Hi Annie, my name is Sharon, I live just north of you, Wainwright AB.

I've been to Sylvan Lake a few times when my great Uncle and Auntie were alive, haven't been there since they've passed away. Beeds were there last name.

Anyway, glad to have you join us, you'll learn so much about hardiness, as well, meet a bunch of wonderful cold zone gardeners/pals here.

We also have a Far North Roll Call thread so that you can introduce yourself and get to know us better too.

Enjoy and happy gardening!
Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Far North Gardeners Roll Call

Welcome Annie..savona

Welcome to the party Annie!
Not all of BC is in the tropics, IÂm in Smithers if you can find that on the map.
If you canÂt itÂs about halfway between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
BTW Smithers residents are known as Smithereens.
Ian

A big welcome also from me!

You will enjoy all the conversations that take place here on the Far North. I especially enjoy posting pictures of the flowers I have in my yard. If you have a digital...please use it 'cause we all love to look at pictures. Pictures are suppose to be mostly be in the gallery. But sometimes a picture is thrown in the conversations to show something that has to do with the conversation also.

I live just outside of Brandon, Manitoba. But...I haven't taken the time to fill out the Far North Gardeners Roll Call, yet. Maybe next winter I will have more time. Definitely not this time of the year.

Brenda

Welcome, Annie. I'm in East Central Sask, nearby Yorkton/Melville area.

Ian (I know someone has to ask this) is that where one lands up when you get blown to smithereens?

Hi, Annie
I'm a little south of you - near Torrington east of Olds. I'm new on here too, and I'm having a great time.
Connie

Hi Annie, I am here in Anchorage. I'm new here too. (Will put a post in the roll call thread)I'm not a very experienced gardener, but am hoping to someday make it out of my rectangle-beds-filled-w/everyday perennials-cage. In the mean time, I am getting excited to get my starts and seeds into the ground. It snowed here yesterday, so I will wait just a tad longer. Hope to talk again.
Sonya

welcome millenia!

I am from Anchorage as well. There are a few Alaskans here, and we watch and listen to the Canadians and get jealous that they are already planting and blooming.

Kim

ps- I started to harden off my seedlings today :)

Well thankyou all for such a warm welcome. Don't worry Anchorage I get really jealous when I see what BC has already, even Sask and Man's hostas are already out of the ground (apparently)and they are the last to come out. Mine haven't even opened their eyes yet, never mind stretch that winter sleep away. Just covered all my roses and green stuff that has come out of the ground again, too afraid of frost overnight. Think I will keep them covered till May long, just to be on the safe side.

Does anyone disagree, good idea, bad idea????? Also do you think they will smother, there is some air circulation.

Need to share something very interesting, noticed about a week ago when things were poking out of the ground. Noticed that an IMPATIENT PLANT managed to survive the winter and has resprung from the ground.. That's right, you heard me correctly, an IMPATIENT has emerged from a winter sleep, go figure. I didn't even know they were perrennials???

Looking forward to sharing plant gossip with everyone.

Annie (alias Milllenia)
Enjoy the rest of your day

Pudge - If all the people blown up on the Tube ended up in Smithers we would have a lot more than the 5 and a bit thousand people here.
Ian

Hiya Annie, I am from Winnipeg. Nice to meet you.

-Gillian

Welcome to the gang Annie!
I'm just north of Brandon, Manitoba.
You must have a green thumb if you can get an impatiens plant to survive our winters! Way to go!

Laurie

Hi Annie
Welcome from another Albertan. I live a bit north of you in Mayerthorpe. Been here a couple of years and enjoy it very much.

Cheers Al

Hey Annie...glad you found us!

You'll love it here...everyone is so helpful and nice...and crazy...and I mean that in the nicest possible way! LOL

You'll learn tons...I sure have, especially after moving from what I thought was a cold zone...Atlantic Canada zone 5/6 to northern Manitoba zone 0b....
Biggest surprise to me is how many of the same plants I can grow here as I grew there!

Welcome from Northwestern Ontario! :)

Hi! I'm new too, here in the SE corner of B.C. No hostas up here yet but the apple tree is threatening to bloom! It has been chilly the past few days. It can only improve!
Cheers!

