rjinga- what area of the state are you in? I would love to buy some of you seedlings- do you sell at a market? I live near Barnesville.

rjinga- what area of the state are you in? I would love to buy some of you seedlings- do you sell at a market? I live near Barnesville.

rjinga- what area of the state are you in? I would love to buy some of you seedlings- do you sell at a market? I live near Barnesville.

MK87, I am with you. Got some relatives to break up the garden for me as I am not able to climb aboard the tractor yet. Can't wait to pre-emerge the land and start planting.
Talk about cabin fever.......

Shot

I too am so impatient for Spring. I know how lucky we are here in Georgia to have such mild short winters but I'm still itching for spring. My tropicals that I winter in the house are looking rough. It rained some today so I watered them with rain water instead of tap water hoping that might perk them up some but what they really want is to get back OUTSIDE. Some things are blooming, teasing us about spring. Daffodils, forsythia, Jap. Magnolias, and vinca are all in bloom along with my bright pots of yellow violas which seem to do better for me than pansies. The other day I moved a clump of Lambs ears which was invading a Dwarf Acorus. I got it with a big clump of dirt so hope it will forgive me for moving it when they are predicting 25 degrees tomorrow night. So far it looks ok. I'm just so ready to get into the garden dirt! I top dressed everything with compost from the big bin I made and then put pine straw mulch lightly on top of that to make it look better. Hopefulls today's rain will begin the process of washing it down into the soil. And then the earthworms can take over from there. When they wake up!! Do earthworms sleep in the freezing weather? Don't know.

Me too! I start getting impatient in January every year and it and builds up till about April 1st. Lately, with the nice warm weather, I've been making a couple of raised beds and will plant perennials in them. It is SO tempting every year when the garden centers and nurseries start getting in their bright beautiful annuals before the last frost date, but I have to restrain myself...

It is so encouraging to see tender shoots poking up through the leaves and fat buds on twigs begin to unfurl. Each year I have to remind myself that some plants take longer - my sweetshrub usually looks dead until sometime in March - and I get impatient when all else is showing signs of spring. Fringetree - Chionanthus virginicus - also takes a long time.

But the Alabama snow-wreath is already green and the black elderberry is trying to restrain itself (watch out for a cold snap, impatient one!). Daffodils are blooming - need to remember to relocate those that are no longer setting buds, they need a sunnier spot.

Shot, so good to hear from you again. I hope things are on the mend for you!

shot -- Good to see you! :) Send those kind relatives over to our place when they are done at yours! Send the tractor too! (LOL Wishful thinking...)

birdannelady -- Pansies don't do well for me either. I gave up putting them in the ground and decided to pot some this winter, but they were just OK at best. Maybe I should try violas next year myself.

vicki -- I often wonder why the garden centers do that, but I guess people keep buying them, so they keep putting them out there. I wish they wouldn't...it IS tempting.

esh -- I know what you mean...I was so excited when my (previously planted last year) candytuft budded and started to bloom, I almost did a little happy dance. I guess I have such a negative opinion of my gardening skills that I couldn't believe something ACTUALLY came back like it was supposed to! LOL

I am trying to fill the time with getting my beds ready and moving things around. I still have a lot of perennials to divide and beds to edge.
But I have been buying a few things too. Today, some gorgeous snapdragons- they bloomed until late June last year- and some Bowles wallflower which is magnificent but only lasted two years for me before it got too woody. I never it cut it back because it never stopped blooming.

...at least I can enjoy reading/posting on GW while I wait for the warmer temps! :)

I bought roses on Sunday :) and they are soaking as we speak, had DH till up 3 garden spots this past weekend...rented a big ole rear tine tiller...well worth the $80..they even delivered and picked it up and we had it Friday afternoon til Monday around 11:00.

I've enjoyed watching my hyacinth coming in, and I got daffodils this week too. The asian lillies are all green and I've got tulips popping up everywhere too. OH BOY I cant wait.

I've also just gotten notice that my 1600 strawberries were shipped today. Might be another busy weekend. I'm not planting all of them, I've actually presold most of them :) but I'll have a few hundred to put in or pot up for the farmers market.

I'm planning a much more "market oriented" garden this year. I'll be able to sell strawberry plants (and strawberries too eventually, blueberry plants (and berries) and all my veggie and herb seedlings that I start every year...woo hooo

Another impatient gardener. I've kept myself busy with prep work this year. I ordered some asparagus so I spent a tremendous amount of time preparing and amending that bed...I only get one chance there. :-) I've also prepared holes two blueberry bushes and an apple tree (still one apple tree hole to go). When the plants arrive in the next week or so, all I have to do is drop them in and water. I actually bought my first ever soil tester.

