My place got more bed cleanup today. I'm SO tired of weeding! It's nice to find emerging plants, though.

More hostas are popping up each day. I'm finding that the smaller hostas are generally emerging before the larger ones. There's probably a dozen varieties that still haven't made an appearance, but I'm hopeful. No confirmed losses yet.

I finally broke down and did an inventory to see which heucheras/heucherellas survived the winter. The heucherellas did much better overall. Most of the heuchera losses were the expensive TNN liners, but that's not surprising considering their size. Plus, Murphy's Law says the expensive ones get it, right? Deer munch my Mom's hosta collection on a regular basis, and always seem to target the pricey ones first.

Yah, deer got to mine last year (among other things) so I moved them. Fortunately I didn't have that many yet. But this year the neighbors have a new boxer pup and I recently saw her barking at a young buck and doe she spotted behind the back fence. They quicly ran away. Our chain link fences are 4 ft. high and deer can easily jump them if they so choose. Or just stick their necks over and graze. But I think the dog will keep them away from now on.

I am planting heuchera this year and one heucherella. I'll be interested to hear more about how yours are doing.

Should Japanese maples all be leafing out now or do some leaf out later on? I am still hoping mine made it through the winter okay. So far, most other things are looking good.

I wouldn't worry just yet on the JM. Mine are all at different stages of leafing out, and my coral bark maple is still completely naked, as is my bargain 'Filigree Lace'.

It's looking ominous outside. They're expecting storms today into tomorrow, and then again Saturday. But, but, ..... I NEED to be able to work outside. I better run and get a few things done while I have a chance.

Go, Lady Vols!!!

The ladies are an excellent counterpoint to the men's season & troubles, aren't they? They are consistently good, year after year, and don't seem to be involved in scandals all the time. So proud of them!

Hey Tee, how are your Japanese maples doing? Mine haven't all completely unfurled, but now all of the maples are at least starting to leaf out. Still waiting on some of the slower hostas and many of the lilies. Also warm weather stuff like cannas, elephant ears, etc. It looks like I lost a large clump of shasta daisies. There's nothing there at all, but the soil isn't disturbed, so they weren't "daisy-napped". Wonder if they got eaten. They don't seem like a choice food.

Hi, Red. Well, still no leaves on that JM, but some of the branches remain supple and bend rather than snap off. I'm still hopeful. The silver maples are all leafing out. The Redbud has lots of buds and so does the White Dogwood. The forsythia are gorgeous!

I have one coneflower that's MIA. But the other three are up. My crinums are up, as are the daylilies. My Musa basjoo that I was worried about made it. The peonies are up. The creeping phlox are looking beautiful. I even have a salvia that is preparing to bloom! That surprised me. The sedums are all up nicely.

I just got the first of a couple of nursery orders so I have stuff to plant. It has been rainy (3+ inches), windy and cool for a few days. Sun better come out soon and things dry out so I can get going with some of this planting. At least the ground will be soft. I've got to get the mulch off my EE one of these days too. And have several more EE bulbs to plant ... and cannas.

It's about 47 degrees right now. I'm waiting another week to direct sow most seeds. All-in-all, things are OK.

It sounds like you're on a slightly later schedule than us, so maybe your JM is just fine. Our redbuds have been in full bloom for a week, and our dogwoods blooms are opening.

Which nursery order came in? I've got orders in to Big Dipper Farm and Bluestone Perennials, and when we had all that gorgeous weather, I was really wishing the orders were here.

Some good news ... the nursery that closed (Dixie Lee) is having a Grand Reopening tomorrow! They moved it to a different location and are going to start up again. Looking at a map, the new location seems like a odd choice if they want any traffic, but there will be at least 1 car there tomorrow.



Holy cow! I checked the weather for tomorrow to see if there will be a break in the rain, and I'm not happy! They are predicting more rain, and possible snow, and a hard freeze warning for tonight. All those beautiful fresh new hosta leaves might be black and limp in the morning. Time to haul all the container plants back in the garage again. Should be extra fun in the dark.

A hard freeze ... oh, no! Possible rain here today too. I think it's around 37 right now.

I'm still hopeful about the JM. It does sound like we are a bit later on the trees flowering and leafing. That's good to know.

My order was from Sunlight Gardens. Nice plants, mostly native perennials. I have an order at Bluestone also but I don't remember when they are shipping. Got a beautiful order of semps yesterday from Simply Succulents. At least those will be happy in their plastic pots for awhile so I don't have to worry about hurrying around with them.

Nice that nursery is reopening. Sounds like you'll be there with bells on.

Well, Red, I think the JM is a goner. I'm going to be planting some corkscrew willow starts as soon as this storm passes. No water lines in that vicinity. One of the coneflowers is still MIA as well and a sarracenia.

It appears we may be in for some rough weather until tomorrow. It has been extremely windy here. Hopefully no hail and definitely hopefully no tornadoes.

Ooh, pretty! Your yard is looking good. Love the drifts of phlox. Do you know the name of the white/salmon daffodil? Bummer about the maple.

