wow.. where did you live?

I'm in a zone 5. Spring starts about late April or early March. Around then tulips starts to poke out of the soil. By June I have a profusement of flowers, by Sept. I will still have a few flowers but I will start seeing plants go dormant. By Oct. or early Nov. it's time to do yard clean up. By March I start my indoor seeding for the seasons' veggie garden...

I do wish spring is longer because the plants looks so fresh....

Totally wierd weather this year, but in the past it has been Feb is the start of spring flowers, goes to the end of oct with asters and such, so pretty nice! Usually grip about the rain...we don't get much snow...usually.

Adrienne- I'm in eastern Washington and our area is zone 4, which is not much different than yours :)

The pole beans and cherry tomatoes out in the garden, froze a few days ago, but the tomatoes near the house are still fine.

We usually have our last frost about June 1 and our first 'fall' frost around the end of August. This year it was a little early...and it seems to be getting earlier each summer. We normally have daffodils blooming the end of March/early April, and the last hard frost around mid-October.

This spring was the coolest in years (according to neighbors who have lived here since the 1940s) and we didn't have daffoldils blooming until late April/early May. It's been a short summer, but without the heat and drought down South, so I think overall, we've been pretty lucky.

What appeals to me about our area is that it's beautiful, even when it snows. Hills with mountains in the background, pine trees with a mix of poplars and aspens, a little creek winding through (which explains the early frost) and lots of pasture for the horses. There has been a lot of snow the past few years...but no problem bugs, mildew or other diseases on my flowers. Everything grows beautifully and it all blooms together, with out short season.

It's a fun, easy place to garden...but I'm learning to grow mostly perennials, bulbs are my friends, buy or grow annuals to set out as plants rather than seed, cool vegetable crops are more reliable, and someday a greenhouse would be nice! Until then, except for a few long, muddy weeks in late February/early March, no complaints...except for those darn beans and tomatoes freezing, again! (LOL)

Ouch, frost already! That would be early anywhere.

And spring in March and April - wow, I envy you. It would be so nice to actually have a real spring starting somewhere close to where the calendar says it is supposed to start. I would love to have some success finally with daffodils. Early and mid-season tulips are OK, forget about late season tulips though. Instead, my spring blooms struggle here because it goes from winter freeze to summer heat in about a week. The only thing that really thrives is muscari.

I wonder too about those of you without a snowy winter. Without that time to step back and rest from the more mundane gardening chores (I'm looking at you, weeds!), do you ever get tired of it?

I'm in zone 7b northeast Mississippi (southeast USA). No I never get tired of gardening chores, and I want a longer growing season! I've been to Hawaii twice and I think I could live there with 70's/80s temps all the time and always a breeze and plants growing year round. However I bet there are lots of insects which I don't like. I lived most of my life in southeast Louisiana zone 9b and I could garden all year there, which I loved. Lots of insect pests, roaches (which I hate) and black spot, mildew etc.
But here in zone 7 the spring is much more beautiful, more spring flowering trees (redbuds, dogwoods, cherry, pear, peach, etc), much more use of bulbs esp daffs and tulips, nice fall color, and occasional snow. Several nice snowfalls since I lived here 6 yrs, even to 7 inches! The winters are too long and too cold for me and especially in January I am very down and depressed. I am soooo ready at that point for the weather to warm up and some bulbs to come up. February just barely gets things started. But mostly March and April are big months. I am used to setting out veggies on March 19 and hate waiting the extra month to April 15 as the last frost date. Zone envy -- will it never end? My (new) daughter-in-law is from southeast Alaska, and so she gives me perspective on short growing seasons etc.
Laurie

Well I am in Alabama, Zone 7b-8 depending on who is saying. Spring starts in February generally with daffs and dutch iris then tulips, iris and daylilies. But the roses bloom early and generally several times.
Muscari and crocus do not do well here. I can't grow lupines or delphiniums, but my gardenias are lovely and I get a few or even one along at least every few days usually into mid December. Down time is really mid December to mid-February.

We get so few snows it is a delight when we get one, but we get enough cold (freezing)weather for the iris and roses.

It gets very hot in the summertime...I am ready for fall. The last few days it was mid ninties with a heat index of a hundred, but I'm used to it, and I spent about four hours total time in the garden, feeding, weeding and watering.
kay

Zone 6 is a nice middle ground for gardening. We can grow many things that people in more extreme zones cannot.

Spring starts out in March with the hellebores and snowdrops, then sails through April and May with daffodils, tulips, virginia bluebells, tree peony, and bleeding heart.

