Stir crazy, but there's nothing much in the nurseries yet

and to think that just a few months ago, Sue said she was "getting rid" of plants because she has too many....

famous last words...lol

I said that????
I must have written that in my weakened or depressed moment. ^_^
Well, I do get rid of things all the time, but so far it's not for my intended reason of making things easier, it's just so I can replace them with something new.

Yep, famous last words, I use them several times a year, kind of like my resolve that I am going on a diet, this time for real!
I am weak and have no will power, what can I say.

I could have sworn Sue said that today, JD. Wasn't she getting rid of Playboy and some other rose just today?

Sue, I had a long list of things I wanted from the clematis co-op, but I finally gave up in disgust because every time I looked at the spreadsheet, there was a new mistake there. I think people started doing it on purpose because they enjoyed my posts of dismay. Besides, I started remembering those gorgeous Clematis gallons for $12 at Sonoma Hort and at Cottage Gardens in Petaluma. One year I went to Sonoma Hort in February and got them for $9 because he was having a storewide 25%-off sale.

I bought Franziska Maria at Emerisa last year. It's incredibly beautiful.

Don't forget to buy some of those great double primulas from Forest Farm, Sue. And they have Sanicula, one of my favorite, favorite blue perennials. It's small, so it won't take over your garden.

Lynn, wouldn't autumn in the Hudson Valley be even more enjoyable if you saw it on a vacation trip? I think a longer growing season is preferable to just about anything else.

I dreamed for years of moving to Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. I used to order real estate catalogs from the Chattanooga region every month. It looked so inviting.

Sue, I love your collage. Show us some more.

I posted more collages on the rose forum here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/946224/

I saw this clematis sale yesterday Zuzu, all lost tags but I thought for someone who has the room (or 1000 rose needed companions) ^_^ it was a great deal. http://www.hortusb.com/lothlaclsp.html

That clematis special looks really good, Sue, but what about the other specials? Did you see the 12 Primula auricula plants for $14.95?

http://www.hortusb.com/prsp.html

I might need both of those specials. There goes my resolution.

Sue, I just remembered something else Forestfarm has that's really special -- Pimpinella. It's like Queen Anne's Lace, but it's pink and non-invasive.

No, I purposely shut that site down before looking any further LOL I love that nursery!
Back to Googling and looking up Sanicula and primulas now.

I also have a list going for a trip to Annie's, I can't believe I find something I NEED every time I go through her list.

Mmmm, it is pretty! adding to list.
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=218

Sanicula caerulescens, this is sweet Zuzu! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/73175/
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=251
I'm going to try it too.

I know you'll love it. It blooms for a really long time and I've grown it in the sun and in deep shade under trees.

Here's another photo of one of mine. Lots of extraneous debris in this picture, but just focus on the Sanicula, please. It has unique blooms.

They are so sweet and unusual looking!

Wow, Zuzu, did you see the numbers of views and posts for a thread that's barely 12 hours old?

That Clematis ordering through the co-op sounds confusing. I never did get to the spreadsheet and I may not order with the problems Zuzu found.

JD - provide a link for your new honey, April Stevens, so everyone can see her and how easily she's replaced your former loves.

David - where's the recipe for the Snickers and popcorn.

Polly - with luck you'll have 1,000 Japanese irises. At least I do have over 1,000 daylilies so I'm not feeling deprived and neither are the deer.

Sue - great photos as always.

Lynn - I'm sure some of these people grow orchids or C & S. We'll find out.

Iris - all gardeners are always looking to live in Camelot. Either we're plagued by too much sun or too much rain or not enough of either. One friend of mine has moved 50 times and still hasn't found it.

Good morning everyone!

The number of views is probably an indication that everyone's stir crazy.

Beautiful snowscape, Pirl.

Good night, everyone. It's my bedtime.

Sweet dreams.

If we had good buddies from Hawaii and Europe we could have a 24 hour thread going here.

MORNING ! every day i tell my son on the way to school we are one day closer to spring. he hates the cold too but his eye glaze over when i say the word flower. hes 8 . pirl i agree . for some reason i think Camelot is somewhere between here and florida . if our winter was just a tad milder it would be perfect for me . isn cali camelot? lol

oh gnite zuzu . i didnt see the time on that post lol its in the middle of the night there still.

wow, so much to comment on

1) I haven't started pruning and it's hard to resist as there is so much ugly stuff out there. My winter is nothing like Dakotas, NY, MI but I wonder sometimes if having a 70 deg. day and a mid-30 deg. the next is not w/o challenges. I think that drastic weather change is a sure way to get sick. Boo hoo, poor wimpy me. My back yard has nothing but deciduous trees and I know when winter is over because there isn't a single leaf left. Well, guess what, I still see a couple of branches w/ leaves. We still have some sweater weather left in houston area.

