Nothing to show yet, but I just planted sugar snap peas (Sugar Ann var.) and Lauren's Grape purple poppies. Had to plant!

One of my Dicentra 'Gold Heart' is sprouting!

And the peony eyes are coming up too.

The hellebore finally started to open and I think it's Gold Finch.

Sedum rosettes are appearing:

And the crocuses are still happy:

Naturally they're forecasting snow for tomorrow, 1 to 3 inches.

Claire (fighting off a snarl)

Finally, under the melting snow are daffodils pushing their way up.

As I try to wrap my head around "precious white stuff" as I shovel out from yet another wrong forecast, this article may be of interest to some. NOW (?) I learn about nitrous oxide whirling through snow flakes to fertilize the garden? All these years I guess I should have eaten some flakes of nitrous oxide to laugh my way to the snow blower.http://gardenrant.com/2015/02/poor-mans-fertilizer.html

What a terrible sight that is, Jane! I hope it melts, and I hope it doesn't come here. What New England really needs are warmer, more seasonable temperatures. It's so cold here that we still have pockets of snow that refuse to melt. Your indoor plants look happy anyway.

Ouch, Jane - I hope it's melting already. This morning we had about two inches of wet, wet snow and it's all gone now. I even found the lens that popped out of my backup glasses this morning and buried itself in the snow.

After I finally cleared most of the fallen pitch pine pieces off the innocent hollies and osmanthuses and fothergillas and azaleas, etc., I have no patience for any more snow and wind-caused mayhem. I hope it really is Spring this time.

Claire

I've got Lady's Mantle, salvia, peonies, tulips poking through with crocus in bloom. It seems early, but most of this stuff wasn't there last year, and I can't remember last year when the crocus and tulips first emerged and bloomed.

Not my garden, but I was in Boston's Back Bay yesterday and saw this :)

So nice seeing blooms again! I have had crocus and a hellebore for about a week now.

No flowers yet, but the bed of our new Spirit Garden was laid last Friday. It's about 40' x 20', sort of in the shape of the infinity sign and so far has Emperor One Japanese maple at its entrance and leftover rainbow leucothoe and Japanese willow in the rear. It will be planted with evergreens; conifers, azaleas, rhododendrons. There will be two shellacked tree sections to be used as sitting stools for contemplative moments. It may be June before I can the finished garden, but it is being born!

Great to see this progressing. Is that a bird bath? And is the path fitted field stone? I like how much green is already there with the groundcover in the woods and the pines along with the Leucathoe.

Hi, NHBabs, yes, that is an unheated Japanese font that the larger birds love - including crows that gather around it like an office water cooler. And, yes, the field stone came from the top half of the raised beds around the house foundation last fall when I had the walls reduced to find the reason for water in the cellar. (old taxus and lilac roots) The left side of the new Spirit Garden is raised about 12-15" and when seated inside on the stones, it will feel as though one is being embraced by the new greenery. Think inflatable neck pillow for traveling - that shape.

The Spirit Garden is really taking shape now, Jane! It will be lovely in the summer.

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Slowly, slowly, painfully slowly, Spring is coming.

Scilla 'Spring Beauty' has been blooming for a while:

Pieris 'Mountain Fire' was battered by the winter but is blooming now, the first pieris to bloom in my garden:

Daffodils are starting.

A row of N. 'Jetfire' which has been stomped on by birds and squirrels because it's too close to a feeder:

I think these are N. 'Toby the First' which should turn much paler soon:

Dicentra 'Gold Heart' is expanding:

and the Hellebore 'Gold Finch' is still in bloom:

A sign of hope is the leaves on the splinted broken holly, Ilex opaca 'Goldie'. Most of the leaves on the section of the trunk above the splint look healthy, unlike the leaves on broken-off branches (not shown).

Claire

Note: The saga of the broken holly is in the Show Us Your Gardens - March 2018 Thread. I referred to it then as 'Goldy', but 'Goldie' is correct.

It's sunny this morning and I found a patch of Jetfire daffodils that hadn't been trampled.

Jetfire does very well here. I think these are from a bunch of bulbs I dug out still growing (but not flowering) from under a juniper, potted in soil until the fall so they could mature, then planted in a better location.

Claire

FINALLY! Some signs of spring in my yard!

Primrose

Hellebores

Daffodils

Peach blossom

Finally I have something to report on besides freezing daytime temperatures, and a kerria and kiwi plant both eaten down to stubs by starving rabbits. What a surprise it was to see that my trout lily bulbs, planted last fall, are up!

Daffodils are not yet in bloom but are promising to bloom soon. Also they have spread quite a bit this year. (I like the colors in this perennial bed, filling in for the flowers during the off-season.)

First day out for my started seeds (geraniums, cosmos, poppies, and tomatoes) under their "rain table" (because it's raining today). They spend nights on the back enclosed porch.

And in the garage, my large pots are planted with marigolds, portulacas, petunias, dwarf snapdragons, coleus, and a "toothache plant" (foliage & flowers have a numbing sensation when chewed). Another gardenweb person once suggested this method of using a garden cart to wheel plants out into the sunshine during the day and back into the warmth of a garage at night in early spring, and I'm forever grateful for the idea.

At last it feels like April. So nice to get my hands back into the dirt.

It may well have been you, then, NHBabs who suggested the garden cart idea. It certainly makes things easier.

Most of my plants are breaking ground, including Echinacea and Hosta, which I for some reason thought were the late emergers. Have been looking to see that my Aralias 'Sun King' made it, and they have sprouts just coming up! Everything else looks healthy and new. But, I have no color at all except for some crocus. Everything else is still in bud stage. I was surprised to see this Rock Cress clearly about to beat the rest of the garden to the punch with a display of color. See that purple bud about to open? It is planted in a rock wall. I suppose it might warm up faster there and be ready for an early display. Grew it from seed last year and it was the only one to survive the slugs (aren't they precious?).

|:-(

Spring is springing!

(This Rock Cress struggled last year with the dry summer being in the rock wall. I tried to water it from behind as much as possible to get its roots to extend into the soil. I'm interested to see how it does this year.)

Considering that we had snow on April 20th and today the plum and ornamental pear are blooming, I'd say that's pretty good despite the below normal temps. Mother Nature's a real beaut, isn't she?

We just took down our big big Sycamore because of us getting new solar installed...The Oct 31 storm a few years back broke this tree in half....but it grew like a weed. Huge leaves..We replaced it with A Thundercloud Plum so as to not interfere with the sun..

It has been raining here for the last 4 days.

We have a vernal stream every year at this time.

I'm pretty sure my beloved David Austin rose bush is gone, along with a carpet rose and another climber (coral)..I'm sick over the loss of my DA rose.

Your plum tree looks like it's off to a good start. I love fruit trees; they are such a manageable size and usually have pretty blossoms in Spring. Perhaps one or more of your roses will surprise you and come back.

I still have my 3 knockouts that I Love..and my Zephirine Drouhin climber looks good..yes, I can only hope.