Yardening Dec 2015 into 2016

Oh wow GT, that must have been beautiful. We had insulators come to the house today to add 10" to our attic. One of the guys said he never expected to come up to the house and see blooming flowers! I had to chuckle when she told me that.

Lisa, I missed your pic, very nice indeed!

Seems to me it could be all bloomed out. My rosemary is blooming now, usually blooms in February.

I walked the yard yesterday looking for signs of Spring. The climbing hydrangea is budding out so are the blue berries and it has new leaf growth. One of the sassafras trees is also budding out.

We have white blooms on one of our Hellebores. The jasmine was indeed lovely, covering a good bit of a rock outcropping.

My winter Jasmine is blooming but it is a winter blooming Jasmine so that isn't unusual. I have a Helle that is blooming also just one in a protected area always the first to bloom.

This may have been from you earlier this year, so I guess that makes sense.

Next spring we should have a thread where we each repeat our unseasonal observations from this thread and post the resulting behavior of the plants mentioned.

Looking forward to my 70 degrees here today that's for sure.

LOL Ecnalg, No when I meant looking for Spring growth I meant the new buds and leaf growth that we usually see in the Spring but that this unseasonable weather is producing. Does that clear it up?

David said my posts were confusing, so my apologies. We saw the jasmine while riding, but yesterday I also noticed a white bloom on one of the hellebores we were given this year at a swap. Lots of new growth on many of the others, too.

I have to go out and examine all my beds to see what is confused and putting
out new growth,

Not today--Not tomorrow. Next week.....watch it be 35* when I get a chance...
G.

Should be interesting for all the plants.

Cherry blossoms on the AU campus are blooming!
Fellow gardeners, don't give up on amaryllis with red blotch. Last month I began treating several years-old bulbs that looked hopeless. First I scraped off the funky parts, then soaked them in 10% bleach solution and potted them up. Happy to say that most bulbs are sprouting tips about an inch tall.
Terri, your tribute to Mike was touching. I feel as if I watched Erin blossom into a lovely young woman.

OK....took a quick walk around. Waiting for Benita and Matthew to get here so we can go to Aiana's. long trip for Benita==and not the greatest time to drive busy roads.

SO--in the garden...
--Osteoapermum daisies are still green--not to many blooms any more
--Dianthus is marching on--even has some blooms.
--Have one small bloom and buds on the pink Hellebore I got at the fall swap.
--Wood Hyacinths are all coming up--maybe an inch now...
--Iris--lots of new growth on the foliage.
--Columbines are putting out new growth
--Parsley id still going gung-ho. That is expected...
-My 2 potted geraniums that are hiding under some shrubs near my front door
is also putting out new leaves.
---The fikiage on the B&B Salvia is all gone! That too is expected,,,

Now--remember that weird Petunia I had that was climbing all over the Phlox shrub--
it is growing nice, new foliage. Me thinks it may be some kind of a perennial...

Gotta go G.

I found a few things looking like it was early spring- one is Blackberry Corydalis a native from coleup that was dormant during summer. I dunno but I feel like that is going to benefit from more time in growth, gaining energy.

It's warm enough to sit on the deck and watch for the big moon to peek out. I could almost swear I hear spring peepers. I do think a few toads have been peeping.

Merry Christmas everyone, near and far!

Gita my African daisy is still blooming like it was summer. I'm really surprised at that because we hit a low of 23 here one night.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

Merry Christmas! The big kids are still asleep. I can close my eyes, imagine different bird sounds and some floral scent, and pretend I am in a tropical zone for Xmas. As it is, I hear robins.

Still asleep, wake up those slackers LOL. we are done with round one of Xmas and are waiting for my parents to call and FaceTime.

because I ave tossed out a few hand-fulls of seed--many small birds are now
congregating around my back yard. I have 2 suet cakes up--and have seen a Downy W-pecker at it.
Time to try and glue the big 3-tube feeder together once more. UGH.
It IS time to put out seed---somehow... G.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all had a great day.

Was outside Christmas day in bare feet no less. Bare feet!!!! All the windows were open and the fans were running! I can't believe it, Christmas day! Poppies have a few tiny leaves up and a couple of holly hocks and valerian. Noticed trycirtis is showing tips and some of the crocus and daffodils and maddonna lillies in the front. In the back white helibores are still blooming, pink helibores have buds clear of the ground and working on opening. The bears breeches are looking great and the cammelias are still blooming. Heliotropes I brought in are blooming along with medanillas and an abutillion. I'll start bringing in a couple pots of forced bulbs in a couple weeks, the fridge in the garage is full and so is the cold box in the back yard so I should be able to get flowers in the house all the way through to spring. Fingers are itching to start getting seeds in the ground.

bare feet!!!! haha me too.
Wintersweet and Mahonia are in full bloom and fragrant, a month to 6 weeks early. Many perennials still have unfrozen bits.
We'll finish the year with just about 50 inches of rain here.