2) JasperDale I love your Virgin Mary. I have been thinking about adding a St Francis to my garden.

3) Have not gotten too many catalogs only, Park Seed, J&P, WFF and Brent & Beckys. I though the B&B was especially skinny. Sign of the times? I ripped a couple of pages from the WFF that showed a pot of caladium White Christmas, a white flowering trailer (petunias?) and two diff. coleus. Did y'all seee that? I'm copying that this season. No DA catalog yet.

4) Rose pruning: won't do much because a) many young plants b) the Vintage article. I will only be taming a couple of monsters. I had been thinking about planting a house eating Golden Celebration and pairing it w/ red clematis. I have a space w/ enough room. Dunno yet.

5) Last year I declared my falling out of love w/ dahlias and tropical hibiscuses. Most all died. But the survivors did so well, I'm thinking about forgiving and forgetting. I am hunting for a couple of bluish hibiscus for my blue bed. Ardesia has Blueberry Thrills that is simply stunning.

6) here is a pic of my Tropic Snow peach, a suitable one for my area. Wonder who'll get the fruit first: birds or me.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the photo in pirl's above post, that's the "time out" area Jack built to keep her detained...on those days when she's had too much caffeine, or sugar.

Yes, it's come to that, unfortunately...

LOL poor pirl, are you sure that wasn't for her doggie?!

Nery, I know what you mean about swearing off fussy plants like the tropical hibiscus. Last year I had a list of liners I wanted to order but then lost income due to hours cut back so never ordered. From previous purchases, I am down to three survivors. I am just tired of worrying about stuff I have to drag up against the house or inside. But oh, when they do bloom, I just plop myself down and stare in wonder and they mentally t transport me to a tropical island! I come inside and my mouse hovers over clicking on a hibiscus website, and then, I come to my senses, so far.
Come to think of it, I didn't take care of them last year much, no fertilizer, garden got pretty much ignored except for watering because I just had an emotionally draining couple of years so I didn't get any blooms on all three! Shoot, why do I still hang on to them?!

Well making this one convinced me I need to add more true blues, love how they look with my orange, peach and yellows!

I need all those in my blue bed, names pls

Some from my garden, many from other gardens so let me see what I can find.
Top row, left to right: Salvia guaranitica 'Costa Rica Blue', a plumbago, Convolvulus 'Royal Ensign'. Second row: a lobelia, in the center I think the next is Eupatorium greggii or some kind of common agertum, the large image is an agapanthus. The bottom three small images are an orange alstromeria with a blue campanula, took that at a garden/nursery, next is an unknown aster and then Salpiglossis in Zuzu's garden.

This was my favorite combo in my Mom's garden last year, yarrow 'Terracotta' with salvia 'Black & Blue' behind it.

Zuzu...Snickers popcorn is easy. Pop the corn. Chop up some Snickers. Mix together and put in a 200 or so oven until the candy is soft. Stir until the popcorn is coated and cool (or eat warm if sticky fingers don't bother you). Saw the recipe using a microwave but my microwave is a $89.95 Home Depot special. It has one basic setting. The hot spots would fry the Snickers and popcorn before the rest of it got warm.

Is this the Plantaholics Anonymous support group thread? LOL
Hope you don't mind me chiming in.

Spent a showery and blustery day in my comfy chair with a huge stack of old (1990's) British gardening magazines and cups of tea when I should have been pruning roses, digging up and moving another rose, cleaning out my raised bed boxes and other virtuous maintenance activities.

I yearn to redo some of my flower beds but with the likely water restrictions coming this summer, think I should focus on tearing up our back lawn and putting in raised beds with a drip systerm. Probably will try to grow vegs and a few flowers--or better yet, flowers and a few vegs. :>)

I do have bulbs that are popping up, so that makes the walk to the mail box more exciting. Experimenting with unusual croci and other fall/winter bloomers this year to help me make it through the slow season. This is what I saw this am ---little drops of gold under some narcissus leaves---Crocus ancyrensis 'Golden Bunch'.
They are tiny but eye catching at this time of year.

Chrisw99....that photo cheered me up. Planted "Golden Bunch" for the first time last fall. Looking out the window now at where they are and its hard to believe they will look like your's in 5 weeks. They are under half a foot of snow.

Chris, yes, I do believe you've stumbled on a casual Plantaholics Anonymous/Winter Blahs support group.

I love those bright spots! Well, we have the sun today but man is it crisp out there! Your idea of looking through magazines with a cup of tea sounds perfect! I may just have to go for my quick warm-up walk though to get myself going. hard to do on a cool Monday morning though.
I am worried about that lack of rain here too, and yet, I can't help but look at more water loving plants along with the drought tolerant things I love.

