I'm here Sue,

Just watching the pouring rain fall, the rain that is going to fall most of the week too.

OK, so I don't have to water any of my 602 WS containers, BUT, I can't get anything else done outside either.

Not that I can do that much out there right now. Bad back, needs more surgery after I get the garden's plant.

NO help from hubby either right now. He's recovering from a broken wrist done on Valentines day, no less.

He just started occupational therapy to get it moving again, but no yard work for him for several more weeks. Can't lift anything heavy either.

So am looking for someone to help clean up the yard for me, mow what's left of the lawn, and get a few other things done too.

UGH, what a mess this year.

Those gardens will get planted before mid June, then the neighbors will water the beds for me, while I recover from surgery and watch the beauty bloom.

Rain, Rain, go away. Come again another day. After the ground gets a chance to dry out a bit.

OH, Sue I have 3 clumps of star of bethlehem. Showed up out of now where a few years ago and have stayed well behaved in a perfect location too.

Love the flowers and am leaving them alone. Don't think they will bloom this year either. Some 4 footed critter is enjoying the leaves for a snack all the time.

Also have some very interesting daffodils popping up in various places, none of which I planted.
I gave up on planting bulbs many, many years ago. The kids and I would plant the bulbs and a few days later we had nothing but holes. hundreds upon hundreds of dollars spent on bulbs over the years and never got a bloom, just holes.

Now, some 4 footed critter is having a grand time stealing them from somewhere and planting them in my yard, leaving them for good and now they are popping up in my flower beds, in my lawn and beside the driveway.

Fran

I'm here. I'm always here. Sometimes I just don't have much to say and other times I have to bite my tongue to keep from being banned. Last week was a good example, on the BEAP thread.
I've been sitting around watching the flowers bloom. The grape hyacinths and lunaria are going to seed, so soon I'll be out starting my seed collecting. I still haven't deceided if I'm going to have any seed offers this year but I do know that I will collect every last one that I can find. There are not many volunteers in my flower beds.
I usually mulch my beds during the winter so I don't have many weeds in the spring.
jim_6b

I'm still here too! Real busy digging a new bed for my dahlias and getting my house in repair for a baby shower for 80 some people!! Yikes what was I thinking!

Rain here for the past week and not letting up until the weekend. That has put a damper on a lot. So much to get done and planted.

Taking a few days off while boss in on vacation. Cooking, cleaning, spring cleanup - gotta get the grass out of the beds.

Fran,
Just watching the pouring rain fall, the rain that is going to fall most of the week too.
Rain here today and for the next 3 days...and I had such big plans for getting so much accomplished...sigh.

OK, so I don't have to water any of my 602 WS containers,
Ok...having 602 containers just proves what I have heard and read so much about wintersowing. It is indeed a cult, or is in an occult, that will suck you right into obsession.

Bad back, needs more surgery after I get the garden's plant.

Oh my Fran, I wish someone was capable of getting your back fixed right once and for all. I know you have been going round and round with your bad back for years. Thankfully a wonderful surgeon was able to fix mine well the first time. Believe you me, I always take care of and protect it like I never did before the surgery.

That is so strange about your daffodils disappearing and then starting to reappear. Hmmm...never heard of such a thing.

OH, Sue I have 3 clumps of star of bethlehem. Showed up out of now where a few years ago and have stayed well behaved in a perfect location too.
Don't kid yourself GF. There is no such thing as a well behaved Star of Beth. In years past, if they were not deadheaded promptly, they spread their seeds and they will be big enough to be annoying in years to come...oh...and don't ever disturb the clumps you have, as then they will be spread everywhere and each bulb will make a clump...end of rant...not going to show pic again of 'clumps' in the yard.

Jim_6b,
I have to bite my tongue to keep from being banned. Last week was a good example,
I hear ya BF...considering all of the problems and rants the past 2 years. Still unbelievable...sigh...won't go there.