I've been out dividing and transplanting and getting caught up on some labeling. I've started pulling the labels from the still empty spots, and accepting there's no plant there anymore. Hostas might still be dormant, but missing heucheras aren't going to magically reappear. Planted out a few more plants from the pot ghetto and dragged a few loose things inside so they don't blow away. SO much more to do, but finally had to come in - very gusty, skies getting darker. Looks like tomorrow will be a washout as well.

The relocated nursery is really in an out-of-the-way location. They are going to have to advertise to get customers there, since there is no drive by traffic. The good news is they have a lot more room now, and they are going to do more of their own growing.

Tee...your pics are gorgeous! I bought some creeping phlox yesterday at Walmart. I've never been a dumpster driver at stores, but let me tell you what happened to me at Walmart. A lady started cleaning up plants that looked a little sick (needed water) and then she placed the ceramic planters they were in on a cart and told the checker to give them away to people that were buying gardening items. Naturally, I had a cart full of plants already, so the guy told me to get all the pots I wanted. I didn't want to look like a pig, but I did get 6 of the pots. Then as I'm leaving, the lady was dumping plants into a garbage bag. I ask if I could have some of them. She said to take all I wanted. I ended up with 6 - 3" containers of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana 'Flaming Katie' and two begonia's 6" pots (not sure what color). I gave the begonia's to my daughter. I had already bought a large Kalanchoe for her, so I kept the small ones. So, from now on, I many be checking their dumpsters... They don't water the plants like they should, so if they wilt, they throw them away. Dumpster time for me...I'm not too proud that I can't look for a sad little plant to nurture.

Hi Linda ... Yay, another Tennessee gardener checks in!!
Thank you. My grandmother had a big bank of pink creeping phlox of various shades on the hill leading to the upper garden on their farm, and still to this day, I can close my eyes and see it. That was one of the first things I planted here when we moved to TN ... that and forsythia, flowering quince, and one of those bright magenta crepe myrtles. I can't believe how early these are blooming. And things have really taken off after the storms. I could see the growth of some things overnight.

Great score at Walmart!! They don't water their plants at the store near me either. They are frequently too dry and sometimes too wet. A lot of them seem to die. But they have gotten stingy about putting them on clearance and often just throw them away instead.

Red, how did you all fare in the storms over there?

Tee, Walmart had some very good looking red JP's at this store. They were $37.00, and very full and beautiful.

Hi everybody. Good to see you Linda!

We made it through the latest storms OK, but I am trying to make up for all the rainy / lost work time by working longer days. I am one hurting unit tonight. Beautiful day for working, though.

I got a few more of my WS seedlings planted out at my place today - alyssum, verbena, dianthus, verbascum, nicotiana. There's probably another 25 WS containers left on the deck that need to grow a little before they can be planted, so that gives me time to figure out where they're going.

The tomato seedlings I started inside are just sitting there, doing nothing, although they are getting some hardening off time each day. Night temps are looking good for the next week, so I'm thinking about maybe planting them out, too. Kind of feel like I'm asking for another frost by doing it. If we get more cold weather, you'll know I gave in and planted the tomatoes.

I thought the cold temp and possible light frost the other night had taken out my banana peppers. They were so droopy and pitiful looking. But yesterday in the warm sun, they were back up and looking great. Whew! I have one tomato already. So far, so good ... maybe a little nip on it but it was under a bit of protection. I am trying so hard to hold off for another week or so before getting other veggies. The sweet basil did take a bit of a hit the other night. The other herbs, the onions, leeks are up and growing well. Everything else is A-OK.

I hear you, Red. I've been working like a wild woman the past three days since the storm. Mowed yesterday for the first time this year. I'm not as sore as I thought I might be but I can still feel those old muscles. I dug, pulled, cut, toted, planted, sprayed, raked, shoveled. I'm still not through but I have made a good dent in what I had waiting to be done and to be planted. My order from Bluestone comes in a week or so and I wanted to be fairly well caught up when it arrived.

I filled my new lasagna bed with more soil today and will start planting in that tomorrow. I'm patiently waiting to direct sow seeds. I also removed all the mulch from the EE bed and found them still there after our dreadfully cold winter ... bulbs are firm and they appear to have multiplied.

What variety of tomato do you have that is already producing? I am growing Sweet 100, Jet Star and Early Girl this year.

LONG day yesterday - I'm darned near crippled, but am about to head out again this morning before the next storms roll in. I can rest when it's raining, right?

Oops, sorry. I meant to say I have one tomato plant. Yah, that would be an early one for sure.

I worked several hours again today. I'm almost caught up with what I have to plant except for some EE bulbs, the corkscrew willow starts and the semps and sedums. Now I'm thinking it's time to direct sow some seeds. It should be okay to sow now.

Yes, you can rest when it's raining, Red. ;-) I don't think we are going to get any rain today or tomorrow ... maybe just a little shower. Hopefully on Sunday ... would be nice to help the newly planted things settle in.

I'm off to the shower ... P U.

Here's a picture of one of my beds. The large heuchera in the foreground are Southern Comfort on the left and Mocha on the right. In between them is the Heucherella 'Stoplight' that is sulking a little due to being divided up. The blossoms scattered throughout the bed are from a redbud.