Yup, I think I can live through 50 days. Spring better not be late!

My 1st tulips and Nanking Cherries bloomed March 28 last year. They were really early because of a warm spring though. A frost zapped the cherries and I got very little fruit.

I have new crocuses to look forward to this spring!

I've also got new crocuses, tulips and scilla to look forward to this spring. Only 49 days now and counting........yipee!!

WooooHoooo!! I planted a few hundred tulips from my mom in the fall, so this will be my first spring with bulbs coming up. I can't wait! (Even DH is counting the days ;o)

Verena

Yesterday and todays' weather is just like spring. I love it. 50 days will go really fast, will give us time to get our wintersowing done ;)

Do you guys find that newly fall planted crocuses will bloom in the spring? In my growing experience they don't bloom till the following year or the 3rd year.

I can't wait to see all the 100 Allium 'Purple Sensation' bulbs that I planted last fall.

Sharon

"Do you guys find that newly fall planted crocuses will bloom in the spring?"

I don't know. I planted a few crocus a few years back and nothing came up, so I'm really hoping that I'll see at least some leaves this spring. I really hope I don't have to wait until year 2 or 3 to see blooms :(

I've had crocuses come up and bloom the first year. Most of mine have, i think.

Sharon, i'd forgotten about your 100 alliums - wow, wow, wow!! Can't wait for pictures!

Yes, my friend's crocuses bloomed the following spring. Maybe it depends on the corm maturity?

Just today has it been warm enough to do any wintersowing... it's been such a bad cold snap! And I didn't get any done because I'm having a plumbing disaster >:0(

My wonderful terrier preventing my 'new' crocuses from blooming last spring. He thinks he's digging up treasures, and I guess he's right. Hence, I've learned to keep him away from the garden for a day or so after I've planted any bulbs - he has radar for them.

Usually I have tulips in bloom in mid-April. I'm looking forward to them. Its been downright nasty outside this winter.

Oh yeah..bring spring on..can't wait!!!..It feels like spring to me when the swallows and hummingbirds come back the last week of April..savona

We usually plant a few dozen crocuses every fall. I don't know 'who is who' when the crocus bloom. We don't really keep track of the smaller bulbs. I like the way crocus, scilla, pushkinias,snow drops and so on come up all over the place in once forgotten patches

What I do know is that there is hardly a keen gardener who won't be saying 'I should have planted MORE!'. We plant hundreds of tulips, daffodils and never have enough. the bulk bulbs are so inexpensive these days we treat many as annuals and compost them to make way for annuals after they bloom. We still,however, have hundreds if not a couple of thousand returning tulips every year.

April 6th or so. Can't wait. Am I the only one who patrols the garden beds looking for that first 'dot' of colour? The first minute spring bulb bloom causes more magic and excitement than the biggest rose or lily bloom later in the season. Keen gardeners look forward to the first bloom as little kids do to Christmas. How many more sleeps?

God, no, Alpiner - i'm sure all of us are like you! As soon as the snow is gone, and even before it's all gone, i'm rooting under the leaf mulch to see what's pushing through! The first bloom is magic time!

Ooh ooh...48 days now! It's GORGEOUS here in central AB...feels like spring already. DH gave me a 'gift certificate' for V-Day for "a day of planting flowers". It looks like I'll be getting in on the w-sing after all. OK ladies, seriously...how many winter sown transplants do you think I can get done in one day? I have slave labor after all, and the milk jugs are piling up!!

And yes...I'm another 'rooter'. Wait for them to actually push all the way through the mulch?...I don't think so!

Verena

Today we unwrapped our begonias, cleaned up the tender geraniums and potted up some of the smaller dahlias in our sunroom. Any real cold weather now doesn't seem so bad as it won't last more than a couple days. It's nice to have supper with the sun still up.

The chickadees and nuthatches are flying around in pairs and getting feisty with intruders.

We have so many bulbs planted that I expect the earth to rumble before the first crocus pops out in 7 weeks or so. There is no garden more vibrant than the northern garden when the spring bulbs reach their peak.

Is it time to get the begonias out now? Not that i'm anxious or anything.... :)

39 days! The daffodils and tulips are still snoring away but the smaller early-bulb plants are hitting the snooze button on the spring alarm clock.

39 days???? YEAH! Spring cannot come fast enough that's for sure! But I can manage 39 days!!! LOL

I've got my Alstromeria upstairs now and showing some greening up already! yeah! And lots of little coleus sprouts growing and a bunch of cuttings taking root.

Bring on Spring!!!!

Does anyone know when snow drops (Galanthus) first blooms? Is it after crocus or before. Is crocus the first bloomer in everyone's garden?