As much as I was cursing the rain, I'm estatic. Its such a good feeling to know that we're going into the frozen cold winter with the plants well hydrated. I'm just sick of fighting the traffic on the beltway in a down pour. I was trying to see my patients Thursday and it was a nightmare. I was almost hit at least 5 times and threw in the towel when I saw a cop run off the road by a maniac and he just sat there white as a sheet. I almost turned around to go see if he was alright. One more box of bulbs to pot up, stick a knife in my son's kidney to get him to fix the composte bin and fix me another and I'm ready to go. OOO I almost forgot. How about a huge load of terracotta pots, some really big, huge for $25? I almost feel guilty. Almost...

FYI---
--Seeds are in at the HD!!!!! All seed accessories too--and more to come.

--ALL Christmas items are 50% off. Shrubs too. Poinsettias as well.

--Any left-over X-as trees are FREE for the taking. Nice bird sanctuaries...NO?
or,cut the branches up and use them as a cover over more sensitive plants.

--If you did not know--Brinkmann declared Chapter 11 a few months ago.
HD will no longer carry this brand. Remaining grills are a bit reduced.
Time to bargain...you may get some more $$$ off.

--Had lots of Brinkman grill accessories at 50% off today. Almost all gone!

On the lean side---PT'ers hours are now miserably cut! This will go till mid-February.
Worked just one day (Sunday) this week. Have 2 days next week.
Glad I have 68hrs. of unused vacation time. I will chip away at these hours
and add them to my pay checks. Have to use all these hours up by my
hire date-March 16. or I lose them.

Yes! The days are wonderful! Not sure what I should do--or IF I should do anything.
I wan to just relax....regroup from the Holiday's....be peaceful.....sleep in....

Happy New Year to you all! Gita
This pic. of a big CC is from 2006. I may still have it's progeny...

yehudith, haha, so funny!

Gita, I went to my HD today ; my daughter needed a plant for a favorite pot of hers and I wanted to pick one since she doesn't know anything about plants. I got a Red Aglaonema, but was tempted also by a fern overflowing its smallish hanging basket, and some other things. But the Ag should cope best with her room. Kind of like this one
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Evergreen_(Aglaonema_%27Siam_Aurora%27)_2.jpg

The red Aglonema is very pretty. They have been playing with colors now for some years.
Treat it just like the green ones we have always known. Easy care!

Low light
Do nor over-water--keep moist..NO sun indoors or out...
Read further below...
No need to transplant your new plant. It is fine in the pot it came in.

http://houseplants.about.com/od/foliageplants/p/Aglaonema.htm

http://www.costafarms.com/plants/red-aglaonema

yup, I have some of the old silvery Aglaonemas, and last year bought a pink one from clearance that has grown well this summer in the shade. The pink has wider, more rounded leaves

That is a pretty plant Gita.

Thanks for the link, Gita, I posted it on facebook.

THe garage pad will be poured Feb 1. Mark took down the norway maple that shaded the deck in the morning, but also filled the gutters with seeds, and blocked our view of one whole side of the yard. But also was a great place to hang bird feeders for winter. I may ask him to whip up a post from some old salvaged pressure treated wood we have laying around.
Once the garage is in, I can make new plantings behind it, on two sides, well even some on the side facing the yard too. I'll have a morning sun/cold in winter side, a bright-shaded side facing the maple, and a warm sunny side, that will already be loaded with common milkweed roots, so maybe it better be a butterfly garden.

Sounds like a great plan Sally.

That is going to make a big difference.
It is 40* and damp out there, just couldn't stand it anymore and went out to do a little work on the front bed. Going back out to plant the last of the bulbs.

Sally--
You are close enough to come to my HD and buy a zillion bags of this
"Realy Good Compost."
We (our HD) were sent wayyyy too many palates of this compost and we are trying to
sell it as fast as we can. It is now ONLY .98 cents a bag. I think this price may be only at our store, as we got so much of it by mistake.
Come spring--they will need all the overheads for mulch and other stuff.

It is an earthy, woodsy compost. Lots of little sticks and twigs in it. No soil in it--except that which has completely composted. I think it makes a great mulch for the winter.
It comes in 1cf bags--easy to lift and load.
Originally, it cost $4.97 Then it went to $1.47 Now it is .98 cents.

I have been trying to spread it on all my beds...shredded leaves on the bottom.
I still have about 20 bags laying around that I need to distribute.
Gita

Oh, man, you still have that compost at your HD. I paid $22 per cubic yard for bulk compost this year, so getting it in easy-to-handle bags for about $27 per cubic yard (1 cubic yard is 27 cubic feet) would be great! Thinking we might need to make a trip out to Ikea... and if we do, I am stopping by to fill up any remaining space in the car with bagged compost!

GREAT!!!
Come on Sunday--and i will be there....G.

YeeHA!!!!! Just potted up the last of the bulbs. Praise G-d!!!! Now I can buy more....

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Healthy Wealthy and Plant Filled New Years from mine and yours

Yehudith

LOL Yehudith Love the Plant Filled New Years.
Hope your is just as great.

Happy New Years everyone! I agree with Yehudith - we should all have plant filled ones :-)

Good Wishes to you All in the Coming Year!
Mostly--Peace on Earth!!! Gita