I envy you your three higher hardiness zones. The first day of spring here will be just another day on the calendar with the two or three feet of snow on the ground still holding on for dear life.

Am going to have to try the prepackaged peonies; all the literature says prepackaged is just as easy and rewarding - was planning on adding a couple of new ones this year anyway and potting them up indoors might just break the winter doldrums. Did it with hostas last year - had only one that clearly showed the much feared HVX shortly after the leaves began to unfurl. I love a bargain (primarily with something like a Hosta) and would rather toss a plant I paid less than $1.50 for than a high priced specimen.

Right now, I'd be thrilled to see temps in the 30's, I'd even be tickled with 20's. Enjoy your signs of spring, I'll just keep telling myself spring will come, eventually.

Yowza, that's one big planter! (Personally, I'd find it hilarious to see a cat jumping into it, but hey that's just me...)

I'm getting spring fever too. It smells different now, the spring scent is on the air, I saw robins over the weekend, the light is brighter now - yep, it's right around the corner!!

Heck, temps above 0F would be nice right now!

But it was in the 30s on Sunday, so I can't complain too much... I know that eventually it'll start to turn the corner into spring. In the meantime, I think it's nice to see the sun noticeably higher in the sky!

This is a winter of discontent, and of stark contrasts! Snow and howling frigid winds one day, 70°and sunny a couple of days later. A record number of tornadoes (159, I think, so far this year), spreading death and destruction across the South. Very little rain in the drought stricken areas so far. Lakes and reservoirs still at very low levels, so total outdoor watering bans are still in effect.
Only licensed professionals (spell that; "undocumented"), are permitted to install and irrigate (for 30 days) new landscape plantings.
I have hundreds of plants, still in pots from last years drought, that I am trying to plant. When the forecast predicts rain, I rush out and furiously dig holes and plant some of them. I have rainbarrels as an alternative source, if no rainfall materializes, which is often the case.
Spring is only 30 days hence (officially) and many of the plants are as eager as I am for it to arrive. Some Hydrangea macrophyllas are already sporting tiny new leaves. Crocus species are in full bloom and a few Dutch hybrids are out. Quince is blooming, so is Narcissus jonquilla.
3 species of hardy Cyclamen are beginning to bloom and I have one potted Trillium erectum in full leaf & bloom!
Numerous Helleborus and Daphne odora have been flowering for some time, so have the Camellias, whose flowers turn brown with below freezing temperatures, but the tight buds aren't affected, so on a series of warm days, i can enjoy those, until the next freeze.
Lisa, I envy your success at ordering plants. I placed orders for 100 Helleborus and found that they aren't available until June 30(maybe) and all of the Hostas I wanted are sold out for 2008. "Would I care to place an order for Spring 2009 delivery?" Yea, surely!

OT for Lisa..if I may?
The College student that was recently abducted and found murdered in Reno, was the daughter & grandaughter of former neighbors and current members of our Church, that we have known for more than 40 years. The family is devastated.
Very sad!
Rb

My heart goes out to your former neighbors, what a terrible thing to happen to a young and beautiful girl. Our prayers are with them. Tricia

I found one Iris reticulata blooming today, and more snowdrops emerging.

I got the screen lid cobbled together for my water barrel-urn today. It's green and the urn is dark red, so during the next thaw (a good week and a half away at least), I'll get some dark red spray paint and go at the hardware cloth I used to make it less conspicuous.

The pond is continuing to thaw, and the stink is increasing. It's not bad unless I disturb the water, and I know just getting the new pump in and running will eliminate the odor completely within 24 hours. I think it will be at least a week before the remaining ice chunk is small enough to wrestle with pumps and filters.

OT to Rb, mostly: The whole town is going nuts trying to find her killer. There is no six degrees of separation here--it's more like only two or three. He has to be findable. The efforts and the support of the entire town are visible everywhere--stores have run out of blue ribbon (it's tied on everything to remember Bri.)

Wow. I didn't realize how much one rainbarrel could collect. Without altering gutters, cleaning gutters, patching gutters, installing rain chains or downspouts, the rain barrel/urn I set up yesterday collected about 35 gallons of rainwater from light rainfall overnight. The house is 1-story, about 1500 sf, and there are between 4 to 6 spots (I haven't counted--just know there are at least 2 in front and 2 in back, perhaps some on the sides) where the rain pours off the roof. It wasn't even a heavy rain--just a light, steady rain for about 6 hours. I need to figure out a way to harvest ALL the rainwater off the roof...

