Looks great Dave. Your flowers peeking through are wonderful. I'm envious of your early blooms. Your grounds are lovely.
Cher

Very nice! Dutch Iris are blooming here, too.

Josh

That's looking really good, Terminal moraine!
I need more flowers.
One Rhody blooming now though. Never knew the name of it.
Big Rhododendrons go well with the larger conifers here.
Mike
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Nice! We still have at least a couple months here. All you warmer zone guys, keep the spring photos coming! It'll give us a little hope that this white stuff will go away

i can not express... in words.. how much i hate the warm zone folks this time of year ...

i will post similar pic .. in the third week of may ...

otherwise glacier can go ???? .. well never mind ..

thx for the pix .. they are actually the thing that stops me from committing suicide in late feb in MI .... lol

3 inches of snow and rain last night.. yippee ... if i am lucky.. it will rain all day.. and freeze into ice .. some of the conifers are really loaded down.. but i dont care... i am not walking around out there and knocking it off ... see above re: suicide ... whatever happens.. just gets me another badge in the weirder the better club ...

ken

The photos on this forum are awesome...hate to miss any!

I think Mike should open up a Bed and Breakfast at his place for the conifer and tree forum junkies. Think retirement fund ;)

John

Nice Spring pics Dave!
I do like those pics better then you one's you posted recently, with the white stuff and the ice chrystals.

I hardly can believe that the one in the back of your 3th pic is a 'Burning Well'.
Please go outside again and check again...thanks!
'Burning Well' doesn't grow that fast and for sure it will never make a leader...

HA! I thought the OP pics were Mike's too, doh

Thanks for sharing Dave. I was just explaining to my in-laws this past weekend how the PNW zones are so extremely close together. When I told them parts of WA were a warmer zone than we are here in AR, I got some very confused grumpy looks. They like most think of it as cold and rainy all the time. Now I can point them here and show them you are ahead of us with spring happenings!

John

Can't help but agree with Edwin here Dave. Looks like 'Cecilia' maybe?

In any case, we are indeed lucky. I've had cherry blossoms on my two cherry trees now for about a month. Tulips are close, clemetis vines are surging and here comes the columbines and daffodils. Now conifers and maples coming out party is still some two months away, but it is certainly exciting and reminds us that Spring, inexorably, is coming to a garden near you.

-Will

thanks for your comments folks!

@Mike, I think your rhody is a "Christmas Cheer." It's usually the first pink to bloom in these parts.

@Ken, take a prozac and chill, bud! You'll get yours soon enough. LOL about mine being a warm zone. I'll remember that when I'm dealing with snow showers in July (yes, it happens).

@Edwin. I just went out and checked. Definitely 'Burning Well.' It was a pretty low camera angle. No leader; it just looks that way.

@John, don't get all wrapped up in climate zones. They are a total farce. The Ozarks (if that's where you are) get way colder in the winter and brutal hot and humid in the summer.

That's what I like about the PacNW. It's like a Goldylocks kind of climate for growing what likes to grow here -- long wet springs and falls, short and (mostly) tame winters and short, but very dry and brilliant summers.

The four months between June and September are my biggest challenge. Lack of humidity and searing sun can reak havok on plants in very short order. Plus living on a bed of glacial till means irrigation and mulching can never be ignored.

This landscape drains like a collander. Because of that, I can dig and work in the gardens a day after receiving 2 inches of rain.

~Dave

Its a welcome sight to see pics coming back again.

Your Pinus parviflora 'Tenezu-Kasu' has fantastic color. It was what we call the west coast glow in the rest of the country.

I got 4" of snow last night and this morning. It was a welcome sight for me. The brown grass is one of the three things I hate most about winter (the other two are frozen ground and subzero temps).

With those big leaves the rhododendron is R. sutchuenense or something close, if not the pure species then maybe a hybrid of it. If you went to Rhododendron Glen in the Seattle arboretum they have some older plants of it there, otherwise you might find a match at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden.

Good idea bboy! The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden is just down the road about 1/2 hour.
I did a lot of yard makeovers over the years. Some people don't like Rhododendrons and they ask me If I can remove them.
Sure can! They usually don't come with an ID.
I do know it's not Christmas Cheer. I'm familiar with that one.
Mike

Nice pictures.Reached the dissy heights of 18c here in London yesterday and plants are starting to push new growth.
We are in a drought now though as the rainfall here in the southeast of England has been very low. All the rivers are starting to suffer with there sources drying up. Not sure how my plants are going to fare this year if we don't get a wet spring. Its strange to think that Londons got a reputation for being wet lol.