The grape hyacinths and lunaria are going to seed,
I have never collected seed from the grape hyacinths, and this year did not deadhead. Are they easy to harvest before they drop their seeds everywhere? I really don't want them doing that and maybe germinating. They would drive me nuts looking so much like either star of beth, or wild onions in the beds. I guess I could just use my corn gluten meal well around the clumps to deter the seeds from germinating if they happen to drop some.

Ronnie17,
Hi Ronnie!
Real busy digging a new bed for my dahlias
Hope you get some pics of those dahlias...are they new? Named?

and getting my house in repair for a baby shower for 80 some people!! Yikes what was I thinking!
I gotta agree....What on earth were you thinking? Frankly, I don't think you were thinking at all...lol.

Sue

Hi Sue
Working everyday and starting to set some daturas and tomato plants out. Sure got a long ways to go yet. Getting a lot of rain now and hoping the weather will improve in the next few days.

Working everyday and starting to set some daturas and tomato plants out.
Lucky you Bill. I have not gotten the garden cleaned off yet from last year, and have not even planted any tomato seeds...yet.

I imagine I will 'buy' a few plants to set out at the end of the month and hopefully have some started from seed to set out a little later. Last year all my maters were pretty well gone by long before the first frost. I like to have some still going strong up as late as possible.

Looks like we are all having some rainy dreary days.
Sue

Hey everyone,

Just between us, and I'm talking to loud, the rain has stopped for a while, the sun is out and it's warmed. Even dried up enough to not get soaked walking in the gardens.

WS seeds germinating like crazy now at 48% germination rate so far. That's 48% of 062 containers.

Now to figure out how to get the beds read for the seedlings.

Fran

Sue
I collect my grape hyacinth seed when they turn brown and open up. A lot are going to drop on the ground, so keep that in mind. Unless you want to collect them to give away, you may want to deadhead them.
jim_6b

Unless you want to collect them to give away, you may want to deadhead them.
I thought I would collect to both trade and to also offer up for beap

That's 48% of 062 containers.
Fran...that of 602 containers, isn't it? Unbelievable!

s

Oh my Fran, I wish someone was capable of getting your back fixed right once and for all. I know you have been going round and round with your bad back for years. Thankfully a wonderful surgeon was able to fix mine well the first time. Believe you me, I always take care of and protect it like I never did before the surgery.

Sue, I do have once of the best spine surgeons in the country. He has fixed my back correctly the first time. Just a lateral recess stenosis in the L4/L5 and the rest of the spine was fine at the time. That was in 2006.

Post surgery there was nothing going on with the spine, and I was fine for a year.
Not the doctor's fault that 2 years later that something that didn't exist on the MRI before decided to rear it's ugly head.
I saw the MRI reading report as well as the MRI pics and everything was clear sailing everywhere but that one level.

I started having problems again in 2008 and new that there was trouble and it was a different level than before, because of the symptoms.
Sure enough, spinal stenosis and a bulging disc in the L3/L4. Got that taken care of last spring. Not as easy as the first one, but done and recovered.
Post MRI pics showed no problem in either L4/L5 or L3/L4.

Then, I November 2008 decided to go shopping with my daughter. New I should have driven instead of her, but hey, she's a big girl and I trust her driving. Not like she's a kid either, she was 24 at the time.
It's all the other drivers I don't trust and that has nothing to do with her.

Well, sure enough I should have listened to the gut talking to me. Minding our own business driving down the main road in town at 35 miles an hour, in stop and go traffic.
Sure enough, one of those "other drivers" I never trust, cut her off and she had to slam on the breaks.
Didn't hit anything but the jerk forward with the seatbelt said "Oh crap, I've felt that pain before."
Instant nerve pain on the right side, down my right leg and butt.
At least we where on our way home.

Called my spine surgeon the next morning and sure enough, MRI showed the L4/L5 disc had bulged and was pressing on the nerve. That disc never had anything done to it.
Unfortunately, there are some symptoms of the disc above it causing a problem as well and that had a microdisectomy done to it last year.

