Awww I'm sorry your poor chicky isn't feeling well. We are also having colder than usual weather. Tonight may be 39F that is unheard of! Yesterday we were under tornado watch and had heavy rain again. Its like winter won't loosen its icy grip this year! At least your plants look happy. I should have planted a winter garden this year it would have done great grr.

My crazy chickens are trying to go broody and yesterday I found one has 2 chicks! They aren't waiting for spring.

Hope warmth and sunshine will head your way soon! Your dogwood and apple blossoms are lovely though.

I'm sorry about your chicky, too. They do look so disgusted looking out of their pen! However, your plants are looking beautiful and lush! I'm laughing as Calif Dreaming really seems to BE dreaming of some CA. weather and is wondering what's going on! Sultry, that is so cute that you have two chicks! (And I so agree about the winter garden. Who knew?)

It was 80F here on Saturday.

32F tonight (just 32, in the most optimistic forecast)

I hate it.

My plants hate it.

I hate it.

But your garden pix are lovely, Beth. The chicks are cute; I hope the one gets feeling better soon!

John

Sympathies on the girls Beth - tell them not to share the sickness with each other and to sleep dreaming of sunshine. Those of us in the plains and midwestern states got a rude awakening this weekend that winter is really really not over yet either. We had a total blizzard on April 15 with blowing snow and up to a foot or more of accumulation, with I-80 getting closed down and 100s of drivers stranded on the interstate. Like John we had extreme temperature drops of 55 degrees or more from 83 Friday to high 20's on Saturday and truly nasty weather.

We didn't get as much snow accumulation in Lincoln but really - it's APRIL for cryin' out loud. Supposedly we're no more than a week or two from our usual last FROST date much less snow. I've usually had all my roses pruned for weeks by this point but the forsythia refuses to bloom and like the tulips are in suspended animation for a solid month waiting for the sun. I've staggered out in the last four consecutive weekends with snowfall to plant the bare roots, because my gallon and band roses are all starting to arrive this week. Usually the daffodils are long gone by this point of the year and they've barely even started. Just weird - apparently these extremes just get more extreme with the global warming process, even though the word "warming" just doesn't seem to apply these days.

Hang in there everyone - winter has to be done before the Fourth of July at least, right?

Cynthia

I hate it too, Beth. I'm headed out to put a box over Jesse Hildreth.

SJN, how cool to have new baby chicks! I don't have a rooster, so can't happen in my brood! What breed are they?

Sounds like everybody else is having unusual weather as well. Weird isn't it?

Well, my girl Elvira was better this evening. She seemed a little perkier and actually ate some dried mealworms, which she did not do 2 days ago. I'm afraid she's eggbound. She's my alpha hen... a black sex-link, the first to lay, and lays some pretty big jumbo-sized eggs. Found no mites, and if it was coccidiosis (sp?) at least one other hen would be acting the same. Also... I think this up and down weather has her all messed up. Poor girl.

Oh... and did I say it was hailing??? Yessiree... it hailed for almost a half hour straight! Thankfully it was slow-falling and not very large-sized pieces!

This was about 20min in....

I hate to see what all those new little tomato plants I potted up yesterday are gonna look like...

We got 2-3 inches of rain yesterday through today and temps dropping into the high 20's with snow tonight... 2 days ago it was 85 degrees...lol

Are they letting Katy Perry operate the weather machines?

^ No, no, it's mean girl La Nina who is currently in charge of the weather machine!

Looks like Cori Ann! Except she is so nice, she would never do this to us.

Yeah, winter won't quit here (mid-Virginia), either. Chilly, can't-turn-the-heat-off weather for another two weeks, about, according to AccuWeather. Sigh..... Maybe global warming is a tad less define-able than we thought.

There hasn't been a significant rain here in so long that I can't remember. Maybe 6 months? More? At least your roses have water, and roses love water don't they!

Here in Vermont, it’s snowing. It snowed the day before yesterday, it snowed yesterday, and it’ll snow tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Everything here is still lifeless. I empathize with your chickens. I know what they are going through. Lol

Amazing the difference a few hundred feet of elevation can make. Figsanity is down hill from my frozen acres. Yes, snow yesterday for five hours, really cooled the ground and then turned to ice for seven hours overnight. Dogwoods aren't in 'bloom' yet late daffodils still are, and a few iris have buds starting (if they make it past last night's 27F).

We really need big mountains to our north to direct the cold off the Canadian Shield eastward.

All my apple trees were in full bloom yesterday. Nature may have done a natural thinning for me.......maybe, Ya' think?

I hear ya, Beth! Winter just won't let go back at home either. Checked the forecast- yup, it's SNOWING today. Good grief. It's the middle of April. Enough is enough.

Hope your gals feel better and your roses love the rain!

Steven

We need to get rid of this guy: lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbfgVEk-mxQ

Janaina, Why does your zone say Maryland if you are in Vermont?

Hi beth, they will likely be Crele Easter Eggers.

We got snow over the weekend here in West Omaha/Elkhorn area, of course the sunshine on Monday managed to melt it all - not going to complain about that part! It’s like anytime I think about going to buy the tree we intend to plant on the west side of the house, the weather happens to throw a curveball at us and delays things. Can’t plant when the ground has to thaw *again*.

While I do sympathize with all of you about your weird California winter, I would like to point out that we had a half an inch of ice coating everything on Sunday morning (hundreds of thousands still without power) and we've had regular snow showers daily since then. "Winter" is a very relative term.

Yeah that's true Seil. But when you aren't used to having this kind of weather at this time, it's pretty annoying!!

Sheila z8a unfortunately I am living in Vermont because the Army (my husband is a Jag Officer for the National Guard ). But my house where I garden is in Maryland zone 6. I spend most of the spring and summer time in Md.

I sympathize with you too, but at least you have a few beautiful plants blooming. We had ice/rain/sleet on Saturday and Sunday. Light snow on Monday. Today was cold, but sunny. I'm just looking forward to seeing the very first bloom in my garden. I don't care what it is. I just miss seeing their pretty faces. :-)

Beth, I do understand because this isn't normal for our springs either. Our average temps should be in the 60s with lows in the 40s. We're a good 20 degrees below that and have been all month. They keep showing it's going to warm up on the weather channel and then it doesn't. It's very discouraging.

These are pictures taken on Sunday morning from my home in northern IL, if they make you feel better :)

lol I'm stealing that Lilyfinch.

Witchy I put it there just for you! Wishi could have tagged you in that lol

Stole it too! Lol Beth you do have some very encouraging beautiful blooms showing you coming!

Looks like 4 more nights of frosts in the 20's then weather starts improving... Yeah!

Well hi, Jenn Codename: Danger! Didn't know we had anyone else from Nebraska posting on Rose Forum these days! Maybe I've been lucky to be planting in the warm spots in my yard, but I've found that even these temperatures in the 20's hasn't refrozen the ground (yet). Supposedly we're going to crawl out of the 30's by tomorrow but I'll believe it when I see it, as the forecast today said 40's and it's not even close (brrrr).

If you ever want to join in on a bulk order from Roses Unlimited, I do a bulk order with them every year that saves a percentage off both the roses as well as shipping. You're welcome to order however many you'd like in that shipment from RU and then come down to Lincoln to pick them up. It's too late for this year, but think about it for next year if you're interested.

Cynthia