Glad you are no longer in pain, PixieLou, and hoping for as rapid and complete healing as possible.

Here is my vernal witch hazel, appearance marred by old leaf retention.

I have some early daffodils blooming, as well as grape hyacinths and some pansies I planted in a couple of planters. The color theme for early spring seems to be yellow and blue/purple.

What, nhbabs, you're not out there picking each old leaf off the witchhazel? I wouldn't be either. It's funny that yellow is so welcome in the spring, but not always later on.

Forsythia are beginning to bloom now so the season is SLOWLY turning. Very slowly here.

The pussy willow buds have opened. It's easy to forget that those fuzzy gray buds are just that, buds. They become flowers! Last year the squirrels chopped most of them off, for reasons known only to squirrels.

And one of the Dicentra 'Goldhearts' is getting farther along, but still not blooming. The daffodil seeded itself there, or maybe a squirrel moved it. I think it's a Toby the First daffodil.

I transplanted two other bleeding hearts last year, another 'Goldheart' and a regular pink spectabilis.

The transplanted 'Goldheart' showed up a few days ago.

The pink one is still underground.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Fri, Apr 19, 13 at 17:29

Pixie Lou, sorry to hear your recovery is not as fast as you were expecting. Are you out of the cast, or having PT, yet?

NHBabs, I'm waiting to plant pansies in pots because of these late frost warnings. I want to get them in this week before it is too warm for them. What is that clump of foliage behind your daffodils?

Pretty 'Goldhearts', Claire!

Spring has sprung around here. I spent Friday in one room, looking out one window most of the day, and from morning to afternoon, I could see the buds on the trees swell. It was so strange, almost like fast motion photography. I also used the sprinkler, the day before we had rain, then we had a fair amount of rain and wow, everything in the garden just leapt forward. My Dicentra was about 8 inches taller over two days.

Narcissus 'Ceylon' and 'Ice Follies'.

Narcissus 'Ceylon'....

Pixie Lou, will you get physcial therapy soon or is that down the road? I'm wondering if maybe Mother Nature has decided to hold off the really warm weather until you are healed. (How nice of Her!)

PM2, I love Narcissus Ceylon-- I love the crisp, pointed perianth and the multi-shaded cups and I especially love this daffodil because Ceylon is my DH's middle name. Most definitely I'll have to add some of these to our garden.

Molie

Lovely backlit daffodils, PM2!

Claire

"April" camellias are living up to their name. Despite being nearly flattened to the ground with that heavy snow, and the long spells of cold weather, and cooler than normal spring, this is the best year yet for these plants.

April Blush - about 5 feet tall.

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April Blush flower

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April Dawn

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April Kiss (? - it was mislabeled as April Dawn but almost positive it's April Kiss)

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That April Blush is gorgeous, Bill! Not only is the individual flower beautiful, but the whole plant looks great in bloom with the full foliage.

Claire

They are stunning, Bill, and look so healthy. I truly think I do not have the right micro climate for them, otherwise, I have a go at one. I'm glad you have them to look at each day and to share with us. Lovely shrubs.
Jane

The leaves are really nice. Shiny and green year round. I often wonder why more of these aren't used in southern New England.

Claire and Jane, thanks for the positive comments.

Jane, the only things they might need is some shade for part of the day and a little protection from high winds in winter, like most broad leafed evergreens. Mine get shaded from morning and midday sun. They're against a south facing wall so get some protection from winter northwest winds. Otherwise, nothing. I do have a fall blooming type that is white ("Snow Flurry") and that one is rock hardy here, so you could try it. Grows a bit more spreading than these "April" types, and flowers are informal type, but still a camellia.

Snow Flurry

Bill - Every times you post photos of your camellias I suffer from zone envy; they are just gorgeous, both the flowers and the foliage. I am glad that they emerged from last winter's heavy wet snow with so little apparent damage. How did the rest of your garden come through the snow?

Bill, those "Aprils" are magnificent! Thank you for sharing them with us. For sure, I'm envious of the beautiful early flowers, but I especially love the foliage and the growth habit of these plants. If my long garden were not facing into the upriver winds, I'd consider adding these. The wind is tough on many plants ---in fact, I'll probably have to move a kalmia out of this garden because it seems to have suffered too much wind damage these past few years.

NHBbas, a few things suffered from physical damage from snow load, most noticeably the upright rosemary and one branch of my "Bracken's Brown Beauty" southern magnolia. Overall, not bad. Oh, my lithodora had a lot of dieback, but not totally gone.

Molie, the spring blooming camellias are the C. japonica hybrids, and true that they are a little less hardy than the fall bloming types, which are C. sasanqua hybrids. Many of the hardiest sasanquas have a species (C. oleifera) as a parent, and that gives them excellent cold hardiness. I think you could plant "Snow Flurry" with good results. It has proven very hardy, even in the really cold January 2004. And since it tends to grow spreading and semi-weeping, snow load damage is almost non-existent.

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Molie, âÂÂCeylonâ is also a good upright narcissus and it blooms at the same time as âÂÂIce FolliesâÂÂ, so they make a good pairing. Or any daff that blooms at the same time as âÂÂIce FolliesâÂÂ. IâÂÂve had them since 2005 and they keep coming back great every year. IsnâÂÂt that great that they have the same name as you husbandâÂÂs middle?

