topic Re: Signs of Spring in Garden

Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 10:21:58 GMT

The ice is pulling away from the shore, there are lakes in the ice. A good wind may take the ice out. Daffodil bulbs, tulips, crocus, etc are popping through.

Having said that, not out of the question that we have a snow storm!

Welcome Spring! New beginnings! S

Re: Signs of Spring

Nonametoday — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 10:28:01 GMT

When your garden is filled with bright yellow posies, it is time to pick up your secateurs and prune your roses.

Re: Signs of Spring

Kachina624 — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 20:31:59 GMT

That head/shoulders sculpture looks so natural in that setting, like she just paused for a nap.

We know Spring is coming when we have a gale blowing every day and skunks are out every night (mating season).

Re: Signs of Spring

tototwo — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 11:55:31 GMT

It will be interesting when you post the "after" photos when this statue garden is in full bloom. Lovely view!

Re: Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 12:05:34 GMT

@tototwo , here is a shot in bloom... This is Spring last year. S

Re: Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 12:07:34 GMT

@Kachina624 , we put a new metal roof on last year so I think about the gales less these days.

We don't have skunks here but we did have them where I grew up. We used to see families parading around at night. S

Re: Signs of Spring

gardenman — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 12:19:14 GMT

It's going to be in the sixties and maybe seventies here this week, so it's time to get out in the yard and start puttering around.

Re: Signs of Spring

LonestarBabs — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 16:21:11 GMT

Here in North Texas gardening is a bit more of a challenge than usual this spring. Since we had our horrendous winter storm our gardening experts are advising we wait a few weeks before pruning, as many things that look dead/freeze-burned could come back. But oh it looks so sad in the landscape right now! I'm giving it another week before I make decisions about which plants will have to be removed or do any pruning. SIGH

I do see green shoots on my daylilies and that makes me smile! It will be a good year for the garden centers and nurseries as we all try to re-establish our landscapes.

Re: Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 10:55:26 GMT

@LonestarBabs , I am in Nova Scotia. We watched your weather situation on the news. So difficult to deal with when infrastructure and supports are not constructed to deal with such weather events. i hope your garden thrives this year in spite of it all. S

Re: Signs of Spring

LonestarBabs — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 15:10:17 GMT

@Lilysmom1 Thanks for the kind words. I am usually getting my first plants in the ground and pots in early April but this year I need to see what survived before I do anything! The weeds, however, seemed to survive just fine LOL

Re: Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 21:10:59 GMT

@LonestarBabs , I totally get it about the weeds. Those I missed late last year are shiny, green and thriving in my garden. You would think the ****** snow and frost would kill them but no way!!! S

Re: Signs of Spring

JustJazzmom — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 18:52:33 GMT

My first sign of Spring is the return of the blackbirds both red wing and blackbird with yellow bars to my feeders. They arrived this past Tuesday. I usually see the males first who are probably the scouts to the flock.

Re: Signs of Spring

gardenman — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 13:20:33 GMT

We'd better get an early spring this year. My seedlings under the new grow lights are growing too fast. Here are a couple of photos of the lobelia that were started in late January. The first photo is from February 22nd after about a month's growth. (Bear in mind it typically takes about two weeks for the seeds to germinate, so this is about two week's growth.)

The next photo is from this morning.

Lobelia starts out as dust-like seeds and typically aren't in flower until sometime in late April/early May from a late January sowing. Suffice to say the new plant lights have accelerated that timing a wee bit.

The geraniums are also growing much faster than normal. I have to rethink my seed starting timing with the new lights going forward. The lobelia are about where they'd typically be in early to mid-May and it's not even mid-March yet. Yikes! The lobelia will be having to be repotted and moved to the cold frame a bit sooner than expected. Oh well, there are worse problems to have.

Re: Signs of Spring

Kachina624 — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 01:24:07 GMT

@Lilysmom1 Such a beautiful setting for the statue.

Re: Signs of Spring

Kachina624 — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 01:30:04 GMT

I love lobelia in a mixed hanging basket. Unfortunately it's a cool weather plant and shrivels up and dies here on June 1. Can't take the heat. It's such an iridescent blue. People who live in the mountains grow it.

Re: Signs of Spring

DiAnne — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 03:51:01 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
I love lobelia in a mixed hanging basket. Unfortunately it's a cool weather plant and shrivels up and dies here on June 1. Can't take the heat. It's such an iridescent blue. People who live in the mountains grow it.

@Kachina624

I like to tuck lobelia in my pots to fill in the blank spaces. It comes in so many colors now and does well in the PNW.

Re: Signs of Spring

Kachina624 — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 04:26:02 GMT

@DiAnne Interesting. I've never seen it in any color but the blue.

Re: Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 10:53:20 GMT

Isn't it lovely to hear them and see them @JustJazzmom ? I leave my headphones home when I walk these days so I can enjoy the sounds of Spring. S

Re: Signs of Spring

Lilysmom1 — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 10:54:51 GMT

@gardenman , I better get busy with my seeds! S

Re: Signs of Spring

gardenman — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 12:58:57 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
I love lobelia in a mixed hanging basket. Unfortunately it's a cool weather plant and shrivels up and dies here on June 1. Can't take the heat. It's such an iridescent blue. People who live in the mountains grow it.

I'm pretty lucky here. The lobelia tends to hang around until September before fading too much. I tend to grow the Crystal Palace variety which comes in a nice dark blue, but you can get white, red (well, reddish), light blue, and kind of purplish colors of lobelia also. I've pretty much grown them all at one time or another but end up coming back to Crystal Palace. It's typically very slow to start from seed and is one of those 12-16 week plants for me. Well, before these lights anyway. Now it's more of a six-week plant for me. Yikes! I've got to repot them into 4" pots pretty soon. They're in a 24 pack cell now so those are typically big enough to hold the plants until they get moved to baskets or 4" pots, but not this year. That flat of plants is drinking about a half-gallon of water a day under those lights. I have to water them daily and by the next day, you wouldn't know I'd watered them at all.