The sun is certainly much hotter the last few days, you can almost feel spring! What signs of spring are in your area? Any robins yet?
Sunkeeper
Signs of Spring
Robins have arrived here. Beautiful day yesterday and forecast for today as well, before a few days of cooler rainy weather.
Tulips, Daffs and Iris are up. It's a start. Ü
Don
Cherry trees are blooming, forsythias, primulas. I got strafed by a mad bee yesterday. Robins have been here for a while. Saw a flock of swans floating in front of the house yesterday. We don't see them often here so it was a real treat.
It must be spring because it started to snow here last week and for the next 10 days or so! March although it starts warming up is one of our snowiest months and the past few days proved it! Having a chinook now and then I suppose more snow! Robins? they are here year round!
The sun is farther north! Quite cold the last few days, and a section of the river/lake that was open earlier refroze perfectly flat. Today's activity - skating not gardening!
Jacqui
it's light until 6 pm!....
I keep tripping over sleeping, sprawled-out dogs lying in sunlit patches on the floor.....
the sunny patch on the back of the couch is covered with shed out cat hair....
I've used up almost all my seed budget for this year already......
tapping out for the maple syrup season was yesterday.....
the lilac outside the kitchen window is definately swelling it's buds...
spring's so close I can almost taste it.......
Liz................just what is a MAD BEE?????????? E
Yes skating on the glass of a snowless lake. You are so lucky Jacqui. You have to be carefull of hitting the puck too hard. Spring on Kodiak Island AK.
The wood pile is smaller than it was a week ago. -11 here this morning. Drivenbonkers, is the sap beginning to run? Sofodig, great pic of Kodiak Island. Apparently a sign of spring there - if the bears, emerging from hibernation, find a washed up rotting whale carcass- hurrah. They roll in it. Bear perfume for mating season.
Still frozen solid here..........but it's March and even the tundra defrosts eventually. ;)
We have above 5 today...it's gorgeous. I was out on the deck in a t-shirt. I have to keep reminding myself it's only March 7th. That lake is gorgeous..just flat ice. What a treat for skating on. We never are able to sustain cold weather long enough for much outdoor skating. I miss that as I am originally a prairie girl.
Sue
Some more signs of impending spring:
Male chickadees are making with their territorial call that initiates the mating season - it's that "fee-foo" sound.
I've been seeing horned larks for the past week. These birds are usually the first returning migrators to the central canada area.
The buds are starting to swell on the maples and the elderberry bushes.
Cheers
Steve
I've noticed how the buds are really swelling. The tulips are starting to show their heads too near the foundation of the house where the snow has melted. Soon the season will be upon us and we'll all be to busy to post any more!
Come on robins, we're all waiting for you!
Sunkeeper
I only have 6 feet of snow in my garden....very spring-like......NOT! The snow might be melted by May....another typical NL spring!
The day I wrote my friend in Ontario to say - my first crocus bloomed, she wrote back and described the 16' icicle hanging from the roof! oops.
LOLOLOLOL ;)
OK SPRING up here is intolerable weather that comes when I least want it wrecking my newly popped bulbs and tubers. It is followed by the worst snow fall of the year, winds causing subzero temps, lakes that were just a few weeks ago lapping quiet waves now frozen over to the greatest thickness of the year. The wild animals are begging to get in the garden to eat the swollen buds on every tree in the yard eating grasses over the septic tank for survival topping off their feast with bulbs that the squirrels dug up to share with their browsing buddies. Ahhhh Spring!
You don't sound as delighted as the poets do when rhapsodising about it, there, Soferdig...
Not yet but all that is a sure sign of spring in Montana. It only takes about 2 weeks to turn to 60 F. I'm excited but this was, a post, of the signs of spring.
LOLOL of course NOW Steve, who takes more threads off topic than anyone else, wants to stay on topic! ;)
Hey I'm serious. Spring is always preceded with a blast from the artic. But your right I do mess up often. I was trying to stay on topic.
Why?:)
Our snow is disappearing very quickly with the rain yesterday and overnight. I've got grass!
Now we get into the muck, mud and slop of spring, hope this season doesn't last to long. Bring on the sunshine and dry things up a bit before we float into the next phase.
Jacqui, the 'official tapping out' happened last weekend, and with today's warm temps, the sap will be running, for sure. The Perth Maple Festival isn't until the end of April though.
I've noticed some of the trees along my commute (Perth to Ottawa) starting to haze with a bit of colour, not in leaf just swollen buds. March break for the kids this coming week, that's typically syrup season, providing the weather cooperates.
It smells like spring here in Perth! Going to fire up the barbeque today, can't wait!
My dogs are shedding like crazy!
Sue
:b ;)
Me too, on the first barbie of the year tonight... and it was warm enough around 9 for a cup of coffee outside the back door-- soaking up a few rays and enjoying the garden without snow cover
LOLOLOL.....except for the snow y'all could get along famously with those in Lotus Land. ;)
echoes
Mar 11, 2006
Sign of spring, nursery has cases of perennials being unpacked, geraniums cuttings are all set out, Potentilla Monarch's Velvet for $13.00!!! that's crazy. So had a sneak peek at what's going to be available later. Got bags of starter mix, heating cable, new seeder. No excuses now. So I'm not allowed on Dave's for awhile, till I get some work done. Well maybe just for a few minutes, a couple of times a day. Just to see what everyone's doing.
