^^^ floral ~ Now, that's just cruel. Presently I have 18" of free, white winter fertilizer on my lawns -- 'Mother Nature' brand. And last night's low temperature was 6* F. We won't get above freezing for the next many days...

I doubt that my lawn-planted crocus bulbs will survive the chipmunk population, but I do have hopes that the dozens of Iris reticulata will...! Crossing my cold fingers. =)

It was lovely to see your photo -- thanks!

Floral, is this the usual time that you have crocus and daffs coming up? I'm just trying to compare our growing seasons. I won't have crocus for at least 2 more months. November December . January February and at least half of March are not gardening months here at all. What stage of gardening is happening there, during those months?

Right now, we have 2 ft of snow on the ground. :-)

Very pretty crocus!!

These crocuses are in a local park on a south facing bank so they're usually fairly early. But not by much.

January and February are outdoor gardening is mostly tidying, pruning and preparation. Where I am snow isn't really an issue. There may be one or two days in a winter. It can be chilly and or wet but there are plenty of days you can be outside.

Pix from last February

So basically your climate is a whole different animal than ours. [g] Two months of non gardening weather vs four months. Plus we don't have green grass in February. We don't usually see the grass greening up until April. We can go out and prune any time we can access a shrub or a tree during January and February but not with a lot of snow on the ground. This winter we have more snow than the past 5 years.

Beautiful field and views across the landscape. Very fortunate in your climate!

What we have here are thick sheets of solid ice except on the plowed salted roads. I have yaktrax on my shoes (grip the ice), but it's still tricky to get from the house to the street, and I wouldn't attempt even a slight incline. A friend with a modestly steep driveway of course can't get her car out and wouldn't attempt to walk it to get her mail from the mailbox at the foot of the drive. PO is holding it.

The cold weather is here for the forseeable future so no idea when thick ice will melt and people can get their cars out. This is a very rural area and the West Virginia hills and mountains have trapped many not far from plowed roads but with driveways that will be unusable until ice melts.

I've lived here for 53 years and never seen anything like this.

'floral' I love seeing such pictures....makes me happy.

I love seeing pretty pictures. It’s been another bad-weather winter here — just like last year. We set a snowfall record with more than 60” in December alone, and my crocus are currently under 4 or 5 feet of heavy packed snow.

Well, I'm happy to oblige. Quite a grey day today but comfortable walking temperature and dry. Around 8c. I only went to buy fish but it was so nice to be outside I ended up extending to a 5 mile walk. Plenty of green around, including evergreen ferns

And some Jacobs sheep keeping warm and woolly.

So glad we don't get all that snow. Stay warm and safe!

Ugh. I too am under a foot and a half of snow, with narrow paths and a narrowly-cleared driveway to navigate (all still way too icy!). And supposedly more snow on the way this weekend.

I have equal parts joy in seeing your beautiful photos and jealousy over your winter climate lol. But it IS nice to see that this is a sign of things to come here too. Well... I'll never have the beautiful English countryside here, haha, but I will have crocuses and greenery and some sheep and cows around the corner!

:)

Dee

And some Jacobs sheep keeping warm and woolly.

Seeing that bucolic picture, reminded me of our favourite (British) series ie "All Creatures Great and Small". (Just last night we watched an episode in the latest season).

(Dee, you really do have grazing sheep nearby...wow!)

I love those tongue ferns! Finally have some fully established in my garden, I think.

My weather today in NE MD was roughly the average Jan temps for the coldest major American city

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis#Climate

almost 1000 miles away. If I wanted winters like this, I'd move there!

Floral I hate to ask you to age yourself, but are you old enough to remember the infamous 1963 winter? That's the only time in the past century the UK, including Cornwall, has had an "American style" winter!

"Floral, is this the usual time that you have crocus and daffs coming up?"

For about a year now I've been watching the charming videos of Charles Williams, present owner and 'lord the manor' of Caerhays castle. There are hardly any others where a true member of the 'landed gentry' tours his garden.* Anyhow, I too have been surprised...spring starts super early there. But as Robert Wagner** on the now defunct PNW cloudforest forum once observed, they are more prone to last spring freezes than the greater PNW. This partly explains why hazelnuts are not a commercial crop in the UK.