So have had various injections to try and be sure which disc is trouble and it still appears that it's the L4/L5 causing the problem, but have to get another MRI to be sure.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it won't require a fusion. That is one surgery that I do not want to take part in, but I can't keep going this way either.

Some of us get one surgery and that is it. Others just keep going and going like the energizer bunny with one spine surgery after another.

Doctors aren't gods, and they can only treat what they see and not what doesn't exist. They aren't mind readers nor can they predict what the future will hold for a patient.

I just wish I was on the side of one surgery and that's it.

I do baby that spine, do my core exercises all the time, BUT, not anything else I can do with it.

That is so strange about your daffodils disappearing and then starting to reappear. Hmmm...never heard of such a thing.

I should have said that it has been more than 10 years since I planted a bulb of any kind. So these aren't from my prior plantings.
Either critters are digging them up in a neighbor's yard and replanting them in my yard or do they make seeds that the birds are eating and then depositing the seeds in my yard?

this is the first sighting of the yellow daffodils 4 years ago
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This is what bloomed this year
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Now these daffodil leaves appeared this year.

this one in the lawn on the other side of the front yard from the clump pic above.
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and this one in a fenced in garden bed
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This tulip appeared blooming last week smack in the middle of the front lawn
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and this tulip on the other side of the front lawn
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And this little beauty of a daffodil bloomed just outside the fenced in front planter last week also.
The pic shows the color as white, but it is really a cream with a bright yellow center. I've never tried to grow this one and no one in the neighborhood planted any like this either.
Any idea what kind it is?

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I won't dig up the bulbs, but they have been quite tame for the past 4 years. never moved, never spread and just showed up and bloomed 4 years ago.

Since you say they make seeds, I'm betting they arrived by way of the birds.

Jim, I hate, hate, hate grape hyacinths. been digging them up for soon to be 29 years and giving them to my neighbor.

Thanks for telling us that they make seeds. Now I know how the heck they are getting all over my lawn. Seeds, spreading from them. Cause they are not where the prior owners had them when we moved in, but still in that location and all over the place.

Yup. wintersowing is an addiction, but this is year number 6 and since my first year WS the only plants I have bought are these.

rosemary and this year I have rooted cuttings that are going in the pot
mexican heather, never can get those to survive the dry heat though the winter
and a few years ago I bought a tropical hibiscus marked down from $18 to a mere $2. couldn't refuse that one. that didn't make it through the winter either.

My beds are full to overflowing with WS seedlings that I could never buy in my part of the country along with the standbys and perennials everywhere, including huge dinner plate hibiscus.

Sue, you need to try this wintersowing and see how wonderful it is.

Oh, those 602 containers, not all of them are for me. only about 60% of them are mine.

Fran

imagine I will 'buy' a few plants to set out at the end of the month and hopefully have some started from seed to set out a little later. Last year all my maters were pretty well gone by long before the first frost. I like to have some still going strong up as late as possible.
Well you farter north Sue. The Marion tomato is real good Sue and super for late tomatoes. I raise some last year and I was very impressed with them. I picked my last ones off green before frost and let get ripe indoors. They turned just as red as they were in the sun and did not lose any flavor at all.

Don't have time to read everyone's posting today. I'm busy getting the house outside remodeling finished and getting the inside ready for a family reunion next week as well as trying to get the ws done and get gardens cleaned up.

So much to do and so little time. Will come back tonight to read more.

Fran I hope you back gets better! My dad suffered his whole life! Beautiful pics.

I have 58 Dahlias to get planted. Most are named and believe it or not more than half of them came from some very generous dahlia lovers for postage. some are new this year and some stored very well in the basement. I hope to be able to offer some of mine someday!

It's been raining here for 9 days straight very heavy at times. I now have a pond in my yard!! LOL Hoping to see the sun for Mother's day!

True I wasn't thinking when I offered to have the shower at my house for at least 80!! It is for my niece who lives in Tennessee and she will only be here for a few days in June. She is like a daughter to me so I don't mind and I will get to show off my flowers!! LOL

(Fran)
/This is what bloomed this year
That yellow daff, must be a nice prolific one, to have multiplied like that is 4 years.