Crocuses are the first in my garden. I'm kind of stuck on wondering when the galanthus does bloom, but i'm sure it's within a week or two of the crocuses. Have to check on that - wait, i can do that easier than i thought! Yes, a week after the crocuses start. I remembered my garden journal! :)

Thanks. I thought the same but I was reviewing some British sites and snowdrops come out first over there. In Wales they celebrate St. David's Day March 1...and wear a daffodil.

Oh well. I'm glad to have everythig ahead of us. There's something just a little (a wee bit) sad when the first bloom fades. 99.9% of gardening is ahead but that little shriveled crocus reminds me it won't last forever. Get in there and revel while we can.

I found a few crocus bulbs left over from last fall..planted them up and stored them in the fridge for a month or so and then took them out..they have been blooming for the last couple weeks..savona
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Ooooh Savona those Pickwicks are my fave crocuses... so pretty! Greenstar, in general large crocuses are later than small ones. The small crocuses bloom at roughly the same time as snowdrops. When I lived in England that was February. In March the Daffodils came out. *sniff* those were the days. LOL

Thanks Savona, I needed that shot of spring!!

Ok, so is the countdown to 31 days now?! Getting closer..........

Must be about 14 days by now... March 21st give or take, right?

I am totally basking in this spring weather we are having today. Gotta love all that melting action!

Oh, I thought the countdown was until April 6th, when Plantcompost's first crocus blooms?
The way it's going here, we're still going to have 2 feet of snow by March 21st. :(

ohhhhh, yes! the count down is till April 6! Silly me!

But, I am counting down till spring and I have spring fever on my mind!

***walks away muttering to self "silly me" LOL****

Not to worry Ang, spring fever's got me doing weird things too! It's so frustrating that even though technically spring starts on March 21st, but not in our zones. :( I wonder what zone you'd have to be in for that date to really apply? Zone 6 or 7 maybe?

I was doing some physical work outside in my T-shirt today and I caught myself just before saying 'it's too hot'. We're having a week of Spring weather in Calgary and I promise NEVER to complain about the heat.

I did see 3 types of moths, a spider and a beetle all enjoying the day. We should have some colour in the garden first week of April...then WHAM!... that early colour under a couple inches of snow.

Glad to know I'm not the only one affected by this Spring Fever! LOL

Laurie, I grew up in Southern Ontario (zone 6) and from what I can remember, yeah by the end of March early April the tulips were up, etc. But still the "Big Planting Out Weekend" was always Victoria Day Long Weekend just like I do here..... and just like I did when I lived in BC! Go figure, hey?

Alpiner, you are seeing spiders and moths already? Wow! We have some serious melting going on here too and my DD wanted to eat outside last night but then her younger sister said "no, because the bees are out" and we just chuckled at her little comment... but maybe she was onto something!!!! LOL

Ang

It's spring out there today. What a beautiful day, I wanted so bad to get at her in the garden but there's so much snow left, its melting thou.

I should also mention that it was +24°C in the unheated greenhouse today! Whew, I think I will get my shorts on and take a lounging chair in there and start on the tan ;)

Savona, your crocus are delightful!

Sharon

I saw my first PUSSYWILLOWS today!! They haven't made it to the lower branches yet, but if you look up into the top you may just see some. Oh, and the first geese have come back as well, looks like they took the 'red eye' in last night. There are 6-8 pair in the field across from us now. Oh, and the merlins are back nesting in our neighbors tree. I have also seen a few flies out buzzing around too the last few days.

DH has caught spring fever too, we took a walk around the yard this afternoon (just got back in) and even HE was rooting around in the dirt trying to find those first shoots. So far we found some new growth on the columbine and holly hocks, and I have a bunch (30-40) Pansy seedling volunteers in my one 1/2 whiskey barrel. Oh and the buds are swelling on the cotoneaster and mountain ash.

So much happening all at once! It's so exciting!! :o)

Verena

And time change this weekend! One more hour of light after work for working outside - if I ever get out of the corral - we're busy calving. The last few mornings have been really nice though just before the sun comes up. That's when I do my cow check - let DH sleep in a bit, he does the night shift.
Connie

Oooh dang you Albertans, we just today broke +1. No significant melting here except on the streets. I notice the snow has slumped a little though. I can't complain about the thick blanket that's still over my roses. I will tell myself that our snow stays until we don't need it anymore... yeah, that's it. ;0)

Gillian, in SW Manitoba we've had two days of +4 already, and Thursday night it didn't even get below freezing! So we've had lots of melting action happening. It's suppose to be the same temp for today and tomorrow, and then hitting +9 for Monday. Yesterday I even saw a tiny couple of bare spots on top of a hill in a field. Hopefully this warm air will head east to you guys soon!

