Nothing looks good right now

16 years ago

In the dregs of winter here, and believe me, as I look around outside, absolutely nothing is looking good. We've had the most snow in 30 years, and we are finally seeing some patches of bare dead grass under the greying piles of snow and slush. But, it doesn't feel like a harbinger of spring - it just looks even worse than the greying snow! I can't say that anything has Winter Appeal right now.

I'd say I can't wait for it to warm up and Spring to really get here - but the quicker it warms up, the more flooding we will get. So, this start and stop melting is probably the best situation - but man, this is getting old...

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Comments (10)

Embothrium
16 years ago
Hardy plants with considerable winter interest include dogwoods and willows with colored stems.
irene_dsc
Original Author
16 years ago
Btw, that wasn't really meant to discuss my own garden - also from driving around the entire area.

I think it's the light, too. Everything just looks dreary...
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Try growing kale & snip leaves as they grow. Under 2" long great for salads. The bigger leaves chopped finely go with any saucy meat dish, but hide especially well in stir fry and spaghetti meat sauce. Important for new kale eaters to not overcook & snip very small. If you snip just the leaves you get a tall, thick stemmed plant. If you cut the entire top off it resprouts. I found some sprouting in stalks I pulled up earlier this spring in the compost pile yesterday. They just keep growing... Red Russian kale self sows for me, so I planted several years ago & just move seedlings if I want to rotate. Surprisingly they transplant pretty easily when young. If a bit older they may flop, but will regain their strength & continue on if you keep them moist. Last spring's plants are going to seed now & planting our overwintering crop. What went to seed right away in spring have sprouted and are 4" tall -- almost ready to start snipping. We'll cut all winter on the spring & summer self sown kale & let them go to seed next spring. After frost the kale tastes sweeter, but it's still good now. even with the flowers opening up the taste is stronger cabbage-like, but tasty when small bits of leaves are added to our entrees. Earlier this spring we cut the entire stalk down & stripped them of the leaves by grasping top of stalk and pulling downward to base. Washed leaves. Lined them up with stems on one side of the cutting board to do a multiple chop off. Spun dry in salad spinner & packed away in frig for meals all week. It was pretty easy & quick to do that way. Those stalks are resprouting and not giving up yet. Amazing plants!
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Kathy. I wish I could tell you its name -- I bought it 2 or 3 years ago at Growers Outlet right after the first Spring Trade my mom & I went to at Glynis'. This was one of those standard little 6" pot mini-roses. It's kind of hard to call this a mini-rose now when it's easily 3-4 feet in diameter & about 3 feet high. The other two I bought at the same time (different colors) are planted in other locations and are only about a foot in diameter so it's either a difference in varieties or the red one is just in a great location. It does get more water than the others because it's in a bed under the eave of the house and anytime we do get rain this bed gets soaked from roof runoff though that hasn't happened in a while. Normally the Japanese beatles hit when this thing is in full bloom and cover it, paying little attention to anything else in my garden. It always made the bush look less than stellar, but this year they're only just now starting to show up now that the bush is almost finished with the first flush. Maybe the freeze delayed the beatles in our area a little. Without this rose to attract them now I wonder what they'll turn their attention to next? That flush of blooms in the pic is actually almost gone -- that was taken a week or so ago and I need to dead-head now. I did root some babies of it so assuming I can keep them alive through this summer I can give you one at the next trade. Buford -- the weeds seem worse than ever here for some reason. I probably should add those onto the "what still looks good" list lol. Squirrellypete
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They've been having problems with this site for several days now.....with today being the worst. We'll just have to try to be patient while they get rid of their 'bugs'. Shirley
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Tomatoes are so good right now.
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Mine went in very late this year, so they're all still green. But I did stop by the farmer's market and pick up some homegrown, and they're ALMOST as good as growing them myself. LOL! I just love the flavor. I don't normally peel my 'maters but one year, I don't know which variety I was growing, but the skins were so THICK and TOUGH that I did have to peel them. I didn't like biting into a piece in my salad or sandwich, and the skin was thick like that. Oh, and you're right about that sandwich, Glenda. Tomatoes + mayo + crushed chips = THE BEST!
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duluthinbloomz4
16 years ago
This is a not so pretty time of the year in the upper Midwest. Snow piles are dirty along roads and sidewalks - to the point where a fresh snowfall would be welcome if only to clean things up a little for a short time. The 2-3' left in the yards is crusted so hard you can walk on it without falling through.

It's cold, in the teens and low twenties, but the sun's been out, lovely clear blue skies. But that doesn't help much with the overall "really getting tired of winter" feeling. Oh well, it is March; just shy of two more months of this to endure.
deebs43
16 years ago
I've been thinking the same thing. It's been so gloomy here. The first 12 days of February we had SIX MINUTES of sunshine. Total.

We have the rock-hard snow here, too. I'm sure some of the piles will linger into early May.

But...we've had sunshine for three straight days, the chickadees are out, I can see patches of grass in the back yard, and I can smell dirt. There is hope. Spring is on its way. :-)
irene_dsc
Original Author
16 years ago
And now that I think about it, the best things in my yard right now are my little Euonymus wahoo trees. It probably also helps that they don't have as much nasty grey snow by them, since they are away from any roads, etc!

I think what got to me is that the patches of grass aren't cheering me up, because they just look dead. And even the plants with interesting seed pods are looking pretty battered by this time - you just want to go chop them down and put them out of their misery!

Spring...please come soon!
deebs43
16 years ago
My big winter-interest plants are several arborvitae and a big holly. All of them are woefully bent from all the snow. Even my little 5-foot blue spruce is sagging to one side. Very pathetic.

Of course, now that the snow is melting I'm seeing all the clean-up I neglected in the fall: hosta stems, hibiscus stems, peonies... Whoops! Guess I have some catch-up to do. For once, I can't wait!
tibs
16 years ago
This is the dangerous time of year. I think I have more empty plantable space than I actually have. Everything looks so sparce. And those pictures in the catalogues are so pretty...
irene_dsc
Original Author
16 years ago
Arborvitae - yeah, most of ours are very bent from snow. Ironically, the one that started out the straightest ended up breaking. Probably because we couldn't reach the top, to knock down the snow, like we did on all of the others that were bent down low enough to reach!
littlebug5
16 years ago
Dull and dreary here too. But the sun did shine today and I have 2 or 3 clumps of daffodils just barely breaking the surface. Temperatures predicted in the single-digits for the next two nights . . .
karinl
16 years ago
Tibs, you've got that right!

KarinL

Nothing looks good right now

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Embothrium

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Nothing looks good right now

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Embothrium

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irene_dsc
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