Hi Annie

Welcome to FN forum. We're a great bunch here and we all learn so much from each other. Jump in anytime. I'm here in good ol' Edmonton. I was just up your way this evening and just got home. Had to go to Red Deer for the evening. I stopped in at Dentooms Greenhouse for a few minutes. Could have bought out the place but used some restraint and only came home with 2 perennials.

Shauna

Welcome to the forum Annie. I just love it here at the far north forum. I live in central Saskatchewan.
Shelley

Welcome Annie.

I am in the tropical part of BC. Zone 2b......near Syreeta, Savona, Ian and Nikki's locations. LOL!

We have all learned to dance on this forum. Do you dance? Hee hee.

Sierra ;-))

Welcome to you too Raeb, hope you'll enjoy it here!

milllenia, are your roses tender hybrids that you're not uncovering yet? I only grow hardy roses so I usually pull back the straw around the base around any newly planted roses as soon as I see the native tree leaves unfurl.

Sharon

Hi & Welcome! I'm from Edmonton.

You will love it here. Crazy ;) fun and very informative group here!

Ang

Hello & welcome!

I'm from Penhold, but grew up in Bentley. I come through Sylvan a couple times a month on my way to mom and dad's (they're still in Bentley.) Hubby and I usually make a couple trips there in the summer to do some fishing and hit the Moo's...mmmmm ice cream!!!...just about time for a mini road trip I think!

Ian - how big is Smithers? I have a friend that moved there last summer/fall. They're supposed to have a little acreage right on the edge of town, and they were clearing some bush for a couple of horses...haven't talked to them since Christmas...Matt and Hilary Bukema...any chance you know them? They're in their early 20's, tree-planters (huggers ;-) (don't know if they still have dread-locks or not...)

Verena

Hi Verena,
Legally Smithers is about 5,400 in population.
The town boundaries are small because town council some years back tried to keep the population under 5,000 so as not to pay policing costs. Needless to say they didnÂt pull it off. There may be another 5,000 outside town boundaries and maybe another 5,000 who live in outlying areas but come into town to shop etc.
Smithers has a lot of counterculture types, not your typical northern town.
I usually keep pretty much to myself and at 59 donÂt pay much attention to people in their 20Âs. I suspect that in turn they have little interest in old fogies like myself.
Ian

In re: to my roses, they are hardy, all but 1 I do believe. The nights here are so cold, that I have decided to recover them till May long. Have many new shoots from the ground, scared they will get frost. Didn't cover any of them any way all winter. But these are newbys from the ground up, ususally I have new growth on the stems but this year all but 1 rose are all starting from the ground. Will uncover them on Sunday for the week, looks like it will be beautiful for awhile and not so cold nights. Should I not be covering them? I get so nervous with new growth this time of year in this province.

So many people from all over, I am surprised at the amount of people that are so near by.

Let me know if anyone comes this direction and you can pop over for a drinky-poo or too, or coffee, tea, water, milk, whatever your fancy.

Annie

Hi Annie! Aren't they great here? I just showed up this spring, too.
And FTR I'm in BC and its definately not tropical here...zone 1b in the northeast. But the leaves are starting to come out now, hopefully they don't get a touch of frost and turn brown like last year. Do you have a vegetable garden too?

I'm no pro, and I only got my first and only rose 2 years ago, but all the perennials I've got that want to come up now seem to take a few degrees of frost with a shrug. My rose is only just starting to open its leaves today.

Good Luck this spring! Tootsie ;^)

Well I think the only reason I am so nervous this year is because this is the first year in 8 or so that I have cut back my roses, just a few days ago. So perhaps I dont have too.

Should I uncover everything, it sure is going to be cold these next few nights.

All my new growth for the first time too is from the ground, why is that, does anyone know (think I will ask this question in the roses, roses, topic too.

WELL I MUST SAY IT IS SO NICE TO MEET EVERYONE, SUCH A WARM WELCOME, I JUST WANT TO CRY, SO FRIENDLY YOU ALL ARE.......
THANKS FOR MAKING ME FEEL WELCOME.