I have to go to the middle of May ot get to this point.
Since we haven't had any winter this year, 2.7 inches of snow and no temps lower then 10 F., it could be earlier.

Dave

Taken May 20 2011.
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Things have changed fast. This is what my front yard looked like on Jan 16th.
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Now five weeks later, Rhododendrons are blooming and I'm still cleaning up the mess the ice storm left. The first two days were spent clearing my driveway to the mailbox, a little more than a 1/4 mile from my house. And I'm pretty handy with a chainsaw, having heated my house with wood since 1979. No power for a week....except for the generator.
Winter is not over yet. Some years March has been either the coldest, or the most snow, or both.
Mike...looking forward to Spring.

Great photos everyone. I really appreciate seeing all the spring growth this time of year. We had our first snowfall this winter last night a whopping 2 inches. I won't see spring blooms until May. Keep the photos coming. :)

Thanks for the preview of spring!

Still some snow here. Second heaviest February snowfall on record for Denver.

Lovely pics! Dave,in that first photo,what is the name of that bright yellow pine in the distance?...i want!

Lovely pics, guys.

I have question for you Dave and everyone else here who is favored with an early spring. In my area with our "normal spring" (starts around early April/late March), conifers will begin to push in May. When do your conifers break bud and start growing?

Alex

@Edwin and Will, here is a closeup of the spruce in question. Picea glauca 'Burning Well'
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Is there still any doubt? I bought this one from Don Howse (Porterhowse Farms) in 2005.

Here is a second (younger specimen) showing more typical growth. I got this one from Larry Stanley in 2008.
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@Gary, the bright gold pine is none other than Pinus contorta 'Chief Joseph.' Here's a closeup.
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@Alex, bud break is all over the board here, pretty much starting now with some of the later spruces not doing a thing until nearly June. Larix is always first. They started about 2 weeks ago this year.

~Dave

Alex some of my cedrus are starting to break bud and worryingly so are some of my japanese maples. I expect the piceas will start in mid march. Also my japanese larch is starting to push through to.

This is exactly why I'm getting my orders now. Otherwise I'll have to wait until late April. The shovel and frost on each of my shoulders would be going back and forth until my head explodes.

Picea glauca 'Burning Well'
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Very short needles, very, very slow-growth.
This plant from Bethlehem Nursery.

Dax

They all look like 'Burning Well' to me. I'd expect a slightly better growth rate in PNW.

Here is another one...
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What's the point of posting the 'Burning Well' pics here now...?

Great pictures of 'Burning Well' in this thread :)

Edwin, I believe the motive is corroboratory after your initial doubting of the OP's 'BW'.

Mr. Severnside,

correct! It was Edwin's fault. :)

~Dave

I still have my strong doubs because this is Dave's 'Burning Well' which is absolutely not the same plant as the one at his pic.
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Also the colour doesn't match, the one at his pic looks more like a Picea omorika 'Pimoko' or simular one to me.
The colour is a Picea glauca 'Burning Well' is greygreen while the colour of a Picea omorika 'Pimoko' is a steel blue with green, 2 toned, like the one at his pic.
It also could be a tag issue, 'Burning Well' tag in front of a 'Pimoko' specimen...
I know that I'm right here, but the question here is "will I get my right"... :0)

Yes you will Edwin!

I'll merely mention my plant was in shade for the last 3 years + and planted Fall 11 in sun. That would be the reason(s) for it's off color and sparseness.

Dax

different plant, Edwin. I have three. I'll get another really good close up of the plant in question. It's definitely not omorika. Maybe the blue from the irises is messing with my camera.

I don't think you're right on this one, buddy.

Well, I guess I can throw in two photos, perhaps as explanation and perhaps more fuel to the fire, depending on who you ask. I have two specimens of 'Burning Well' and they are markedly different.

This guy is in about half-day sun.
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And this guy, which I am certain of the correct ID is in full sun. Quite the difference.
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Hence my suggestion here is that Dave's first specimen might be a bit less attractive then the second, is because it has some shade and/or leaf fall that occasionally mar it's growth/compactness.

Thoughts?

Will

ok, here are the closeups I promised. Here's what I can say. This particular Picea abies 'Burning Well' looked very typical for the cultivar when it was younger. Will is correct, it grows in a spot that's in the shadows for a good portion of the day, so it's had a chance to stretch out a bit.
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I think it might be time to move on, here.
~Dave

So Edwin was right. You have a Picea abies!

Just messing with ya!

ARGHHH!

Picea glauca

Moving on. LOL

Happy Spring Buddy :) LOL

Dax

Picea abies ??? not sure !
Clement