Today, I pumped in as much water as I possibly could on my labarynth of pots,..With tomorrows outlook of 32' and Friday 35' its gonna be a killer

It must be horrible to deal with the panic when there is so little that can be done.Do you think you will loose any plants?

We had an unusually warm March last year and the asiatics all grew to4-8 inches. I thought "goodie" early spring.In April we had killing frosts 3 nights in one week. Many of my plants were short or just never grew.

And the average person thinks gardening is such a relaxing activity.
Fingers are crossed for you.

We got about 4" of new snow. Bring it on, I say until the end of March. We now have over 2'. Just a drop in the bucket.

Too cold to do anything outside in my garden today. By December I had my garden all mulched and put to bed. But since it is January already I am ready for spring to arrive.

Rita, I still remember seeing those nice Oak leaves you use for mulch. I use them too but about a month ago the tree man, while trying to be extra nice and thought he would do me a big favor, ground up my whole gigantic pile of Oak leaves--planning to surprize me with his extra clean up when I returned. Because he is so good to me, I just couldn't find a way to tell him what he had just done. Today he used a front end loader to place piles of pine boughs around making it handy for me to put them in place--but I had to resort to few Cottonwood leaves sprinkled around on top--not exactly my favorite because they have a tendancy to pack.

I have voles here, so I have to wait for the ground to freeze a little before I mulch. I missed not seeing your photos this past summer!

You know I do the mulching each fall for winter. Don't actually look for oak leaves. It is just that there is a lot of oak trees around here.

Well, Oak leaves are the best! You you add any new lilies this past Fall?

No, no new lilies in 2012 at all. Sorry.

DD and I watched 6 more hours of season 2 of ROME.
I am beginning to think plants and definitely lilies.
This is what we have for snow and added another 3 inches last night.

The Grill,blue lights are LED strips under the railings, my SIL loves.Plus tip of another trellis with lights.


Trellis lights at back of the yard



Deck table and chairs with LED's.

Our garden is much the same but the first seeds have been sown.

It is very frustrating not to be able to walk around the garden looking for spots for new plants and bulbs.
We are due for warmer temps next week but I dont see anything amounting to a complete thaw which would make it possible to refill bird feeders.

It will be 4 months before daffodils and early spring bulbs bloom.

Good Grief Jo Ann, you've got the snow. I've only had two lite dustings and most of that has evaporated. I'm begging for about 6 or 8 inches right now.

Edit: Anthony would be playing in it today-- if only he had a little to cool his hot pots.

Thats the kind of winter we had last year. Not much snow and no freezing temps.I had a columbine live thru it,never went dormant.It died in July after blooming well all summer.

We have a nice 10-12 inch snow blanket over everything from 20+ that has fallen and stayed so far. Even when I was mulching last week, the barely moist leaf pile was only frozen several inches.

Roosterlorn said: Anthony would be playing in it[snow] today-- if only he had a little to cool his hot pots.

I do grow some plants that are not winter hardy here. This year, through some forgetfulness, I have some Scilla litardeirei sprouting now that wants the cool early spring weather. It's nice to have snow to cool down the soil when watering inside the house.

I wouldn't normally recommend this, but in Anthony's and Della's case, I'd be tempted to through an ice cube in each pot in the afternoon if it isn't too windy out.

Jo Ann, too much snow!

I have watched Rome on Netflix DVD and it was a really, really great series. I wish they had continued it but it was finially cancelled.

It was expensive to make but worth every penny as far as I am concerned.
Yes when the hero dies the story ends.

Mail me some over...Im melting -not so windy, so Ive been watering since 6.30 am...Scrap 1 'Chiaten'[terrible fall] , 1 Pink pioneer x Perfect pink with 2 seed pods[stick fell on],.,.,Such the joys of lilium growing and the challenges the earth sends us

Icecubes! Now there's a good idea. Except I won't be here this afternoon - I've watered everything last night and this morning, but in around an hour I'll be heading up to Burnie (a 5 hour drive) for their 'early' Lilium show. Hopefully I'll remember the camera and have pics to share

Fortunately it is very cloudy, meaning only the air temp is an issue for the pots - if the sun were out it would be a very different matter of lots of little lily-roasting ovens. Styrofoam seedling boxes insulate... and I have cover plants in alot of pots, others are shaded by grapes, and by early afternoon the apricot tree will be spreading its shade. I've trimmed most things I can see that would cause damage in the wind, especially to forming seed pods... so I'm nervous in case the sun comes out, but otherwise hopeful.

About 2 hrs after Della posted this, all of a sudden, the temperature went /beserk',.42.1 *,.,.Sadly, it was going to be a severe trip for her, as the 'Epping Forest ' Highway closed at about 2pm , due to severe bushfires[ which are out of control here],.,I hope she got through earlier ,..,.Man Alive, Its hot here

Hope all goes well for her.