Well, it's 5:15PM and the sun is just now setting...daylight is definitely lasting longer. We enjoyed an "unrainy" day, so I scouted around the yard a little to see what's waking up. I have very few spring bulbs, but spotted a couple of potted narcissus in bud & the crocus are up (1 bud so far). Some of the perennials have new growth emerging. I have quite a few potted hardy cyclamen - was surprised to find them all leafed out (they bloomed beautifully in the late fall). My penstemons kept their leaves all winter. the Sambucus (elderberry) Black Beauty has leaf buds swelling, as do most of my roses & some of the hydrangeas. The sarcococca is blooming by the front door, but I haven't caught a whiff of its famed fragrance. I have an old camellia that blooms in Feb, but haven't spotted any color there yet.
The 3 sanguineas that spent the winter outdoors are alive...their foliage finally got "fried" in early Jan, but they seem to be fine. Who knows - maybe that will make the darn things bloom!
The high temp for the day was only about 46-47F, but there was very little wind. So I opened the garage door & watered all the brugs snoozing in there. I spotted 1 pathetic bloom trying to open...caught my interest, tho, because I think it's one of the seedlings I'm growing out for Seed Sprout. I'll go back & check the name tag in a day or two, when the floor is dry again.
The last thing I did before coming back indoors was to open a bag of MiracleGro potting mix & pour some of it in a large plastic tub I use when potting plants indoors. I brought that in to warm up...have some brug cuttings I'll probably pot up tomorrow.
Lots of hummingbird activity. Bet they'll be glad to see lots of flowers finally begin to bloom.
Doesn't all this sound like Spring is wanting to make an appearance?! At best, it will be a false spring. We often get a few weeks of decent weather in Feb, then Winter reclaims the area.
Well, Patrick, I am seeing about the same as you (minus the brug and sang blooms)! Funny thing about that! But the really nice thing is the longer days. I am driving home and it is still fairly light out. And what a novel thing today, instead of grey, the sky was blue for a while! And that bright yellow thing, whats it called? the sun? Yea, finally saw a glimmer of that also!
My first plant that blooms is always my flowering quince, and it is covered with beautiful "red" blossoms. I have not even cleaned up my beds as yet and the crinums are trying to peak through the frozen part, only to get frozen back this week-end, I am sure. Not a whole lot going on here, ah, but ask me next month !!
USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas
Linda Charlton (Login napdognewfie) Brug Moderator
Re: Spring...ya think?!
February 14 2008, 1:27 AM
Not here! I have 4 or 5 inches of snow & ice over everything, all my outdoor plants are sleeping I'm jealous!
Spring is on it's way for those of you in the frozen tundra regions. Brugs will soon be awakening from their winter rest and all will be beautiful once again in the brug world.
As for me, I've had the good fortune of having brug blooms all winter here in south Texas. We've had no freezing weather this winter, thank goodness, so my brugs have not been in any danger. Instead, they've enjoyed the cooler temps. They just keep taking turns, one delight after another. Right now, I have Champaign Fizz, Miami Orange Glow, Pink Beauty, KBS (hmm does it smell nice), Pink Perfektion, Noid White, Snow Cone and Tiara in bloom.
Tiara is particularly gorgeous and is sporting two seed pods crossed with Champaign Fizz and Rothkirch. Like Harlot, she seems to be a bit of a hussy, too!! I'm waiting and hoping to get a Tiara x Taylor Dawn cross that I just did yesterday.
Taylor Dawn is one of my new babies, just 4 mos old, 15 inches tall and proudly displaying it's 3rd bloom. What a pretty soft pink.
In the next week Day Dreams, Super Nova and Dr. Seuss should be bursting forth with some pretty angels.
I have several new cutting/plants (started in Oct/Nov) that are in the ground and coming right along. Can't wait for some of them to show their stuff.
All of my beds are cleaned out and new mulch applied. I'm trying mulch from the McAllen recycling center this year. Hopefully, there will be few weeds, unlike the commercial stuff I usually buy.
We have a daughter and two grandaughters flying in from Chicago tomorrow for 5 days so if you don't seem me around much, you'll know I'll be "playing".
Nothing here. Just 12 inches of snow and some pretty tall drifts. About the only thing that reminds me of spring would be the birds and we have a lot of them. Our temps are supposed to go below zero for a couple of nights, so winter isn't over by a long shot yet. I'm sure happy for all of you who are seeing signs of spring. I'd love to have a flowering quince in bloom right now. Wouldn't that be gorgeous against the white snow......
The red against the snow would be awesome. I have the quince and the cardinals, but no snow (thank you God)!!!!! I have many bird feeders just outside my breakfast bay window, and between the birds and the squirrels, I am constantly entertained. Forgot to mention the violas that are blooming in the bed where I have large plants that are now dormant (3 of which are brugs). This is my favorite spot no matter what time of year, I can always find pleasure looking out this window......
Here in Northern Calif. we had a week of really nice weather, then I came back home from a trip, and although it is blue out, the wind is blowing and it is cold. In spite of that, the winter daphne , and all my hellebores are blooming. I bought a couple double hellebores at the San Fran. Garden show last winter and they are blooming and just beautiful .
