and jacobs ladder. I hope they make it. I'm a little nervous about moving the others.

I want spring to come.

I sat out in the rain and more rain looking at frozen soil. You guys in Pac NW are fortunate.

You are right, I should be gratefull instead of whinning. I could have ended up in Michigan or North Dakota where it gets REALLY cold and the winters are VERY long.

The last couple of days have been great. 50 degrees or more and a little sun. Went out today and worked in the courtyard. Ruth comes tomorrow to help clean-up the whole thing.

Willow, I am looking forward to seeing your courtyard turn to spring again! You have such a lovely yard, and it has such wonderful hardscape that it looks lovely even without anything blooming. I agree about the weather. Had a day off on Thursday, and spent the entire portion of daylight outside. Am still working on garden cleanup and mulching, but was shreding DRY leaves for a change!