Your bowl is gorgeous Julia. Isn't it frustrating when you can't get your camera to pick up the true color. Streaker is beautiful right now, out in my beds.

It sure is frustrating. I ran outside in just a t-shirt and fleece so I was shaking a bit. Many of mine have dead leaves around them, guess I will clean that up in the spring. Don't want to do to much to them in this frozen state but look at them.

I agree, don't thing it would be a good idea to disturb them during this kind of weather.

ALL gorgeous, Spring ...ooops, Julia
I wish I could find some oval molds for some hyper-tufa projects next spring. Easier to get around than a round one

Hi all, I've been drooling over all your beautiful winter pictures! Brrrr I'm shivering just thinking about some of those temperatures! It's mild here at the moment, in the 40's by day and down to about 30 at night.
I've fogotten who it was that posted the pic of the semp/sedum wheel, but I love it! It's just the sort of formal planting that I was thinking about for my knot garden. Had I been up to date on the forum i'd have seen it before I posted. That'll teach me to find time to drop in more often!
Stay warm everyone xx

Yeah, things are looking up here weather-wise. Back to the usual drizzle and high 40/'s over the weekend. Today the freezing fog has covered all the trees in a thick hoar frost. It looks a scene out of Narnia!

I'm going to bring all the pots that haven't gone to the kitchen window back out to the protected area next to the garage tomorow as the weather improves. I can cover the pots with Remay on frosty nights that way and that will protect down to 23F. There is a raised bed of daylily seedlings that are ~4" tall already. Covered with Remay during this horrible weather (down to 11F in Salem), they look fine. Of course they are near a corner of the house, so are very protected.

I am SO excited about the crosses that are germinating in the kitchen window. There should be some really interesting combinations of the parents. If these pots are an indicator, there will be a LOT of seedlings come spring. I will NEVER start my seeds early again, however. I don't want to play MOVE THE POTS any more. much easier to plant them in late February-early march and let them grow naturally. So after 50 years of breeding plants, I'm still learning.

Kevin

Kevin
When do you normally plant seeds? I was thinking of planting mine in February?

Yes I have planted mine in late February and early March here in Salem. In MA I did plant them in the Fall in isolated beds in the ground and then covered with leaves so that they would not be disturbed until I removed the leaves in spring. However, it was MUCH colder in MA so I'm pretty sure that the seed never saw the kind of temperate winters (for the most part) that we see in the Pacific NW. In MA I did have trouble getting decent germination out of certain crosses and now I wonder if they were ones which did germinate early and were killed off or just never survived the winter.

Interestingly, as I went back to using my line of seedlings I am getting REALLY high germination percentages from these cultivars. Others are MUCH less willing to give me a good batch of seedlings. Maybe I accidentally selected for high germination lines by growing seed in a less than ideal climate. I can tell you that 'Jungle Shadows' seeds. for instance germinate at ~100% and the seedlings derived from 'Silverine' are a close second.

Kevin

Oh, no, more important stuff to read from Kevin in yet another thread before I attend the clinic in May. I will have mega reading to do between the two (three) threads where Kevin has been posting.

Bev you'll be fine! He likes to share, so he'll be telling you (and us) about these seedlings again while we're down in OR!

Promise?

Bev,

No worries THERE ARE NO TESTS! Just sit and absorb what you can. I think everyone at last year's clinic felt that they grasped the material after they tried it themselves on the seedlings. Some people took notes, others just used the handouts as their guide. You can download the notes from the last clinic on Toby's web site. The most important page describes the chaacters that we evaluate in selecting a good semp. That page should be your Bible!

This year I plan to do less lecturing and more showing examples among the plants. You will use those criteria to evaluate seedlings and pick out new parents.

Kevin

And I do enjoy your stories and info!

No tender seedlings in MA that's for sure. Interesting thoughts on the germination.
I need to read that info sheet a few more times to get the lingo down and know what I'm looking at.

Me to Julia. I think I will go over it several times before the clinic in May.

Here in Dallas, OR we got down as low as 6 degrees. The rain has arrived here also, but we still have some snow. Hope the roads are sheets of ice in the morning.

As Lynn and Cynda can tell you I've got a few more good stories for this clinic. They are sworn to secrecy, however! I think the story explains why we hybridize better than the bees do very nicely but I'll say no more!

My snow is melting here. We ended up with just rain today. I'm DEFINITELY glad to be back to drizzly cool but not cold winter. The pots go back outside tomorrow except for the ones I've pushed in my kitchen window. Those might have names on them by May! Not quite but they will be easier to row out at 5 months old than one month.

Kevin

I noticed that my semps seemed to like the freeze better than this drizzle...or so it seems! (I have 4 troughs of plants that is all a new set up and with the rains I noticed that I have not used the right soil mix...everything seems slightly too damp. And this doesn't seem the right time of year to pull everything out and redo the soil. I'm looking at several summer projects in 2014!
Those that survive will be even more special! I'll take photos tomorrow, because there are some beauties! Topaz is completely amazing! During the summer I wondered why I kept so much of this one from the previous year...now I know! Its winter coloring is so wonderful! (I almost took photos in the rain today but it was just to wet!)

I will miss the lovely sunshine but not the freezing nights. I will complain less about the rain, well try too. I have some projects as well. The cart isn't working for semps to well because, each layer of the selves shade the semps. They don't look to good. I may move them to a different location see if I can get more sun in there. It was pretty good in the summer but the sun is so low now that it's in the shade almost all the time. Anyway not happy with the whole thing. May just use the cart for storage of hand tools, hand sprayers and small boxes of fertilizer in the garage.

I agree Greg, the semps do seem to like the dry cold weather. DH wanted idea for Christmas so went a step farther and bought some semps from North Hills Nursery. Lynn stay safe driving to work. Love your stories Kevin.

Here's what I hope someone can help me with.
I am more and more thinking of a garden (both hobby and later on a small business) with HARDY succulents (sempervivums, sedums and the like) and alpines that go well with these.
My question is... does it matter the position of the land (I mean facing south, north, etc) ?
I found a nice piece of land on a little hill outside my parents' village.
So it's on a little slope (which I think it's good... in spring it rains quite a bit and the fields sometimes get pond-ed :)
In summer on the other hand, we don't get enough rains... and occasional watering is necessary.
But for now, I only want to know if position of the garden matters at all.