I'd say some 4 legged critter planted that tulip for you. What a nice surprise in the middle of the lawn.

Any idea what kind it is?
It could be any of hundreds (maybe thousands) of cultivars from Division 8 Daffs...See HERE for an explanation of the daff Divisions.

Since you say they make seeds, I'm betting they arrived by way of the birds.
I sincerely doubt it, as they take about 7 years from seed to first bloom, and then it would likely be just one bloom atop the one stem...not multiple blooms like with a more mature bulb. MY guess again is a 4 legged critter planted it, or it was from a mix at one time or another somewhere in the area.

Sue, you need to try this wintersowing and see how wonderful it is.
I know, I know, I know...but I have like no real bed space available much, and refuse to stir up the Star of Beth bulbs to make a new bed. I do plan though to container spring sow some tomatoes (though a bit late for that), some cosmos...think I have some purple or lav from you from a couple of years ago, along with several other ones...and love them all. I also want to grow some Morning Glories, but sure can't grow all the varieties I have collected...maybe just a few 'special ones'....and the same with poppies, and some other things that are 'special.'

I'm sorry, I just sort of assumed that your back was the same initial problem as that is usually what I hear of...back surgeries not always working to correct a problem.
Good to know you have a great surgeon, and hopefully this will be the last of it....which reminds me I should start to do my back exercises religiously.

bill449
The Marion tomato is real good Sue and super for late tomatoes.
They turned just as red as they were in the sun and did not lose any flavor at all.
Sounds impressive to me...might have to try and find those...I think I have seen then sold as plants in my area before.

mnwsgal
So much to do and so little time. Will come back tonight to read more.
I guess that really was true since you did not make it back that night or since then. Hopefully it will all come together for you before the reunion.

ronnie17,
I have 58 Dahlias to get planted.
Wow...I'm impressed and really hope to see some pics...and maybe get to do some trading next spring if you have good success at storing them again this fall/winter.

Sounds like you will enjoy the shower though since your niece is so special to you. Hope it all goes well.

Sue....who 'may' have had too much coffee already.

Around here we;re battling very heavy spring rains. I haven't been able to plant out much for fear of it drowning or rotting as the weather clears. Thankfully things that were already in the ground when this started seem to be weathering it fine. I just hate to transplant something out that's already going to go through transplant shock and have to deal with over saturated ground too. We had a dry day yesterday and only sprinkles so far this morning. My beds are pretty well draining, well, once the monsoons stop it is well draining!, so hopefully that means sometime during the weekend or early next week the boys can finish planting everything out for me.

I'm getting ready to have an L5/S1 spinal fusion surgery that will leave me unable to do much for the first couple months, and of course, since I'm wanting to get lots of things into the ground to enjoy while recovering, the weather's being uncooperative. My 9 and 12 yr olds will be going to their father in Texas for the first month so I can recover without worrying about taking care of them. My 16 yr old daughter is staying here to take care of me during the day wile DH is working, and she'll be working evenings. DH and my two oldest sons (grown and living nearby) will be doing the weeding/watering, etc for me until I am able to bend and stretch to do it myself.

So, the 25th is my deadline for getting done most of what I'm going to manage this year. Surgery is the 26th and I'll be in the hospital for 3 days, home on the 29th. Little boys are leaving for Texas on the 31st. MIL is taking care of them the week of the surgery. She'll have them for the weekend at her lakehouse for Memorial Day weekend and will get them back and forth to that last week of school. She'll be bringing them to visit me in the hospital, but she felt that Cliff should be at the hospital with me without needing to worry about caring for the boys. She's such a sweetheart!

