Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Feb 03 - 03:10 AM The ornamentals are in bloom--Japanese flowering quince and saucer magnolia. In the "weeds in the lawn" category, the little mint called "creeping charlie" is looking very nice (or at least it was, until I mowed this afternoon). Red squirrels also seem to be "blooming." I poked at a spot of grass under the eave of the house (is that the sofit?) and had a couple of elegant little tails and a few feet poke through as I pulled out lengths of dried grass. Seemed real odd--rodent tails, but clearly not rats. And they were lethargic (turned out their eyes aren't open yet, and their tails have no hair yet). I figured out what they are when one fell out, and I found it on the lawn before I mowed over it. Idiot naturalist that I am, I figured I have so damned many squirrels in the attic already I might as well poke this little fellow back. I got some gloves and picked him up, only to have him go off like a whistling teakettle, announcing to the world that I must be trying to eat him. ;) I tore a few pieces of cardboard and poked them through the hole to prevent their falling out by accident again. Once they're grown and the weather is warm I'm going to have to circle the house and cover these holes (and put up a firm mesh over the attic fan). I hope to have a special relationship with these guys this year. It's karma. SRS |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Penny S. Date: 23 Feb 03 - 08:14 AM Kent. UK. Snowdrops, Iris reticulata, primrose Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: black walnut Date: 23 Feb 03 - 08:25 AM Toronto: Snow drops. Snow flakes. Snow piles. Snow drifts. Pretty white snow growing higher and higher toward the grey and snowy sky. Sigh.... My father-in-law had a very bad stroke a couple of weeks ago. He's lying in his hospital bed and the only words I could understand were "Bulbs up? Bulbs up?". Double sigh.... ~b.w. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Bobert Date: 23 Feb 03 - 08:54 AM Well, with 2 fett of snow, not much outside but inside we have one amaryllis with two big white blooms. First time it's bloomed in the three years we've had it. Talk about a shy plant. Heck, ya gotta baby the danged thing all year, store it in the basement and then move it from one window to another every day to get them to bloom. Also have a few dark red blooms on a Christmas Cactus. The pale pink one bloomed a few weeks ago. Speaking of indoor plants, the P=Vine went to the Richmond (Va) Plant Show on Friday and brought back the latest indoor rave: A year 'round maiden Hair Fern that some one has hybidized. Purdy neat. Also, if anyone has a source of the outdoor Maiden Hair Fern that is not "fan shaped" and is hardy, I'm interested. Bobert |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: SINSULL Date: 23 Feb 03 - 09:21 AM Gee Bobert. I forgot about an amaryllis that I had stuck in a box in plastic. Found it blooming beautifully in the dark thought a bit bent. No babying there. Try abuse next year. Nothing is blooming here - snow, sleet, rain. But I have a pot of gorgeous daffodils brightening up my life in the kitchen. I am waiting to see what is planted outside before I do any digging or planting. I need snowdrops and crocuses for reassurance. Waiting... |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: jimmyt Date: 23 Feb 03 - 10:19 AM crocus and daffodil just noticed today. Camilia for the last month SHould all break loose within a few days if the weather keeps creeping up here in North Georgia |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: CarolC Date: 23 Feb 03 - 10:38 AM Still pansies. And yesterday I saw some daffodills. I also saw some kind of purple flowering tree, but I don't know what it was. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a redbud. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 23 Feb 03 - 11:35 AM My garden always has a flower in it, I planted it up 4 years ago just after my dad died, and I made sure I had a plant for every month in it. Got early purple primroses, rosemary, crocus and verbena in it at the moment.... daffodils, elephants ears and violets blooming in others. LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Feb 03 - 01:12 PM I didn't mention where: Edgecliff Village, surrounded by Fort Worth, Texas. This morning I found a lone early coreopsis in a cluster planted next to my front porch. I sat out there in the sun with my cup of tea and surveyed the various sprouts. I think the Salvia greggi may bloom early. My redbud may have died, there are no bud swellings on it now--it was never a healthy