DO YOU HAVE SOME SIGNS OF SPRING 2013? #2

Finally found emerging shoots of Bleeding hearts today- Phew, was getting concerned!

Oh yea my bleeding hearts are about an inch out of the ground at this point. Thinking about dividing the albas but don't really know if it is worth it, let mother nature run its course.

tete a tete
other daffs almost there

Paul, my gardening elders have taught me that Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts never need to be divided and, in fact, do not like to be divided. Their fleshy root is easily damaged or broken. They also don't like to be moved. Easy enough to increase by seed. Will bloom second year. My mature plants are 3+ x 3+.

Just passing on what's been passed on to me.

Thanks Judy! That is a good point they are fleshy and long.

Holly, I brought variegated Petasites japonicus to the swap two years ago. Maybe you took some?

I think last year was the first year I had it. I certainly would have noticed these last spring if I had had them then.

Pulmonaria, crocus growing thru sedum, daff in sunlight, Arabis Snowcap, Daphne(wondering why leaves are brown) but still smells wonderful!!!

Your garden is beautiful Jen. I love them. The signs of Spring here are few and far between but coming. This week should bring them all out. Daffodil field is beginning to show lots of yellow and I am afraid they will all pop at one time and then I will have a real problem selling them as fast as I have to cut. What else is new ?????The economy and the weather are killing me. LOL

Really pretty blooms on that Daphne.
My Pulmonaria's are blooming, too. This crocus is growing in the driveway margin not planted have to wonder how it got there. First Tulips of the spring. Hellebores are looking great.

I love the pictures Holly....I am so jealous of all your flowers on Zone 6 and I am sitting here waiting for the temps to get above 40 at night so I can put some plants on the deck. I have to take the biggies outside and wash them off. The Scale has come back on the gardenias and I am about to loose my mind with picking them off one by one. Have a good day. JB

UGH, That Scale is really hard to get rid of.
Everywhere I look something else is blooming. I really need to get these beds cleaned up. Having surgery on the arm on the 24th and I am not sure when I will be able to get back into the gardens.

Good luck with the arm surgery. Hope your recovery is super speedy.

Beautiful Jen and Holly- I heard Daphnes were p[icky so have never even thought I could try one.

Ooh, Euphorbia Ascot Rainbow is starting to bloom! This has to be one of my favorite plants in the garden. The colors are just fantastic.

And the Muscari are finally blooming! I definitely need to get about 100 more of those this fall.

The new camelia is full of buds but still not yet blooming.

I am definitely looking for a Euphorbia this spring, any runners? I had one in a pot that I moved to the middle of pachysandra a few weeks ago, it looks like it is on the out. I thought it would be a great contrast of colors. I guess it just can't compete with the rug of pachys.

Terp, this was planted just last fall, so no runners yet. It's actually in a pretty tight corner so all the runners will have to be dug up. You're first in line when it starts running. :)

You have all these nice plants and I am still stuck with the daffodils. Oh well, I have the tropicals in the greenhouse, but I love "gardens" . Maybe I should do more with my containers, except I have so much to water now, .

Just wanted to share the daffodil field. The are all coming in at one time. The pictures will show you what happened within just a few consecutive days. Thiese changes happened within the time from March 26th and April 9th. What a Winter/Spring/Summer this is going to be. It is going to hit 80 deg. here today so they say, but we have an ocean breeze which could keep that down for us. Have a great day. JB

Terp: What kind of Euphorbia? I have tons of Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/76535/; they are dauntingly hard to dig out, and reasonably invasive.

This message was edited Apr 9, 2013 9:47 AM

Happy, only one of the var robbiae you gave me last year survived the transplant! I gave the surviving one to my sister who has severe deer issues. It is literally the only thing in the garden that has not been eaten.

I have Ascot Rainbow, which has pretty yellow/red coloring.

JBerger, that's funny because daffodils are the *only* plants that I have that are not blooming!

Here's the story: Last year, there was a craigslist post for free daffodil bulbs, right in my neighborhood. I was a bit worried, because it was still very early spring, and there hadn't been enough time for the leaves to die down naturally and feed the bulbs.

When I went to pick up the bulbs, they were teeeeeeny, with no sign of leaves, and dumped in a box. I figured WTH and just planted them in the clay. I figured at least some would survive. About a month ago, pretty much every single bulb started shooting up pretty green leaves. And I got ONE BLOOM! It's quite a sight. A sea of green leaves and just one lonely yellow bloom in the bunch.

