This is from May 2011 (previous residence). We're always lamenting how fast time goes by - in general - unless we're waiting for hosta eyes to pop out of the ground.

Oooh, I like seeing these hosta in your lovely Spring gardens unfurling with companion plants! I'll add a photo of my NOID as it was waking up during an unusually warm March 2012.

Deb

Mctavish, that gravel 'pond' is really cool, I've never seen that before. Love the plants growing out of the gravel 'water'!

McT, beautiful as always.

Four months doesn't sound like it is too far off and we'll have some green before that.

Hope to see more signs of Spring.

Nearly all the snow has melted in this usual January-thaw at 40 to 50 dgrs max. I see green lawns here in zone 5. Daffodil leaves pushed out of the ground for 1 inch, but no hostas yet. Usually we have 1 ft of snow on the ground until the end of March, so more will be coming. Bernd

Bernd, we have had some 'winter' with the coldest being 7 degrees one morning. Springtime the last few days (low 60s today) with twenties for highs next week.

The unusually warm winter last year has exploded the deer and rabbit populations. When it snowed here the deer decimated my rhododendrons planted out back. I counted 12 one night at dusk hanging around.

Jon

McT,
Great shots. It sure is tough this time of year. Even if it is too warm to be January here in E. PA.

Do you use a tripod? Your photos are always so sharp.

Thanks for the mid-winter pick-me-up!

What is snow? I can't remember!
370 consecutive days without a 1" snowfall is a new record for Chicago.
Theresa

Theresa .... this is SNOW on my June garden and my Arizona stump. It started to come down and never wanted to quit. It may be melting soon as it is suppose to warm up tomorrow. Enough already!!!

Better times in June garden

What four months?? It is only 2 months away here! Daffodils are way up here. I hope we get to see some flowers before winter returns. Phil

About 6 more weeks to wait here. ;-)

-Babka

Yes, like HostaFreak says, more like 2 months here. I saw the new chartreuse leaves on some huge angel trumpets putting out at my neighbor's house. I put my 2 baby angel trumpets in the teahouse thinking they needed protection....but HA, guess I better rethink that move. So far, no hosta leaves, although Harry Van De Laar came up in November from its dormant state in October. We'll see what happens here in the 2nd year of hostamania.

Thanks for all the pictures. McT, I have a clam shell like yours, and the bear's paw shell as well. You always have great companions for your hosta.

Almosthooked and McT, when not snow covered you gardens are absolutely gorgeous. I really feel hostas love snow cover. We envy those who have what we don't and that includes lovely gardens and gently falling snow.
Theresa; GWHF's hopeless romantic.

Wonderful pictures everone. Four and one half months to May 31. Can't wait to overhaul this bed. Can't decide whether to divide 'June'; she's crowding Halcyon.
Some of the Undulatas will go for sure.

The snow cover under some of my trees is gone. I wan't it back, but please not all at once.

Wow, irawon that June is HUGE! Does it think it's a Paul's Glory??

Don B.
3 degrees here, but no snow

Two months from now here's where we will be, Faye and I.

Theresa, How about icicles?

I got to wondering where we will be 2 1/2 months from now. Its hard to believe but only ten days after the snow picture above we should have snowdrops, crocus and a lot of the garden clean up done. I wonder if I ever slept?

McTavish, you need more insulation above your office = smaller icicles? Bernd

Bernd.. I think it must be her pet squirrels that decided to move the insulation off the ceiling to keep warmer in their winter home in the attic. I would have to make short work of those cute little things and not share my home. We had them in a previous house when we worked in the northern part of BC and between the insulation, poop and three 5 gallon buckets of small rocks we had to haul out and clean up after. Thank goodness it was a temperary home but did find the small entry they had in the eaves and blocked them out and repaired the mess. Messy little butters! Sorry Myrle they are a rodent to me!

Faye-I had a similar experience, but even messier. They raised a family. I had to wait for them to move out and then clean up the mess. I didn't want them dead in my attic. Part of my kitchen ceiling sagged. Yucky-poo!

Merle-I have had one icicle this winter, right over my door to my attached garage. It's been so long I wasn't even thinking about it and almost walked into it. We really haven't had enough precipitation of any kind, though it is cold enough. 10F a night ago.

Why do your hostas all seem so pristine. Mine have always have holes or tears from hail, cutworms, a few slugs and squirrel claws. Yours always look fab.

Theresa

harryshoe, Thanks, no I don't use a tripod. I just take lots and lots of pictures and choose the best ones.

moccasinlanding, What's a bears paw shell? The large clam shell came from my Mom's house when she died in 1989. It was there along with 2 others when I was growing up. My sister insisted we take the three. I couldn't figure out why. When I saw how cleverly she'd used hers in her garden I brought this one home.

Bernd, I never realized there was a relationship between our tendency for icicles and insulation. You're probably right. Most of the house has open ceilings so I don't know where the insulation would actually go?

Faye is right. We do have resident squirrels. We've been trying without success to banish them from their main home in the space above the front porch. That room (an add on to the house) must have some space that they live in. Don't let Faye fool you. She's a softie. She told me the other day she's feeding her squirrels cheerios and strawberries.

Theresa, Believe me I have problems with cutworms, slugs, tree roots, falling tree debris, sun scorch etc. I just take so many pictures I can usually find some that hide the damage.

McT, I have one of the big clam shells like you have, you inspire me to use it in the garden. And a bear's paw shell is similar in look, but small, and you had one of those too.

When I worked on boats and we ran out of a small coastal town in south Texas, Port O'Connor, there was only a bar, a convenience store, a post office, a library, and a shell shop. I became good friends with the shell shop owner. And, that is where I got most of my exotic shells. Including a whole bear claw shell, both halves, they look like a big bear paw with long claws mating the two together. In your picture, it would be the smaller shell beside the bigger clam shell.

I am sooo unsofisticated! All I know about are what I call 'mud-clams'; the river mullosc or whatever they are called. I have one of them sitting in a pot with a hosta. I don't think anyone would want a picture of THAT. The black film is peeling off and I will have to go wading for another when it warms up. Our Kankakee River has been so low I could walk it with dry feet, but it is coming up now due to heavy rain & lake effect snows in the Indiana watershed where its headwaters are.

You all do have me looking forward to spring and when I hopefully see thee dozen or so potted hostas emerge. The closest thing that I have for my 'pot' garden is under a large lilac. :)

Theresa

McT, certainly with open ceilings there is no place to put insulation. I have 16 inches in ceilings, but here in zone 5 winters are colder. My grandson loves icicles, he brings them down with a broom and saves them in the freezer. Bernd

My hubby knocks off the ones that someone would likely be standing under. If you got pined by one of these you'd probably be there until spring. Freezing the icicles reminds me of a time when my sister and I were little. My mom came in one day with this small jar in her hand. She'd found it in our freezer. It was a bunch of rock frozen in water. My sister admitted she'd frozen them because she wanted "to see what they do".

Yes, I tell that 9 year old what an icicle coming from the second floor roof could do to him. Otherwise he does experiments and also puts them in the freezer. But he is a gardener now, owns our vegetable garden and a H. 'Empress Wu'.