Gosh... long time no describe from me... LOL But here goes:

Lilacs are starting to leaf out. We had a near-frost scare last weekend and there I was covering the James McFarlane lilac since he had started opening up his leaf buds. I always hate doing that because I usually always knock off some bud clusters and it is ALWAYS WINDY when I end up adjusting and readjusting the cover as the winds blow and knock it off. Fortunately Miss Kim wasn't as far along and she did fine without anything. My baby Agincourt Beauty lilac was easier to cover though. AND luckily, our last Frost date was supposed to be April 10, so I'm hoping that this will hold true and we won't get any freezing-temp cold snaps (although we often get one in the 'burbs here around the 2nd - 3rd week of May).

I have daylilies, hosta, peonies, asiatic lilies, violets, and lily of the valley coming up. I also have a sedum I got late last summer that sat outside on a table by the balcony door in its original pot and that is leafing out now.

The weigela, blueberries, clematis (one of them), and pee gee hydrangea are starting to leaf out. The younger clematis may be resprouting from the roots since I cut it back pretty severely and probably should have given it several pairs of buds rather than just 2 sets, to start with. My honeysuckle started leafing out pretty early and I've had to cover it with frost cloth way too many times to keep the tender foliage from mushing or dessicating in the winds.

My deciduous azalea is sort sitting there and is just barely starting to wake up. My little evergreen azalea is trying to figure out what to do - it got a bit stressed with the cold winds but I had put antidessicant on it and the buds look sortof okay. The leucothoe had some winter burn but I did try to protect it during winter and gave it some antidesicant - same as what I did with my crossvine, which looks like it had some issues this winter.

The iris are producing a bunch of daughter rhizomes and I'm hoping that some new mothers will bloom (had none last year). My prickly pear cactus is still sortof deflated but hopefully as it warms up more and gets some sun, it'll puff up again.

Not seeing any ferns coming up yet and none of my bulbs came up. I planted them pretty late and I might dig them up to see if anything rotted for some reason.

Some new things this spring include a baby red-twig dogwood and a "Profusion" beautyberry (Whooo hooooooo), something that I've wanted for about 4 years now ever since I first saw one filled with berries at the Phila. Harvest Show.

I planted some strawberries ("Sweeheart") and some sweet peas. I also put some pansies in my windowboxes on the rail and planted some alyssum plants in another window box that sits on a shelf.

My inside babies that will eventually go out include my figs (both leafed out and 1 with about 7 figs on it), my passifloras, both hanging on (literally to the blinds...lol), and my plumies - a bunch sadly succumbing to rot. I do have 1 that is leafing out pretty nicely and it is supposed to be a "pink" and I'm hoping it is. I am on year 3 of my habs and 3 (out of 6 brought in for winter) survived the winter to reach this year 3. My elephant ears from 2 years ago are leafing out in the bedroom and my hibiscus and mandevilla are getting new growth.

Some casualties thanks to spider mites (sigh) included my citrus and my new Camelia sinensis. I have a small humidifier running all winter but I definitely need a bigger one (my older big one finally died). As it is, my poor coffee plant was struggling too since I had repotted it and it was too big to really get near the lights.

Have started tomatoes late last month and will end up with 18 of them (7 different varieties), 2 staying with me and the rest divided to go to my sisters and mother (already staked out a share-cropping spot (LOL) at one sister's place where she has an enclosed 12ft x 15ft "veggie pen" that had been built by the previous owner of the house) and I started some MF seeds last week (they're popping up now) and need to start some hyacinth bean vine seeds (need to soak them tonight perhaps).

Yesterday, I watered and fertilized and added fresh mulch to the shrubs. Will be trying to decide how to arrange things that need to be in that sunny corner.

Jenny,

Sorry to hear about your casualties. I am very interested in growing a camellia sinensis. The spider mite problem is something I'll try to prevent, thanks to your diagnosis. Did you start plant from seeds or purchased a plant? Was yours supposed to have white or pink blooms? I ask these questions because I finally found a place in WA to reserve the Blusing Maiden for next spring's shipment. Rather pricey at $22.50. I've also found a seed company where I can buy 5 seeds/$3.50 or a plant shipped in a 4" pot for $10.00 for a white-bloomer.

If you started yours from seeds, was it difficult to germinate the seeds? If you purchased a plant, was it from some place closer that the PNW?

Thanks for your help.