Ah, the sound of rationalising "...maybe for just a few minutes, a couple of times a day...":))
We need you to come on so we can share your excitement in what you are planting, echoes! And see the sprouts when they happen, and watch them grow, and see them being planted outside, and watch them take off then, and see them bloom, etc etc...
so really, you're doing it for us, anyway, right?
echoes
Mar 11, 2006
Sure sure. tomorrow, watch for it - a picture of my first blooming pansy seedling.
Tomorrow? What are you feeding them? Steroids?:)
Robins have arrived in Southern Ontario, yippy, that's the best sign yet!
what a difference from yesterday, the yard is not nearly as soggy underfoot!
The barbequed steaks and grilled veggies were delicious! Spring tonic.
Spent the afternoon in the greenhouse, tidying, sorting, dreaming, planning.....
The garden beds are still sleeping. Still snow covered except for a few places, but it's going fast. There's small clumps of poppies showing their heads through......daffodils in front of the green house up an inch or so....the hedge is full of chickadees.... the roses seem to have survived.
still waiting for the first robin, always something to look forward to.
With the snow gone here in southwestern Ontario, I took the first 2006 backyard tour yesterday.
- the Lindera Benzoin (Spicebush) has survived. It only had four leaves when I planted it last September
- the Angelica is already pushing out tons of green
- the squirrels have dug around the Hellebores and I'm blaming the lack of blooms on those critters
- rambling mystery Rose (which survived the previous homeowners' attempts to dig it up) survived its late-fall division and transplant to the back garden. That thing is sure tough.
-the wisteria is budding (again) so I can take some more cuttings (this is a native non-rampant wisteria that bloomed in its second year. Really unbelievable.
- the Matthiola incana plants ("Pillow Talk"), started from seed last spring, are 10" tall and they stayed green all winter. I don't know whether to cut it back or not. Some say this is a perennial in my zone, some say biennial. Any advice on this?
- the tulips and bulbs are starting to poke through
- the little coreopsis divisions (overwintered in the raised beds) are now indistinguishable from the ryegrass cover. That'll be a finicky job.
- I can't remember the names of half the stuff I put on the back east border last fall. I really need to keep better records. Oh well, keeps thing fun.
Today, if the soil has thawed deep enough, I'm going to pull out the Jerusalem Artichokes that I planted last year as a temporary screen. Its in a bottomless bucket, so the job shouldn't be too hard.
If the roses show signs of greening up I'll take off some of the mulch.
Last fall's chopped leaves and ryegrass that are on the raised veggie beds will get gently worked in, along with some corn gluten (to compensate for the N) and some alfalfa, kelp, and fish. Then everything just sits for a few months while the food breaks down, the herd goes nuts, and the soil re-balances.
Oooh, I can't wait!
ok my only sign of spring is that i'm cranky that you all have REAL signs of spring.
I went to Honolulu the end of february and winter decided to come to edmonton while i was gone and doesn't show any signs of vacating.
My new van is here and ready to be picked up and i don't want to cause the roads and the drivers (other than moi) are rotten.
however, i am back at the greenhouse and things are growing great guns there. Hanging baskets coming along well. Opening up the back houses for transplanted plugs, pansies in bloom, Easter lilies and hydrangeas well on their way.
and oh yeah the perennials can actually use this snow.
Planted a few hundred lavender cuttings last week. Bruggies are looking good and starting to bud.
LOLOLOLOL.......at this time of year.....a prairie peep cranky?!?!?!?! Never!!!!!
AND your pics of heaven are where????
You all will be glad that up here the Idiarod has plenty of fresh snow. Dark and dingey today.
Quoting:
Last fall's chopped leaves and ryegrass that are on the raised veggie beds will get gently worked in, along with some corn gluten (to compensate for the N) and some alfalfa, kelp, and fish. Then everything just sits for a few months while the food breaks down, the herd goes nuts, and the soil re-balances.
This is truly the signs of spring hopefull conversations of future events.
echoes
Mar 13, 2006
Lynn I like the way you tell it.
Bev, I took a back yard tour yesterday too. I should have wore the snowshoes though, cause I was awful wet when I came in. I had to crawl around and fence off a couple more trees and shrubs from the critters. Other than that, not much to report except that the water's really dripping everywhere.
Here is what Jelitto says about Pillow Talk.
Quoting:
MATTHIOLA incana 'Pillow Talk'
(Click here to get a precise plant description)
Gardeners are familiar with the fragrant, annual Stocks. Long popular as a popular cut flower, it is widely grown in cooler summer climates and is sold elsewhere by florists the world over. The genus of nearly fifty species was named after the Italian physician, Pierandrea Mattioli (1500 - 1577). But its other common name, Brompton Stock or Night Violet, give an intriguing hint to the subtle charms of this Mediterranean species. And 'Pillow Talk' reveals its full potential as garden plant.
Jelitto's new introduction is longer lived and more durable than the annual Stocks. Expect to grow this as a biennial or short-lived perennial.
Sweet-scented, shimmering, wavy white blossoms, fading to pale pink, float above thick rosettes of silver-gray strap-shaped foliage from June to September. Found growing naturally in full sun in rock crevices, it is cold hardy in Zone 6 and requires only well-drained conditions, especially in winter.
Growing sturdily to 45 cm (18"), 'Pillow Talk' will be well suited for container production and is perfectly easy-to-germinate.
other places I've seen just Matthiola incana listed as an annual/biennial. I'd just leave it and see what it does, unless you are in a hurry to put something else there.
On a positive note, to give hope to the East (who may be having yet another snow storm) and the West (who still has to defrost)......DH noticed today that the Canada Geese are back on the prairies. Spring, for all of us, can't be tooooooooooooo far away.