Super dry here as well. Even when it snows it seems to stay so close that it blows away instead of melting!

I'm excited to see my blueberries with buds. Maybe I finally bought the right variety after all.

Nice SoCal! I actually disliked blueberries until I had some fresh from the garden—they lose so much taste by the time they make it to the supermarket. Hope yours produce tons!

Liz..There are southern high bush blueberries (about 5-6ft) that are amazing...so much better than the grocery store! I don't know where you can buy the plants, but we picked the blueberries near Hot Coffee, MS and they did well there...if you have room in your new place they would be fun. If they are like mine, they turn a brilliant fall color too.

SoCal..as I remember you said that you removed leaves of roses to send them into dormancy...I need to do that, but don't know how... have a couple of roses that haven't frozen yet...do you just pull them all off? (Those are also sending out new leaf nodes...am I too late?)

I stripped them bare, I also removed the branches that are crowded. If you have new growth, I'll just leave them alone. I'm in California, I remove them down to twigs all the time. I'm not sure whether it's a good idea for your zone.

I was really surprised to find shoots today! I was making my rounds, checking for squirrel or child damage/digging and saw a glint of red in my veggie bed where my purple itohs are overwintering. Morning Lilac or Cora Louise is growing! I checked my other bed and found Spumoni Whispers also had a shoot. Going to add mulch and hope for the best. SW is the bottom pic.

We'll be brown and dead looking here until at least late March, I envy the signs of life you in the warmer zones are already seeing! It is going to be so much fun adding plantings to extend my bloom season on both sides in AL!
Annie, are those blueberries the species they call rabbit eye? I think that's what is recommended for the area we'll be in. Will definitely be growing blueberries, absolutely mind blowing difference between home grown and store bought! I'm trying very hard to hold off buying any other plants until I get beds ready for them—which won't be until AFTER I get the ones still in grow bags in the ground so it'll be at least next fall before I get any, think winter is best transplanting time down there?

I grow some blueberries. The birds get most of them!!

My favorite one is Sunshine Blue. It is a rabbit eye, Liz!

I love the foliage color in Fall, and the pollinators love the blooms. Maybe this year I will get more from the bushes.

I've had no luck with blueberries. Deer eat them to the ground. This yeah I need to put some wire or something around them. Out of everything in my garden the blueberries seen to be the biggest deer magnet.

Lg and Liz, all I remember is that there wasn't a ton of blueberries on each bush and the bush looks very different than what I have here. (And they were yummy!)

SoCal...I only have a couple of bushes that haven't frozen, because they are in a very protected location, so I will try stripping them.

I see evidence of Etched Salmon, Coral Sunset, another Coral Charm, Felix Supreme emerging. Next week we will have rain, after that I will try to take some pictures of their progress. However, my tree peonies are doing nothing, I thought they are supposed to be earlier than herbaceous.

Oscar those hellebores are smashing!! Such vibrant, clear colors. Is the orange-ish one in the upper right hand corner a named variety? Mine are just buds.

SoCal, I think that newly planted woody peonies are a little slower to wake up the Spring after planting. Hopefully you will start seeing some growth on them in February.

Thanks LG.

I've counted and I have at least 12 blueberries with lots of buds. When I purchased them from the farmers market guy, I made sure they have lots of big blueberries already, just to make sure. Anyway I found out if I water them often in the early stage of fruit formation, they do get bigger.
Today one of my mulberry trees from Florida is leafing out, I think this one had a few tiny fruit last year.



White hyacinth

Ooo flower!!! Pretty SoCal. We've still got months to go here in CT.

Thank CT, I have no idea

We had a bit of snow this morning, just a flurry really, but it is definitely still winter here!

We don't have snow here but we have high wind. I think they are not good for peony buds. Yesterday I checked and one of my Itoh buds seem to be frying, not developing. The next few weeks we are going to have rain, lots of rain.

I confirm 2 young Itoh buds are dead. What a sad thing to see. I will have to pinch them off soon. Rain is coming today and next week. It's too dry here.