Then there is the climax of roses, clematis and foxglove in late May/early June.

In July, it gets hot and it's not so much fun to be outside anymore. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) there is not much blooming except lavender in my July garden.

It stays hot until at least mid-August, and there is often a drought or near-drought in August. Some people water their lawns to keep them green, while others like me let them turn brown because they are mostly weeds anyway.

August brings echinacea, hydrangeas, tomatoes, and raspberries.

Then September brings japanese anemones and cooler weather again. It's a good time to plant hardy perennials as well as spring bulbs.

October is often rainy and damp, and there is really not much going on in the garden by this time. If I could grow mums, I would, but I have lost count of the number of mum plants I have murdered. We start getting frosts during this month, and usually get hit with a killing frost mid-month.

November-Feb are months to stay indoors and venture out only for exercise. It's also time to start baking and maybe experiment with cooking something new using the garden produce in the freezer. And of course it's time to start trading seeds with gardenwebbers from all over the country. We start getting snow dustings in late November, but don't expect to get the big snowstorms until usually January. In February, we can get a lot of snow, but it is more likely to melt away within a couple days.

Then in March, the cycle starts again.

It looks like spring, whenever it comes, is a time of renewal for everybody. And, love it or hate it, it also seems as if we all respect the summer heat. Winter dark in overlong doses is dispiriting to anyone.

But is there any zone (except on my lying TV) where people can have a really spectacular fall garden?
Or is it really only just mums from the shelves of Walmart?

I garden in zone 3b and really like it. When I hear about gardeners in warmer zones having so many problems with insects, excessive heat, and other weather problems such as tornadoes and hurricanes I am so grateful to live where I do. This year we have had unusually excessive rain and cool weather until this month but insect problems on plants are minimal and we never have tornadoes or hurricanes. There are so few thunder storms that I actually enjoy them. Sure there are many plants we cannot grow here but there are plants we can grow that don't like hot zones.

I enjoy having that winter break from gardening and while my garden rests under it's blanket of snow I focus on other things or plan for the next gardening season. We sometimes have an early snowfall in September that doesn't last but have lasting snow from some time in November until March. Gardening begins sometime in April but not a lot of blooms until May. Our last frost date is early June but I always put out tender annuals a week or two before that and have never had a problem. In theory we can have frost in any month of the year but almost never have frost in June, July, or August here. I cannot grow tomatoes in the ground here but have done them in large pots on the deck.

I think anyone can have a "spectacular garden" any season in any zone if they are willing to put in the work. This year my garden has not been at it's best because I am doing other things and it gets minimal attention.

I've gardened in warmer zones and every zone has it's advantages as well as disadvantages. Like my plants I try to bloom where I'm planted!

Here are some garden pics I took last November.

Here is a link that might be useful: November in my garden

My Northern Sun Forsythia and the King Alfred daffodils usually finish blooming before the 3rd week of April. The grape hyacinths start before the other quit and keep going through the tulip bloom.

The garden is really glorious with the tulips in full bloom from the last week in April to the end of May. Summer there is a riot of color in the sunny gardens.

Now, I have perennials: phlox; echinacea; rudbeckia; chelone "hot lips;" lythrum; roses: Bonica, Polar joy and Carefree Wonder(she lives up to her name; and lotsa hosta is about all I remember.

Other than that there are a few annuals that understand the meaning of, "the show must go on." all begs: wax, rex and dragon wing begonias, plus another I can't remember the name-not rigor; impatiens: single, double and bi-colored; petunias; yellow calobrochea or however it is spelled; veronica; red geraniums: vine & not; orange osteospurmum and lobelia.

My new fav is the most gorgeous red flowering maple which I overwinter in the conservatory. It has put on quite the show this it's third year.

A cooler summer than some, appeals to me. I want more sunny days and a longer growing season.

The down side here in MN zn 4, Mankato is definitely putting on snow tires, the winter cold, ice and shoveling. A few years ago we hit black ice and rolled the car twice, I was unconscious for a bit. Too close for comfort.

Last winter we had to have the roof shoveled, arborvitae were killed by breaking under the weight of the snow. Then the rabbits girdled and killed 7 winged euonymous, 4 forsythias and 1 Japonica tree and yew. Then the deer killed the two remaining arborvitae and the yew.