Annie

Hi Annie

I live in Oregon, zone 3 though.. I have learned so much here and it's great to be able to converse with other cold climates.

I am in West Central MN.

Kristal, are you anywhere near the Detroit Lakes area? I went for a road trip down there to Fergus Falls a couple of years ago and the DL area was so pretty!

Hello all. I'm in West St Paul, just outside Winnipeg.

Even though I don't post here that often, (mainly because I'm a vegetable grower), this is my fav forum, just because everyone here are so nice and have lots of experience and info and the FN forum is fun. So welcome to all the new posters here....

I am in "Potashville", southeast of Yorkton at Esterhazy.

This is such a nice place to visit...winter or summer.... and eventually I'll get too old to do the veggie thing and I've taken notes down about perennials, annuals, shrubs, etc from the posts here and the pics in the gallery....and I've found out what all these plants can do in this far north gardening zone AND it didn't cost a cent!!

Don't be afraid to ask a question, because I have and have always recieved lots of good advice with friendly service!

Betty

I'm in Anchorage also. Won't be putting out anything until the last week of May. Tried it once and only once and spent a fortune at the garden center replacing lost plants. Now, I just wait.

Gloria

Hi Annie and everyone,
I'm in Sherwood Park, just east of Edmonton. Just home this afternoon after a quick trip to Calgary and home through ...Sylvan Lake via Rimbey.

I follow some of the other forums, but this is my favourite, because I think the Alberta climate--and similar ones--give us particular challenges that more temperate gardeners don't face. I like the idea that we have lots in common with you folks in Anchorage and other northern points.

Hi Everyone, this is my first post here, even though I've been coming in for a while and finding some wonderful advice. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your sharing information and experiences, and how much I have learned? I'm just south of the border in North Eastern MN, zone 3.

Robin

I was just rereading some of this...Ian, I grew up in Terrace and have many happy memories of softball tournies in Smithers and of course A&W! So just to folow up on your Smithereens comment...we were known as Terracites :^)

Tootsie (wishing I had that zone again!)

Hi Tootsie,
I do get into Terrace every once in a while.
It does have the closest Walmart and does have some medical specialists not found here.
I sometimes go there just for a change of scene.
Yes A&W, I know it well.
We do have a few Terracites working at the mine I work at. ThatÂs a long commute esp. in the winter with the black ice.
Did you go skiing/riding at Shames when you were younger?
IÂm not sure what zone Terrace is in but it definitely has a longer growing season than Smithers does.
Ian

Hi Robin, glad you posted to say hi. Welcome to the Far North - you must be in one of the coldest parts of the US (besides AK)!

-Gillian

Welcome to the FN forum to you too Robin, Enjoy!

Sharon

Hey! Look everyone! Our first spring Robin has arrived!!

Welcome Robin! You'll like it here.

Isn't it neat how the welcome threads gives everyone a chance to learn something new about all the posters, not only the welcomee!

Ian, I learned to ski on Shames! I dreadfully miss skiing now as our nearest hill is Powder King and thats about 4 hours away.
When I was in Terrace our big department store was Woolworths then Kmart! I don't even think they're in business anymore, anywhere. Yikes! I haven't made it back for quite a few years but I would like to take DH through there sometime as he's never been to that corner of the province.
I don't remember what zone it was either, just the loads of tomatoes, cucumbers and humungous purple coloured clematis my mother had. Oh and FRUIT TREES!!!!!
Tootsie

Hello and welcome to all!

Another Edmontonian here. Tootsie i used to like in Prince Rupert 18 years ago and we used to have frequent visit to Terrance, Kitimat, Smithers etc. I missed the water around Prince Rupert and the whole surrounding. It is a different atmosphere than in the flat land here.

Hi Annie. I too popped into the FarNorth forum for the first time this summer. I never thought of Saskatoon as being in the Far north so hadn't ventured here before that. Hey Betty - I spent 4 years living in Esterhazy from 1967-70 inc. my dad worked at K2 [potash mine]. I've learned alot reading posts on this forum and appreciate all the wonderful advice and encouragement that posters give.

Have a great day all

Fern

Welcome Annie!

Another Albertan....from Beaumont.
Konrad