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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,652
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@gardenman , I can’t wait to see the lake open up and bare lawn.  The crocus will be delightful ... I planted a whole bunch last year.  LM

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,620
Registered: ‎09-22-2010

Today is the first day it has gotten warm enough to work in the yard (60).  The last week was sunny but cold (I am a wimp).  I was out there today and it is a mess.  I pulled out a dead box wood.  I have two large hydrangeas that fell over in the snow and I am pretty sure are dead.  Not sure I can get them out by myself.  

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,652
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@DiAnne , did you have an unusually harsh winter?  I hate to lose shrubs, especially hydrangeas.  The consolation prize is there are many new varieties to try.

 

on the hydrangeas, make sure they are really dead before you remove them.  Some of them look like that and then come alive a few weeks later.  LM

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,620
Registered: ‎09-22-2010

@Lilysmom 

 

We did have an unusually harsh winter - a series of snow storms preceded by a couple of unusually dry summers.  My yard is having a hard time adjusting to what I think is the new norm.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,652
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@DiAnne , here is my latest garden story vis a vis the new 'climate' we are all experiencing.  I made a new garden beside my rock wall last year.  Put about 14 plants and shrubs in it.  Had it just the way I wanted it.  It was a very dry summer again last year.  Come Fall and the rains, it is a huge puddle.  Had to move half the plants because there was no way they could survive the wet.  Grrrrrrr.  I will have to remodel it this year.  The upper half is fine, but I will have to disappear the lower portion.  LM

Valued Contributor
Posts: 593
Registered: ‎08-21-2011

@DiAnne I am sure the Hydrangias will be fine.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,107
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Lilysmom wrote:

@DiAnne , here is my latest garden story vis a vis the new 'climate' we are all experiencing.  I made a new garden beside my rock wall last year.  Put about 14 plants and shrubs in it.  Had it just the way I wanted it.  It was a very dry summer again last year.  Come Fall and the rains, it is a huge puddle.  Had to move half the plants because there was no way they could survive the wet.  Grrrrrrr.  I will have to remodel it this year.  The upper half is fine, but I will have to disappear the lower portion.  LM


Just be advised that climate changes constantly and is never stable. It tends to run in two to three year trends. In my now sixty years we've had record setting winters for snowfall and cold several years in a row, only to then have warm winters with little snow two to three years in a row. Spring, summer and falls are the same way. Then you throw in a few "average" years before you go back to one extreme or the other again. A garden needs to be able to weather (for lack of a better word) the extremes. Native plants and their hybrids give you the best shot at survival. They started in your area and found a way to survive before we ever came along, so they're often your best bet. 

 

Wet spots in a garden can drive you a bit crazy. There are lovely bog plants that will thrive there, as long as the soil stays wet. Sadly, as soon as you fill that area with them you'll run into a dry spell and they'll need constant watering. Gardening is a form of madness where you work/against with Mother Nature who is very, very fickle and changeable.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,655
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I find I cannot grow heucheras by me. My soil has a lot of clay and they dislike wet soils. They also can heave out of the ground with frost/thaw cycles.

 

Spring is here — the red wing blackbirds are back at my peanut feeder. 

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,985
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

It has been starting to show serious signs of Spring where I am.  Shrubs and trees are starting to show buds.  Of course tulips, day lilies and sedum have already emerged.  I awake every morning to sunshine.  There is just a different smell in the air.  

 

Not saying we might not have some wayward snow or cold temps, but Spring has definitely sprung like days of old.

 

I didn't clean my garden beds last fall, there is much work to do and so little time to do it.  Our Spring in SWPA usually doesn't last long.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,620
Registered: ‎09-22-2010

74 degrees and sunny here in PNW!  I have all the windows open to air out house and I swear I can actually see the daffodils gettting taller!