Spring is peeking 2013

Very nice, Jen! Today I went to a nice baby shower to build the first baby's library. Fun....and I won the centerpiece - a beautiful vase of hydrangeas and blue iris's. Yay!

Very cheering, Jen....so nice to have color this time of year....I have heather blooming above the snow.....That's a great type of shower, Louise....and a lucky day!

You all are going to get more snow. If KC and Wichita can get 12-18" tomorrow, it ought to bury you again.

Meanwhile, I'm whistling past the end of February with my Hamamelis flowering their fool heads off. Who'll join me?

'Jelena', 'Primavera', and 'Diane' are the wintry vixen party girls...

love all the color

Wow - jealous.

My Jelena only had one bloom.Its 3 years old .I blame the early spring and hot summer.

Love the color, VV!!!

Most of my Hamamelis buds have either fallen off, or they look very dried up. I look around my town and it looks pretty much the same. Hope the Corelypsis fare better.

This message was edited Feb 25, 2013 8:06 AM

Just out for a walk and heard Titmouse mating call. It even smells like spring.We still need several warm days and nights to rid us of snow so can walk the gardens.

Nice signs of Spring, VV!

The birdsong here is wonderful now as well. It is a very early spring here. Hang on, everyone! :)

Those are lovely hazels! Hoping that midwest storm goes up to Canada.....

nice pictures vv

I went to get the paper this morning, the ice had retreated by my front porch & voila!

yeaaaaaaa. I am seeing them too.

I just gotta say.This years snow pack is a great boon to the garden.Its stayed for a month and melting really slow.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2013 9:50 AM

After last year's drought, I'm glad the water is seeping into the gardens.....

Way to go!!!

How exciting, Robin! Glad to hear y'all are making the area ready for us to return! Wheeeee!

I wouldn't start out just yet, Louise!

LOL

Here is a little something to temp you North. Here is our first crocus. DH took this shot today with his cell phone. It is our first crocus of 2013.
Crocus susianus Cloth of Gold or Crocus angustifolius . An old historic one from the northern coast of the Black Sea, first recorded in 1587. Patti

Thanks Patti,I thinkI have those.Great to have a history.

Nice!!! Im totally green with envy.....in a completely white world!

The weatherman here said this is about the last of the winter weather.Mid month it will gradually get milder.
I sure hope so.Just as soon as I see a bit of garden it gets covered again overnight.It has snowed for a week.

I now what you mean! I think this morning was the only morning this week it WASNT snowing. Weatherman said don't expect the sun until sometimes next week. :(

same here sun maybe mid week.The longer term forcast is for a week in the 40'sand above freezing at night.Ijust want the snow gone so I can inspect my plants.

Hellebores happening in Nantucket. This is Helleborus orientalis Yellow Lady which seems more white than yellow but I bought it from an old sketchy coop from 2007 so who knows, though it does have a tinge of yellow when it matures a bit. I am still up in Brookline dog sitting so I am missing all the fun. DH keeps sending my cell phone shots as I have the camera. DUH! Nothing up here to shoot except my pottery. Patti

Several of my hellebores are totally buried in snow.... a few others I can see, but no blooms yet....

Send us some greetings from Fred, Patti. You are near the touchstone at Fairsted.

I hear he did some nice work up that way...

Love seeing the new blooms! DH is taking me to the camellia show at Tower Hill Botanic Garden today! The informational tour by the Mass Camellia Society at 2:30 is open to the public. Around here it's a nice day to go to an indoor garden.

It will get better out doors and there will be crocus blooms....

I'd love to see camellia blooms this time of year......must be from the greenhouse.....

Yep. The blossoms were lovely, and I did take pics. The members of the Mass camellia society bring their plants and blossoms in for judging once a year. Many of them have their own lean-to or greenhouse. They have had their show at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the past, but the chief gardener at Tower Hill contributes a huge number of the plants and tends to win the competitions, so they had it there, which was nice.

Needless to say, I brought one from Nuccio's Nursery home to try to grow indoors. Now there are thermometers all over the house, basement and garage, to find the coldest place to grow it--temp between 35 and 55 F at night. It might end up in the garden shed with a heat mat and extension cord!

garage might work

Ooooooh, it sounds like I just might be able to have a camellia in our new place in Conn! How exciting! Sounds like a lovely outing, Rosemary! I love to go to Bok Tower in central FL during peak camellia time.

FL is the only place I've seen them in bloom......I'm hoping my Winter's Star comes through.....

Culture needs for a container grown japonica camellia indoors in winter is high humidity--sitting it on a humidity tray is recommended, low temperature, adequate light, enough water but really good drainage,slightly acidic potting mix if possible, slow release fertilizer like Osmacote, almost pot bound, no sudden light changes and for most, no bright light at all especially in the early morning, but can't sit in total darkness either. You can prune them at last year's growing point for bushiness, but preferably in the flowering season (around now). Propagation is supposed to be pretty easy by air layering. They are actually tougher than they seem. That's about all I know.

I think my Tiffany japonica will likely spend a week in our attached garage then end up in the garden shed on top of the woodpile until spring once I'm sure we don't expect any more dips toward zero. Then it can go live with its planted mates until fall.

spotted a hellebore standing tall above the snow out front that is loaded with blooms - this was from a coop a few years ago and has never bloomed so no idea of bloom color - looks like they might be yellow

Anything standing above the snow is a gift as far as I am concerned.
The winter seems endless.

Even Yeti??