Green Side Up
What I want to know is, is this Dogwood Winter or Snowball Winter? Both are in bloom and the redbuds still are too! Maybe we’ll get these over at once, leaving Blackberry Winter still to come. Hopefully, we’ll survive them all. One plant frost/freeze doesn’t seem to affect is poison ivy. Recently I cleared some land that was overrun with it. I say “cleared” but I don’t know if that’s really possible. 
The tulips are beautiful this year. Mine started just before that cold spell and I was afraid that would be it, but they have lasted and flourished here, there and everywhere. It’s rekindled an interest in them, especially after a friend told me the first hummingbird in her yard was checking out her red tulips. I also had my first hummer, last Friday, alternating between the porch feeder and the redbud. Get your feeders out now and lure in those scouts. The rest of the flock will follow soon.
“Redbud Winter” I’d not heard of such a thing ‘till coming to Kentucky. I don’t know if we didn’t have such a thing, or if I was just unaware. It’s a time of contrasts - warm, sunny days then clear, cold nights, with the accompanying potential for frost, or even a freeze.
As a home gardener, I protect a few things, but most of my plants are of the tough variety and if they’re not, they don’t stay here long. My flowering trees are beautiful, but much too large to try to do anything for, other than go around and admire them once again, thank them for their beauty and wish them well through the night.
Wow! What beautiful blooms out there! Sure is nice to sit back and look out over a newly mown yard and see all the blooming trees, shrubs and bulbs. The daffodils/jonquils have been spectacular this year. They reproduce so well and are usually reliable bloomers but this year they have really outdone themselves. After the blooms have finished, leave the foliage to gather energy. Eventually it will yellow and die back at which time you can cut mow them down. Look for bulbs in the fall to plant your own show.
Springtime is amazing here in Kentucky! There are so many plants blooming with more appearing each day. The forsythias, Mellow Yellow Spireas and the daffodils/jonquils have been blooming for a week or so, now they’ve been joined by the japonicas (quince), and bridal veil spirea along with a great show of the pears (flowering and fruiting both) and cherries (weeping, eating and Yoshina types.)
We’re having a typical Spring, with the temperatures fluctuating up and down, warm, sunny days alternating with snow flurries. The days are longer and we long for the sight of blooming plants. The daffodils and pansies are looking so pretty now. If you want to put out pansies do it as soon as you can. They don’t mind the cold at all, but they don’t like the extreme heat of summer so plant them in a pot you can move to a cooler location as the season changes.
Isn’t it nice that we get an extra day of February this month? It flies by quicker and quicker each year; an extra day will come in handy. After all, March sounds like Spring to me, and I’m not sure I’m ready for it. I do like days where filling the bird feeders, hanging with the animals and finishing a good book are the goals.
But Spring Fever is out there, catching us unaware. We walk by a flower bed and find ourselves itching to dig or snip or rake, to get ready for the colors again.
Cold and snowy one day, balmy and warm the next….must be getting on towards Spring! We may not be out there tilling up the garden, but we’re thinking about it…If you’re looking out the window for Spring and all you see is snow, you can start your gardening indoors and forget about the snow. One way is to grow your own seedlings.
Greetings from sunny California! I’ve been on vacation here in San Francisco, visiting my son and his wife and enjoying the warm temperatures. It’s such a treat to walk down a street and see trees and bushes in full bloom. Redbuds, crabapples and tulip magnolia petals cover the sidewalks and the scent of the camellias alert you to their presence. Geraniums are so hardy here, I’ve even seen three-foot-tall hedges of them. They have such a warm climate here that many of the plants we think of as tropical and bring in each winter, are planted in ground and become large.
The recent warm weather has brought a rash of Spring Fever. I know I have it. The plants and trees must be feeling the stirrings of growth, even tho it’s early for them to be popping up or out as the case may be. There’s not really much we can do about it, except enjoy the warmth, appreciate the rain and lower heating bills. Bulbs are starting to peek out of the ground and hopefully will not be damaged if (when) the cold returns. You might cover them with more mulch to protect them.
