How is your garden looking today?

Yep, eoe. I saw folks traipsing home from the farmers' market with flats of annual flowers and vegetables. We have a forecast of a hard freeze tomorrow night.
My dad always said "Mother's Day." Wait until then. It is tough to do though when we get what turns out to be a false Spring.

I usually wait until the third weekend in April but the weather is changing, there's no doubt about that, and it's not nearly as stable as it used to be. It was 80 here last Friday, for Pete's sake!

Another option is to buy the flats and keep them in the flats until later. That is if you're willing to watch the weather and bring them in when a freeze is forecast.

I know, here too! (OK maybe not 80 but mid-70's, and for quite a stretch there.)

I haven't planted anything, I'm just worried about all the perennial stuff that thought spring had well and truly arrived and then whoopsie...

I think this is a little earlier than the frost last year -- the Japanese maple has buds but not leaves, the hydrangea hasn't done anything in particular yet, etc. So hoping it won't be as bad... (Lilacs are pretty far along though, sigh.)

I was going to buy a one gallon Chilopsis (desert willow) but the native nursery doesn't have them out yet, expecting perhaps one more freeze.

I need to get out in the garden, heh, garden, either in the next hour or early manana. We'll see.

This year's crocus show.



I'm looking forward to more flowers this year;
the ones I set out last fall have shown up.

Scots Pine and Nanking Cherry.

eastern lake ontario :
we had plenty of rain - and more on the way - it's beginning to warm up (though we did have some icerain on wednesday , but it didn't do any harm) .
daffs , tulips and all kinds of other bulbs , flowers and shrubs showing their colours ...
hbg

Ohhhhhhhhhh purdy!

btw grass has ben cut and trimmed once already

flowering bulbs doing very nicely ; if it doesn't get too hot quickly , we should be able to enjoy the tulips for the next six weeks (we planted quite a few on the north-side of the spruce trees - there they'll keep for quite some time) .

when we open our bedroom windows at 6:30 in the morning , our neighbour's tree extends a friendly greeting to us - very nice of our neighbour to plant the tree right in front of our bedrooom window - it's much appreciated :wink:

A magnolia bush. That's a very fine example. I planted one last year, and it had only about six or seven blooms on it so far. But, it seems quite happy where it is.

unfortunately , the flowers are already beginning to drop .
the magnolia isn't the best plant for our harsh climate where it changes from near freezing overnight to 20 + C by afternoon , but we are happy that our neighbour is thoughful enough to plant it in front of our bedroom window - all the enjoyment and no worries
hbg

I think we call that "saucer magnolia." I had a couple of those but they always bloomed too early and the flowers would get nailed by a late frost and would turn to a brown mush.
Our Saturday started out mild and sunny but now it has clouded up and there is a stiff breeze, almost a wind, coming out of the east. Unusual to get wind from the east.
The flowering trees (redbuds, Bradford Pears etc) are done. And the azaleas are starting to fade. We have had a decently wet Spring so the lawn was green, long and lush. My yardguy spent a day and half mowing the grounds. It looks good.
The oaks, poplars and pines are still putting out a tremendous amount of pollen. I have no allergies to pollen, but it is so thick. I have to wash my windshield everytime I get in my car. Maybe it will rain again tonight and knock some of it down.

Our magnolia petals dropped quickly too, but I think it was due to rain and wind. Here the japanese fern fronds are pushing up through the petals. I liked the color and form contrast.

Before, last year


and after, this morning

Made a dash to both Home Depot and Lowe's for annuals. Didn't get much but did find a Japanese maple, just a sprig, for 14.95 and two cannas for the front entryway. But the variety is missing in the flowers. All I seem to see are petunias and impatients. Geraniums. Maybe it's still early in the season?

Several of my so-called annuals in pots from last year are returning. The vines I used as accent plants and some flowers too. That always astounds me. Makes me soooo happy.

Got the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and squash planted last week. Hubby working on devising a way to keep the squirrels out of the tomatoes. They really kicked my ass last year. Don't think I can bare a repeat.

We lost a hosta this year. Dug down deep and couldn't trace hide nor hair of it. It was a six-plus year old plant. What could have happened to it?

I found a new nursery last week. It had mostly all foliage plants, shrubbery, trees, but beautiful species that you don't find at Home Depot. I bought several, peperomia, begonia rex, bridal veil, prayer plant, plus some little cacti.

I managed to plant one big pot with geraniums and sweet potato vines earlier today, dodging raindrops. The sun has come out now so I think I'll go out and pot some more.

McTag - that's lovely! Who needs a hedge when you have a wall?

eoe - it is still early yet, here. But you're much farther South, aren't you?

My sand garden needs both levelling and placement of "landscape ties". I keep avoiding it, they're heavy and sand acts like sand, and it's getting warmer..

One of these early mornings...

Meantime, I'm starting to throw sand out in plastic bags in my weekly trash.

One day, someone from the city will come to my door, saying, madame, you have been putting sand in your trash...

Had I been doing this all along, I'd be a couple of hundred small grocery bags of sand to the good, that is, less.

I do this to make room for things like plants and compost.






Ah, I know I can hire people to take stuff to the dump. But money is spare and I'm working at some redistribution. Meantime, I've got FREE ROCKS.

REDISTRIBUTION, thats a business-like term for dividing. I divided our ever expanding beds of irises. (Mrs F likes the very light blues, the very black maroons and indigos, and , for contratss with the indigos, the bright yellows. Weve got irises for every week till memorial day so our early old fashioned and siberians are blooming now and then comes the blues and yellows . The peak of the irises coincides with the opening of the peonies.

I planted my runner beans and butter beans today. Ill plant every two weeks until mid July. We really love the flavors of the varieties. Ive decided against growing potatoes any more. Our Amish truck farmers grow vast amounts and their prices for p[otatoes and sweet corn make those veggies unneeded in our garden. SO its beans, basil, tomatoes, and peppers and other crops that we like to graze on, like endive and carrots .