specimen (it was planted in the heat of last summer, though it got enough water). SRS |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: gnu Date: 23 Feb 03 - 01:45 PM Snowblowers are popping up everywhere !!! Ariens, MTD's, Hondas, a virtual myriad of bright red and orange and yellow and green. It's really quite a display. Their fragrant odours of gas and oil gently permeate the quaint wind gusts that whip the snow and sleet against any exposed skin such that you can't help but feel alive. Ahhhh, Mother Nature.... the bitch ! |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Metchosin Date: 23 Feb 03 - 01:47 PM so sorry gnu....why don't you get you and that boat of yours out to the wet coast? |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Nancy King Date: 23 Feb 03 - 02:54 PM Looks like those of us in the US mid-Atlantic and northeast will either have to wait a while or do some traveling to see any outdoor flowers. I figure on another month before we even get crocuses here in the DC area. But my favorite houseplant is doing fine, thank you. It's a cape primrose (otherwise known as streptocarpus -- such an ugly name for such a beautiful flower...) and it blooms almost year-round. This year it only took one month off: the last flower of 2002 faded in mid-December, and the first one of 2003 appeared in mid-January. Can't ask much more than that. It cheers me immensely. Looking forward to warmer days, Nancy |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: maire-aine Date: 23 Feb 03 - 03:04 PM My Christmas cactus only puts out one flower at a time, but it just finished with a bloom. I was expecting that, given a few days of sunshine, my heather plants would be blooming soon. Of course, that was before 6 inches of snow got dumped on them. I'm not aware of anybody else around here that grows heathers or heaths (Royal Oak Michigan, north of Detroit), but they really do put on a great show-- especially the Springwood Pink and Springwood White, with big mounds of pink and white buds, right in February & March when you really need them. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Hrothgar Date: 24 Feb 03 - 05:27 AM I have some outdoor maidenhair that's hardy, all right, Bobert - it's as tough as goats' knees. It has been suffering through the drought conditions over the last six months or so, so I trimmed back all the dead foliage a week or so ago. I timed it perfestly for the rain, heat, and humidity that we've had since then, and it has come back bigger and brighter already. Those new leaves on maidenhair, while they are still that light, soft green, are beautiful. Now, if you can talk your plant quarantine people into something ... |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Penny S. Date: 24 Feb 03 - 09:51 AM Coloured polyanthus, (well-bitten), and miniature daffodils. Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Janie Date: 24 Feb 03 - 11:35 AM Hillsborough, NC Camelia's (frost nipped), pansies, crocuses. early Daffs and reticulated iris in bud. (Last year was so warm the early daffs had finished by now--this year things seem to be back on schedule.) Janie |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Janie Date: 24 Feb 03 - 11:38 AM Oh yeh--in the wildflower department---common speedwell, chickweed, wintercress, purple deadnettle, the occasional stray and sheltered violet, a dandelion or 3, and a little bit of henbit. Janie |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Sorcha Date: 24 Feb 03 - 11:41 AM At -15F, nothing. Ver'damn cold here today. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Feb 03 - 11:53 AM I think our dandelions will be shrivelling back to their basal rosettes after the temperatures in the teens we had overnight. Yet it was warm enough on Saturday to mow. Typical Texas weather. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Burke Date: 24 Feb 03 - 02:22 PM No snow drops or snow birds. Snow showers, snow flurries, snow storms, snow banks, snow blowers, snow plows, snow shovels, snow rakes, snow bunnies. I recall there was a name for cars buried by snow & snow plows, but I've got CRSS. It's snowing as I type. We had half a week of above freezing, a morning of pouring rain & my roof is still not clear. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 24 Feb 03 - 03:01 PM Blueberries, camellias, blueberries, saucer magnolias, blueberries, redbuds, blueberries, various crabapples and pears. Oh! Did I mention blueberries? Reason for the emphasis on blueberries: We have hundreds of wild blueberry plants on our property. We have little shrubby ones, medium-sized bushy ones and huge tree-like things that take a ladder to pick. Some have little tiny berries and some have berries as big as the hybrids that they sell in the grocery store. Some bear as early as May and some keep bearing through September. If we wanted to work really hard at it, we could probably pick fifty gallons of blueberries over the season. Last year, we were visited by extremely un-Florida-like weather over the first weekend in March. It rained. The rain froze. It sleeted. It snowed. It killed all the cute little blueberry blossoms. Instead of tens of gallons, we got maybe two quarts of berries. Pitiful. This is a plea to the Weather Gods to LEAVE MY DAMNED BLUEBERRIES ALONE THIS YEAR! Thank you for your indulgence, Bruce |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: open mike Date: 24 Feb 03 - 03:35 PM outside: daffodils, daphnia(so sweet!) , star magnolia, vinca(gotta rip it out before it takes over, but the flowers are it's only good part!), violets, flowering quince, azaleas and soon the forsythia, and willow catkins are fluffing out, bay laurel and tanoak and indoors, paper white narcisus, hyacinth, christmas cactus and another succulent called gypsy earrings..does any one know what this plant is? I only know it by gypsy earrings.. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Joe Offer Date: 14 Apr 04 - 09:20 PM We went on our favorite hike yesterday, the Windy Point trail in the canyon of the North Fork of the American River, just below Cape Horn on the Transcontinental Railroad. Usually, this area is spectacular in early April, but I guess we didn't get enough rain this year. The poison oak is lush, healthiest I've ever seen - but the flowers are unremarkable. Last weekend, we went hiking in the wooded ravine next to our home, and saw over twenty varieties of wildflowers in blossom. Here's our list: brodeia, scarlet pimpernel, buck brush, wild cucumber, wild mustard, buttercup, dogwood, larkspur, blue-eyed grass, ceanothus, Sierra Nevada pea, star tulip, Hartweg's Iris, baby blue eyes, fivespot, ginger, popcorn flower, trillium, fawn lily, manzanita, mock orange, mountain misery, miner's lettuce, hound's tongue, pine violet, poppies, vetch, dandelion, lupine. We also saw a new sign posted on one of the trails next door:
-Joe Offer, Colfax, California- |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Ellenpoly Date: 15 Apr 04 - 07:51 AM The tulips and blooms on the fruit trees are making Regent's Park a Fairyland. If you get a minute, Londoners, try to get up there for a look-see. (Baby herons nesting, and baby swans paddling are also a treat.)It's right up near Cecil Sharp's House, as you must well know, so come early, take a stroll...there's even cafes dotted around the park for you to sit and have an ice cream...You'll see me by the big fountain...wearing ear phones, with a big old grin on my face..xx..e |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 04 - 09:27 AM Ahhh, the "N. Hamshire garden" thread seems to be a parellel thread but with more current gardening posts... Bobert |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: John P Date: 16 Apr 04 - 01:35 AM The tulips are in and the lilac is coming. The magnolia tree and forsythia are just finishing up. The keria are in bloom, as are the johnny jump ups and the bluebells. The clematis we thought we lost last year is climbing up the fence in an encouraging manner. The bush-with-the-fragrant-clusters-of-tiny-white flowers-whose-name-I-can-never- remember next to the front door and are in full bloom and fragrance. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: ranger1 Date: 16 Apr 04 - 09:49 PM I dunno about the cultivated stuff, but in Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park in Freeport, Maine, where I am priviledged to be a ranger, the blossoms on the red maples are starting and the trailing arbutus is budded. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Alaska Mike Date: 17 Apr 04 - 11:39 AM Nothing's blooming here. 17th of April and we just got another inch of snow covering everything this morning. I keep telling myself how much I love Alaska. Come on Spring. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Joe Offer Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:05 AM Excuse me, but I have to gloat. Monday, January 31, was chilly and grey here in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The garden looked pretty grey, too. On Tuesday, it turned warm - and the high temperature was 70 degrees every day this last week. I didn't see anything in blossom Monday, but there must have been 15 different kinds of blossoms in our yard on Tuesday. Most spectacular is our almond tree, covered with brilliant white blossoms. The hawks are soaring in the air, and I was entertained by a flock of magpies yesterday. Oh, and there were 15 to 20 California quail in our yard, and lots of robins. Ah, it's a wonderful time of year to live in California. It's still a foggy, grey winter in Sacramento, 45 minutes away - but I only go there on Fridays. -Joe Offer, Colfax, California- |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: GUEST,Splott Man without a cookie Date: 07 Feb 05 - 06:37 AM The daffodils have been out for about a week here in South Wales. Primroses in the garden since mid January. No signs of snowdrops yet. Anyone else? Splott Man without a cookie |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Donuel Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:20 AM These little white lanterns are still bloomimg. The Hyacinths I had potted indoors have passed. I am thinking of getting a gardenia but I have killed several before. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:22 AM Still snow & dead grass here. Something to look forward to, though. Thanks! bbc at intersection of NY, CT, & MA |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Donuel Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:28 AM Sounds wonderful Joe but when the weather report could include fire storms for your area, I'd have to make lots of contingency plans. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: LilyFestre Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:55 AM I have a (ONE) sunflower sprouting (in a container) and 6 little tomato seedlings popping up up on my kitchen table. :) Michelle |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 07 Feb 05 - 12:54 PM *groan* Mild as it's been (into the 40s and 50s F!!) it's still winter, and another major storm is coming this week. Winter's back may be broken, but it's still got that old fighting spirit. Wouldn't I love a trip to the islands just about now? Allison |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Charmion Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:03 PM In Ottawa, the potholes are full-blown on every heavily travelled street and road, especially at intersections and under over-passes. Last week a new one opened at the intersection of King Edward Avenue and Rideau Street; I darned near broke the rear axle dropping into it. The Cyrville Road on the way to Home Depot is like the impact area on a mortar range. The potholes come into bloom every winter during the first major thaw, which usually coincides with Winterlude (the municipal winter carnival) so as to wreck the skating. Proof positive, as if more were needed, that Ottawa is no place for a person of finer sensibilities once the novelty of the first snowfall has worn off. In my case, that usually happens about nine seconds after the first snowfall begins turning to slush and pounded ice. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: mg Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:12 PM camelias are almost done..to the brown stage. Rhododendruns are out. Quince blooming like crazy. Some flowering cherry. Daffodils, daisies. haven't seen any croci yet. mg |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:15 PM The Japanese flowering quince has been blooming for about a month now. It got an any early start because we had some unusually warm weather in December. Since then the hard freezes haven't knocked off the flowers. Daffodils have been pushing up, no blooms in my yard, but several at the university where I work. Lots of little weeds in bloom, and dandylions are going strong. SRS |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: gnu Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:33 PM I'll dash right to it and get the snowblower out and clear the four feet of snow off the garden to see if there's anything on the go. Although it actually is 6C here today, which is a 30C increase from the last couple of weeks. Ahhh, Mother Nature, the bitch. She's just teasing us with a hope of spring and it'll snow like a banshee within a few days. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: open mike Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:43 PM out doors...daffy-dills! daphnia!http://mobot.mobot.org/cgi-bin/search_vast?w3till=50111158_001.jpg (so sweet--intoxicatingly!! (waiting for the day that fragrances can be sent thru web as well as images and sounds!!) daphne odorata... Snowdrops (a bulb) in containers on the porch: calendula, primrose, "million bells", osteospermum, and ornamental cabbage family members... inside--hyacinth, narcisus, Gypsy Earrings (a succulent or bromiliad?) Christmas Cactus, and another house plant that i do not know the name of (it is a viney-thing with a bamboo trellis in the pot. the blossoms are sort of white papery things...