VaBreeze

My tea was a plant, a white one, and I got it from Edible Landscaping (which is in Virginia). It was a very nice plant too but I know that Cameilias, like gardenias and similar evergreens do need that humidity and where I had it was not close enough to my poor little humidifier. I do plan on trying again because they are neat plants. I'd love to get a pink one eventually but I know there's that one place that has them and they're all out for now, but one day. :-)

Jenny I knew if you answered, you would put me to shame! lol

Remember all those plumie cuttings you helped me with last year? Only two made it through but I did get one of them to bloom by the end of the summer (white with yellow in the middle). It's a monster now, two branches with at least four large leaves on both branches. The other one is far behind, only one large leaf so far. Let me know when you put yours out, I missed this part last year; knowing when to let them play outside.

Looking forward to your pictures this season, to add to this thread!

LOL It's too much. :-P

I have a couple plumies that I will need to re-root. Last year, I had kept them under lights in winter. This year, I kept them in my cool bedroom and occassionally watered them but should have held off since I kept a humdifier in the bedroom which kept them too damp. I will probably put them out around Memorial Day weekend or before if the weather permits. That's usually when the night temps are consistently in the 50s, which is what they prefer.

And pics will come, especially when some of my stuff has leafed out and starts to bloom!

In my garden...

I have already have almost every room at home ( Ok, it is an appartment, not many rooms!! ) with some bunch of freesias and now tulips. Iris are starting to show their flowers. Calla Lily...it seem it never will have flowers!! and the asiatic lilies ( Im pretty new with this ) seem to be doing well. I have moved them to a more sunny location, lets see if they flower!!

My lilac tree has already buds...it seem this year it will have much more flowers!! It is doing quite well

The Alfred Carriere rose ( climber ), has 32 buds!!! ( yes, I have counted them...LOL). It is extremely fragant so just can´t wait for it to flower!! The Heritage rose is growing, but still no buds, the same as the Fairy rose, wich flowers in July.

I have three new Hydrangeas from cuttings. They are doing well, but I really don´t know if they will flower this summer..

My little fig tree is growing quite a lot. It has a bigger pot, I hope next year I will have figs!! ( How much does it take them? )

I have added some geraniums and a regal pelargonium, wich are currently flowering too.

My japanese maple ( bought last winter ) is doing well. Love the appearance of this little tree!!

And my newest adition, a patio plum tree, is growing quite happily.

I have three big windowboxes with tomatoes ( 9 in total ) and lots of pots with lettuces ( do lettuces need a lot of sun?? ) Straberries are doing well too,although they have no flowers by now.

I have some sweet pea seeds, wich I hope will come out soon ( not very succesful with seeds...)

My camellia Alba Plena has already flowered. It is my proud at home, and now it is growing like crazy. Sorry to hear about yours Jenny...they do need lots of humidity, but mine has prooved to withstand the hot summer months in here...Mine doesn´t come in for winter, but I have it in a very sheltered corner of the balcony.

And I have installed a drip irrigation system wich is great!! We have worked hard tobe able to set it but now it is working just fine. Now I have to supervise watering ( it´s tricky to give each plant the desired amount ), and water the little pots, wich don´t have it.

Projects...find something for my shaded trellis, jasminum was a spider mite casualty...it didn´t flowered much last summer soI have to find a more suitable plant....sigh!!

Will try to post some photos next week!!

Ines

Thanks, Jenny, for the information on Edible Landscaping. They're just a short trip west of me-- will definitely have to visit there. I've certainly enjoyed visiting their website for the last hour!

Hi everyone. So interesting to read all your updates and looking forward to seeing everything grow!

I have some pansies blooming, a peony shooting up with two buds on it, and my clematis leafing out. I just planted some strawberries - 10 plants in large window boxes, and they are looking good.

Otherwise, I'm hardening off my annuals started inside and my four tomato plants, hopefully to plant soon. I can get away with earlier planting because I have a light colored walled balcony that seems to insulate the plants. I'm trying an heirloom tomato (Black Krim) and a couple of Better Boys. I'm also trying a big pot of bush cucumbers, but will direct sow those later.

Let's see... some basil in a big pot, some dwarf sunflowers and some big sunflowers, cosmos started from seed, some portulaca for my strawberry pot which always seemed to get dried out. Got a pot of morning glories started too. I'll probably direct sow a bunch of zinnias as those did great for me last year.

I put my fig out too and it has about 8 figs on it that I can tell. It mighta got a little cold as the leaves curled, but looks like it will make it.

As for casualties, my rosemary froze to death. My little boxwood shrub got weighed down with snow and I'm not sure it will make it. Lots of yellow leaves on that. I threw some freesia bulbs in a pot a few weeks ago but I'm worried they rotted with the cold and rain we've had. (I'm thinking of sowing some mesclun greens in that pot and just seeing what happens..I can always yank up the mesclun and eat it if the freesias show).

Other than that, getting ready for the nice weather (this weekend looks good, finally!!). Pictures hopefully soon :)