Many of the bulbs are pushing their new growth, 4 or 5 inches now in height. Close inpection with some of the plants shows the buds are swelling. Serious signs of spring or still about a month away and frost is a threat for the next 10 maybe 12 weeks.

I refuse to be depressed! It's on it's way..... and after 23 consecutive days of rain here, it had better come soon!

Around this part of Vancouver Island we have much higher than normal rain totals for this period but, it doesn't seem any different. We've had hard rain one day or two, followed by a nice sunny day or just overcast. This weather doesn't bother me a bit. I guess nearly 40 years living here has something do do with it.

Oh good! Someone else besides me declares spring! They laughed at me at work the other day because I told them that I'd be declaring spring any day now. My crocuses are starting to come up, I got a seed catalog in the mail and bought a gardening magazine. Since your gorse is blooming, well then, it's SPRING!!! Yay!

Next you can go back to the beach and start cutting that gorse off, before anymore of it comes up. If there is already alot of it, organise a work party.

"Another severe fire came through in 1936. It is uncertain how the fire started. But what kept it going was the gorse that ,once planted as an ornamental shrub, now grew wild everywhere. The plant was very oily and very spiny. Dead leaves from other trees fell into the gorse and stuck there, where they dried to a crisp. Once the fire got started, it had plenty of fuel in the gorse, which grew in almost everybody's yard. The oil of the plant through off oily sparks that easily moved the fire from house to house. The fire started in the residential section, then moved to the business section, which was just over the hill. The Coquille River lighthouse aided the firefighters by directing light across the river. But the fight was futile. The water mains were damaged, then fire kept burning all the hoses, and the gorse just kept burning. Soon people started fleeing for nearby communities. Some went across the river to seek refuge in the dunes. The lighthouse keepers provided water and shelter to survivors and homeless. Even the telephone company was burned down, so ships' radios were the only source of communication. Eventually all but 16 buildings out of 500, were burned down. The high school was one of the few buildings that survived."

Here is a link that might be useful: Bandon, Oregon

We often tell our remote midwest and east coast relatives that we enjoy the perfect climate here in the Northwest- 5 months of fall, 1 month of winter, 5 months of spring, 1 month of summer. Guess if spring is here, summer will be mid-June this year....

Super Bowl Sunday (early Feb) last year, there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground. I wonder if the same will happen this year?

Guess I was a little premature about spring..... I am thinking of purchasing a canoe, in order to weed my flower beds! 26 days of rain so far!

Yep. Here in Portland, too. I've got weeds like it's mid February. Rats.

Snowdrops are in bloom here! I guess they like the rain. Yesterday was the first sunny day (28 days of rain here too!) and this morning is spectacular. Sky is blue eagles are twittering and all's right with the world.

OK, it's truly spring!!! I bought primroses today, and a banner with flowers on it. I'm doing my part to battle the grey blahs. :-)

I have huge wild bushes of Gorse growing on my property and I love the stuff. Hey, it's not going to combust unless some moron decides to throw a smoke into it. That stuff grows in alot of places here on our island and it blooms right on through the Winter. The flowers smell just like coconut and that reminds me of Hawaii. My tallest Gorse bushes are over 10'ft tall and they grow in poor rocky dry soil. I have Grevilleas and Yuccas growing near them. We have the plant police on our rock removing every wild non native plant they can get their mittens on. I see them clearing out the Gorse in many areas. There use to be a nice stretch of it along a main road here, but they took it out. What next, they will ask me to remove my Palm trees. Joe

Palms do not have these characteristics:

"Few invasive, exotic species dominate a site like gorse. It is considered the most unmanageable exotic weed in California (Hoshovsky 1989). Gorse is a fire hazard (Amme 1983), it outcompetes native and beneficial plants causing considerable loss of grassland habitat, and the seeds are viable for 30 years or more, requiring a long-term management plan for control. The biology of gorse is conducive to invasion and establishment. Gorse can: fixate nitrogen; change soil chemistry to prevent nutrient exchange; produce a large heat-tolerant seed bank with seed viability of 30 years or more; and gorse can quickly spread by seed or by vegetative growth from stumps after mechanical injury caused by brush clearing or fire (Hoshovsky 1989)."

Here is a link that might be useful: Gorse

This isn't California. Pampass Grass is also a weed in some parts of that state and so are Eucs. I grow both of those and they work just fine here. Gorse does grow here and there on our island especially along some of the road sides. I don't see it taking over our island, because it has been here for years and years. It is the Scotch Broom that is more of a worry. Everytime I see a new clear cut open up that stuff takes over in no time if nothing is done to prevent it. The seeds on broom probably stay viable just as long as Ulex. I have also seen Gorse along some of the hillside near Florence, Oregon. I rather like the plant myself, it definately makes a great barrier to keep hooligans out of the garden. I am open to growing all species of plants if our climate will allow it. I know there are alot of gardeners that only believe in growing native. Well to me that is so narrow minded. These same gardeners have no problem growing Geraniums ,Lilacs or apple trees. Most of those same people aren't native themselves, they also came from somewhere else. Cheers, Joe

Actually, Cortadera selloana is now popping up rather often in Seattle. Right off the pavement along I-5 seems to be a favored habitat. Maybe recent lack of below normal temperatures is allowing seedlings to survive that wouldn't have persisted before.

Well, my hellebores and snowdrops are all in bloom and I spotted the first aconite in bloom today! This constant rain every second day or so has made it unpleasant to go into the garden for a while, but whenever it eases off, I'm out there weeding and checking for blooms. The indoor cyclamen that I planted by my front door in December has made it through and is getting its second flush of flowers!

I brought in a pot of fancy auricula seeds that have been outside in the weather for a couple of months now, and in 2 days the seeds have begun to sprout - much better germination than when I coddled them inside! These came from "The Weird and Wonderful Plant Farm" in Scotland. They have a neat website and a great newsletter, but they seldom sell seeds. Mine were part of a few that they had available this year.

Enjoy the progress of spring, everyone!

-Gord

I have my first daffodil in full bloom, and a few crocus out as well! Yeah for Spring!

Some violets started blooming in early Jan. and the snowdrops started about 2 weeks ago. Dafs. are up everywhere, but no buds yet.

I had my first Daffs blooming in late January. I was in town today near the ocean and there are lots of Daffs in full bloom. It sure has been very here for Jnuary. I recorded 11.2" inches of precip. Joe