I need to let the leaves die down and transplant them again. They're all bunched up right now and mixed in with other perennials, and not in a pretty layered way.

ssgardener -- I've found that for the tougher varieties of daffodils, even bulbs that look awful and are getting soft will recover and produce, but it may take a few years. We planted a bunch of bulbs maybe 2 or 3 years ago that were left over after a major planting at our house -- these were the bulbs that were too soft or small to think they had a chance. Now I am getting a lot of foliage from them -- I don't know if they'll bloom much this year, but I have hopes for next year.

FYI
All of the Spring Swap at Jans threads are now stickied at the top of our forum.

This should help the organizationally challenged among us
(we know who we are! lol)
to always be able to easily find all Spring Swap threads.

Just look at the top of the forum.

When these threads have served their useful life they will be 'un- stickied'

ssg/ happy, your still growing bulbs might benefit a little from liquid feed now while they are still in growth mode. But they should be good without it too.
, I also threw some overcrowded Ice Follies daffy under the bushes and they have grown to give a lot of bloom this year.

Sally: We did a major Bulb Tone dose a couple weeks ago. The daffs are glorious this year! We usually don't mess with tulips because the deer eat them, and I don't like bulbs that don't perennialize well -- but I know some tulips will perennialize so I may hunt some of those down for this fall. Plus I want to get more Hyacinthus orientalis -- I've had some I must have planted 15 years ago (two, to be exact) that still look great and smell even better. I wish I could remember the cultivar.

Happy,

what do you mean bulb tone???

The people who make Holly-Tone (Espoma) also make Plant-Tone, Bulb-Tone, Flower-Tone, etc. See http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/tones_overview.html and http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/tones_bulb.html.

We've been using Bulb-Tone on the bulbs.

Oh duh. Thanks Devon!

I use all the "Tones" as well. Sometimes hard to find in the large bags.
I think Southern States would have them all, as would a large, well stocked Nursery..
HD has a few in the smaller bags--but they are all pricy.

I need to use them more often on all my plants--but i am so lax re fertilizing.
Wish i was more "with it"---I bet all my plants would look twice as good/lush.

I DO use Rose Tone--religiously....Time to do it! With a hand-full of Epsom Salts around each Rose bush
as well with the first feeding. It seems to encourage new canes to grow from the base of the Rose plant.
Has always worked for me....
Gita

Signs of Spring???? May I show you spring at my HD....Stuff coming in every day now....

1--Bonnies Veggies and herbs stand--right side--the sunny one
2--Bonnies " " ' ' " --left side
3--Azaleas in bloom
4--Japonicas in bloom
5--Sue--My best pal from Bell Nursery

continued....

1--"Blue Eyed Grass"---cute! perennial. Short growing and drought tolerant. Good for rock gardens...
Never seen this before. Must be new....
2--Table-fulll of Snapdragons
3--Table-full of Geraniums
4--Petunia baskets galore..
5--Lots and Lots of pansies.

...more....

1--End cap of Scabiosa (Pin Cushion Flower)
2--Mike's creation--a vertical planter made from pallets..well--maybe not exactly....
3--Other side.....We have 2 Workshops coming up on Container planting (mine to do)
and vertical Planting--someone else to do...
4--and 5--All kinds of garden trinkets on a stick....

A few more...

1--My new gas grill I bought----always wanted a small gas grill.
This one is by Brinkman--and has 2 burners ans a side burner. $129...
2--And lastly--My sign to remind people to do their share for EARTH DAY coming up.

Thass all, Folks....Happy Gardening!!!! Gita

At last I have something to show you.

The star magnolia that is usually first to show Spring has sprung is only now blooming.

so pretty!

sand cherry

Boy, That magnolia sure is pretty. How big do they get? More tree or bush?
Jen, I love sand cherries, so pretty.
I'll post some pics when I get them down loaded.

Jen, what is a sand cherry? A bush, I can not believe I never heard of it. It is lovely.

Holly, the star is a good 10 ft. tall and 5 feet wide. It has been cut back and shaped a tiny bit.
I love that particular magnolia. This one is at least 30 years old.

Thanks JB,
So here are a few of my spring bulbs.

Star magnolias are beautiful. That sand cherry is lovely