I got out in the greenhouse yesterday and have a Miss Emily Mckenzie, Painted Lady, and New Orleans Lady blooming, so of course had to pull out the pollen and do some dusting. I also found buds on some seedlings , Phenomenal, Earth Angel, and Naughty Nick. I also harvested another 4 pods of my own crosses, so this is helping me through the last few weeks of winter.
I really feel for those of you that live in area's that are still in the throngs of winter. I lived in the Chicago area
for a while, so understand what you are going through. I swore if I ever got back to Calif. I would never leave again. We are truly spoiled here with our weather.
I am enjoying the longer days, but the ground is frozen solid and covered with some kind of white stuff. I'm hoping it will clear up soon. I usually can plant the middle/end of May.
Jarie I would love to see some pics.
All the spring blooming trees are blooming here. I saw quite a few things driving around picking up parts today. Its a wonder I have never had a wreck since I pay more attention to whats blooming in everyones yard than the road, lol. We are supposed to have a really bad storm tomorrow with strong winds and hail and heavy rain. I hope it doesn't hurt anything. I want a flowering cherry tree so bad. I don't care if it gets fruit or not. I just want to see the flowers. I wonder if a Kwanzan would live here. I have seen it at Lowes and Home Depot before and saw something today in a yard blooming that looked like a cherry. I saw a beautiful flowering quince also. I was taking a customer home and almost hit the curb trying to see what it was in someones backyard, lol. The weather has been so nice lately but I know we will always get one more long hard freeze late in the year. So far we haven't had much in the way of ice this year so it is fooling the poor plants.
Despite all the ice we've had and the snow cover which is going away VERY slowly, I do feel that spring is in the air and I just can't wait for it. I took some of my brugs up from the basement because we got so much precipitation the other day that the "brug room" partially flooded. (4 inches of snow directly followed by 3+ inches of rain followed by freezing temps.) I trimmed and repotted all the brugs I brought up, and now I'm REALLY anxious for Spring!
Jarie, share some photos, will you? Right about now we in the North need a brug fix... Thanks.
Today, we are getting Spring rains, which were much needed. The temps are not that bad, but it is a pretty chilly day to be outside. Think I will wait for the 70's and 80's predicted for next week. Yeah, that is a much better plan !!!!
Unless it gets worse this afternoon we are getting nice showers and its in the 40's. Not great to be outside but I got some much needed housework done. Hopefully the bad storms they were predicting won't pan out but we really needed the rain.
We have SUN! I am going outside and prune the apple trees, the fig tree (some branches are crossing), and anything else I can get my pruners on before I get tired!
Well, the apple trees are topless, the azalias are neater, the fig tree has a few branches lopped off. I did not prune the 5 way pear-apple tree, or the pear tree, or the other pear-apple tree. And the supposedly male and female kiwi bush got cursed for growing into the apple tree. (and never producing kiwi fruit)
I have a question for you fruit tree people out there: I have a quince tree. I have had it for several years, and it gets blooms on it, but no quince. Of course, now that there are no leaves on anything, I see that way up on top, there was one quince! Will it starte producing more now? Does it need pruning? If so, how? I got it because I remember my mom making quince jelly, and how good it tasted; and I wanted to bring back childhood memories. (I don't remember where my dad got the quince from, but each year he would bring home some large quince).
Sorry Selma, I don't know much about the quince. The ones around here have very pretty flowers but I have never seen them fruit. I was glad we avoided the heavy storms Saturday they were predicting. Just got some much needed rain out it.
Still nothing but more snow, strong winds, and cold temps in Iowa. I'm sure glad some of you are seeing some signs of spring in your yards. So far, we have had almost 23 inches more snowfall than our average. I doubt it is over yet.
Selma, I did a little reading & it appears that quince are mostly self-pollinating, rather than needing cross pollination. So my next thoughts are whether your tree is getting adequate bee visitation during blooming. Check out the info at this site: http://www.actahort.org/books/561/561_35.htm
Also try doing a search on quince fruit set. The only other thing I can think of would be proper soil PH and fertility. Raintree Nursery in Morton, WA offers quince trees...you might email them for tips.
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
I went trout fishing today and stopped by an out of the way nursery that I've never been to before and found a 3 year old Kwanzan cherry tree for $18 and she gave me 2 little plants to put in my water feature for free. What a deal! I have been wanting a cherry tree since I was a kid but didn't think they would grow here. The people down the street from us used to have a huge on and I would stop and look at them every day on my way to and from school. They were double flowers so I hope this is the same tree and it blooms here. I can't wait to get it planted tomorrow. I looked it up and it is supposed to be ok for zone 8.
Carrie, don't get your hopes too high...I think the Kwanzan is an ornamental cherry, without fruit. Darn - you had to go and talk about cherry pie...now I'm wanting either that or cheese cake with cherries on top.
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
This is so sad but I am just happy to see grass starting to come up in the pastures...and the Cows are very Happy!
