Today's Weather in Your Garden - 16

great turkey picture, ngam! well, you noticed him, anyway, even if the hens didn't look up. Has anyone seen the bird of paradise footage in "Planet Earth"? So amazing, and so funny!!

I wonder if the hens were giving him a message since food was their priority and all his strutting didn't sway the hens.

Yep, we had to "scrub" the hard drive today on the main house computer. It was full of crap, kind of like my closets and my shed. DH is reinstalling everything now. A pain.

And Brent and Becky takes 10% off for early orders. I was mostly looking for unusual stuff to me to add to my beds. Frits, Narcissus, Tulips and some fall blooming bulbs. I did the same thing last year. I ordered the special bulbs early and then waited for coops and the sales. I will do the same with a couple other vendors when they have their bulbs listed.

Victor, My addiction is acknowledged and it is growing. But I will ordering far fewer this year. Many tiny kids to expand the patches I have got going of those that did well. I added a couple more reticulated Iris in the B& B order that I don't have now. 'Purple Gem ' was finished on Thurs. so it had a long run. Here is a new one starting out with a nice big clump. I think it is 'George'

Very pretty. Another possibility for your terraced area is enkianthus.

george is my favorite ret.iris...such a plummy purple color.
Patti- btw- do you have lily bug problems? we do here-such a terrible critter- but certain frittilarias they just love- aaarrgg its so awful- I pulled out a bunch because i just couldn't stand it. My checkered lilies do alright, and I love them so much, I have left them- gaurding them from the invaders- but all the others are gone. sarah

Cold and raw this am. Overcast again, the sun was trying earlier but the clouds have won for now. Sun should get the upper hand by this afternoon. Only 35 degrees with the usual slight breeze. Went out to water new trees that are waiting for a permanent spot, brrrr.

36 here and sunny. Should reach the high 40's today and may reach into the 50's this week!!!!!!! Excited????
You bet your bottom I am!!!!

sjms, I have the dreaded lily beetles. Last year I got some lilies to bloom but the year before was a disaster. How do you deal with them?

http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/insectsandmites_alph.htm click on lily leaf beetle for info on the red devils. Hand picking every day or neem oil seem to work for most people. Nasty buggers.

Cold and raw this am. Overcast again, the sun was trying earlier but the clouds have won for now. Sun should get the upper hand by this afternoon. Only 35 degrees with the usual slight breeze. Went out to water new trees that are waiting for a permanent spot, brrrr.

I was told by a iris & lily person in Denmark that lily beatles eat a number of plants but only lay eggs on lillies and fritllaries. So they are the plants that people should attack for the pest.

40 and cloudy, very blustery. No outside work today again. Not happy. I have not had that beetle, but I saw what it did to Boojum's garden a couple of years ago. Horrible thing, but so beautiful. Wallaby1 posted a great picture of it and information, but DG website is behaving poorly today so I can't find it. I think a Dave must be putting in the new servers. Off to the dump. Patti

Was outside for a while cleaning leaves and gunk out of the pond. VERY raw! Not sure if I'm going back out.

When I saw how horrid the day looked I went shopping for garden supplies and the sun came out on the way home so I'll be headed outside by 3 PM.

ngam - I thought of you when I saw a small coffee canister that said:
All the coffee in Columbia can't make me a morning person.

Just in. Warmer now - 52 and brighter. Cut the grasses back. Sprayed the miscanthus (carefully) and hope to dig them out soon. This one area in the back of my property is the 'wildest' and it's still full of many woody vine type of weeds like brambles, etc. Such a pain. Never seem to be able to get rid of them. Unless you dig them up - and they go very deep and send out long runners - they keep returning. Forsythia is ready to pop.

Dismal, however DH took some of the pine needles off beds this morning.

LOL Pirl. That pretty much sums it up alright.
It is now a not so wonderful 41 degrees and the brisk breeze makes it feel even more like Feb. than April. The sun manages to poke out for a few minutes then runs away and hides again. Victor your weather hopefully will finally make its way this far east tomorrow, it has to come soon. Sounds like you got a lot accomplished, good for you.

Not really that much. A little over an hour total. Tomorrow I will be very sore!!

It turned into a nice day after all! Still in the mid 50s with a light wind and lots of sun. I wish it had been like this earlier, I could have accomplished much more. But at least I got out there and did some clean up. Supposed to be REALLY nice on Thursday!

Victor, have you tried painting or sponging some Brush-Be-Gone on the cut ends of the brambles? A DEC forester is the one who recommended this to me to help eradicate sumac that has pestered me forever. It seemed to work last summer/fall, and the true test will be when more things have leafed out. The elm trees have small leaves and one of the maples has its flowers. - Lynn

Horrible outside. I should have kept on shopping.

We are on the second sunny and 60 something day in a row, outside all day long x 2.

You earned all the good weather you can get!

