hey central cali. try to imagine. giving away 2 7 footers & 1 8ft. white yellow and pink noids because you didn't have room for them in the basement. the local unversity loved it for their greenhouse. you are so fortunate to leave yours outside they should top out at 10ft or more. you really have some nice plants thanks for posting have a great evening plantlover49

Plantlover,

Surprisingly, i can relate to how you feel. No matter where you live, there are always things you cannot grow and still try your best at it. I, for example, would love to be able to grow a Royal Poinciana tree, but they would croak at about 30 degrees. I had one that i grew from seed, only to lose it during a freeze last year, so I have opted for a Jacaranda tree (still an impressive tree, dont get me wrong, but a Poinciana would be even better). Lilacs are another No no for my climate. They don't get enought winter chill to bloom nicely. They bloom, but the flowers are scronny and don't ever smell as good as those in more temperate areas.

hey, shut up zone niner!

*grumpy*

LOL Ria!
Yeah, CC..we are jealous of you enough as it is! LOL! You really have some nice new growth there! Be sure to keep up with pix as she puts out more and blooms.
I can grow lilacs..nananananana! lol! I don't have any though :(
DH's friend said I could have some cuttings of his..I just always forget to look it up and see when a good time to take 'em is. Now that you reminded me, I should look it up. I don't wanna miss out again this year.
Daniella

Smaller yellow leaves compared to the larger green ones on the right, problems????

Oh my,........... Lions and Tigers and Bears. I am on my 2nd flush this Spring. I gave up trying to hold them back it just did not work.

OH QRAP!!! You are killing me.. We saw 5 or 6 flocks of Geese headed North... It won't be long and I will be seein sprouts of my own...LOL
Everything looks great please keep posting pics...We could all use a little sunshine...LOL
Kylie

Wow Cali, your Santa Rosa plum is blooming; my tree is totally bare!!! Went out to trim my lemongrass plant and saw several plants blooming, but was more impressed with my Anna Apple tree and China Rose 'Mutabilis'. Looks like spring, but it's not. It is cold and raining right now.

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Yup, lilacs are a lost cause for me. I've tried time and time again and they are always whimpy little things. Then I see them in bloom when i go to the high sierra mountains (z6-8) and i run to the store to buy another. lol.

Karma, I think it could be the lighting, not sure thought, i didnt pay attention to that while it was light outside. It could be that the more exposed branches (ones on the left) began to leaf out a bit later (?). I will check it out tomorrow and post it here.

Chena,
I ran out before it got dark and snapped some pics with my phone, so some are a bit blurry. Here they go:

Verbena
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Unknown Succulent - Mother of thousands??
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More Santa Rosa Plum blooms
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Zonal Geranium -Pelargonium
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White Calla lily
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And finally, a basket of fresh, local produce: Mexicola Avocados (left), Meyer Lemons (middle top), Unknown Oranges (right) and Mexican Sweet Limes (center bottom)

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Eloise, missed your post. Yeah, we're expecting over an inch of rain for tomorrow along! That's a LOT. we normally get less than 11 inches each year, and the last couple of years have been significantly less.

But yeah, my santa rosa is blooming, Mariposa plum is all budded up and should be blooming by next week. Both of my apricotts should also be in bloom by next week, but im unsure what variety they are.

by the way, how are your cuttings going? You did post about the huge cuttings you got off ebay right? or am i confusing you for someone else?

That fruit looks so good!

Your brug looks so 'clean'. I didn't trim my noid white or pink other than cuttings I've given away. The white looks a bit ragged, but has a flush of blooms right now. I hope my named brugs do as well as these noids do! The brug cuttings of Shredded White appear to be doing well. I cut them up into smaller cuttings and planted most in soil with a few in water. I put the pots on a wheelbarrow and move them out of the garage when the sun is shining, and in the evening, they go back into the garage to keep them warm!

Centralcali that's not a Mother of Thousands but if you figure out what it is let me know. I have the same thing blooming in the greenhouse now. Nothing outside is putting out growth here yet, even my daffs haven't started coming up. I did cut a bunch of peach branches and forced them to bloom inside but that's the only touch of spring around here. I will say that lilacs do beautifully in this area and I'd really miss those and my peonies if I couldn't grow them but I still hate the cold and will continue to complain. lol
Karyn

CC, Karyn..looks to me like some kind of "hens & chicks" Squirrels always eat mine, so I never get to see them flower. But there are many kinds. Does it sit basically right on top of the soil? Does it produce lil babies around it?
Daniella

Daniella, yup, they're in a rock garden-ish kinda area right next to the front entrance of my home. I bought them a couple of weeks ago, so if they do produce pups, its probably too early for them?? idunno.