I thought I did very well today at Lowe's. I went in for a can of spray paint (to paint the hardware cloth lid for the rain barrel/urn red to match the urn so it doesn't show so much) and a strainer for the kitchen sink. I exited Lowe's with ONLY those two items, even though I eyed front-loading washers, reverse osmosis water treatment systems, tankless water heaters AND painstakingly checked out every plant, seed and garden item on offer just to make sure I didn't miss anything really good!

Spring, it is! Today's high was 70! A tour through my garden revealed hellebores, quince, forsythia, daffodils (up to 3 kinds now), hyacinths, snowdrops, and pansies in bloom. Oh yes, all my cuttings are coming along nicely: over 200 Nearly Wild roses to be given as gifts to every Mom present at church on Mother's Day this year. Lots of perennials are stirring too. I have Sedum Medio-Variagata up about four inches high.

Not enough! Got busy and planted seeds like mad for the "cool season". If the temps don't drop much below 30 between now and frost end, I'll have some other good stuff soon. Also took all the perennials out of the basement that were started from cuttings in the fall and have been growing under lights. Short of a really hard freeze, they should be just fine on the deck until planting time. I actually had six inch tall rooted cuttings of hydrangeas with four inch bloom heads on them. They know it's spring too (even if it's not, quite). Tomorrow, it's time to start summer annuals from seed. This is my first year growing things under lights and it has been just the best antidote for the winter doldrums (which are, admittedly, much shorter here. But still...).

I want to know more about rainbarrels. I understand how you get the water in, the need for screens, etc. (Do let the cat go in just once, and tell us about it, Lisa. Just thinking about it makes me giggle!) What I want to know is how do you get the water out? Do you have to dip and carry, or are you able to use a hose somehow? My back yard is pretty steeply sloped, and it would be a dreadful chore to have to carry water, though I would if we end up under water bans. Anyway, fill us all in. It seems that more and more of us may need to use them before this drought is over.

I, like many others I am sure, also send my prayers up for those poor people who have lost their child... Every parents' worst nightmare. May God give them comfort.

Donnabaskets, this barrel will be a dip-and-carry rig only. That's more work than you would want in your garden, and it's not the easiest thing even in mine, but I'm trading aesthetics for convenience with this one. I wouldn't have even blinked at the idea of putting a spigot/tap into the bottom of a black rubbermaid trash can, but I balk at doing the same with a fiberglass urn.

I know--I got it for a great price, much less than any genuine rainbarrel, but I still don't want to destroy it. On the sides of the house, where the next rainbarrels will go, esthetics won't be an issue, so I'll just buy rainbarrels with pre-installed spigots that can be used with a garden hose. I know flow won't be great (that would require a pump), but I can take my time with free water. gardeners.com has a selection of rain barrels (and some municipalities will give you one or two for free), and the prices are comparable to everywhere else I searched.

Lisa

I want to know more about rainbarrels. I understand how you get the water in, the need for screens, etc. (Do let the cat go in just once, and tell us about it, Lisa. Just thinking about it makes me giggle!) What I want to know is how do you get the water out? Do you have to dip and carry, or are you able to use a hose somehow?

Donna, we have the good fortune that our city has a rainbarrel program. They basically subsidize the recycled food barrels, the spigot kits and the diverter. Works GREAT, yet even here on the Wet Coast in July/August we still ended up using city water for the garden because our 2 barrels were empty: we're going to 4 this year!

Here is a link that might be useful: My rainbarrel installation

Thanks, you two. Very informative and helpful. If this drought doesn't break soon, it's the wave of the future (and maybe even if it does.).

Roll out the barrel
we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel
we've got the (water) blues on the run!

(Familiar refrain from Beer Barrel Polka, well, almost!)

You would be surprised how much water can be collected from runoff from the roof of a modest sized home (or other structure).
A 2000 ft² roof will produce 1200 gallons of water with a one inch rainfall. That's about 24 barrels full!
A single gutter/down spout, draining a 500 ft² roof area, will fill a 50 gal.barrel with only 0.18 inches of rainfall.
It's too bad that we didn't have the foresight to install a cistern before the years of drought began to take it's toll on the SE landscape.
Rb

I received my shipment from Horn Canna Farm yesterday--lovely rhizomes. It's snowing, and I have decided that I need (outdoor) window boxes. NOW. I'll be off to Lowe's shortly...

This is what acute cabin fever combined with obsessive gardening does to your brain. You have been warned.