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html
The little guys are knocking at the door. I hope they bring some warm with them. :)

Lynn - I will try that. Just sprayed it on the grasses. ngam - I have my doubts about some of these early sightings. Unless that steroid bird is at it again!

48 out now and still very sunny, got up to 51 today !!
I got to rake! Played pick up sticks for awhile....it was wonderful!!!!
Only got to rake the parts where the snow had melted, but it gave me a work out and I feel alive.

Ditto!! Hope I can walk tomorrow (do all gardeners have bad backs?)

45 degrees and still cloudy, windy and raw. The hummers better not show up here yet, as there is nothing much for them to feed. on. But I will hang the new feeders I bought out ASAP just in case. I don't think I will see any this year, but I can hope. Never have seen one in my garden.

On the drive into town on the way to the dump I saw a couple of pink buds on trees and one forsythia almost open, but mine are a few days away. The early Daffodils are up all along the roads that were planted by volunteers back in the early 80's. A wonderful lady donated to the garden club money for bags of narcissus ($10,000.00) The only catch was that we had to agree to plant them along the public roads. We said we would take a few bags. The bags turned out to be big burlap bags that held hundreds each. It took us a long time to plant them, but they are still fabulous each year. We can't see them from our house but we love driving everywhere during this really dull time and seeing the communities efforts popping up everywhere. Because of new bike paths the town has had to replant some roads, but it is an expense the voters are happy to pay.

Victor, I am glad you got some work done. Stay away from the PI. I am recovering, yet again that Tecnu helps a lot. Especially the "Extreme" version. Thanks, Patti

It was nice here this afternoon, but it was Hubby to the doctor & hospital day, & when I got home, it was cloudy & windy! Will do lots of raking tomorrow before my art class which runs from 2-5--sort of takes the day, but a great stress reliever--unless my picture is horrible, then I get more stress! We are starting spring bouquets, but the flowers will have to come from the store--all I have are crocus & wood hyacinths--& they don't last.

Patti, the daffs sound wonderful--there is a place in the next town where thousands are planted in fields--privately owned--but the owner lets the public wander through during bloom time--WFF had the place on it's fall cover a few years ago. I take my Mom every Spring & she's like "Nice" so I guess I really do it for myself.

Sorry to hear that, Patti. You need a full Tyvek suit!

I could wear my DH dry suit for diving, but I would still get it. But I have avoided a trip to the doctor and shots so far this year. I think we have an old tyvek suit which DH wears when working on boat bottoms and painting or fiber-glassing. It gets on my gloves and then I wipe my hair back and it gets on my face and then it migrates everywhere. But I am happy to have a nice piece of property that is big enough to have some wild spots. It is a trade off. Patti

Filling my suitcase with warm sunshine and heading to Upstate NY on Thursday......will try to bring as much warm weather to everyone as possible, but you know how the airlines are about carry-on these days!!!! From what I am hearing it should be in the 50's and partly sunny when I get there.....but its always "partly sunny" in Syracuse area - even when there are no clouds!

hardenbergia in bloom......

Darn that's a pretty plant. Thanks for the warm thoughts and have a safe trip.

MrsJ... very pretty

Beautiful blooms mrsj!

- Same as yesterday but with a less wind,

Temp 45.1°, Wind E. 8.7 mph, Wchill 35.7°. ☺

Mrsj, thats lovely! Have a safe trip and bring as much sunshine as you can! LOL

Beautiful, mrsj! Have a good trip.

Thanks everyone - I'm sure I'll be back asking questions once I can get a good look at what has transpired in the gardens over the winter.....its been over 30 years since I did any gardening in NY so I'm clueless!!!

such a pretty purple, that plant!-
today was almost perfect here in keene... sunny finally, and pretty warm- I raked, and fluffed- and sat in the sun. I'm hoping to do pretty much the same tomorrow.

boojum- back to lilybeetles- i try about everything that is organic-(rotenone, neem, etc- seems that the rotenone dust actually does better than spray..but spray is easier to manage) and pick and squish... I found 3 today who were just waking up ..atleast there are 3 less... the gardens that i have seen here that are the free-est of them are owned by vigilant gardeners who faithfully pick them and do them in every morning... I am trying very hard to be that gardener....
sarah

Have a good trip mrsj. Where in the Syracuse area are you headed?? I know you probably told me where but I forgot!!! I'm from Camillus and transplanted to Glens Falls 37 years ago for a job. Most of my family is still either in Camillus or Baldwinsville. Here is pic of the farm I grew up on taken from one hill and looking over to the next. The valley containing Camillus is in between those two hills. Eleanor

Eleanor - I'm heading home to Baldwinsville - we talked about B'ville, the Crego's, Hudson-Mowins and more a couple months ago didn't we?

That is a beautiful photo! I really miss the green, rolling hills and farm country!