Babka..wow!..some are really growing..have to admit I'm jealous of your climate..

look at the progress of these daffodils..pic #1 Sun..pics#2 & 3 Tues..

Last year I ran around like a mad woman covering things and it got so cold it didn’t help. I might try letting them deal with it without protection and just cut the ugly leaves off eventually.

zkathy..I hear you..you can't help but wonder if it's worth the trouble to cover them..

Daffodils give me such hope!

Aren't daffodils great?..effortless and problem free..are more of yours blooming now?..

We had an ice storm here in KC today... with another predicted for Thursday. But it was in the 60s yesterday morning before the front blew in.

Well, I enjoyed a day off work today. And overall it’s been a colder, more wintry winter than the last couple. So I think it’s been good for the gardens here generally.

be careful on ice..2 weeks ago my sister fell on my parents driveway and broke her lower leg..can't put any weight on it for 10 weeks..

that is it for me here in Chicago

lindalana..your snowdrops are adorable..I should plant some..

-10°Celsius and a strong cold wind from northeast and still dropping if you believe the prediction for next week...At least the sun is shining...

btw.. just for some newb that might be lurking ... first pic.. top of pic.. thats a root poking thru .. IGNORE THEM ... let the plant put the roots where it wants ... and when it does.. dont go thinking you know better.. and try to do something about it ..

ken

I googled to convert your temperature to Fahrenheit..it's cold at your house..

ken..I noticed that too..this hosta was moved from my sister's house..new construction..TERRIBLE soil..it was hard to dig it out..I removed some nasty soil full of rocks from the rootball and did the best I could to replant it..but as you can see a root is showing..my plan is to put some compost in that spot and forget it..

Here in Finland we have still winter. Yesterday it was -24 celsius (-11.2F) in morning, sun warms little and day temperaure is -15celsius (5F). Today was only -20 celsius, LOL. Next week we might get even -30 celsius (-22F). Still I rather have this real winter and not last year's weard weather (cold, too warm, cold, too warm).

All your spring pictures warms me, so keep sending those pip photos ;) and daffodils, tulips and other spring flowers. I send my pip photos bit later, maybe in end of May ;)

Saija

saija..I enjoyed the beautiful weather yesterday but it will be cold again..I hate it when my fresh young plants are exposed to the cold..just curious..what's the latest freeze that you know of in Finland?..ever have a freeze in June?..

Nicholsworth, I hope your plants survive and don't got any damage.

2014 it was freeze in late June and we got snow. Usually we might have freeze early June. Sometimes May is warm and then June cold and rainy. Some year no freeze in June. Never know what we have ;) Our growing season is much shorter than most of yours, but we have midnight sun in summer. I live in middle Finland, north Finland has even more shorter growing season.

Saija

when I have a late frost it doesn't kill the plants it just makes the foliage ugly..so you've had snow in June!..that would be a big mess here and would definitely do some damage..with midnight sun your plants must grow fast..

Hyacinths, Forsythia starting, crocuses and the winter bloomers, too, sweet box, daphne, pieris, Winter honeysuckle. Ready or not it’s spring here.

zkathy..nice..love the terraces..I'm ready for spring but I have to wait...

Ugh. Too early.

I will be doing this for another 3 months. Oh and yeah, of course looking at every ones Hostas!!! Until mine come to life in late may, early June.

It is too early. I’ve been watering for three days now. All the flowering shrubs and newly planted trees. And if the bed that montana A is in drys out it will not accept water so I’ve got to keep it wet. It’s ridiculously hot today.

zkathy..show us when your montana A has leaves..I'm curious to see how early that happens..hope you get some rain..

Snow Drops, Hellebores and Primroses in flower now. Daffodils are up and the miniatures have buds ready to open.

M.A. and First Love have just started to break.

The first three days of this week we had temperatures up to 10ºC and it felt like Spring was here.

The next 10 days a cold easterly will bring freezing cold air from Russia across Europe. Temperatures are going to fall to a maximum of 1ºc during the day and -5ºC overnight. These are the temperatures for towns and cities up, here on my hill in Wales it will be 3 or 4 degrees lower. Once we get back into a westerly flow rain fronts will move in preceded by snow as they meet the cold air.

Not a good start to March. Roll on April!

Dave

So nice to see signs of spring. Still waiting for spring here in Michigan. I did get out yesterday and trim some ornamental grass, it felt good to be outside and do a little gardening.

We had a cool, overcast day yesterday after 4 days of showers and I was so happy to rake out some beds and trim back old foliage. Our daffodils and tulips are up about 3-4" now so I wanted to make sure they were not struggling to push through the leaves. Saw the tiniest pip of Montana A. but mostly just had to put the hosta markers back into the soil where I think they go. I am going to try and do some dividing of larger/older specimens this spring and fill in some blank spots. For now I am enjoying planning it all out :) I still have 2 large beds to rake out but they will have to wait until another weekend. How early in spring is it safe/advisable to divide hostas?

