It's over here. Much wind and rain, rain blowing sideways, for about an hour - the very hour I was supposed to be traveling to a student's house, lol (rescheduled to tomorrow). Fast, kind of furious, but no tornadoes, or even large tree branches, at least not in my immediate neighborhood.

Nothing like what some of you are dealing with, but for us - snow flurries could come in tonight or tomorrow (not sticking snow) with temps in high 20°s - then by next week we could be tapping 80°s. My spot on this hillside is completely fire cleared all around the house - no close trees or cover so I'm always a few degrees cooler and a few degrees warmer than they list for downtown (which is a bit lower elevation).

April is National Frog Month. That's kind of a special theme for me, as I'm sure it is for most people.

My intention was to post April's game on April Fool's Day, but I missed the target. I'll post something this weekend to celebrate this busy transitional month.

Shared one shot over in Tomatoes, but doing it here as well. I've NEVER had snow before in April.My home is technically considered "below snow line" and I usually only get a few snow storms per year with maybe one or two having snow that sticks around 2 days. Then this happened (yesterday morning shots, snow starting to melt but still here).

Power was out all day yesterday and it was COLD. Luckily, although seedlings in garage didn't have light all day or extra heat - they appear fine. Believe it or not, we're still supposed to be tapping 80° with a heat spell by Thursday.

Wow, @Faerygardener, that would make me crazy!

Yes @kywheeler it's a roller coaster this month. Right now the forecast is 78° Thurs, 70° Fri and down to 53° Sat. Still have a few last patches of snow that should melt off today, All the winter bulbs are now going sideways or flat. Not going to bother to try to stake them up. I"m hoping after this weekends cold storm things even out and I can put out the row covers.

Is anyone interested in trading for crocus tommasinianus (early crocus) seeds now? I just noticed they're starting to go to seed and they're most viable when sown soon after they are collected.

I wish I could, but I think the squirrels dig up and eat all my crocus. None have survived...

Questions - I trust you folks which is why it's here instead of another forum.
Have you ever tried the saucer of soy sauce and veg oil for earwigs? Just put some out this morning but it's not what I usually do. Have done the rolled up damp newspaper but it doesn't collect all that many for me.

Have you done collars for cutworms? It's been awhile and they've worked in the past for me. Veggies are bigger so will probably use plastic cups I plant in instead of tp rolls.

Finally putting the veggies in the ground and really don't want them to be all chewed off in a day. One year earwigs got ALL the zinnia seedlings I'd planted.

Maggie,
I don't seem to have earwigs here, but the cutworms were doing me in, until I accidentally found a solution. I got a Skeeter Hawk that sucks mosquitoes into a trap with a fan. It worked, but it also attracted and sucked in millions of moths. The cutworms (moth larvae) nearly disappeared. It draws in moths from quite a ways, but it does require an electric outlet, and I keep my sheltered from rain.

I was considering Bt, but really didn't want to risk hurting the butterflies. It catches some beetles, too, but not the fireflies.

Diana looks good, I may have to try something like that. If I leave an outside light on I do get moth suicides.

Does anyone have any unique commercial petunia seeds? I'd do a 1:1 swap now if anyone has some for trade. I ordered an extra packet of E3 Easy Wave Blue pelleted petunias from Harris Seeds by mistake. I meant to order a different Easy Wave color so looking to trade the E3 Easy Wave Blue for another cool petunia variety.

Sorry @Mollie670, I planted all mine since they're pelleted and won't last till next season. Then of course I left them a bit too long when placing outside in the sun and lost a whole bunch. Here, I'll be lucky if the last batch survive as they take SO LONG from seed and we get so hot too fast for tiny seedlings.

Like you, I had been thinking if someone really wanted to start any of the seed they'd wishlisted from my list - I'd be happy to send for postage. I had dug up and sent a bunch of tubers to Hortaholic back when we were chatting about those.

Love your Crocus, but they didn't do well for me the time I bought a couple of bags - otherwise I'd be jumping on the offer.

@Faerygardener thanks for your response. I've found my pelleted seeds have good germination the first 2 years but it declines after that. This year I had a few varieties of petunia pelleted seeds from 2021 and the germination was 0-5%.

AudreyDee said: Just a note to say that I finally received my Small Lots of Seed permit via e-mail, about 20 days after I mailed the application. Of course, I also called the APHIS office and faxed them a copy of the application after somebody there suggested I might get a faster response that way.

Yesterday, I e-mailed my congressman's office, too, to see whether the people there could expedite the process. (Patience has never been my strong suit!) So, I don't know whether the fact that I received the license today was due to that or just a coincidence. Now I'll have to hope that the seed company still has my seeds!

Just an update to say that I finally received the replacements for my Plant World seeds yesterday and all seemed to be present and accounted for. The company mailed the seeds on April 16, so it must take them about a month to get through the quarantine process. There wasn't any actual quarantine label on the package but there were two address labels, so I'm assuming that APHIS covers up the quarantine label once they've approved the package. Of course, it's too late now for the outdoor winter treatment that some of the seeds prefer, so I'll probably have to come up with alternatives! But at least I can sow a few of them now. . .