Hang in there. Won't be long now:)

NW, I feel you on this winter cabin fever. I have not been going into my garden lately, and you know how unusual that is for me. Our winter has been colder this year, with frosts browning and killing my camellia buds and flowers. It is so depressing and frustrating. On the good side, it bodes for a good growing season and happy hostas for 2022. Today it will be 70 degrees, tomorrow 27 with wintry mix.

I had just been telling my PT yesterday, “I’m bored! Tired of being cooped up in the house!” What I wouldn’t do for a 70 degree day!! Today’s 17 but the sun is out! ☀️ But the next couple of days night temps will be below 0…… 😝. Because of my hip surgery I have been cooped up since Dec. 3rd. I can’t wait for spring either. Back in 2018 my yellow oriental lilies broke through the ground on Feb. 18…….don’t think they’ll poking up next week, but who knows????

debra

Oh, I love camellias, my zone is on the edge, I will haunt and hunt my local nurseries and see if I can find one. My area of town is 6b. I grew up in 8b and my dad grew beautiful camellias and azaleas. However my mom was jealous of my peonies and forsythia. Makes one understand the saying "Grow where you are planted!". Guess I will go read about grafting my little wild redbud with a whitebud. I like challenges especially in my price range...free!

longest winter ever?..fall and early winter were beautiful so my mind says no..but my heart says yes!!!!..waiting to put my tropicals out (about May 15) seems a long way off..😞

We don’t get teased by 70 degree days up here. -3 in the afternoon today is like well thats better than -15 from january. i think i will go check my seedlings. and start another batch.

zone 4b. we were upgraded from zone 3 a few years back.

It's been fine for me. I've been shopping for day lilies and tending the tropicals in the basement. Spring chores can wait for me. I'll start getting antsy in March when Spring arrives, but the weather fluctuates so much. I can't wait to see things start but I don't want to see them be abused by early (or late) frosts. Thanks, now I'm starting to worry about it already.

As much as I miss my hosta, I start pruning this week and between that, putting down compost and fert I should be busy until the hosta wake up. Camellias will be blooming within a month although the peonies do seem a little sleepy this year

I've seen some gorgeous varieties of Hosta. I don't think most people realize how diverse in color, size and leaf texture they can be. I recall some exotic varieties at Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, I can't grow any of them..., DEER FOOD big time. This winter, it's primarily been January that was bad with prolonged cold and lack of the January thaw. December was warmish and my Camellias were blooming, then the snow hit. February's been pretty normal, which here means yesterday was around 60 F and today it was snowing, but not sure if that's any weirder than it getting to around 90 F in LA for the Super Bowl today. North American weather in general can be pretty bizarre, but that also makes it interesting. At least that's what I tell myself.

P.S., BTW, Camellias are also eaten by deer (being in the TEA family, they are safely edible!), but they can't reach these, too tall. It took them a few years to realize they were deer friendly, LOL.

Maybe it seems long because I have two new garden areas to work with!

CUE Carley Simon's "Anticipation" ( I had to go listen to it!!)

I am also ready for spring and it is peeking its nose out in Georgia. Yea! The star magnolia is covered in blooms, edgewarthia has a few open blooms per cluster-smells wonderful, camellias, daffs and crocus are blooming. I have had 2 crazy roses that have kept at least one bloom all winter that sadly had to be cut back this week. The forsythia has 1 flower open on it. I've been trimming and cleaning up stuff for the last 2 weeks and the burn pile is taller than me. The bluebirds and robins have been back for 2 weeks. I hope we don't get any surprise very cold weather in the next 6 weeks. If we do it will pinch everything. It has been mostly a warmer than usual winter with just one really cold spell. We will have the bugs this summer since none of them died this winter but I am okay with that.

Sciatica is awful and acupressure got rid of mine. Now when it twinges my DH puts his elbow into the hollow of my hip, holding pressure for the slow count of 20, and kills it before it gets worse. I did the stretches etc. w/out relief and this got it better.