I was over joyed to find my snowdrops are peeking up through the ground! No flowers yet, but this sight is just as "golden" - haha! And what makes this even more welcome is a winter storm watch for this area Tuesday night through Wednesday night.

Hi, Nery. Gorgeous peach blossoms. That Vintage article is going to save me tons of time too. For those of you who don't know what we're talking about, Vintage Gardens recently published an article refuting most of the time-honored pruning rules. Evidently, the less you do to a rose, the better. I'm so relieved. Now I might have time to deadhead them once in a while.

My Hibiscus had gorgeous blooms last year, Sue, but I cheated: I bought them at Walmart for $5 in the spring. From now on, I'm treating all of my tropicals as annuals. No more lugging them back and forth every time there's a frost warning. I planted everything in the ground last year instead of in pots, and now almost all of the tender plants are mere memories. Oddly, the Cymbidiums are still alive.

David, I think your microwave's twin is in my kitchen, so I'll try the oven method. I hope the oven still works. It's currently used once a year when I cook the Thanksgiving turkey for the cats. I really hate to cook.

Hi, Chris. I dread water restrictions. Is your weather pattern the same as mine: not one
drop of rain from April to November? Restrictions would be the end of my garden. Luckily, I'm on a well, so it'll take many more years of drought to deplete the water table here.

Sweet photo, Lynn. I love this season. It's so full of hope. When the new growth comes up, it's impossible to believe it might be ravaged by pests soon.

Great photos, Sue, as we've come to expect of you.

Lynn - you must have been thrilled to see them!

Chris - welcome! JD is a pro at installing irrigation systems. Maybe he could give you some ideas.

I agree with Zuzu. It's way too annoying bringing plants in and out and much easier treating many plants as annuals. We always do it with caladiums so why not view other plants the same way? The older we get the heavier the plants seem to be.

JD!!! That's not my "time out" area. It's the guest room and it's all ready for your visit!

mamasita..snowdrops already? I have some growing over a septic tank (there is a hole in the snow right now from the heat it generates) and will have to go out in the morning and check.

Zuzu...just grated a Hersey bar into a stainless steel bowl full of popcorn. It's in the oven now melting. I'll let you know how that works later tonight.

I couldn't believe my eyes, David_Paul! They are up near the front porch so are somewhat protected, but I think this is the earliest I've ever seen them. Oh please, let this be a sign that spring will arrive earlier this year! - Lynn

Lowe's (like Home Depot) has the outdoor furniture and umbrellas on display already! That's early!

I noticed the same thing this past week. A warm spell might make people want to buy something summery - we just need our warm spell! Many of the clothing stores also have part of their spring picks out, too.

There isn't much in the way of gardening supplies at the Lowe's, HD or other plant suppliers yet, but up here, it wouldn't make much sense. I don't care - I'm ready! Come February, I am haunting all the greenhouses. The staff looks at me like I'm wacky but by that point, I am starved for seeing anything new that happens to be blooming and/or green!

I have several orchids in spike or preparing to bloom, so it helps to get me through until the new stuff arrives.

David_Paul, your recipes sound scrumptious! I am trying to drop some weight, though! Shorts season will be here before we know it.

I don't think I'll ever have over 1,000 Japanese irises, Pirl. Just the thought of dividing what I have is making me tired.

This is the year I'm going to conquer delphs. And I have some lupines going from seed that I've never been able to grow before. (Thanks Pirl!). I've finally found a source for pine needle mulch, and I think that will really help my gardens.

Zuzu, how far away can you smell your roses when the wind blows? Do all you neighbors leave their windows open so the scent wafts in?

That's the great thing about roses. They never have to be divided. They really take much less work than most other plants.

Polly, the fragrance of most of my roses is subtle enough that I have to walk right up to them to smell it. I don't grow very many of the old garden roses, which have a really strong scent. I don't think I'd like being overwhelmed by the smell of roses. As it is, I have to walk very quickly through some parts of my garden in April because the scent of the lilacs is overpowering.

I have to confess that I really don't like the scent of lilacs, but I love the fragrance of bearded irises. I grew them for years before I even knew they all had a different scent. My favorite is a lavender no-name I've had for years. It smells just like chocolate mint.

To me the smell of lilacs is the best fragrance of all. And I love the scent of most bearded irises, especially pallida, that smells like grape kool aid.

I'm surprised you can grow lilacs there.

I can even grow peonies here. We get quite a few frosts every year. Some of the alpine plants tend to suffer unless I pour ice cubes around them every so often.

i love lilacs . they were all over my child hood in ny . im about to remove a bush that tuns bright red .i dont know what it is . all i know is that it dosnt flower and its older than dirt. there isnt any room in my garden for non flowering . unless it has some other great quality . anyway im putting a lilac in its place. right next to the front porch . i already have another one but its not the old fashioned lilac . i forget what it is .