(sort of like Bouganvilla)balloon-y shaped with a small red berry-looking bloom sticking out of the center... i wonder if this rings a bell with anyone who might know hwat it is called? i have been told it might be in teh coffee family... |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Bat Goddess Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:44 PM Mud, mostly. At least in the spots where there isn't brownish black snow or invisible ice. The cats hate it almost as much as winter wonderland. But Tom got me a bunch of daffodils at the grocery store yesterday -- first of the season! (I love that man.) Linn |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Layah Date: 07 Feb 05 - 02:19 PM I never understood seasons before this year, having lived all my life in Southern California where our seasons consist of hot and warm. Now I'm in Edinburgh, and it's amazing to see the changes in the plants. A bunch of little yellow flowers very suddenly appeared when it started getting warmer two weeks ago. Back home I always have trouble with gradens when the seeds say things like "plant after the last frost" and I think, well if we don't ever get frost then when should I plant? The answer, I have found, is whenever I feel like it. I can't wait until the trees get some leaves, they look so naked now. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: open mike Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:02 PM osteospermum upon-further-investigation flowering-quince-is-bloom-today |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: GUEST,MMario Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:05 PM Bone-sperm-chysanthemums? |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 08 Feb 05 - 11:26 AM I got so tired of the snow & cold that I put computer wallpaper w/ palm trees on all of the library computers. I told my students that we've all gone to the Bahamas & we won't come back till the 1st day of Spring (happens to be my birthday)! They prefer a virtual vacation to none at all. A second to Allison's comment. We are expecting heavy, wet snow Wednesday night into Thursday & they are threatening "accumulation." best, Barbara |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Crystal Date: 08 Feb 05 - 02:09 PM Nothing is blooming in Aberdeen except some miraculous Roses which appeared a few days ago and seem to have survived the frosts, although they are a little brown around the edges. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 08 Feb 05 - 02:35 PM I have a jonquil almost in bloom! It was showing yellow, so I brought it inside to "force" it to open. |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Joe Offer Date: 17 Apr 05 - 12:58 AM We hiked one of my favorite wildflower trails today, the Stevens Trail. It's an old wagon road that crosses the canyon of the North fork of the American River, going from Colfax to Iowa Hill, California. It's about 1,200 feet down from Colfax to the river, a distance of 4-1/2 miles. I've never made it to the river. Last August, the Stevens Trail Fire devastated the area, and I was wondering how the trail had changed. It changed a lot, but it's still spectacular. Many trees are gone forever, but the wildflower display was spectacular. One thing that surprised me was that many varieties were much larger than I usually see. Perhaps the fire left nutrients that made the plants grow unusually big. Whatever the case, it was spectacular. The flower varieties were too many to count - lots of poppies, lupine, and brodaeia (blue dicks). Some Indian paintbrush, and California pinks (which are red), a succulent called Canyon Dudleya, Globe lilies (Chinese lanterns), Iris, Baby Blue Eyes, Balled Gilea, tiny carnations, Sticky Monkey Flower, a magenta flower that may be another Monkeyflower, and one we call Popcorn. We could see kayaks in the river far below us, and freight trains rounding Cape Horn above. Cape Horn was one of the most treacherous spots for the Chinese laborers who built the Transcontinental Railroad. The trail was steep going back, and I thought I was going to die. Guess I'd better get back in shape. -Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Leadfingers Date: 17 Apr 05 - 06:45 AM Too Blooming much at the moment as I detest Gardening ! My lawn is a Nature Reserve as far as I am concerned !! |
Subject: RE: BS: what's blooming ? From: Leadfingers Date: 17 Apr 05 - 06:46 AM Oh and this is the 100th blooming post !
-Joe offer- |