Have you brought your plants in?

I brought in two begonias....they were the first ones I've ever bought , and I didn't want to see them die...I think they are the rex type, and I know absolutely nothing about them. Gonna have to research them pretty soon, as I don't have a clue how to keep a plant alive indoors.

I'm not sure we've even had a first frost in southern Maine- I still have impatiens blooming in the yard.

My big project in the next month or so will be figuring out how to construct a winter protection box for my macrophylla hydgrangea.

My heucheras are looking great this time of year. Gypsy Dancer is still blooming. Wish I had ten more of those!

If your impatiens are still in bloom you haven't had a frost. They look so sad when they've been hit - they blacken almost immediately and turn to mush.

Our heuchera are very colorful, too.

Our heucheras did nothing at all all year long except to stay green and grow a few leaves. Was it something I did? They are in full morning sun and have good soil and good drainage.

A couple of mine died - so you are doing better than I am.

frost??? oh well I have snowflakes predicted for Friday.. I hope the weather woman at Fox is wrong... I still have plants to bring inside...

Our primrose are still primmimg!

Carrie, I have no idea why your hardy glads didn't come back - I have never had glads before, but mine are the type that have to be dug up each fall. Are you happy that the Patriots won?

After I realized it was an important game - and no one was going to seriously bribe me with plants or seeds, I decided the best bet was to be totally neutral - so the pats won the game all on their own :-)

Candyce and AYC - do you know the names of the cultivars you grew. Maybe they're meant to be green.

NO snow Kassia! Just be brave and say NO.

I think it was purple palace that croaked. It came with the house and then made itself a friend and then it died. Sigh.

That's a shame. They do like being divided and it always seems to be necessary just as the clump is looking great.

That is interesting, Pirl. I lost a couple Heuchera this summer, too...I noticed them rapidly declining and I'm really not sure why. I divided one and got rid of the dying parts..hopefully the one live division I was able to salvage will make it to next season. That particular plant was larger when I bought it the previous summer...so maybe it had reached the point where it needed to be divided, and I didn't know it. Mine was Purple Petticoats, and I lost one Dolce Peach Melba, too.

Neither of the two you mentioned should have ever been green. I hope the division worked for you.

pirl:

I'll have to refer to my plant list and get back to you on the Heuchera.

Pirl:

I have Heuchera sanguinea, Coral Bells, Ruby Bells.
We have not yet seen a 'bell' on the plant. Perhaps next year?

If the plants were at least a year old you should have had flowers. Maybe someone on the Heuchera and Friends Forum might have some clue as to why it didn't happen for you.

NO SNOW!!!!!!!! NO SNOW.....

I am trying hard Pirl!!!!!

Well, it's working isn't it? No snow here!

Kassia can you manage to keep it up 'till March? Maybe if we all help...NO SNOW...NO SNOW...do you think it will work? Although I think some snow is better than the single digits which seemed to last for weeks and weeks last year. At least the snow protects the plants. I know no snow on any surface that you need to walk or drive on. That's not asking for much is it. :)

I'll agree with you ngam. Snow on our plants is fine but not so much on the lawn because it blinds me through the windows but it is good for photography.

NO SNOWING on the driveway,. Even the lawn is ok with me, but the driveway is OFF LIMITS.

Good job so far, Kassia!

x, Carrie

I park my car at the very edge of the driveway at the sidewalk so I only have to shovel a minimum amount to get in and out when it snows. Of course I shovel a couple of my neighbors' walks - so it balances out. LOL

Here is the deal, Kassia - you can work your "no snow" magic as long as there are no hard frosts - but once the ground freezes - can you arrange for a snow covering just deep enough to act as a mulch for our bulbs and perennials? Last year I lost my hellebores because of the lack of snow needed to protect plants from the hard frosts we got in late January and Feb.

Sounds good to me, too, Seandor.

I have to move some pine needles to some of my little azalea bushes. The pine tree is out back and does a great job mulching my Delaware Valleys and the beds out there, but I have to rake some up and put them on the others. fortunately it's a big tree and there are plenty to go around. The DVs have been mulched this way for many years and love it.
See them from this spring? I go with what works.
Martha

Martha:

That's a great, nice looking azalea. You've done a good job of keeping it healthy. And thanks for the reminder about the pine needles. I remember now that my mom used to walk back and forth with handfuls of pine needles for her rhodie.

Gorgeous, Martha! we don't have any pine needles!

We love using pine needles and have a huge supply from our old pine trees.

I only have the one tree now, but it is taller than our two story house. Probably about 40-50 feet. Makes a lot of pine needles. My neighbor across the street used to have one, but he sold his house and the new people had the tree cut down. But, I have another neighbor I can tap in the off chance I should need some more.
Those white azaleas are two bushes that have finally grown together to cover the very ugly spot where my old house and the addition were merged together.
Martha

It sure is purdy!

Martha, pine needles is what I am using this year for some of the garden... goodness gracious I am so tired from yesterday's clean up... tons of leaves... what a mess... I need a leaf shreader for sure. I hated using the lawn mower for cutting the leaves...

Kassia - try borrowing one from a neighbor to make sure you like using it before you buy one that isn't powerful enough. It can be a long, slow, cold job to do in November with a slow machine.