You ask why I stay here? It's a good question. The only answer is DH, family and friends.
gramma jan

I'm very impressed with everyone's preserverence in challenging winter zones! In my area (outside San Francisco, California), we are not your "typical California" climate: we seldom hit 80 degrees in the summer, and a typical "winter" is around 40 degrees. We hover between 50-70 degrees for most of the year. It's more like Seattle than Los Angeles, with coastal drizzle, fog, and mist nearly year round.
There are definitely perks to this zone:
few (if any) days with frost of any kind, zero snow. Our growing season is approximately 350 days. Seriously.
That being said, this climate is actually unsuitable for growing some plants-- Tulips are more trouble than they're worth (though daffodils are easier). We cannot grow peonies or lilacs because we cannot provide their winter chill needs. Roses are often sickly because of the constant cool dampness, and mold and mildew reign supreme. On the other hand, it is the most ideal environment for fuschias, and rhododendrons get as big as houses just about. I've only ever lived in California though, so it is home.

luckygal - Your garden is in such a lovely setting - are you in the mountains? I agree, the spireas actually look better as fall foliage than flowering shrubs. Do you ever actually harvest any of your lavender? I know that you can't cut it back before the snow comes to prevent winterkill so when CAN we take some stems for preservation?

gramma jan, you sound like one hot mama! You prefer all the brightest, cheeriest flowers. And don't you find that begonias are so much better now than they were years ago? Certainly makes the summer seem like an event. Is "mn" Maine or Minnesota? Can never remember, sorry. But I can totally relate to your trepidation about black ice - I'd rather drive through 3' drifts than that killer weather any day!

San Francisco is my all-time favourite city in California, romando. I don't begrudge you the culture, the exuberence, the temperate climate...much.
To think, without the cold snow, you only need just one season's worth of basic clothes. Life must be so much less complicated! Of course, someone like me would still need both my skinny and my fat clothes in the closet.

Adriennemb, thank you. We are between major mountain ranges but there are low mountains, rolling hills, forests, and lots of lakes. It's ranching and logging country. I do harvest my lavender and did so early in August altho should have done so a bit earlier but it was very rainy this year. The lavender producers harvest "prior to the buds fully opening."

I loved reading these! I'm like Lois PA in zone 6 (Pittsburgh area), so no use repeating much. This year wasn't as horribly hot and humid overall for August as other years. It always seems too dry... I often wish (Grass is always greener, though it's not) I was in zone 7) as so much seems like it would survive better if just one zone up. I HATE the winter, the cold. But I tell myself that until around X-mas it's not unbearable. Jan/Feb are horrible (thus I try to have lots of house plants or start plants)... I tell myself March 1 officially in my mind means springs coming, and then the days get longer. Fall is MUDDY, I have 2 dogs, spring is muddy, a lot of mud (no grass in yard with the 2 dogs). Some years when more energy and season was appropriate, I'd be gardening until November, composting, possibly transplanting. Todays a highly unusual (for what we've had this year of 94 and HUMID). A lot of blackspot, fungal things happen in august, maybe that's everywhere? BUGS, BUGS, bugs are even worse now..

Due to an autoimmune disease, I can't tolerate extreme heat/humidity (or sun). Conversely, cool winds bother joints, or dampness. It seems so SUNNY here this summer (thus I'm limited) but winters seem so cloudy).

Somehow over the years I've got a good fall garden going, it took a lot of time and research. We're plagued lately by deer (last winter was bad) and this year rabbits EVERYWHERE destroying so so much. And stink bugs.

I hate the snow/ice of Feb/Jan here, and couldn't tolerate any climate colder.

Typical last frost could come May 31, usually there's a surprise later one. I don't know when first frost comes, always makes me a bit sad, but then room for perennnials where annuals were.

I suffer zone envy as well, but then realize I can grow lots of variety anyhow.
Our first frost comes mid Sept to as late as Oct 31 and can even get a light skiff of snow by Halloween. The winter here is far too gray, cold and long and I suffer from SAD's (hoping to rectify that with a snowbird retirement lifestyle...only a few more years to go!)
We generally hover between 0-10C with snow storms bringing several inches and then partly melting with bone chilling moisture in the air.
Usually we get a cold snap for week or two which goes down to -20-25c and generally the air is crisp and dry then.
Spring gets going in March/April with lots of rain and cloudy weather. Pruning and perennial planting can begin. Last frost is usually beginning of May, but lately has been more like end of May...this year especially has been the coldest and wettest in my memory.
Our summers are usually 25-35C with cool nights in June, but warm and dry in July and August. Some years I get melons and sometimes not. We can grow most stone fruits and wine grapes are a budding industry here.
I'm thankful that japanese beetles haven't found us with deer being my biggest pain...basically fence it or lose it.
I feel like I live in paradise in the summer and love to stay home then, but I really hate the cloudy, cold winters.
Flora