And then there's the planning. Have some things I want to dig up or transplant, but can't seem to make any decisions on those. Hate what I have by the mailbox so I want to re-do that. And I completely ripped out the bed in front of the house last fall. So I'm at ground zero there too.

rinja - 1600!!!!! Did your finger get stuck on the 0 key? Or are you that crazy? ;-)

Impatient here as well! I am doing a daily bud-check, its very exciting :)

We have loads of daffodils flowering that must have been planted before we moved in, the ones I planted in Nov-Dec are a little further behind. Snowdrops are flowering and crocuses just starting. Also have Daphne, Sarcococca, Hellebores, and Camellia flowering.

I seeded out some arugula, green peas and carrots last w/end with my kids. Not sure if its too early -- the packets said after last frost, but several GA veggie guides said early Feb, so I thought we'd try.

The most exciting is my winter sowing attempts -- i've got loads of germination already from several types of Rudbeckia, and the Echinaceas are just starting to sprout. Its very easy to do and does help alleviate some of the waiting-for-spring pains...have a look at the Winter Sowing forum. I only sowed a few containers, but there are people on there with 100s!

Growers Outlet opens today -- I won't be able to make it there today, but hope I can soon.

Shot, i looked back at earlier messages. I hope you are doing better and that you can soon enjoy planting.

mk87---I definitely think you would like violas better than pansies. I always put mine in pots, though, to not disturb the roots of my perennials and bulbs in the bed. I just put the pots all through the beds where I want some color.
We had some bad thunderstorms last night so today I was walking around my yard picking up limbs that came down in the storm. This is when I noticed that my lorapetalum is actually blooming. How exciting. It's magenta which is so pretty against the purple leaves. It goes well with all of the Forsythia blooming around the yard. The snowflakes are also blooming all around. Leaves on the Italiam Arum are pretty and so are the Acathus leaves which are large and showy although I don't see any bloom stalks starting yet. We got 1.5 inches of rain with the storm which makes the little Black Cherry seedlings easier to pull up with the seed still attached. Cedar Waxwings are flying all around our neighborhood and I think they are one of the birds who "plants" these seedlings. The Robins are another. I am so ready for spring and it's going to be 25 tonight!!!

Impatient here too! Flowers keep appearing and then being killed off with the cold weather. My husband bought me 20+ packs of vegetable seeds for Christmas, and I keep looking at them and working out when to plant them. Today I didn't actually plant anything, but got all my peat pots and seed trays ready. So exciting...

Those holes I prepared last week ..... the apple trees and bluberry bushes are here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I just love to come home to boxes of fabulous new things! :-)

ESH, Mayland thanks for your concern about my health. Am taking chemo treatments 5 days a week and only have another week and one day to go (passed out at the doc's office one day and spent the day in the emergency room so that added another day. Saving money on haircuts....
Like yall I love my gardening so let's all pull together.

Thanks again. ESH, hope the family is doing well.

Shot

Just found this page. Not only am I impatient for spring, my six year old has stomped her foot and said 'That's it! Winter is over!' If only she could make it so! Worked outside yesterday in the wind--there are things blooming and coming up. Just keep telling outselves we need the cold, we need the cold.....

connieb -- LOL I wish she had the power also! :) (And, stomping my foot is about what I want to do too!)

Well, yay for Hubby! He did build my planter boxes for the raised veggie garden! (And, all it's going to cost me is...I think...an evening of watching some vampire movie trilogy...or something like that. Maybe I'll "accidentally" fall asleep... LOL) Now, I can at least go out and work on breaking up the soil underneath and adding soil to the boxes and planning my veggies!

I think winters were created so we would appreciate spring and summer more.
Sometimes I find myself squatting down with magnification glass in hand looking for signs of life in flower beds :).
And it is always thrilling to see something coming up, some tiny green foliage breaking through cold winter soil...
I count the days till the end of February.
Spring, we are so ready for you!!!

Well, with the snow that's starting to fall in the area and predicted for tonight, the season is going backwards, not the way we want it to go toward spring. Maybe this is winter's last blast!!! I remember other years when we had snow in March as well.

birdannelady -- I hope you are right! I'd a lot rather THIS be the last "hurrah" rather than it waiting 'til a lot of things are leafing out. (Remember the crape myrtle killer storm a couple of years ago? @@)