So, that's what's occupying me these days. DH and sons built me some raised beds that are bordered 18 inches high with cinder blocks for me to sit on, so that I am and will be able to at least play in the veggie beds. I can get up and down from them now and can reach halfway into each side without stretching much. So, since I can work them now, we're hoping that after that first month when I start feeling better, that I'll be able to at least take care of the veggies and houseplants. I'm discovering I don't have enough houseplants, though. They only take a few moments to take care of, so I'm hoping I'll get some more :)

Everyone have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Kathy

I love my grape hyacinths, but if you plant them expect them to multiply and spread. A few bulbs were planted 5 or 6 years ago and they have covered the whole bed. They are even growing up between the rocks and out into the yard. I don't mind because they bloom early, produce a lot of seed which can be shared with other people, and then they die back about the time the other plants in the bed start to grow and bloom.
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Fran,
Those daffodils are beautiful! I just can't imagine how you do so much w.sing and planting with such a bad back. I don't think I've seen pictures of your garden when plants are blooming but would love to see some!

Jim,
I too love the little grape hyacinths. I have 2 small clumps of them. I just learned a few months ago that they give off seed so am going to harvest some this year for trading.

Been ammending garden beds and planting winter sown babies. Been warm here for a week or so and the earwigs are out and starting to munch on some of the baby plants... gosh I hate those pests! I may have to start over and Spring sow some zinnias since that seems to be a favorite to be eaten.

Cindy

Hi Sue,
I've been so busy!! I feel like my head is going to pop off. Between work, family stuff(more than normal, don't they know it is spring?!!) and trying to garden, I've had no time much checking the forums.

Fran,
So sorry to hear about your back! I can't imagine the pain. It is pretty neat to have the bulbs blooming even if they are in weird places.

Kathy,
I'm sorry to hear about your back too! What a time to have surgery. I once was forbidden from gardening one summer and it was horrible to see things get out of control, weeds, etc, but I realized I just had to let it go and see the good things that were there. : )

Jim/Fran,
My grape hyacinths are a very well behaved kind. I go them a long time ago so I don't know the name. They bloom late. They clump up bulb wise, but don't go seeding about. I did get another variety from a trader that I planted elsewhere in the garden, and I can see that it is full of seed pods so it will probably do what you said and start seeding about.
Remy

Kathy, hope your surgery went well and that you are recovering nicely.

Fran, you have had more than one person's share of back trouble and hope this coming surgery will be the last needed. I got my morning glories potted, 8 on the ground pots and two hanging baskets. Thanks for your help.

Jim, I wish my grape hyacinth plants would reseed. I love them and seems they get fewer and fewer each year.

Ronnie, please post photos of your dahlias in bloom.
I considered adding a dahlia bed but that will have to wait until next year. Finally got my dahlias divided and potted.
I have 12 pots that I move around the garden where ever a bit of color is needed. Usually start them earlier for early bloom.

Remy, I thought I'd try Stump of the World as it was your favorite. I planted three seeds of each variety in a cup and most germinated but I only got one Stump seedling and inadvertently gave it away last week. Hoping my neighbor shares the tomatoes so I can try one.

Sue, the tomato forum is full of suggestions about good tasting late tomatoes and there are many tomato growers willing to share seeds. One of my favorite varieties is Pink Caspian.

Rain, either too little or too much. We are in a drought here, over 3 inches below normal. This is the driest May since the 1930s dust bowl days. I started watering last week after hearing rain forecast and still getting just a sprinkle or nothing. The only good thing from the lack of rain is that the lilacs have kept their bloom longer than usual. Neighbor has a hedge of lilacs and I open my window and breath in their aroma.

I am trying to catch up on gardening as did no gardening (except give tours of my garden) for two weeks but had a great time with family members, visiting, going to the theatre and to the symphony and museums. Spent the last few days working in the garden, dividing perennials, transplanting, getting plants potted for a couple of plant swaps, getting veg garden ready to plant beans, cucks and tomatoes this afternoon. Haven't started planting out any of my wintersown seedlings but there are some ready so maybe this weekend between a plant swap and anniversary celebration.

mnwsgal,
I'm sorry to hear you gave away the plant by mistake! I did that myself with Neves Azorean Red a couple years ago. I do hope your neighbor gives you some to try. It should make enough fruit to share!
We were really dry here way below normal too, but it is finally raining.
"Sue, the tomato forum is full of suggestions about good tasting late tomatoes and there are many tomato growers willing to share seeds. One of my favorite varieties is Pink Caspian." Lol, you have NO idea about Sue and trading tomato seeds. She was one of my first tomato seed traders years ago. She may not have as many as me, but she's got a lot!