Lisa

Near normal rainfall this Winter has encouraged me to start looking at plants for my garden. The water woes will continue, as long as the USACE continues to drain our water source, but rainbarrels and normal rainfall should lessen the need for using chlorinated water.
Ordered a few Hellebores, from 2 sources. Found others I would like, but their minimum order requirement was a killer!
Preparing an order for Epimediums. Got to have some of the species with those unusual flowers! Besides, they are also fairly drought tolerant, once established.
The catalog from my favorite Hosta supplier never arrived and by the time a replacement managed to show up, they were sold out for the year on all of the one's I wanted.
This is OT, but is anyone else having problems with mail deliveries lately? It has taken 9 days for my Flower Show tickets to arrive via 1st Class Mail from Philadelphia. I was beginning to panic! Didn't receive the W2 forms for my earnings last year and they lost my 2006 Tax return. What else am I missing? Now they want more money!
Back to gardening and lower blood pressure! Daylight Savings time begins in 11 days and I'm sure we gardeners can use that EXTRA hour each day!
Have fun! :Q))
Rb

Razorback: Epimediums (well, most of them) are definitely drought-tolerant. If they do well in what I consider "dry shade" here in Northern Nevada (average rainfall 7" per year), then they should do anywhere in the South, even with your water restrictions. I DO water my Epimediums, but bear in mind that neither weeds nor cacti will grow without water in the dry spots in my garden. That's right--not even cacti will grow in my dry spots without supplemental water.

No huge problems with mail delivery here. Mail is ALWAYS slow here, except when it surprises you by taking only one day to get a letter across town. Still, one-day service across town is a surprise.

Lisa

It's spring again here (after a nice snowstorm, thaw, cold spell and another warming trend). This will go on until August. Okay, not really, but it has snowed here in July before...

I finally got the new pump and filter installed in the pond. It should stop stinking by Wednesday morning.

I finally have a few Eranthis (dunno which species) emerging. It looks like they reseeded a bit. Hooray! More crocus, more Iris reticulata, a few Hellebores, the overwintered pansies, some primroses all in bloom.

Winter heath has been blooming here since early January, right about the time the stinking hellebores started. (Somebody should come up with a better common name for those!) Arnold Promise, Jelena and Diane witch hazel bloomed all through February, ignoring the cold snaps and wind. Some of the helleborus niger (Christmas rose) are now in full bloom, and the h. orientalis are showing color, the buds' stems getting longer and the flowers just beginning to unfurl.

My Cyclamen coum is finally putting on a show worth looking at, after a couple of years of really sparse blooms. Winter aconite is in high gear as well - not sure if it's happy in its full sun location, but at the moment it seems fine. The snowdrops are peaking and the early crocus is not far behind. Next up will be the winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, and then I'll know that spring is here.

This is the season I plan and plant for; we usually have a long, cold spring season compared to more inland locales, and I need all the late winter color I can get.

One of my Iris unguicularis has bloomed, for the first time ever. I planted three different varieties three years ago.

:::giggle::: I decided my planters full of bulbs and pansies were just looking too blah--just shoots and recovering pansies. So with all the logic I could summon in a brain hopelessly addled by spring fever, I remembered a fairly recent magazine article by the owners of Brent and Becky's bulbs suggesting that vegetables and bulbs made great partners, especially lettuce and daffodils. So off I went to the nurseries, and returned home with lettuce plants--'Red Sails' was my choice. And...red Swiss Chard, 'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard, Iceland Poppies and another 6-pak of pansies.

Did you know that lettuce is very pretty with Primulas? It is. The Swiss Chard is still quite small, but it definitely has potential with the pansies. The Icelandic Poppies went in a couple of planters out front. I need more plants. Snapdragons, I think...

Hey, I didn't buy a SINGLE bare-root plant along the way. That, for me, is admirable restraint.

Lisa

Ooh, that sounds like fun.

Swiss chard is a great plant, I haven't grown it, but a friend has some great photos of hers - it's one of the plants that *glows* when the sun hits it.

Luckily, the nurseries here are still empty. I'm dreaming of Iceland poppies though.

Luckily, we have a plant outlet center 30 min away, that reopened 2 weeks ago, for the season. Mostly woodies at first, for early planting, but as season progresses, more perennials & annuals will be available, along with Herbs, Tomatoes & Peppers. I usually make my first trip there about Apr 1st and take DH along to load my haul. He can really pack the stuff in without damaging it and I can shop til I drop! :Q)

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Fever Tonic