SPRING WEATHER IN YOUR GARDEN

Glad that everybody is ok.

Glad you are ok Mike! I got Hill Crest mixed up with Hazel Crest. I was having trouble getting information about them anyway. The other counties were really hit hard. I was NOT actually comprehending that tornadoes go that far north. Yikes, are you in tornado alley?
Glad you just got the rain! April showers bring May flowers and I just got my first daylily order! I am so glad I ordered extra and nothing expensive, so I will not get stressed out if they rot. LOL.

Beautiful day here.Saw my first daylily sprouts. We have had and are getting more much needed rain.

Mike glad all is right in your area.

Thanks Katgroves, Susan and Gary for showing concern. Susan we are not in "tornado alley". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Alley
Gary glad that things are coming to life in your garden. I am worried about a few that hasn't shown any above ground growth yet. The 99% (LOL!) is showing growth. We are going up to the upper sixties today with light rain expected for later tonight.
Susan you might have to raise some of your beds that are in low spots in the garden.

Mike, thanks for the link. I am a little confused because I saw a different map somewhere that had Illinois in there. LOL. I dug up the ones in low spots but the act of sprouting and freezing and sprouting and freezing causes rot deep inside the crown. I had three warm days during the middle of the winter and they all sprouted each time because they are early bloomers. My mistake for sure. I got some bad advice in the beginning but I am going to stick with the mid-season bloomers and semi-evergreens.

Hi Everyone! Spring has been gorgeous here . I love it. Work has been slammed so I haven't done much in the garden for the past couple of weeks.
I planted hydrangea and mexican heather in the neighbors garden, but have done nothing more than pot up a few seedlings in my own.

Mike, I have tons of little seedlings thanks to you! They are now about 5 inches tall and I am a proud mama! LOL.
Glad you weren't anywhere near that tornado. The damage on the news was unreal. Tornados scare me. At least with hurricanes we have about a week to prepare and secure things. Not so with twisters.

Susan, your cherry tree is beautiful. Sorry about your uninvited guest ( aka lampost killer).

Badcat, I saw 1 gomphrena seedling in it's little baggie. I can't wait to see if more germinate.

My azaleas are in full bloom now and my clematis are just starting. it is beautiful. I will try to post pics. I dropped my phone in vegetable soup last week and had to get a new one. I haven't figured out how to use all the bells and whistles yet, but as soon as I can get them uploaded, I will post some here.

Glad to see everyone is ok.

Supposed to be beautiful all week here. I am in the process of painting my bathroom so no garden work until I am finished.

Hello all ! So glad that everyone made it thru all the storms ok! We had a beautiful weekend. Saturday was low 70s with low humidity and a very light breeze - totally gorgeous! Don't get many perfect days like those - especially on the weekends! LOL

I spent most of the weekend working In my large bed again, but yesterday was a few degrees warmer with a LOT higher humidity. It sure makes a lot of difference! We are to have heavy rains and storms today.....

It feels like a cool morning, but it is gorgeous! I got outside early and made a mental list of everything I need to do. High today is supposed to be 70° and the lows tonight in the 60's. I am loving it!

We got up to 75° today and it was gorgeous just like the weekend was and I was OFF! Yippee!!

We made it to 82 and now the clouds are starting to build as we are supposed to have rain moving in but at least we have had 3 dry days.

Hi Linda, good to see you. At least work is keeping you out of trouble. LOL! There was an article in this past Sunday's Chicago Tribune about my magnolia tree along with another one that blooms before it that is susceptible to early freeze and thaw cycle that grows up to forty feet with bigger flowers. Mine tops out at about fifteen feet around here. Mine is blooming right now. Will take some pics and post soon. Happy to hear about the "Little Mike's" popping up at your place.
Cindy hope everything turn out well on the painting job.
Going up to the low sixties today.

It rained all day yesterday and most of the night. The base of my dogwood tree looks like it snowed. I hate to see the blooms gone so early, but it couldn't withstand the deluge.
It is supposed to be warm, but rain all day today and tomorrow too.

Maybe if it quits I can plant a few of the seedlings I started in January.

Mike, I love all the "little mikes". There are only about 4 pots that haven't germinated yet. Some are still coming up.

Hope everyone's day is fabulous.