Jim and everyone who wrote about Grape Hyacinths,
I did take notice now that mine are finished blooming. They definitely don't have seed pods like the other ones I was given. I haven't a clue to the variety since they were a pass-a-long to me, and they were a pass-a-long to that person. Here's a pic of mine. I should of taken a close up this year and never did. But if you click to enlarge, you can get and idea.

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I didn't realize this was such an oddity. If anyone is interested in some though now or at a later time, let me know and we can work something out.
Remy

Well just got done digging 58 holes for the dahlias!! Thank goodness my hubby hammered in the stakes! I am trying 2 plants to a stake to save space and work. I'll post pics of the new bed after I get them planted...A new bird & butterfly garden was fenced in last week, just need to add some annuals and mulch. The pergola was fixed and a pretty light added. MGs are started just have to get them potted and planted. The yard is shaping up for my shower...I'm getting excited to "show it off" LOL!

(Was thinking this afternoon maybe I should have been a stamp collector instead of a plant collector...NAH!!)

Hope your back is much better Fran, hope everyone's doing well.
What I've been doing? Weeding, watering, transplanting--mostly from overcrowded pots to ground, summer has been here a while, 1 day without rain and potted plants start drying.

Saw about 1/4 of Remy's Picture Gallery ,over 350 to view...beautiful garden. Here I was thinking I have a bunch of color around... Remy, seeing yours makes me wish to have lots more, if it were only lickity-stick like stamps, lol

You all have fun in your garden, take care, see you again soon,

Bea

Hi there! I know this is an old post but I haven't been around GW for so long! I wanted to say HI! Been busy with school and work. I'll got the winter blues! Plan to be around much more this year though! Time for some new stuff in the gardens. Hopin to make a nice poppy garden this year. Good to hear from you all! Dawn B-old name mgood4u

Hi dawnbrn, A old one but good one :)
Its nice to see every day chit chat in here:)
Im fixin my winterblues with wintersowing, or was cause i ran out of soil, lol I never have enough soil!
also working on my seed trading list for next month. and maping out what im planting were. and things i want to add or change. I cant wait till I can work outside! [other than running out to put a bottle out n flyin back indoors to the warmth] hahaha
heres a good tip:
Spring clean your home now so it dont get in the way of your spring gardening! lol

Working on planting herbs and getting my bhut (ghost pepper) and hot chile pepper seeds started. So far I have 6 different herbs plants going and several flower plants still over wintering and showing signs of growth. Took measurement at several location in my backyard planning on different flower beds to attract the bees, hummers, and those butterflies. Working on my roto-tiller so when the vegetables need to be planted, I can answer the call. WOW I AM PUMP UP AND READY TO GET DOWN AND DO SOME DIRT THERAPY

Ive planted my scallion onions, and put out a few seeds, I have painted our shed, crazy purple, Pink Bright it is, all the dead heading if finished, had a garage sale did well, I have several WS. seeds up of each kind but not to many . only the larkspurs were over welming seedlings. Iam not quit what to do as this is my first yr. to put them out and uncover them. I have peppers and tomatoes up under grow light in basement. This week will put in Broc,kholrabi,and Swiss chard. It is so good to be back outside, will be 40's again so not much tomorow. in Michigan. ups and downs on weather.

Hi pals, hope all is well/ better.
My, how time flies , I'm still cleaning up frozen plants, again, almost thru, many pleasant surprises popping up.
This year I have more edibles, verbenas, salvias and herbs.

More soon, just thought this great thread should be revived.

Bea