In the 40's today but it was near 70 last week--it's been a series of ups and downs all winter. It's not good for the plants and shrubs. I have coral bells that are all up and leafed out and an azalea that has all of its green leaves--there's no way to protect everything if it gets very cold here. We can easily have snow through March and even early April. The torrential rain went south of here this past weekend. The weather has been wild with all of the temperature changes here. Got twigs and branches picked up this past weekend and some leaves raked up but that's about it.

I wandered around the back yard yesterday and saw some pips at one plant. They were at least 2" out of the ground. No others. However, a lot of my garden is still covered in last year's dead stuff. I don't clean in the Fall. Too lazy I guess. I clean in the Spring. It will be time for that soon enough.

I've picked up fallen limbs and branches but no leaves or clearing debris from the beds..in fact yesterday I covered my 1/2" pips with compost....it will be about 30 tonight..

Now that things are leafing out we have four night below freezing predicted with a wind advisory for the first night so any covers I put out will blow away. Good enough excuse not to bother doing anything except take some pictures before the freeze. I’m a lazy gardener, too.

there's frost on the roofs of the houses behind me..sigh..

popmamma, oh no. Was hoping this would not happen until at least April. Won’t se my garden until Tuesday.

Sunny, don't worry too much! It was only one so far and it is an old, huge, noid that is probably like cast iron. :-) I don't see any of the more delicate ones up yet.

I covered 24 unfurling hostas last night and tonight. Any that started unfurling today are on their own. Temps hovering around freezing for a couple of hours tonight, supposedly. Same prediction as last night but the local low this morning was 32.1F. DH got a weather station for Christmas and it might be operational by next weekend. The problem is my southwestern facing sandy hillside is a microclimate that’s pretty different from his flat, clay pasture at the top of the hill. I wonder if a minimum-maximum thermometer would help.

It was a beautiful day in the garden today, I remembered why I like this.

i also took all the early risers from the Hosta lists off of my wishlist.

zkathy..even when I say "I'm not going to cover up anything" I usually do..then if there's damage anyway I tell myself "it would've been worse if I hadn't covered it"..would be easier to be unconcerned but I can't do it lol..

More than pips. I noticed these yesterday. I am preparing my stash of black nursery pots to cover these when the snow/frost comes which I know it will.

Blue Hawaii (just planted last year) already has a leaf. Just one.

These leaves on Moonstruck (also planted just last year) look sort of narrow but that's the only thing planted in this spot.

popmama..I have Blue Hawaii..2 of them..still invisible..

Apparently no one informed Blue Hawaii that we are not in Hawaii! :-P

Lol Popmama! The assortment of lovely, cheerful pictures here is promoting more "spring is in the air" feeling, isn't it?

I have a pip that is leafing out - plant had a new style of "dormancy" indoors all winter. It was a rootless division of Blue Angel that eventually lost the leaves and just continued to grow roots.

josephines..aren't plants amazing?..

Nicholsworth, absolutely are! It snowed here again but not so much. I'll let it stay on the driveway. From the front window it looks like I can just drive out of the garage, lol. Save my energy for the greenhouse I'm visiting this afternoon. Who knows? I may find a hosta-in-bag to grow until I can garden outside! ;-)

P.S. Love looking at your beautiful pics. You have a beautiful property and I have land-envy. Always wanted to poach on zKathy's land from the moment I saw her property when she posted her pics years back, lol. You land owners have it made - your very own paradise on earth.

Sounds like we'll be buying more hostas this year, huh? ;-)

Jo..thanks for the compliment..I do appreciate my space..my parents and 2 sisters have average lots..after 13 years here their lots feel small to me..I'm blessed..I'm ready to dig, plant, clip, tidy up, set rocks..ANY JOB as long as I'm outside!.. :-)

Don't forget to take pictures for the next alphabet :-) with all that work on your list you will be quite busy during summer...

Here’s Lemon Ice sitting on the table in front of the window onto the deck. I forgot to bring it in before I went to work yesterday and it had snow almost to the top of the lengthening pips. Temps bottomed out at 32F. I also covered montana A but every other Hosta has been on its own for the past ten days of on and off freezes. I guess I’ll see how it all looks when the snow melts.

Kathy..this weather is nuts..I see more snow in the background of your pic than we ever had in Indiana this winter..poor hostas..

Luckily the snow is staying to our east for the most part, but temps still solidly in the 40's for weeks, with a touch of 50 here and there. This is one of my first hints of things to come. Trillium sessile, in a spot near the shed where the soil stays a bit warmer. Photo taken yesterday.

Rainforest is first up this year, possibly because it was first to go down last year.

anticipation...

Kathy, that snow in your yard is bizarre! The last thing I'd expect where you live. It so brings to mind that awful spring Phil/hostafreak had to endure...and the last one he tried to enjoy. I hope the darn weather doesn't spoil too much out your way..

Steve, those shoots poking up look downright eager and happy! The anticipation is building...

Really weird, Jo! The “dusting” turned into three inches that fell between 8am and 4pm. The roads were clear at 5pm and I mean of snow and cars. Apparently most everyone freaked out and left work early during the worst of the snow. It was an easy ride home for the few of us that stuck it out all day.

Yikes! Smart woman to wait it out - and a safer ride back home. We had more last night but driveway already showing through.