MIke, what is the name of that large Magnolia? For that matter, I need the name of yours again so I can store it in my phone and try to find it in a nursery.....

Rain yesterday, rain again today...........

Mosquitos are taking over!!! YUCK!!

Mike, I would love to see your tree. Is it a saucer Magnolia with the purple flowers?


Cindy, good luck with your bathroom. I painted mine a couple of years ago so I'm good. Are you getting new rugs or curtains? I think that is the fun part. :)

Linda, the dogwoods are just now blooming here. The Redbuds, Cherry Trees, and Pear Trees are done so the Dogwoods are beautiful right now. Sorry to say but mine died. :(

It got up to 75 today but it has been raining almost all day and it is heavy right now, my daylilies are smiling and hostas are unfurling. they cheer me up so much!

Thanks Susan and Mike. Oh yes on the new rugs and curtain and also a new vanity cabinet and sink. Haven't had that replaced in 30 years. It's about time. Luckily I don't need the floor replaced. We had new tile put in about l0 years ago. Painting is just about finished and we plan to go shopping for the new cabinet some time in the next few days.

On another note, weather has been beautiful. I am anxious once the bathroom is done to get outside and start cleaning up the beds. I planted 12 new tall bearded iris last year and I hope they all made it.

Sounds like you are making good progress on your bathroom Cindy......

I find it so hard to keep everything else done once gardening season begins because I would much rather do that than the other stuff. LOL I was EXTREMELY late getting my tax info to the CPA this year. He still hasn't gotten back with me so I am sure he is one of the people he is fussing about today. :) Talked to the girl at the office and all three kids are done - just not mine and my husband's. I know we will owe - a LOT - because we sold some property and some timber, but I had sure hoped I would know before today how much it will be. I put back some money out of the transactions to try to make sure we had enough to cover all the taxes (and supposedly have a cushion there) but it sure makes me nervous not knowing if I estimated even close to right. :( Did I say I HATE tax season ?!?! I guess if I don't hear from him soon we will end up having to file an extension because we are running out of hours. We were trying to get ourselves in a better position in case my job does end.....but sometimes when you start figuring up the taxes on all of it you sure wonder if it actually helped any.

It is raining here again today! I planted a few phlox and other things that came in yesterday - they were bare root so I wanted to get them back in the ground and with the rain and overcast weather I figured that was a good time to do so. I tried to do it in between rain storms but I didn't make it and got soaked - but at least maybe the plants will enjoy the rain! Anyone have any great home remedies for mosquitos?? they are literally taking over .............. this rain will only make it worse!

Windy and cloudy here today an d we are only at 59.9 degrees. Was hoping to get outside and do some work but doesn't look like that is going to happen. Just I will just work inside today. Everyone have a great day.

still raining here. I went to work for 3 hours today and they started sending people home. I was 1 who got an unexpected day off. my hours were also cut for next week. I guess the season hasn't picked up as much as they thought yet.
Oh well, more time in the garden!

Genna, you are not alone in the tax dept. Which Phlox did you plant. I got Blue Boy, Stars And Stripes, Cleopatra and Creme De La Creme. Still sitting in the basement. Need to plant these as soon as the ground dry out a little.
The mosquitoes are alive and well around here. LOL!

Mosquitoes already Mike??? Good grief, I hope not here.

We have them here too. Thank goodness the biting flies aren't out yet.
All the rain has brought a massive cool front through. I had to put on a jacket this morning. Got outside for a little while earlier and found a few clematis and some columbine blooming. My azaleas took a beating in all the rain and the dogwoods and camellias are finished.
It is too wet to work out there today, so I guess I will do some housework and then maybe take Mom shopping.
I'll post pics later.