I find it interesting that frost dates are similar for a lot of zones. Here in zone 3a we're looking at a last frost date of May 24. First frost mid September. We do get colder. :)

Happy to live where I do and probably wouldn't change much if anything. Zone 3a in Alberta has many advantages, most of which have already been mentioned such as the beautiful cool weather plants, peonies being my favorite, as well as many beautiful irises,hostas, heucheras, daylilies, lilies and on and on! But I guess for me I just like the changing seasons so much. A time for everything and something to look forward to each season.

January cold finds me toasty warm inside watching the winter birds and bunnies enjoying their goodies while I am all wrapped up in fleece and internet browsing all the mail order gardens and catalogues. I like to order new plants and spring bulbs in these early months.

Spring starts in March even though our last frost date is in late May. Not uncommon to have snow over the May long weekend! The last couple of years have been exceptionally wet but that is nature. I start some seeds in the house in March. Glad bulbs in April. Tomatoes in late April and cucs, zucs, pumpkins and other squash beginning of May. Direct sew Sweet Peas and annuals in April or as soon as the ground can be worked. Vegies go in mid to late May. Bedding plants and toms are planted out in late May as well usually.

Summer is best for me when the thermometer stays around 22C in the day time with thunderstorms every second night. Vegies to harvest from July to October. Blooms of all kinds starting in April usually.....spring bulbs. I love the newness every year after a long winter, into the spring pop ups and on to the long, lazy days of summer where it is light from 4 am to 11 pm.

Fall is my favorite season from harvest to bedtime. Collecting seeds, planting perennials, cleaning up the yard and beds, and the whole process of tucking everything in for the winter. The colors are amazing, the smell of the bonfires, and of course Halloween! My favorite celebration! Besides being an obsessive/compulsive gardener, I love making costumes!

Winters are best enjoyed doing all my garden paperwork, planning for next spring, and of course browsing online! I do lots of sewing in the winter and lots of playing with ideas. I love the snow and probably cause I don't have to go out in it everyday. I could very easily be one of those people who live on dried food and freezer goodies all winter. The only path I need is to the mail box and to the bird feeders!

I can't imagine starting over in a new zone at my age and not reliving all the wonderful memories I carry from all the years of gardening in this Northern zone 3. :) Although I could certainly live without mosquitoes!!!!

I'm in south-central AL, 18 miles N of FL border. There is always something blooming here, even in January. I started my gardening this year in Feb. Roses usually keep blooming until Christmas, when it's normal (not necessarily certain, though) for it to be warm enough to play outside without a jacket. It does get below freezing a lot of nights but usually warms up to at least 40 since the sun is out almost every day. Sunshine in Jan in AL actually feels like it's baking you. The real cold part of winter is only about 6 weeks here, and it not uncommon for a house to not have a central heat system. Halloween costumes here need to be lightweight since it will probably be 80 degrees still.

This can be a frustrating spot to garden, on the edge between tropical and temperate. You still have 8b cold limitations, but many plants also can't handle the heat bubble in summer. Perennials here in this place of extremes have to be able to handle 10 degrees in the winter and 110 in the summer. Ocean breezes don't get up this far although 80 miles to the south it's usually about 10 degrees cooler on the gulf coast in the summer and about 10 degrees warmer in winter.

I used to live in Columbus, OH, and don't miss the months of gray skies at all but I do miss many of the plants. I never appreciated the difference a few degrees of latitude could make in regard to sunshine until moving here. In the summer, it's like the difference between being on the rack in the oven, or on the bottom next to the heating element. It's still a novelty to me when 90 is a "cooler day" or "break from the heat." I'm still surprised by how dry winters are here, and snow is an extremely rare novelty. If the forecast even mentions the possibility, people freak out, schools and businesses close "just in case" and stores run out of bread.

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland hills, about 25 miles from Romando. Here it is always 5 degrees warmer but much less windy and on the edge of the fog belt, so it is much sunnier.

I truly wish Sunset would break up its zone map of area #17, which covers a large area where temps differ 15-20 degrees from one end to the other, with much less fog at the outer borders of #17, leading to much greater temp fluctuations on a daily basis.

