Weird weather of '09!! ... #9

spirea. there's one variety of spirea that blooms this time of year. I can't think of what it is. But, it's in bloom here right now.

72 degs today. A frog was working on its tan today.

The flowers were so beautiful in the sunshine.

Beautiful pictures!! Love the frog! I'm going to see what I can find in oxalis, can't hurt to try. The clover seems to grown there quite well. LOL But now I have to get rid of the clover.

What a day! I managed a couple of hours of downtime in the middle of the day, and a good thing! All my seedlings were wilting! It got to 74 degrees here today. The weatherbug says it may get to 35 tonight, but it said that about last night too and it didn't get that low. I hope it doesn't. That's too many points in a spread!

I know the feeling Pix, our 'official' low was 40 last night, but there was frost on the roofs when I got up this morning. The official temp is across town and we're usually lower. Then we got up to 72 today, it's 50 on my deck right now, so maybe it'll stay warmer tonight. But they're predicting 62 for tomorrow, 55 on Wednesday. I feel like I'm in some sort of temp cycle test. LOL Still not putting tomatoes out!

Great pictures Beahive! what a zoom you must have on that camea to get that close to that frog!

I agree Sally and Pixie. I've been going through sweatpants, jeans, and shorts, every day for the last two days!

It's been crazy here, too. Sunday was glorious, yesterday was rainy and chilly. So far, today we're currently at 37 with a high in the 40's. Supposed to be like that for a few days.

Definitely some a wild spectrum. My thermometer is hanging out at 31 right now. we'll see how high it gets to later on. But, good to know that nature isn't being selective about which area it messes with! lol

red..I have a 12 x zoom on my camera and use the macro setting. I was about 3 feet away for that shot of my frog. Moved in slowly not to scare her. 45 deg this morning. Not to bad! Plan to live in the yard
after I get my daughter off to school and I have had more coffee.
Yeah for sunshine!

Have started some tomatoes indoors under my grow lights. They are about 2-3 inches . Getting impatient for some good tomatoes, so I picked up a few larger plants from the nursery yesterday hoping they will be ready sooner!! Will need to keep an eye on the nighttime temps for sure and cover them if it gets to low. The extra work will be worth it.!

It's a glorious 42 here this morning and looks to be another beautiful day. I am playing hookey this afternoon so I can spend a little time in the sun before it goes away from us. I can't believe how mild the last two nights have been here as we are usually a little colder than the surrounding area. It does tempt you to start moving some things outside to make a little more room, but unfortunately I know that we're not done with the cold yet and I don't trust myself to remember to cover stuff...have learned the hard way that I am prone to forget at the worst possible time :( .

Yesterday was sunny and beautiful, around 75. Last night was not very cold and I had the window in my bedroom open all night. The fresh air felt so nice. Today is supposed to be around 75. I think Portland is more mild than other places in Oregon and Wash - we seem to have 'fewer degrees of separation' in high and low temps. I sowed alyssum seeds on Saturday and they are already coming up!

Red thanks for identifying the spirea. I really like that plant but I think it will get too big for the spot I was thinking about putting it. The other one I like is the flowering white current but the spot is too sunny for that one. I'll just cruise around the neighborhood today with the dog and see what others have planted in a similar spot.

A pic of a typical scene in my 'hood' - not my cherry tree but I love it!

A typical street scene of my neighborhood - it's so much fun to see all the yards changing in the spring sunshine.

Julie, I can't believe the temp difference between you and me for only living a couple miles apart. It is only 38 here, 2 hours later than your posted 42.
I moved 2 rose bushes (1 is blooming), grape vine, Sweet William, and 2 dead pots out of the GH yesterday. Do you think I should cover them if it gets colder this week, or bring them back into the GH? I hope I didn't just give the deer fresh new produce!

BeaHive, great pic of the Bullfrog. I discovered we have 6 of the buggers in our pond, so we shouldn't have too many mosquitos here this year. We also have a pair of Barn Swallows every year that scoop the mosquitos up over the water. Pretty flowers too!

