Yep, it's the first of April, and spring is in full swing!

;-)

BTW, how much snow have you still got there in zone 4?

Hi, Resin. I bet it was the "young children skipping off to school" that gave it away. The title of this post should have been "A Fool Such As I" for putting up with this nonsense. We were down to maybe 2"-3" on the ground, but got another 4"-5" yesterday. Bright sun now and over the next few days, which will probably just inflict more burn on the conifers. Here's how it looks in my neck of the woods:
{{gwi:339472}}

Even so, it IS a pretty Stewartia. Bet you can't wait for it to really be in bloom.

Here, we still have migrating robins hopping about - daffs almost over, redbuds just into FULL bloom, and dogwood buds swelling. I was told by 2 different people that they have bluebird eggs in their boxes!!!! I haven't checked mine for a week or more, so will have to do so when the rain stops.

BTW, the last paragraph was NOT meant to be unkind, but more to say things ARE moving along, getting further and further North. Spring WILL come - I grew up in VT, so have clear memories of "waiting for spring"!

Dibbit,

The Stewartia (Stuartia) malacodendron was taken at the NC arb in Ashville a few years back. No way we could grow it here. However, I do have a S. pseudocamellia (sp?) that has survived a couple of winters now.

Bob

I fell for it, Bob - I was surprised that the snow had melted so quickly! :)

Sherry, glad to know I was able to fool somebody with this. :) Do any of you in the S/SE grow this little beauty? I'd think it would be very popular. It seems to me we visited around the 3rd week of May, and it was a bit of luck to find it in full flower. I had never seen one before and it sort of screamed out at me to take a closer look. I'm not sure how big these can get in the wild, but here's the full plant:
{{gwi:326290}}

I've got two of them, but they're still very small, haven't grown much at all. One of them is promising, but I don't want to jinx it by bragging on it too much. I've tried them in the past, and they've died slow deaths. You'd think they'd be easy for me to grow, since they're native to this area, but they're rare and only grow in the sandy soil on ridges close to rivers and creeks, much like mountain laurel, which is also almost impossible to get to grow here under most conditions - I only know of one healthy group of bushes not grown by a creek, it grows at the base of a mag grand in front of a house in douwntown Wiggins. The local bluff-growing mountain laurel blooms under the DEEP shade of big swamp chestnut oaks, magnolias, bluff oaks, and beeches, with wild gingers and jack-in-the-pulpits growing under the thick leaf cover. I've planted some wild ginger, and it seems to be thriving, it's even making the little brown jugs/flowers its known for.
There is or was a lady who lived close to the Pascagoula River who grew some silky camellias/stewartia malacodendrons in the gritty soil of her woodsy front yard. She grew them from seeds she got from plants on ridges by the river. I'm thinking if I buy any more land, I want it to be on a bluff by a river or creek - hopefully the high bluff would protect it from floods, and I could raise mountain laurel and stewartia malacodendron. I saw the lady's stewartias when they were in bloom, and the blooms were breathtaking! I think it's the purple stamens that got me!
Sherry

For a second, I thought it was strange to see something green in WI where my brother is right now and he always complain about snowing all the time and it'd be till May before you'd see anything growing.

Sherry--Interesting you mention Mtn. Laurel, as we saw plenty of this while on vacation in eastern TN and western NC. I've read how picky it can be, yet I saw it growing in what appeared to be the most difficult of sites, including road cuts. BTW, it sounds like the Stewartia prefers conditions similar to Franklinia. Yet another interesting little tree I can only dream of growing.

"...and it'd be till May before you'd see anything growing."

Lou--Normally I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration, but this year that just might be the case. Two or three years ago we didn't have any freezing temps during April, which I don't think I had ever experienced. It was one of the few years where there was no damage to flowers on the magnolias. Yeah, we can grow mags up here. :)

Bob

Bob, not sure of your age-I'll be 52 in a couple weeks-but wouldn't you agree, this Spring is more the norm, and the freakishly warm ones of recent years were the aberrations? That's my take.

And you know, because I'm the Horticulturist at work, everyone always assumes I can't wait for it to warm up. But I truly love Winter, especially when snow is abundant as has certainly been the case this year. I can wait for the heat. Man, can I wait. ;^)

+oM

Tom,

I'm waaay younger than you...I'm only 51. ;) Yes, I'd have to agree this winter is much closer to what I remember not only as a youngster, but even during the 90's. We had a streak of freakishly warm/mild winters that you knew had to end. I really don't mind winter, I just wish is wasn't so damn long. Wisconsin has a lot to offer (it'll always be home), but we do pay a steep penalty living here. BTW, I lived in the Phoenix area for three years, so I probably handle summer heat better than most native northerners.

Bob

Hahah you fooled me! :(

Just saw some snowfall reports from far N. Wisconsin. Some place called Gurney, in Iron County got 14 inches. Translated to metric...that's a lot of snow ;^)

+oM