Good for your Caroline! That's nice mix of perennials.

Liz, that's amazing that you have put down that much rose fertilizer. Your growth is exciting. I'm glad you live within easy driving distance so you can check on your garden often.

I am still in garden clean up mode.

Here is a pretty clump of purple iris reticulata blooming today.






Pastelorama is pushing up.




I can't wait for more signs of Spring!

Just went to take a look at what's blooming on the way to the grocery store will take more pictures later

LizinElizabeth said:

Liz, lovely Hellebore you got

Oscar, your last picture with Inpatients is not take in Canada Right?

We had two really cold days and nights, but the temperatures are going up. It still only 3C outside, but I am going to the garden to keep cleaning.

All TPs are doing great. The leaf buds are swollen and you could tell that my TPs cannot wait to start leafing out. I only cannot tell what is happening with two Guardians. They were planted rather deep, so I don;t want to dig around the plants. It appears as if they have not started growing yet. The little seedlings in the porch are leafing out. The new Cricket Hill Vermilion Jade Palace and Kagura Lion are pushing red growth below the tick layer of leaf mulch. I only hope that the flower buds will not be damaged by these temperature swings

Hi Jasmin you are so right could not pull that one over you, I am down under visiting my daughter in lane cove NSW. Will back in five weeks.

Oscar, I figured you were down under. Love the 4 O'Clocks. And the crape Myrtle in the second photo is gorgeous too.
Enjoy your "extra" nice weather. I hope you will not miss your peonies blooming!

Oscar, I thought that you were down under when I saw the pic I hope that the worst of our Canadian winter is over My tree peonies are doing well, and I don't see any reason for concerns, so far You will arrive in Canada in time to see your gorgeous tree peony blooms

All of the herbaceous that I have in the ground at our new house are showing now! Don't you feel like such a proud parent when you see them poking their heads out of the ground? I don't have a lot here, most are at the cottage, but I do have a few buds out there already! That's in addition to the bud on Snow Tower, a woody that's in an air pot!

This is a closeup of Erma, although there isn't a whole lot more than that for right now, it's only around 2" tall! Pushing up a bud!


Next up is Elise Renault. If you look very closely above the lady bug's head you'll see a tiny bud!


Next up is Early Sensation, look at that bud! Only an inch or so out of the ground!


And here's Tranquil Dove, 3rd try on this one as I've not managed to keep one of this variety alive, sadly.

And last up a few corals that I don't have a confirmed id for:

Wonderful Liz!! I can't wait for blooms.

Here is Blonde Vision




Heavenly Hint



Quitzen




I'm sure I'll have to be covering up these several times before Spring stays for good.

It's worth it though, LG! I'd rather see signs of life early and have to cover them than wait an extra month! Yours look amazing, really looking forward to seeing Heavenly Hint, is that one part of the group that Swenson's introduced?

Just looked it up and I was right, Anderson/Swenson. Looks like a peachy version of Bess Bockstoce in the registration pic, absolutely beautiful!

I got Heavenly Hint from Peony Shop Holland. I sure would love to see a bloom this year!

We will have mild weather again I started bringing the plant out from the porch I am sure we will have some frost during March, but these are all relatively hardy plants that should be OK Hooray for the spring

Mine are up far enough that I can see them from my kitchen window now! Have to look for the plant tags first but still!

I'm at the cottage today, weeding and fertilizing Not sure how much I'll be able to get done tomorrow, hopefully
I can finish that last row. Also have 15 bare root roses to pot up.

The spring is picking up overhere

These snowdrops were such a nice surprise I was trying to get snowdrops going for many years, but without any luck. Finally I gave up Suddenly, I don't know how, these little guys emerged. I don't remember when I planted them. I don't remember planting snowdrops last fall at all I even noticed one more group today.


These Hellebores are having a blast. They have just started opening, but I can tell they are particularly early and big this year. They look happy


And here are the first (little shy) flowers of Pulmonaria Rubra "Red Start".


All my tree peonies are pushing leaf buds. Those planted last fall are still below the ground, but they all have healthy looking shoots below the ground and mulch The old ones are pushing the leaf buds, but only the Central Planes varieties have started unveiling the flower buds. Here is the Black Dragon.


