can anyone sugest where i might buy a large american dogwood on long island. The ones i see at depot or hicks are very small (approx. 4'), i'd rather not wait years for it to grow in.

Yes Les...
Lowes almost caught me there ..millions of bags inside ... and the only potting soil I could find was a tiny one under some shelving... and I took it so you had no chance and it was after 8 PM so Home depots outside garden section was closed... the next day I got in before 8 ,, put out an early street planting of the panseys.. and primrose and the small carnation looking pinks.. and some sprouted tulips.. and a daisy .. they all do cold pretty well... but I also got the potting soil and with the soil I potted up a few DOZEN rooted cuttings of the angels trumpets... guess I'm now at over 36 [ mostly ]diffrent culltivars now... and these will all be 6' trees by june.. I'm totally over run with plants inside.. and I can't even imagine where they will go... but it's only a few more weeks 3 at most.. for even the tender ones to make it back up to the roof... good luck there... Gordon

pjb,

I am not sure what tree you are referring to as an American Dogwood. BUT, I can tell you that any tree nursery will have loads of specimens.

If you are referring to Cornus florida, the Florida Dogwood, I would suggest a different variety for our area. They are very susceptible to disease and there are a lot of cultivars that are disease resistant. You might consider looking for a C. florida X C. kousa culitvar.

Like Gordon (but on a much smaller scale), I'm slogging through the last weeks of overwintering. A window fan keeps my plant room cool and moist. The cool air gives the semi-hardy plants like bay laurel a chance to rest. The gardenia is still blooming, and putting on some new growth as well. I've been gradually increasing the "day" length on the overhead grow light. Getting ready to move the pots to their summer quarters in the Hudson Valley, and to start seeds for warm-weather plants like basil.

Mostly I am just watching and wishing (and still starting some seeds). I got all excited last weekend when I had one small 'pop' of forsythia (that's still all I have); when I saw a few crocus tips (that's still all I have) and when I saw some green in the some of the perennials that were in my little greenhouse. I have seen no progress all week :-( None of the perennials (mostly roses and clematis) that didn't go in the greenhouse show ANY signs of life ... I'm getting a bit worried.

Hey there Meg! I have roses in containers too. Did you cut yours back to see if there is green? Some of mine have started showing, but another hasn't yet.

Nope, didn't cut back yet; should I?

Yep! :)

Hey, sorry Les. I didn't read all the way down, and I posted nearly the same thing!

Anyhow. My little roses are greening up and have little sprouts. I loved that. I put a flat of Violas in last week, did the whole clean-up thing, and took my perennial pots "out of hiding." Sprouts in the mums, and what I think is my lavender is sprouting madly ... I didn't label the pots. I have Cornflower, Impatiens, and Bachelors Button from seed in the house, but I'm going to wait a bit to put them in.

I think I lost a ficus tree, but we'll see. The little Spruce tress are still gorgeous, and I have some horribly winter-burnt ivy in pots that I wonder if I should cut back. Live and learn.

Here is a link that might be useful: Last Season

The tender shrubs: calamondin orange, diosma, osmanthus, vireya rhododendron and brugmansias are all outside now, and handling the nights without a problem -- I was able to keep them fairly cool and well ventilated this winter.

I have a couple of plants to put or repot, but I doubt I'll get to it this week -- on Sunday I'm either volunteering to help set up the NY Orchid Show or sniffing magnolias at the BBG (it's an addiction), or maybe both!

Jim

Update:

The brugs' leaves were suffering from the cold, so I'm bringing 'em in at night, but the rest are doing great -- and my first feijoa (pinapple guava) blossom opened yesterday!
Happy dance!

Jim

P.S. The magnolias were just about at their peak at the BBG, and magnificent.

happy spring :) :)
what crocuses bothered to bloom (certainly could count them without moving past two hands, and barely that- the curse of city "open" shade) have come and gone but the miracle was that the squirrels somehow didn't eat them before i got to see them. i started to worry about my squirrels when i saw untouched crocuses in fact...we have a little protection racket relationship going - they territorially defend my yard against the masses and don't dig much as long as i supply a steady stream of goodies :)
siberian squill is blooming happily though the other early spring plants and bulbs don't seem to have shown up. hmm.
the daffodils bloomed last friday and were crushed by the downpour, but seem to have recovered ok with some support help.
my perennial self-renewing supply of rustic arugula is raring to go as is the small collection of self-renewing mache (though i can never get the timing right on picking it before it bolts and then i hesitate to clean out that window box lest i lose my tiny renewable supply which i never manage to pick in time anyway.....sigh).
the bushes and vines are mostly showing signs of life as are some of the perennials.
NEVER know how soon to do the post-winter cleanup. i want to pull away the mats of wet leaves to let the bulbs better emerge but i'm afraid to leave it all exposed when the weather is still so unpredictable. plus theoretically those plants should be cabable of handling their own issues in a non-maintained environment, right? but hose thick mats of leaves never seem to crumble as well as they do in the "real world" woodlands (despite my vigorous earthworm population and all)
did most of the cleanup on the sunny side of the yard on saturday though. crossing fingers that no blizzards hit now.
made a roadtrip out to dee's in oceanside where they carry the "coast of maine" products i am fond of. spent too much :)
cleaned out and filled with soil the beat-up styrofoam aps trays and am debating about seeding timing for which veggies and herbs i'll try to start this year (running a bit late and my seeding success rate is never too fabulous) and debating timing on the plan to rip up my poor dejected lawn for a fresh start. plus a multi-year redesign has left many things half-done.
wow. think i need a vacation just to things the garden going.
happy spring again!
chris a.

Jim, thanks for the tip about the magnolias at the BBG -- I spent a couple of hours there this afternoon and was happy to see (and sniff) the trees in full flower. The buttercups by the stream there are already in bloom and of course bulbs are popping up all over.

Squirrels seem to have made a bit of a mess of my planters; still, there's something very reassuring about seeing so many plants coming back; they toughed it out through the winter after all. Chris, I know what you mean about wanting to throw yourself into spring gardening but not wanting to jump the gun. I'm ready to put out tender plants but don't want to tempt fate ....