I do have skin so soft - and I use it or bounce sheets when I go out to spend time working in the yard. But that doesn't do much for the hundreds trying to come in the house any time the door is opened. :( There is standing water EVERYWHERE.....all the ditches are full, water standing in the trees, fields, etc. No hope for eliminating the water and it is supposed to rain most of the weekend. And I guess because there are SOOO many, they are extremely aggressive in trying to find a host. The other night as I was getting ready to go to bed, I happened to look up and there were probably 15 or more on my kitchen ceiling.......... I have noticed they are very attracted to white ceilings, the white shower stalls, etc. But, I didn't know how on earth I was supposed to get rid of them....... didn't want to try to kill them with a fly swatter and end up needing to scrub spots off the ceiling. :( So, I kinda felt like they were waiting on us to go to bed so they could have a feast. Thankfully, I didn't notice any bites the next day. LOL

Mike, I have a dear DG friend that gave me some tall purple phlox several years ago at a roundup. I have enjoyed it so much that I have been trying to find some different types at different garden centers for the past couple of years with no luck. I ended up ordering some peonies from Gilbert H. Wild and saw they had a few phlox so I ordered from them. I got David, Shockwave, Glamour Girl and Bright Eyes ...... mainly because those are the 4 they had! LOL..... I did manage to find one at a garden center in Little Rock several weeks ago, but they wanted 22 for it, and I thought I could probably try two or three for that price.

Where did you get yours? I saw Blue Boy on one website, but don't think I have seen the others you got. I just love how the one I have had has performed. I hope these others do well.

Genna you could have used a vacuum cleaner to suck up those mosquitoes. I saw Shockwave in the GW catalog that they sent me. I like the variegation. Mine came from Brecks. They were half off when I got them. David is a very reliable one. I divided one of two David up last year to spread it around. Going to try to find a nice spot for Creme De La Creme. Somewhere near the front border.
Cindy they are out in full force. One landed on my camera this morning.
Genna here is a picture that I took this morning of my Magnolia Stellata.

Supposed to be 74 here today. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cindy we are going up to about 77°f today. Tomorrow up to 72°f. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!! LOL!!! It's about time!!! Wait there is some fifties in my future. LOL, again!!!!
Couple friends stop by to say hi.
Helleborous
Hyacinth

Have a great weekend everyone.

I will have to remember the vacuum suggestion! I might have to try that!! We had a pretty day without rain yesterday - but supposed to rain today and all weekend. :( I even took off work a few hours early yesterday to try to get some things done while it wasn't raining. We are sure going to be wishing we had some of this water come summer............

Your Magnolia Stellata is stunning!! I am going to have to see if I can locate one of those. There is a nursery in Little Rock that has a lot of trees - way more than most so I will have to give them a call and see if they have that one!

The smell of hyacinths definitely mean spring! ^_^

Ibartoo, Thats great news!! :)

Beautiful day here yesterday, the firs Friday in awhile that it has been and of course I had to fill in for a girl at work as I usually am off Friday's. Today is also supposed to be nice bore rain moves in again for tomorrow and Monday.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Kathy

It is 78° right now and I just got off work! Have a great weekend everyone!

We've had a solid week of heavy rain. It is supposed to rain again tonight. I may have to start moving some plants indoors to keep them from drowning.
Going to be 74° here today though.

Linda, hope you can swim. We had some rain that started last night. Expecting some more today. Going up to low fifties today.

Well, we didn't get nearly the amount of rain they were expecting this weekend so I managed to get lots of things done in the yard..........didn't get finished of course, but I made some major strides. Of course, now I am so sore I can barely move! LOL

Gorgeous day today but a little on the cool side compared to the temps we have had lately. Yesterday it was pushing 80, but today the temps are mid 60s with a cool breeze and beautiful sunshine. Of course, I am at work..... :) I am thankful I was able to get somethings done this weekend. I desperately need to spray some Roundup to corral some things but every time it isn't raining, the wind seems to be blowing. Which is pretty unusual for us. Hopefully I will get a chance to spray the outside of the beds soon before it gets too far ahead of me (again).....

Hope everyone has a great day!

We got rain all day yesterday and heavy rain early this morning then clear skies with a high of 84°, nice breeze too. I had to work but did enjoy my lunch outside! I need to go unpack a box of daylilies that I got in the mail today. Yahooooooo

We had two days of rain. Supposed to be nice today but much cooler.

Lots of high winds are expected today with temps in the low fifties. I didn't do much this past weekend. Did plant one plant though.
Oh, guess what is now showing signs of life? You are sooooo smart, you guessed it! LoL!!
Last Snowflake - yipeeeeeeee!!

Cool and very windy here today and more rain moving in for tomorrow. Calling or lows in the 30's the next few nights so glad that I haven't put anything out yet. Kathy