Lovely blooms Charlie, that's too bad you can't grow the lilies, there are so many pretty ones. I have one small group of checkered lilies, I had 2 but last year the darn voles ate them.

Sue, very pretty blooms, glad that you got to enjoy some sunshine today.

Thanks Margaret, the sun makes the delay of the flowers bearable. It's been a looooong winter!


So sorry you can't grow lilies Charlie!
My heart would be broken if I couldn't grow them.
Of all the flowers that I love the lilies have been my passion.

Margaret, I just noticed the banner was yours. Nice!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the commiserations re lilies, Margaret, Sue.
Got a lot of mileage from asiatic/oriental lilies.
The biggest single loss to me was the toad-liles, which contributed to fall variety.

Probably know, but had read how poisonous above lilies are to cats
e.g. the ingested pollen from an "Easter lily" can kill a cat within a week
and not a good way to die.

I'd not used day-lilies until the lily beetle plague, but thanks to Sharon's influence,
I then started to use then and now am very fond of day-lilies.
Read recently that some day-lilies are also poisonous to cats.
Have to check it out.

Think a typical problem is indoor cats brushing past "Easter lilies" and then licking the pollen off.

Don't have cats at this time, but found most of ours didn't eat plants when chaperoned in the garden.
Of course, the last cat who passed, Buddy (who'd eat anything smaller than himself - Carol said, lucky we're bigger),
used to eat the crocus leaves and then run in to vomit on the living room carpeting - something for me and something for Carol!)

Margaret, re banner (is that the avatar?), certainly agree with Sue, as said.
Your photography is always exceptional.

And Sue's. Very nice.
I still have a customer (a very nice lady with a very big property) who requested I not use red perennials in the garden I put in.
Funny - I Iove to see some red (that is red flowers).
Wish I'd got more species tulips last fall and love the red primulas when they appear.

Sue and Charlie thanks on the banner. You can click on the title of the banner at the bottom of the page and it will take you to the banner page,

Charlie the avatar is your lovely photo beside your name and on your profile, mine is the eagle right now, I think it might be time to change it to something springlike.

Thanks for the info, Margaret.

Today, I'm also wearing shorts and a teeshirt for the first time since Florida.

Re the voles: so it's lilies as well as crocuses?

Have long though that if you could tell the voles what to eat, they'd be very useful.

Another possibility: The bulbs could be bioengineered with a toxin the voles would avoid.
Of course, the wholesalers/retailers would rather bioengineer all of the bulbs, they sell, to take out any toxins.
I buy several hundred crocus bulbs each fall, just for our own garden.

Spring has Sprung in Northern Minnesota!! We still have lakes of snow and water but no more oceans.
I can't believe how much snow has gone yesterday, overnight, and today.
I have a few crocus blooming and lots of bulbs that had started to come up even when the snow was still there.
Now the big job of cleaning everything up begins.

Great news, Sue.
Always makes one feel good when the garden starts to get going.

I do a major cleanup and weeding late in fall for several reasons, but you evidently have harsher winter conditions than us.

It really is spring here. We've been siting on the deck to have lunch. Now going to have a glass of wine.
Am about to stop feeding the migrating birds so they'll move on.
Currently the feeding area is dominated by grackles, which seem to keep other birds away and are continually pooping from the tree in the deck.

The crocuses are finished in sunnier location but looking nice today in less sunny spots.



That particular lungbane (bought as Pulmonaria longifolia cevennensis - not sure about it) is still the only perennial in bloom in the garden.



Don't think I outpaced the voles in planting species tulips last fall (not so many readily available).
Today's best.

Sue, that's great, about time you had some spring weather.

Charlie, lovely blooms, sorry the voles got to your tulips, the ones you have are very pretty.

The bulbs are so cheerful Charlie! I clean some things up in the fall but I leave most of it. I live on a hill and we get a lot of wind so if I clean everything
the wind blows the mulch off and the plants are bare. If we get snow that stays right away the perennials will be ok but if we don't and it gets really cold
it's really hard on the plants. I tried cleaning them in the fall one year and it wasn't good. I lost a lot of things so I just wait for spring now, then I don't stress
out so bad when it gets cold without the snow.

Margaret are you having sitting on the patio weather too? Isn't it nice to be able to be out again!

Sue, no patio weather here the past few days, it has been extremely windy, broke a large branch off the weeping birch, small branches and twigs off the willow tree, my metal weather obelisk garden art blew over on top of a daylily, that didn't please me too well.

So sorry, Margaret, are the daylily and obelisk going to survive the fall? I hope it didn't break off the flower stems from the daylily.
It seems like we're having a hard time getting the weather to co-operate with gardening. Maybe tomorrow.....

Thanks Margaret, Sue.

It's interesting, Sue, that various factors, such as local conditions, promote different informed gardening strategies.

Sorry to hear of the weather/wind problems, Margaret.
One of the many nice things I've learned about daylilies since getting my first, four or five years ago, is that they're tough.

Sue, no problem with flowers stems yet, the daylilies are in the very early stage of growth, the obelisk is fine.

Charlie, the daylilies have to be tough to survive here. Looks like more wind for tomorrow.

With you, Margaret, when it comes to wind.
Winter here is often cold and bright, which would be fine.
When the winds come up, it's not so nice.

First daffodils today:



Think I was too critical of the voles, more species tulips are appearing.



Still lots of crocuses blooming in more shaded areas of the garden.
Overcast; so they're not open.



The sometimes odd/uneven distribution of bulbs is the result of having to plant new bulbs between in situ perennials.

Second lungbane coming into bloom (Pulmonaria angustifolia (blue lungbane)).
It's one of my favourite lungbanes and think it's a much better buy than some related Pulmonaria.

Charlie, you have some lovely bulbs in your collection.

The weather was horrid here today, woke up to an inch or so of snow, it melted by noon, but the rest of the day was windy, cold, a few light flurries, 37F/03/C.

So Sorry Margaret, It is so discouraging when you think spring is here and then you keep getting winter weather.
I was out and wondered around my garden and where the snow had gone in the night the deer had already been through and eaten lot's of the tulips.
They were there when we got up this morning and they just looked at me when I hollered at them. I had to go out and chase them!!!
And there were skunk holes all over in one garden that had uprooted some of the plants. I'm hoping this isn't gonna be one of those years when, between
the weather and the critters, you wonder why you even bother.

Lovely bulbs Charlie, It's good to look at yours because if the critters keep making meals of mine, pictures might be the only ones I get to see this year!

Sue, I am sorry to hear about your plants being eaten and dug up, how annoying for you.

Hello, I just stumbled upon this thread. Great spring shots!

Thanks Margaret, I went out and sprayed what was left of the tulips that were showing with Deer Off Spray. Hopefully that will help.
I haven't used it before so this will be a good test.

I'll quit grumbling now and be thankful for the beautiful day.