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Winter sown plants for plant swap in Zone 5

trowelgal Zone 5A, SW Iowa

15 years ago

Hi,

I will be offering some winter sown plants for my swap participants. I will have Campanula, Rocky Mountain Penstemon, Triloba Black Eyed Susans and Columbine. Maybe by seeing the healthy winter sown plants I can interest some of the attendees to wintersow their own plants. The gardeners who have responded to my notice of the swap have been slow to trickle in. My thought was that with the economy being bad more gardeners would sign up for free plants via a swap. Oh well, you are all invited, just need to e-mail me for the particulars through "my page" or here.

I'm feeling for all the gardeners in western Kansas who didn't get their budding perennials plants covered. I was like a maniac running around late yesterday afternoon covering lots of budded Hydrangeas, tender lilies that were 6" tall, the list goes on. Here in eastern Kansas the icy rain has started and it is to turn to snow. Don't mean to whine, we are to get only 2"-4" where the western part of the state is under a blizzard. Have to look at the bright side, I was able to cover some plants. We had a number of over 70 degree days this month so our poor perennials thought they were safe to set buds. That's Zone5 Kansas weather, our mantra is "If you can garden here you can garden anywhere":)

Trowelgal or Tina

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Comments (8)

friesfan1
15 years ago
Hi Trowel gal,

We didn't get a drop of rain nor any snow at all.
SW KS got about inches in Dodge.

I have a daughter who lives in Lawrence, but I haven't
talked to her today. She is probably still crying over
the Jayhawks loss.

Mary
NW KS
gardenfanatic2003
15 years ago
Mary, I think there are lots of people crying over the Jayhawk loss.......

Deanna
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trowelgal Zone 5A, SW Iowa
Original Author
15 years ago
That seems so strange that you wouldn't have any snow Mary. How many inches in Dodge City? All the forecasters here are talking about the blizzard conditions in western Kansas. Did you get ice? We got ice that is weighting down our trees and at about 1:00 snow started falling on top of the ice layer. Ugh! A good "stay at home" to be sure. Think I'll go play in my seeds, that is always fun.
Tina
PVick
15 years ago
Hope your budding plants make it okay, Tina! And you stay warm. This weather is just too weird ....

PV
friesfan1
15 years ago
Tina,
Sorry I meant to type in 8 inches.

And no, it is dry as a bone here. Nothing, not a drop.
The weather reports said it would blow in here by
midnight on Thursday. So I took the dog & drove into
my brothers, early evening.
I didn't want to have to battle a blizzard
into work [20 miles].

Lots of wind but nothing else.
We really need some moisture here.

Deanna,
I was really hoping the Jayhawks would
make it. It looked close. I missed the game
darnit.

Mary
carrie630
15 years ago
Tina - Sorry to hear you are having such cold weather - it's raining really, really hard today - everything is flooded in my garden - i think my plants are going to float away!

Carrie
trowelgal Zone 5A, SW Iowa
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the concern over my plants PVick. I can see my pretty budded out weeping cherry tree right next to the kitchen window. It is hung with ice drips then adorned with snow. I have no hope I'll get to enjoy those blossoms this spring. But what I did cover should be fine (fingers crossed). Glad I went to the trouble, my friend didn't cover anything and I am feeling bad for her.
Carrie, I saw on TV that you were having a lot of rain, even tornado reports no? If your area is really dry perhaps the rain will soak in as soon as the rain stops. How long is it supposed to rain? Hope it all turns out okay for your gardens.
Just stepped outside and took pictures of the ice hanging in my trees. Looks like a beautiful winter wonderland that would be appropriate in January!
I know Deanna, the weather here in Kansas is unpredictable all the time. We have all the extremes of weather. Oh dear, the news is on and they are predicting another snowstorm Monday night into Tuesday. Is there no end to this madness?
Trowelgal
carrie630
15 years ago
No tornado warnings here - but the rain is quite heavy but tomorrow windy and sunny - so maybe that will help dry up the grounds...

I was smart and yesterday I fertilized some of my shrubs and now I am sure the fertilizer went straight to the roots with all the rain...

Carrie

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