The herbaceous peonies are not showing anything above the ground. Only that little pink NOID that we all have (similar to wild Paonia Lactiflora) is emerging.


The little TP seedlings that were in the porch during the winter look healthy Here is older one; this should be its third year

Sounds like a good amount of work, Liz!

Jasmin things are really coming along for you. Glad you have snowdrops. They are so pretty.

I can't believe how far up my peonies are. And of course, we have two nights that are going to be in the low 30's coming up.

Are you going to cover the sensitive ones for the low 30s, LG? Our temps are just supposed to be in the mid 30s, hope it doesn't fall any further.
Yesterday was mostly rained out for weeding. I did get all of the roses in pots, that was the most pressing job, but I still have half of the biggest row to weed and the entire thing to fertilize. I won't be able to get down there again until late in the month, it's going to be a weedy mess by then. No one can beat Mother Nature though!

yesterday I got a full day in the garden, sunny but a little chilly. I am so out of gardening shape, I took a lot of time off last year recovering from some surgery and I have lost all my garden muscle. Everything hurts today! I need to get back in shape soon, I have a huge project for this year, finally tackling the last corner of our property and putting in a rose garden surrounded by dwarf/urban sized fruit trees-I've come to think of it as Aphid Central but I'll be potting up lots of pest control plants to tuck in at bases of the roses and likely releasing lady bugs and lacewings in the future. I'm growing all the roses and trees in pots for the season while I start the grading/terracing on the site. I likely won't be planting in ground till Fall but that's ok, I like a project with time and space to leave it occasionally for all the other things I have going on.

I weeded a big bed, cleaned up peonies and iris, cut down grasses and planted Icelandic Poppy and Lisianthus plugs I ordered from Farmer Bailey. We're getting rain all day today and it will water the tiny plugs in well. But in the last week we're showing real Spring progress, lots of buds pushing up and swelling/color on the TPs. I'm looking forward to Amber Moon and some Sonomas in this bed, the iris colors all complement them well and the Lisianthus in mid/late summer will carry the color on, I planted Champagne, Roseanne Light Brown, Terracotta, Brown. I might pop some special ranunculus in there too that I have growing in the greenhouse.

The greenhouse ended up being the best way to do winter sowing of some tough perennials I haven't had luck with, Angelica and Pulsatilla, I sowed them in six packs, kept them moist in a tray but left them in the cold greenhouse sun for the winter and a few are finally showing signs of life.

I'm launching my first 3 designs of vases this summer, it's been so much work and I'm scared and hopeful at the same time. One is perfect for bearded iris and another will look great with peonies. I even have a short one I designed for hellebores/tiny spring flowers that will hold the short stems of tree peony blooms. I was trying so hard to have them ready for May but it's all taking longer than anticipated. It's been a wonderful adventure designing vases for specific times of the year, I realized so many vases are form over function and I'm aiming for great function, easy to design in and beautiful forms.

Forgot to mention, found my first color on a woody bud at the cottage this trip! I brought it back with me so I could see the bloom opening

Red Hu

It is snowing today. The TP buds are still tight, so I am hoping there will be no damages Anyway, I don't think that my TPs have plenty of flower buds this year. I am getting ready to some disappointments On a more positive note, I found one more seedling. I think I noticed it last fall, but I wasn't sure if that was a little TP. Thus, this might be its second year above the ground. I am not going to move it. I will just mark it, water that area a bit more, and wait

I was working in the garden on Saturday and Sunday. I invited a handy man to help me move a couple of heavy stones. He also brought the mums back into the porch because we do expect low night temperature later this week Finally, I finished my little gardener's pathway in the front

My neighbour dropped buy to see the work in progress. She loved the garden, but one of her first questions was if I had a water feature in the garden I've been thinking of a water feature for a long time. I have everything; plants (trees, bushes, peonies, ground-covers), stones and pathways, sunny and shady areas, patios, table and chairs and a garden bench. I only don't have a water feature. I have to think of something this year

Toronto East End today around 5pm