Hmmm... It's suppose to be +18*C here tomorrow!!! Gorgeous sunrise this morning, and a MAJOR Chinook arch to the west.
Will have to poke around in my alpine troughs and see if there is any sign of life.

It is melting out today. But... because of all the snow it's going to be a while before I see any grass out there. They are forecasting 10*C for Monday. Then it is supposed to cool down again.

Shelley

No coat today. The forecast for Calgary tomorrow was 20c but not revised to 18c.

The buds are swelling on some species of trees. There may be a 'dot' of new green in some of the alpine troughs in a couple days. The ice is gone from our pond and the goldfish all are healthy.

I think I'm moving to Alberta.

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It is melting. I can now see the cement on the step.

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I have 2 garden benches in here somewhere.

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Main street in town. The school is on the left.

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Just across the street from me.

Pictures from the last couple of days. It's going to be here for a while. Grrrr.

We got the same amount of snow here in central Alberta Shelley, if you want to move to Alberta and be snowless, you'll have to move to the southern parts ;)

Sharon

We haven't got quite so much snow here, but it's still pretty white out there! However, melting is occuring quickly - my winter sowing containers were buried the other day and are sitting on top of the snow now, so that's about three inches gone. Today it's +9° and we're supposed to have another couple days of mild temps. Perfect March Break weather - love the puddles!

Yes, we had about that much snow a couple of days ago, but it's sure gone down a lot in 2 days. On the south side of the house today I noticed that the snow's melted about a foot away from the house. That's where I've got some daffodils planted, so I'm sure their alarm clock is starting to ring by now. :0)

Marcia, I hope you're enjoying your spring break! In Manitoba the kids have to wait until the last week in March for their break, so I'm hoping by then there may be some actual green showing up in some of the beds. Mind you, I did see a hint of green grass south of the house today already, along with a few flies darting around.

I forgot to mention to you folks, when I was heading back home this morning after getting groceries, I saw a gopher. I told DH as soon as I got in the front porch and you should have seen the grin on his face ;)

Sharon

Beautiful day yesterday, wind warnings today. The geese are back on the slough in our field, and I saw my first flower yesterday. A little tiny johnny-jump-up was blooming. It must have been growing under the snow, because it's only been uncovered for two days.
Connie

Sharon, did he ask where and run for the .22? ;-)

Our yard has been full of giant puddles for the last few days. DH has been out with the submersible pump, and transferring all the water into my flower beds. (Good DH!! :o) Then yesterday afternoon it got cold and windy and started snowing :( guess we're in for a little more before old man winter loses his grip. (Supposed to be +10 for Saturday though.)

Verena

I don't know why i'm bringing this back up to the top. So we can all be depressed? I was just thinking about how excited we were. :(

April 10th - no robins, no crocuses, still a bunch of s*** left to melt. Big sigh.

An Easter first for me - We were able to go skating on the lake. It's not really a lake, just a swamp that turns into a lake in the spring when the big melt is happening. But since the initial melt it froze solid and was smooth, perfect for skating. I have never seen that happen before.

Still lots of snow here, but it is gradually melting in spite of the weather. Cheer up, it is improving!

Oh Marcia, there's a light at the end of this tunnel! Now I'm basing all my hopes on the weather forecaster here, but they're calling for a really nice weekend. +16 and +18 for saturday and sunday. Surely that'll get the robins in here with that kind of heat.....maybe a few more perennials and bulbs will poke their heads out too! :0)

We're supposed to have a decent weekend here too, Laurie, though not quite as warm as you. Still, it will help, i'm sure. Just to get rid of most of the s*** - that's the big thing. Then i can start poking around a bit more to see what's doing what.

I just might plant some lettuce and green onions in a raised bed that's right in front of the house, south-facing. Am i nuts or what? LOL

I just might plant some lettuce and green onions in a raised bed that's right in front of the house, south-facing. Am i nuts or what? LOL

Hey, it's green, and that's just what a gardener needs to see isn't it?!

It's funny you should mention onions, because last year after planting a row of dutch sets, I had a few small ones left over, so they got tossed out in the field. Of course my 5 year old saw this and went to find this "treasure". Of course you bury treasure, so I had onions popping out all throughout my flower pots last summer! He was very proud of himself. ;^)

Yay!!!!

First crocus yesterday (11th)..first Pushkinia today!... first hepatica unravelling and will be smiling tomorrow...

5 days behind the norm...global cooling!

There is also a butterfly flitting around our garden today. Spring has sprung.

My first crocus bloomed on Saturday! (April 14th). The boys went to the pasture yesterday and found the crocuses (Prairie Anenenome) up there too. Amazing what a few warm days can do. I saw a butterfly yesterday too. Can't stop smiling, spring is here.
Connie