My Pussy Willow is just buzzing with Honey Bees, I'm so happy to see them. We fortunately have them here every yr, so there must be a healthy hive somewhere, let's just hope it stays that way. After they're done with the Willow, then the Apple Blossoms come on and they cover the apple tree, I love standing under the tree and listen to it hum with bees.

It was 71° here yesterday and supposed to be close to that today. Then it's supposed to rain tomorrow or Thurs.

Susan105

Great pics Judi!

Love the street scenes, Judi.

Lynn, I was shocked to come off of our hill and drop down into South Prairie...frost on the cars and the water! I think that my forest was jonesing for the sun as much as I have been and sucked up the warmth and held on to it! I would think that the things you moved outside should be just fine in terms of temp if you put them in a somewhat protected spot, but would be careful not to put them in the sun for a week or so. Let them get used to being outside before they get the full blast from our beautiful day!

Judi--Your neighborhood looks to die for right now! I love driving through well established neighborhoods like that this time of year..it is like walking through an arboritum! Looks like you are quite a ways ahead of us in terms of bloom.

Beautiful streets. There is a dwarf spirea that has golden leaves and pink flowers. I have one and it is only about 2' X 2'.

Bea, we have Spring break; I have more time, but get less done with it. Though I did get some work on the yard done yesterday.

Yes this is an old neighborhood and the gardens for the most part are a little funky and cottage-like. I am going to check out that dwarf spirea. It may be the perfect thing! I was working in the front yard but now I need to take a break and answer email and of course check to see what my DG friends are up to!

Look it up in your big book

My gardening book box is one of the ones I can't find. I'll be so happy when I get them all together and organized. I don't think it matters much, except for my curiosity, if it happens to other blooms that come up then I'll be worried.

Has anyone else noticed that technology allows us not to learn things. Since I got a cell phone I don't know any new numbers I've put in it, but I still know the ones I called often before that. I thought about it this time because I've gotten into the habit of just spell check replace, rather than trying to learn how to spell the word correctly. I'm sure there are many other examples.

Yes, and it goes a step beyond that - technology is now starting to teach us how to behave. Rather than making a decision to do something and using technology to help us do it the way we want to, we let technology dictate what decisions we make and how to execute them.

We need to stop doing less reactive thinking and more executive thinking. I think that's one big benefit of gardening and creative crafts. It grounds us so that we're not wholly influenced by the conveniences around us.

Portland, I love the other dwarf spireas, especially lime mound. But, don't be surpised when you see the different flower and bloom type on them. I'm still trying to nail the species down for certain. But, I think that your pictures is spirea cinerea (sp?), and it's definitely a little different from the others. Yours is a single flowered form, many of the pics are of a double flower form. But, I did find quite a few of the single flowered pictures.

I like the flowers on the white - flowered one. So pretty but it will definitely get too big.

Speaking of technology taking over our lives.....I had sent one of my grandkids a birthday gift and his mom told him to call me to thank me. The smart little kid, who is 5, said "Oh I'll just send her an email" - too cute!

Right, I just didn't want you to be surprised when you saw how different the flowers were. That's very cute about your grandkid!. I'm positive that I didn't know how to type at that age!

I noticed a wonderful surprise this weekend. My lone Trillium is up and blooming. Time to go next door to the woods and move some of those to my property.

And then I noticed that, after five years, my Salix caprea has pussy willows on it!!! I'm so excited.

Congrats Kathy! Isn't it great when your trees finally mature and start to show their stuff? Exciting about the trillium as well....Mom and I walked our road on Sunday (the location of the only trillium we know of here) and didn't see any sign yet.

Thank you. It had pussywillows when I bought it, so I was very concerned. It's about 5 times as big now - still waiting for it to put on the full show!!

I'm surprised I'm ahead of you. I have been waiting for seedlings from this trillium to show up for 5 years now and there's nothing. While making my way through the woods next door (it's literally impassable in summer) after an escaped dog a few springs ago, I happened upon this little stand of Trillium totally unnoticed and unappreciated by anybody. Every year I plan on going over and "borrowing" a couple. I guess I should really do a walkaround (I think it's 4 acres) and see what other natives are hidden in there.