* so I suppose he's 'landed gentry', but there aren't many piles that prominent in British lore not to be owned by either full fledged members of the nobility, or the state. Hopefully Charles has sufficiently heterozygous heirs and Caerhays isn't someday bought by a Russian or Middle Easterner, who tears out all the famous trees for tennis courts, 20 car garages and 'infinity pools'. 🤣

** I'm not name checking the actor; I just remember that guy's name. He seemed to know more about PNW plants than almost anyone on that forum. Alas, he vanished. IIRC someone said he moved to Japan.

I do vaguely remember 1963. Dead birds in the garden and ice on the beach.

NB

Hazel nuts are a commercial crop here.

Roughway Farm | Online Fresh Produce | Kent Cobnuts https://share.google/C1S685mnfW8qM1EoR

One of my favorite landscapes is the English countryside with all the hedgerows and the sheep. Love it. And it sounds great to be able to garden so many months of the year, but actually, I’ve lived in New England my entire life. Growing up we had so much fun every winter and the winter landscape has a beauty of it’s own. I love the four season climate here really. Now that we are older, the winters are harder, but so is the heat in summer. We used to be hardier, when we were younger, lol. I guess my wish would not be to eliminate winter and snow, but maybe shorten it by one month. :-)

Rouge - One of our favorites is ‘All Creatures Great and Small”, too. :-)

No sheep around here. Just rabbits, coyotes and Babcat this year for the first time.

Good luck, hopefully the Bobcats will help you in the war on rabbits! Coywolves were being spotted in my area around 2018 IIRC, and looking back now, I remember fewer problems with rabbit damage during that era. Then they seemed to drop out of the local flora scene a year later...I'm going to guess that given the reputation of this area, they started being hunted. (i.e., last most rural county on the I-95 corridor; when I used to ride the commuter trains to DC, there was a group of mostly old gentleman who used to discuss their weekend hunting quarries every Monday morning as that sat in a set of facing seats!) Their howling was something else! For a while it was like we were living on the front ranges of CO or something!

Cheerful crocuses!

You live in such a picturesque place, Floral.

Lol rouge, now that I think of it, they are goats, not sheep! Sorry, I guess you can take the girl out of the city, but can't take the city out of the girl! But we do indeed have cows in more than one location locally.

UBG, you remind me why I no longer like to travel, at least far or by plane lol. I've come to enjoy my day trips or long weekend getaways by car!

:)

Dee

now that I think of it, they are goats, not sheep!

Dee, I am still impressed. I am not sure where I would have to go in my location to see a flock (or is it a herd?) of either mammal.

In a CT yard today

LOL wanna trade? Aw, come on, the snow has compacted down to at least a foot by now! and MOST of the ice on the cleared paths is gone. Kinda sorta.... :)

Sigh, I dearly wish I had the snowdrops in YOUR photo instead. I love snowdrops but won't be seeing any for awhile.

At least its warming up! Right now it's about 27 degrees F, which is a heat wave compared to the single digits we've been having. And it's sunny - and I'll take a sunny winter's day any time, no matter the temperature!

Dreaming of snowdrops, crocuses, and early daffs to come!

:)

Dee

I welcomed the first crocus tommasinianus 'Roseus' Monday. That was the day the snow melted (about a week and a half cover and the only snow this year). I'm looking forward to 'Albus' coming in by weekend. The first hellebores are coloring up and expanding. The ozark witch hazel is spicing up the air overhead.

To contrast with Rogue, it's almost not enough chill time for crocus to be happy here, but that species seems to do pretty well, though spread by seed doesn't seem to be a thing :( Still a lot of the challenge/fun of gardening is trying to make species happy in niche spots.

The Tommies are the first crocuses here too. So far not a snowflake to be seen where I am, although they've had some in the north. This was last February in a local park. I haven't been to look this year but they'll certainly be there.

" To contrast with Rogue, it's almost not enough chill time for crocus to be happy here "

That's interesting to me dbarron. Are you more towards the southern end of Arkansas? Little Rock's January 50/30 hi/lo averages to less than Penzance's 48/42 or Exeter's 48/37. Not sure where floral is, but similarly mild, to be sure.

We're not as mild as Penzance, which is on the south coast of Cornwall and right on the sea. But we're pretty much the same as Exeter. Certainly no chill issues for crocus here.

I think the issue is more hot and muggy than cold enough.

Well, we're certainly not that.

Ok...interesting.