That is crazy, Liz.

We had a beautiful sunny day today. It was cooled, but sunny. There were many people walking, skating, etc. I felt as the spring was coming (although my neighbor commented that she liked my optimism ) I spent three or four hours outside. Among other things, I checked on the mums and other plants on the porch. They are all fine. The mums have lots of new growth and the orchids looked alive. The violas are so cute, full of buds.
We expect snow, but it should be over in a couple of days (it is going to be very cold). After that, the temperature will be 1 or 2 above zero, which means that I can start gardening. The violas can go outside and I can start cleaning the mums. Cannot wait for the next week.
Furthermore, Gardener's World 2021 will start soon, that is, in March. Monty Don will continue hosting the viewers in his garden.

I dumped out another compost bin, I need to work this area in the shade for my hostas, roses, and probably in the Fall. This area is so hard, full of clay, I can't even dig them properly.
Anyway, my mulberry tree was planted only one week and it's already leafing, I think the compost was too good.

I pulled out a big pot with tulips from cold storage today. See how fast they will bloom in the house. Also I started germinating peppers and eggplants a few weeks ago, some are coming up. Too early for tomatoes, may be in 3 weeks or so. We can plant them outside only at the end of May - beginning of June. Will start with flower and cucumber seeds in April.

I added a bit of snow on the hardy orchids in the enclosed porch. I should add a bit more tomorrow. I went to buy groceries at Loblaws and noticed some daffodils and pinks on sale in their flower store. I bought them and left them in the porch. Hopefully, next week, I may start opening the porch door and let more fresh air in.

Not out in the garden yet as it is still under snow.
Starting seeds like petunias,calabrachoa,impatiens.
Begonias are well on their way.

We had more snow last night, around 4" on top of the ice remaining from the last storm....

Well at least your peonies are down in Alabama !

We got to 57°F today and quite a bit of our ice and snow melted.

I hope everyone is safe in this weather!

Sure hope so LG! Really want to get down there but not sure exactly when we'll go...need to get this house on the market. Think Jeff is taking 2 weeks off in early March but I know he wants to spend it working on his areas here...it might have to wait until early April.

I started sowing seeds for 3 different watermelon varieties and 2 more tomato seeds.
I also gave some of my peonies, the ones with buds some tiny little bulb tone. If I come here crying later about something wrong with my peonies, you know what I did wrong.

SoCal, it is quite wise to add fertilizer when peonies are growing. Just do not overwater them as it is a the major problem and they can easily rot or get botrytis. Do you have space for watermelons or you will get a trellis for them?

Thanks Alex, this area is dry. I think I know the problem with botrytis. Once this season is over I'm going to mount them. All the peonies grow in the heap don't seem to have problem so far.
I save a big area for big watermelons, last year I grew the smaller varieties. I have some 25xgallon Gro bags for them too. It's an experiment for me. I never grew anything bigger than 10 pounds.

I took the pine needles off the three woody peonies that I had stuffed them around for protection from the ice and snow. It's going to be 60°F (15.5°C) for the next couple of days and then soaking rain over the weekend.

The stems close to the ground were still wet. I always worry about rot, and these were the ones I transplanted a little while ago. Hopefully these two warm sunny days will let them dry out.

I went to buy groceries at Loblaws again; they had pinks on sale, so I bought all of them (13 little pots). I will have to find a nice spot in the porch for them, but I think that the violas and pinks, perhaps even hardy orchids could go outside next week. Love pinks

Tried to germinate foxtail lily seeds from 2019 and have 2 potted already. Exciting. Probably will do it again in summer as it looks seeds do not need cold treatment. Keep my fingers crossed for martagon lily seeds as they need cold to develop and need a few years to bloom. Not sure I can keep such commitment going. But 15-25 dollars a bulb is certainly an incentive.

Martagons are really worth trying from seeds since they are so expensive.
I manage to lose the sprouts for some reason.
Going to try again.
I soaked foxtail seeds, but was planning to then sow them outside.

My foxglove seeds have sprouted, one batch has lots of them. It shows I was frustrated with the tiny seeds. Now my job is to separate them before their roots get tangled.

Yesterday it was absolutely gorgeous here but I wasted the day running errands. Much colder today and supposed to get more snow this evening...glad to have your gardening successes here to keep me going!

Martagons are worth growing from seeds. There are easy to germinate. I have done them with seed starting mix, dampened in dark for 10 weeks, followed by ten weeks cold, you will see first leaf after that usually. Sometimes you can see first leaf during first warm period if seed is very fresh. Leaving in baggies help regulate them moisture for the first year or two, until they grow up a little and are a little less fragile. Good luck Alex with this project. It will also help realize why these bulbs cost more as they take a bit more time and effort.

I planted all of my tomato seedlings on the ground, now I'm starting the next batch. Maybe another 18 different varieties.