There are a few bulbs making their way up.. and a Iochroma cyaneum violaceae "Pink Violet" that is blooming in the window...OOO Patrick Cherry Pie sounds wonderful...YUMMM!
Kylie
Cherry pie sounds very good but Patrick is right it is grown for the flowers and is non-fruiting. I was interviewed by the newspaper with my friends while trout fishing at the park and to my surprise we ended up on the front page of the paper this morning, lol. You have to look into my friends mirror sunglasses to see me though. Here is the link. You might have to copy and paste it into the browser if you want to see the article and pics.
Lol, I just thought it was funny that they showed up. I had snuck out by myself for some alone time and to get away from everything and ran into friends then the newspaper crew showed up. So much for sneaking away, lol. I worked in the flower beds and potted up some stuff and trimmed the roses and planted a new on and I am worn out. I have to plant a tree in the morning and water a few more things then I am going fishing with hubby. He caught a bigger fish than my last entry in the contest so I have to go pass him up then I can take a break again for a while, lol.
Lol, yes we did have fun. I was cleaning out the beds yesterday and found some little purple flowers mixed in with the irises I dug out of a lady's yard last year that are blooming. I think they may be hyacinth but not sure. I should have taken some pics. I also have verbena coming up and blooming and my elephant ears, cannas, Four O'clocks, roses and gingers are all growing out again. I also found some New guinnea impatiens sprouting in the bed. They must have seeded themselves. Also my Mother of Millions has the cutest little pink bell shaped flowers on it. Things are popping out all over in the past week.
Sorry, have been a very poor participant the past couple of weeks. Preparing for company, having company, on the run daily and now preparing to leave the end of the week for another cruise, I haven't had time to keep up with the posts. During that time, though, I did take some pics that I'll share with you in my photo gallery album. It's been a great winter for my brugs.
Yesterday, there were tons of blooms and the overall yard looked so pretty but wouldn't you know I had no time for photograpy. Now today the wind is beating them up and in between they're hanging limp as dishrags.
Those of you who want to cross pollinate your brugs, I'm finding that Tiara is a real hussy. I've crossed her with Rothkirch, Champaign Fizz, Taylor Dawn, all of which have set nice pods. Yesterday I did KBS, Pink Beauty, Ecuador Pink and Butterfly...we'll see how those go. I'll have to rely on some of you to help me grow them out as I don't have much patience with that part of brug growing but do enjoy seeing which ones seem to cross nicely. Anyway, so far Tiara has taken to everything. Now if she produces anything, that's another story. She is a beautiful white double.
I'm finding Pink Beauty is dropping buds like crazy..have no idea why. Does anyone else grow PB and do you experience this? Just curious. I did lose one side of my PB last summer but it has rallied back and had set on about 15-20 buds but most just dropped off at various stages.
I was surprised to see my Easter lilies coming up in mid January until I realized that Easter is so early this year.
My geraniums have been beautiful all winter and the roses have been blooming as well as the oleander.
The plumeria is greening up and the tips are starting to bulge some and take on some color so I'm sure the leaves will be appearing soon.
I've transplanted several datura seedlings, double pink, white and cream that are new to me. Some daylily crosses I made are starting to sprout.
We planted an Eastern Redbud last summer and up til now, it looked dead, although we decided to give it time and lo and behold, the tiny blooms are appearing..yeah!! Not many but a few. Now can't wait for it to grow and be more showy. For those of you who don't know this tree, the little pink blooms come before the leaves appear...really strange but that's the way it works.
Give me a few minutes and I'll get some things in my album. Oh, forgot to mention, we set a record temp yesterday..officially 96° but it read 99° on our car gauge. Either way, it was hot!!
Jarie
Mission, TX
Rio Grande Valley
Zone 9
This message has been edited by jas4141 on Feb 26, 2008 2:09 PM
Lol, Jarie, I know how it is. I have been really busy lately too and miss having the extra time to post and email like I used to. It will slow back down at the shop soon and I will be back on more. I forgot how crazy it gets when income tax checks start coming in.
Hey, Jarie, would you save me some of the double pink dat seed this year? That is one I do not have and would like to add to my collection. The only seedlings I have visible are the red yuccas I planted in the fall. This is why I am probably not a good seed mamma as I get too impatient. Hurry up Spring !!!!
Have fun on your cruise !!!!
My Bewick's wrens seem to be telling me we'll have an early spring...I have a pair carrying nesting material into the bird house just outside my kitchen window, where a family was raised last year...as per these pics:
Yippee?!!
Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
I have house wrens and Carolina wrens, Patrick, and they have just about stripped all the yarn I had in the hang-up container for them. Obviously, they think it is Spring as do all my trees that are budding, and my salvias that are at least 3 inches tall now. I concur ----YIPPEE !!!!!
What cute little wrens, Patrick...and Carrie, what fun it must be to watch the little creatures taking the yarn you've provided to make their nests. So far, about the only birds that we have nesting around here are sparrows. Hummingbirds nest somewhere, too, but haven't been able to locate any of their nests...probably high in the taller trees.
I'm jealous! 