Luckily i saved the name markers from the pots, so i checked them this morning. This one seems to be

Echeveria 'Ramillette' (took a better pic today)
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and another 'ramillette' this one seems to have its leaves more closed.
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And this one's tag just says Echeveria
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A larger view, the whitish one on the top is supposedly Echeveria 'Lola'
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And another unknown Echeveria
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pff. I won't see a hint of spring until may, POSSIBLY late april.

Thanks. I didn't realize it was a type of hens & chicks. I'm used to those looking like the ones in the last pic.
Karyn

Ria, where are you? We usually start seeing spring weather here late March/early April.

OMG I knew something Karyn didn't lol.
You're very welcome.

I don't know when they would normally produce offspring, mine never last that long. Darn squirrels. My mom has had some for years, and seems they are always poppin out chicks. Hers must be a hrdy one cuz she is in PA and keeps hers in pots and in the ground and hasn't lost any even with her winters. Guess she has a very hardy variety.
I tried to look up and see when, if it is a certain time, they reproduce, but didn't have much luck. But I did find this lage for you, thought you may wanna look into it. Talks about how to take care of this delicate lil plant, etc..
Daniella

Here is a link that might be useful: Everything Echeveria

I'm in semi-central CT, in that weird line between zone 5 and 6. maybe I'm just in some sort of crappy microclimate because we seriously don't see so much as leaves starting on the trees until late april. it may also be the type of trees here, I think they're quaking aspen predominantly and they get their leaves SUPER late, sometimes starting in may, turn yellow in early august and are gone in late september sometimes. I'm not even joking, I HATE those trees. lol.

the daffodils start coming up around early april, the cherry trees usually start blooming two or so weeks later than that. but as far as actual temperatures go? the last several years it's seriously been straight fifties all through may (not last year I don't think, but that spring was wasted with a couple pretty awful car accidents so I honestly can't remember, the weather was the last thing on my mind, ROFL), and maybe five years ago it was fifties and raining for weeks straight in june, if I recall correctly. I actually kept track one year I was so pissed off. lol.

you know what I just realized? I had thought about it and revised that post and clicked the wrong submit button. LOL. there was a lot more to that post than just that bit of whining. can't for the life of me remember what I added to it though and I've probably already said it here now. lol.

Ria

Daniella I have the reddish purple hens & chicks outside and they are always making lots of babies. I have to rip them apart a couple times a year to keep them from taking over.
Karyn

Great link Daniella. It sounds like "hen and chicks" is a common name applied to several members of the crassula family. The echeverias tolerate less cold and wet weather than the sempervivum (one of the most widely known "hen and chicks"). I collected a few echeverias in TX and AZ last year & brought them indoors so they'd survive my wet winter. The site you linked points out that echeverias DO produce "chicks", but not as freely as the sempervivums. Another difference is that a sempervivum "hen" will elongate into a bloom spike, then die. An echeveria does not die after blooming. Also, some echeveria plants grow relatively large compared to the sempervivums. They have quite an architectural quality.

Patrick

Wow Patrick, you sure know your hens n chicks! Good info there!
Thanks!
Daniella

crap! central cali ........ you are so lucky, you can grow anything there!

Barry, not all that i wish i could. lol. by the way, march is coming up, so i'll dig up those cannas and let them dry out a bit before sending them to you. When will be a good time to send?

thanks soooo much Cali. Please send any time in mid march!
Let me know the shipping chgs.

Woooooooow. . . .

Major zonal envy.

Eveyrthing looks so nice.

Was sunny here yesterday. But a high of 24. People were being nutz because it was the first sunny day we've seen in a while. But really bitter wind. Everyone was in the car! LOL. . .dying to get out of their house. (grin)

Hi All-
Last year my kind neighbor gave me a brug. I made a few cuttings, & they did great. Now, still outside, late winter, they look shriveled & dry. Has anyone in NC zone 7, had any that lived through the winter, unprotected? when I was in NY zone 5, my daturas lived through the winter, with a snow cover of a few feet. Hoping for the best!
thanks!
KathyS

Oops, Kathy I think you should have cut it down and mulched it in your zone before the frost hit it. I hope it lives for you. I have some sort of hens and chicks or something like that and it was doing so well until I brought it in for the winter. The mother is still alive but the babies look dead. I would like to get some more different ones of these. They are so cool.

Good news!
My brug came back- is 4' tall- growing like crazy! Thanks everyone!