Connie, I agree that last winter was a tough one. Lost about half of my new OT seedlings that were planted out November of 2013. Usually have some snow cover before the cold gets here, but not last winter. Very cold early, then lots of snow fell late and just kept saturating the ground in spring.
It's always nice to see the new seedlings when they flower for the first time ! Nice pix.
Just 25 miles south of here the snow fell for 2 days straight in a narrow band and buried the area under 6 to 8 feet of snow, and that does not include the height of the drifts). I have all of 4 inches. Now a warm front is moving in with rain and over 60 deg F. I got behind and still have pots of seedlings indoors waiting to be planted outside. Think I might be too late this year.
Just a few pix of seedlings using Silk Road as a pod parent.
First two sets use a Greisbach OT seedling as the pollen parent.
Following pix are Silk Road as the pod parent using pollen from some of my OT seedlings.
And something to think about. The next 2 pix are Northern Carrillon x my seedling pollen 07-224.