In many cities located 10+ miles from the coast, it's common to have a 25-40 degree difference between day/night temps, especially in summer. These cool nights are why roses and citrus do so well in the East Bay counties; almost everyone has a lemon or orange tree in the front or back. A number of older EBay homes have the unfortunate choice of giant redwood trees taking up an entire front yard bed - a once-popular but very poor choice for an urban lot.

Gardening here is year-round. There is no 'off' season, which can be a bit tiring (no end, ever, to weeding!) but the rewards are HUGE. Some plants flower all the time - polygonum, lantana, aptenia groundcover, pelargoniums, osteospermums, cestrum, euryops, solanum jasminoides vine. Winter bloomers like hellebore (foetidus and argutifolius) can last 6+ months with flowers. Citrus blooms scent the air.

Spring starts in mid-February, when the winter rains encourage the leafing out of freesias, nasturtiums, and CA poppies. The one month it's dreary - January - suddenly changes to those fresh new greens everywhere. The hideously invasive but pretty weed Oxalis pes-caprae shows up everywhere, turning even neglected gardens and vacant lots into a sea of soft clover-shaped leaves and nodding stalks of pale yellow flowers. Coleonema and rhaphiolepsis burst into bloom, and erysimums start flowering in yellow and lilac. Oxalis siliquosa, a non-invasive species, puts up little yellow flowers like the charmer it is.

March is fast and furious, with callas and iris blooming, Japanese maples showing buds, azaleas and rhodies beginning to bloom. My roses start blooming in March (and are still offering a few blooms in mid-December). Daffodils are everywhere, as Oakland has given away free bulbs for several years now and people plant them in the median strips. Wisteria begins to show some green, but hardenbergia is far more floriferous and starts throwing out its purple racemes for an earlier and longer show. Leptospermum and ceanothus put on their once-a-year display of beauty, making them almost worth the 10 months of boring dull dark green the rest of the time.

April and May are the showiest in my garden because nasturtiums and CA poppies have reseeded wildly. I yank them out by the handful to keep them from smothering my evergreen perennials, just leaving some to give those bright pops of color. The weather starts to warm because it's early summer now, so hydrangeas are leafing out like crazy even as the rhodies continue their show. Lavender - I have both English and Spanish - come into bloom. I have a single clematis and am glad I didn't plant more. They just can't compete with the evergreen vines, and their short bloom season just doesn't seem worth it. Out here, perennial morning glories are 45' monsters that crush fences while remaining in bloom for six months or more. My gladiolas are weeds - pretty, but weeds nonetheless, dropping bulblets everywhere.

June is full summer here. The rains ended a month or more previous, and there'll be no more rain until mid-October. The soil warms up, so the dahlias will start and hydrangeas begin blooming, even as the nasturtiums and callas start to fade because they hate "warm feet". One of my bearded iris varieties is deciduous and blooms only this one month; unlike my other iris which are spring/fall rebloomers. Limonium starts to come up, always a good pairing with the roses for bouquets. My prized Lavatera olba "Aureum" blooms this month as well, with its gorgeous flower spikes of lavender-pink singles (it's related to hibiscus and the blooms are like mini-hibiscus, but multiples on single spikes).

July dries out the garden. The nasturtiums fade, the CA poppies set seeds. But the roses are massive, the passionflower vines have encouraged lots of Gulf Fritillary butterflies. Ceratostigma gives bright burst of blue. Agapanthus send up their allium-like flower stalks: light blue, medium blue, purple, white. Cannas prove they are not really water hogs although they look better with summer water. The hills are all golden, and fire season is now a huge concern.

August and September continue the same theme. The year-round bloomers keep trucking along, responding to deadheading by blooming again and again. Argyranthemums, aeoniums, Shasta daisies, dahlias, and chrysanthemums abound. Lavender reblooms in Sept/Oct.

October is when the rains return. It's planting time in CA, even as the selection in the nurseries begins to fade. We can put away the hoses, but cleanup of deciduous litter starts now and continues for the next couple of months. The nights turn cooler, and we get some fall color from Japanese maples, Liquidamber (sweetgum) and Chinese pistache trees, even as the ever-bloomers keep up the flower show.

November is cleanup leaf litter month, and enjoying the last of the heirloom tomatoes from the farmers markets. December is when we who live on hills worry about mudslides and flooded basements/garages; this and January are prime weeding time because the rains have sprouted all the chickweed, oxalis, dandelion, and Bermuda grass seeds.

Mid- to late January is when the roses get cut back, and then it all starts over again.

I garden in pretty much exactly the same zone as Organic Kitten, although she says it all much better than I....