Kathy, Isn't it great to have woods to scout through and "borrow" things if you find them? I was tempted with a currant bush many years ago, but then found that they volunteered quite readily on my unlandscaped terrace. Mom and I DID however "borrow" some Kerria from a once landscaped neighboring piece of property that has since been overtaken by blackberries. I saw it blooming under the mound of garbage, and we just had to bring a little of it back into the light! I love mixing natural and formal gardens if the area permits. We have some lovely wild violets, mahonia, salal, currant, woodruff, etc. Makes for a not so formal garden, but just lovely.

Beautiful pictures Judi......I have an almost identical Cherry blooming across the street from my house......too late for a picture tonight.....

Oh, I would really like to find some wild violets....they are soooo pretty.

So lucky that you all got to enjoy the sunshine....spent all day at the hospital today:( ....really went quite well.....they plan to take Peter off the ventilator tomorrow.....hope it works this time.....as soon as we can get him breathing well on his own he can go
to rehab !

Beautiful pictures!!!

Great news Trisha^_^ Be sure to get your rest and stay well.

I might have to steal some wild violets when I'm down your way. I don't have any up here.

Honestly, I haven't stolen anything yet. What is on the property around me is generally on my property, too. I would love to find some more natives in the wild.

My wild violets are yellow and they are beautiful. They have just started blooming. I love them because they have all of the sudden just popped up in areas of my garden over the years. I am sure that I could find a little patch to share...they seem to multiply readily when they are tended!

Sooooo-this is Spring!!?? I took this 1/2 an hour ago; trees and power lines are falling on houses, people are sliding off roads. BUT this is April in my country.

OH NO! Is that coming our way!!!!???? I hope NOT!
Susan105

Oh no!

Wow, more snow! You guys really are having a rough Spring on the eastern side of the mountains.

I'm way behind on some topics here, can't keep up with the multitude of threads. but anyway... Laura, I hope you are able to get knee treatment that works to fix or at least alleviate the problem. Whatever you end up needing to do, it sure would be good if physical therapy is included in the treatment regimen so you can heal safely. On another wavelength, my crocuses are also looking kind of beaten down by hail , frost, and rain, so that might be what is going on with yours as well. And yet another topic of conversation....my son (17) has grown up with computers and does not spell worth a darn even though he did great on spelling tests when he was in grade school. Once he started typing papers for school, and relying on spell check, his spelling ability went down hill. So I think you are right about technology allowing people not to learn some things, but I sure appreciate word processing, and being able to edit rather than using white out or typing the whole thing all over.

I have lots of native oxalis in one bed, and it spreads quickly, though mine ends up looking good this time of year ans kind of ratty in the Summer. I don't water that bed much, since I planted drought tolerant shrubs there. I didn't know it was a nitrogen fixer, though I knew clover does that. Thanks for that information, Steve. Are clover and oxalis related?

This message was edited Apr 8, 2009 10:34 AM

There's lots on the Internet about this, so a lot of people have this question:

"A little background information on Clovers: There are two plants that go by clover. First, there is Oxalis, which is a member of the Oxalidaceae family. Then, there is Trifolium, which is in the Fabaceae family. Trifolium is a legume so it can take nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil through bacteria action on their roots, Oxalis can not. Both Oxalis and Trifolium often go by the common name Clover. Both have species that can be invasive and become a weed. Both have foliage that look very similar, it's the flower that makes it easy to distinguish the two apart. From http://gardensbybob.blogspot.com/2007/09/oxalis.html

And from another site: "Oxalis leaves are composed of 3 heart-shaped leaflets. A clover leaf is composed of 3 oval-shaped leaflets whose margins are finely toothed and veins are prominent. Flowers are small and bright yellow, but they are “pealike” flowers with non-uniform petals and are borne in a cluster at stem end."