Dianne ,I hope you find your camera...I envy you Iris blooming.. I do have 1 hellebore hoping for a few more blooms on it this year,it will be its 3rd season..They are soo cool..

chelle,I wondered if you used country garden scapes...I cant wait to go there.. Still Really kicking myself for not ordering more seed . I guess I still could

I have not grown 4oclocks for ever,didnt realize they had tubers ??...I started them from seed..Love the New broken colors too

Seed is the most common way to grow them. But they make tubers underground and down south where it doesn't freeze over winter those tubers grow each year and make big plants. Up north here they die over winter and 4 o'clocks have to be planted each year. Of course they do self sow and I do find plants popping up in odd places around the garden.

Its not spring here yet>

I am patiently (ok not so patient about it) waiting for spring. Still too early here to do much of anything in the garden. Meantime I am still working on my weight loss and exercising.

I think I'd be pretty content, if only briefly , with an entirely sunny day at this point. This unrelenting gloom saps my motivation. I've been curling up with a good book lately instead of getting things done.

Does anyone else have the book BHG Yard and Garden Projects? They show how to make a really cool water feature using an old millstone. What I wonder is...how the heck do you clean the pump filter? I can't imagine that they move several hundred pounds of stone once each week during the entire season!

I dont know what that project is but our fountain is on a buried bowl that holds the water.
If the millstone is on a gravel bed the pump is buried in the grave lthat surrounds the stone
hooking upthe fountain

.
the colum stands on a cylinder and the pumpis in the bottom of the bowl.



If none of this works there should be directions on Google.

The cover for the bowl base comes in sections.We remove a couple in order to do maintenance.

In this instance it's the second one. How in the world do they access it regularly, I wonder? Even though the stone filler would filter out particulate matter, wouldn't there still be algae issues? The filter on my little water feature needs to have the slime removed every week during the summer. Maybe they use an additive to control algae growth? Or, could it be that since the water isn't exposed to sunlight that it doesn't grow the algae? Interesting to ponder, I guess.

Chelle:I am just guessing but here is my thought on the alge issue.
The amount of water in the large bowl we have ,is so much and keeps moving due to recirculating pump
.Alge doesnt get a chance to grow.PLUS our fountain is in part shade.
We ,that is SIL. Cleans the fountain and pump every spring for set up and every fall for shut down.We also have a screen wrapped around the pump to act as a secondary filter.I buy a roll of storm door replacement screen.Its flexible and porous.
Our big problem was pine needles and worms clogging.
I took allthe stones off the base and made a "screen skirt with a slit for the base,replaced the stones and havnt had a needle problem since.Worms and slugs ,not so-much

No one gives the down-side of fountain maintenance.It is worth it to sit with a glass of wine and watch the birds bathing .
ANOTHER THING.The colum we have doesnt make much of a gurgling sound because the sides are too smooth.I can barely hear it when the neighborhood is quiet.

Sorry about some focuses.
http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4...
.

Chelle ,I too have a small water feature,having to clean it frequently.Also it being a very small pump clogs up easily.Id think a large pump would not have as sever problem...But definitly you would want to make access to the pump a fairly easy task.. But there is Nothing better than watching the Birds enjoy a water feature....While drinking a glass of wine....Ahhh Yesss....and someday I will have a BIG ONE...water feature that is..

Looks like Jo ann`s is a great set up,Jealous here...

Tamara.I had a small feature ,stones in a bowl on the deck.A very small pump as you say ,cloggs fast and It has such small vents they are hard to clean.
The nice feature in a larger set up is the bigger pumps can adjust the height of the stream.

I took a walk around the garden. Daffodils up all over the place. These are ones I had in my garden, the ones just planted last fall are not showing yet. I find that the bulbs planted the fall prior always break ground later than the bulbs already in the garden from past years. There are even some with flower buds showing.

Jo Ann on the pump size,my irritates the tar outta mee...LOL..I do have room for a larger one,soon as this one dies...

We have a tiny few things poking up,boy they better pull the blankets back over them selves...been good an cold steady,really surprized that they have poked up...poor things still a steady 21 degrees...it might warm up a bit today...maybe we will get some snow tonite...Michigan an Chicago are going to get blasted.

wishing I had not bought seed off ebay....Grrrr

But I have hopes of buying plugs...

I just found these.I lived somewhere elas until2007.These are my garden pix from 2003-2006
https://plus.google.com/photos...

Can you tell its boreing here?

Same here, Jo Ann. If it weren't for starting seeds, I'd go bonkers this time of year. It's still far too cold to get outdoors for any length of time, that's for sure. It's supposed to get above freezing here by the weekend...that would sure be nice.

Loved your pictures!

What do you have planned to do first once the weather allows?

I have some iris potted up that didn't make it in the ground last year; also some ajuga, a really neat campanula (Pink Octopus), a heuchera, one or two hardy ice plant and a few other odds and ends that need to planted ASAP.

There are hellebores I want to look at to see if they are growing.I want to check for emerging daffs and tulips.
There are some first plantings fromm last year I want to check and see if they returned but I wont be able to tell untilMay.I sure hope the snow is gone by then.
I always find surprises,plants I had forgotten over winter.

I dont mind the cold so much as the snow covering everypath way to the gardens.

do you still have your grandmother's dwarf irises? Looks like more sun where you are now.

I heard on the weathernews that we are supposed to get a big storm Wednesday and overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Depends on the track yet as to if it would be rain or snow or a combo of both. The news I just watched said a combo of rain and snow.

Irisarian:
I do have some.I also have Baby Blessed and confuse them all the time.
Grammas are shorter and I cant believe how long they have been going.

Newyorkrita said:I heard on the weathernews that we are supposed to get a big storm Wednesday and overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Depends on the track yet as to if it would be rain or snow or a combo of both. The news I just watched said a combo of rain and snow.

Yeah. It's supposed to be snow here, I think...maybe 8" worth. That usually happens about this time every year, just when we're really ready to see spring. It shouldn't stay long, however, since it's supposed to be near 50 by the weekend. Lots-a wet! Ran to the store to pick up a few things since we might not get out for a few days. Found some really neat covers that might work as rabbit deterrent cloches. I'll post to that thread in a bit.

Wondering what that storm will bring us...and everyone else....A March snow....patiently waiting for Spring...

Oh yes Bordum .... I thought about Cleaning.... no one pays me here...

Off to water seedlings...nice and sunny and toasty in there... feels like summer

Chelle ,it was not the Frilitary or what ever ...lol...Ill have to look an see if I wrote it down somewhere