Some specie Crocus are in full bloom, poking up through the fallen leaves and pine needles. A few Tulips have foliage, but no blooms yet. Several species of Helleborus are in bloom, some into their 3rd week. Saw the first bloom today on Hepatica americana, a pink one. Some of the Camellia japonica have been in bloom since early December. Only the pinks and reds, so far, my white one's are always later. The cold blast of 18F for 2 nights turned all of the open flowers brown, but they have fallen off and have been replaced by fresh one's, until the next deep freeze. The Daphne odora are beginning to bloom, I'm looking forward to the lovely fragrance that will accompany the flowers. So far, I haven't seen any aerial pollinators around to perform their necessary function. Maybe they are cautious or sense a forthcoming very cold spell that could doom them. The red berried Hollies that I always enjoy during the winter have been picked clean by the Robins and Rufous-sided Towhee's. Not a single berry remains. As far as I can determine, they haven't touched the Nandinas yet. Out there among hundreds of long dead Hosto leaves, are 2 plants (NOID's), that doesn't know that winter has arrived and show no signs of going dormant! If something doesn't happen soon, they are doomed, since that Genus HAS to have a long dormant period to thrive. Another anomaly, is a couple of native Jack-in-the-Pulpit's decided it is spring and are up and flowering. They also survived, apparently untouched by the Alberta Clipper that dropped the temperature to 18 degrees F. However unusual, I am still enjoying the Mini-spring and try to work in the garden, with frequent breaks for iced tea and to cool off! I have very little shade during the winter months. The soil is really too wet to till today, as yesterday's showers deposited 3.30 inches of water and not much runoff was necessary. RB

I don't "need" seeds either but there's a few that I want anyway. lol I grew a lot of mixed zinnias last year and didn't save any seeds. I'll have more volunteers than I want though. I'd still like to buy some single colors to mass. Pam - Are your zinnias, marigolds and cosmos all seeds that you saved from summer or did you go crazy buying them on Sunday? I bought a whole stack of seed packets when Dollar General had theirs on clearance at the end of summer. I can't remember how much they were - maybe less than a dime apiece. I couldn't pass it up. Helen - I'm looking forward to photos this summer from yours and Pams' pallets of plants. Ceresone - Postage makes a difference. Stokes is high too for a small order. I wanted some melon seeds that they had but they were 6.50 a packet and minimum postage was six something too so I decided I could go without them.

I start getting things blooming in mid-feb, like witch hazel and hellebores (if I'm lucky). Then, around t he f irst wk of m arch, more shrubs and bulbs start, and then it just accelerates from there. This past year, I tried to plant a few t hings with very early bloom times, but for the life of me I can't remember what all I planted. I guess it will be like surprise gifts, seeing w h hat comes up and figuring out what it is. I have also done quite a few projects after frost, so I really want tosee what things look like with growing plants. This motivated me to take some pics, which i will post i in a separate thread. Tim

Saw another one today. Might've been the same one from yesterday since it was another female. A lot of the hummingbirds that come to my yard will stay here all year. They even made a nest in my backyard last year. If you want them to stick around a water source is needed. My neighbors have a bird bath so I don't need to do this. In addition to salvias I've also seen them on penstemon, monarda, and weigela. They like honeysuckle and agastache as well but I don't have any of these planted. I know there are many other flowers they like, but these are the ones they like the most in my yard. They've been known to arrive in our area as early as April, but usually the beginning/middle of May is when we start to see them.