Thanks, Claire! :-)

Bill, Great shots of your camellias. Nice healthy clean foliage and those âÂÂwaxyâ blooms!!! I love âÂÂApril Kissâ The color is gorgeous. I was tempted to order that one, but if I remember right, it is hardy to zone 6b. For my first camellia I wanted to go with a zone 6a. My âÂÂApril Blushâ has big fat buds that are still not open, but I would expect mine would open later than yours. I will post a photo when it does.

Ann,

Looking forward to those photos!

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On a much less grand scale than all those beautiful camellias, the native wild Virginia strawberry has just started to bloom. The berries didn't impress me the one time I ate one, but they disappear fast so something likes them. What I like about it is that it's a free native groundcover that's pretty and easy to remove if necessary.

One of my favorite daffodils is the little 'Hawera' that usually blooms much later with 'Thalia'. There's one 'Hawera' that appeared a few years ago next to the south facing wall which is protected from winter wind. It comes back every year. The strawberry is in the same bed and also ahead of its family.

The rest of them aren't in sight yet, although they tend to sneak up on me.

Claire

pixie_lou: I tried emailing GW to move last year's Birds and other mobile features threads to the Gallery but haven't gotten a response. I'll have to try again. If I have any luck I'll let you know.

Another of my favorite daffodils, N. 'Lemon Glow' (I have lots of favorite daffodils) is blooming amid some scilla sibericas under a forsythia. They probably would be happier with more light but two have managed to bloom.

Claire

And one more entry in the saga of the collapsing greenhouse. I decided I really needed its space so I cleaned it out, removed its stakes and pulled it over to the lawn so I could wash it off.

Without the stakes it got pushed over by the wind.

This is a portable collapsible greenhouse so after it dried off I wanted to fold it up, but no matter how may times I followed the directions I couldn't get it to collapse enough so I could put it back in its carrying case.

I ended up tying it up with rope (that's the carrying case on the right) and stored it under the deck. I was afraid to bring it down cellar because if the ropes ever get loose the greenhouse will explode and be stuck down there. Or block the stairwell, sort of like an air bag in your car.

Now I just have to move two overgrown rambler roses without shredding my skin....

Claire

That greenhouse is a force to reckoned with, Claire! It doesn't want to go back in its carrying case! I'd be afraid to store it in my cellar too, or anywhere where it could spontaneously erupt/reconstruct itself!

I am impressed with all of you who remember what your daffodils are called. I can remember the shrubs and perennials, but when it come to the bulbs, species is the best I can do. The varieties are named when I get them, but I don't remember what they are.

PM2, somehow I missed your earlier question. The foliage behind my daffs is from a clump of colchicum which will put out leaves now, but will die back along with the daffodil foliage. In September the bright magenta flowers will emerge. I need to find somewhere that they will look appropriate since where they are now don't really fit in with the surrounding color palette of more typical autumn colors. I do like them since they aren't bothered by the cursed voles and cheerfully multiply over the years with no input from me.

Claire, I love that sweet little âÂÂHaweraâ daffodil.
I am also a big fan of daffodils. The more the merrier.

I also love adding natives. That is a cute wild strawberry. I added Arctostaphylus which loves my yard and Gaultheria, which hasnâÂÂt done much yet. IâÂÂve tried to add native shrubs too and my favorite for two years running is a variety of Clethra, called âÂÂSherry SueâÂÂ. Every year, I like it more and more.

So are you thinking you will use the greenhouse again?

I was just cleaning one of the perennial beds this morning and got a tiny scratch from the rose and all I could think of was an episode of a hospital drama where they were discussing how any small cut while in the hospital would make you more susceptible to contracting one of the many hospital infections. So at my age, I think I have to pay a little more attention to not giving any infection an easy entry. I never used to think twice about getting a scratch, but now IâÂÂm thinking, heavy gloves and long sleeves around the roses. Good luck with those ramblers!

Thanks Babs, I didn't recognize that and have never seen Colchicum except in the fall with the flowers alone. That is good to know that they multiply so well. I love that in a bulb! Actually, the foliage is attractive too.

Pixie lou, sorry to have read about your wrist! Hope it is healing well for you. I checked the link to April part 1, and it doesn't work - it says missing file. Does it do that for anyone else? I broke my left wrist in 2007 falling off a ladder, had surgery and therapy, so BTDT. I did OT and saw the surgeon for about 3 months so it took longer than 4-6 weeks to heal.

I've been working hard on garden cleanup and am so enjoying the plants as they emerge. Spring is so sweet!

They're common, but I love daffodils! So cheerful. And the blooms seem to last a long time.

Here's my Colchicum -

Terrene - thanks for the heads up. In fact none of my links are working. And none of the links in Claire's Mobile Features threads are working. They all come up saying Missing File. Which makes me think its a Garden Web problem, not a pixie problem.

3 months to heal. Yikes. I'm currently in therapy 3x a week. Twice a week for the wrist and once for the head injury/ whiplash. Having an MRI next week. May have to have a second surgery. Looking into alternative therapies as well.

Nice full daffodil clumps, terrene. Daffodils are common because they're such a pleasure in the spring time. Three cheers for common!

The links don't work for me either. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I re-sent the email to GW asking for transfer of the Mobile Feature threads to the Gallery. I had included a comment:

"pixie_lou, who is the author of the "Show us your Gardens - a photo thread", has said she wants to transfer some of her threads also, but I asked her to contact you directly so that it's clear to you exactly what she wants. She may be reluctant to do this herself, so perhaps I should be go-between. How do you want to handle this?"

They may be working on a wholesale transfer of threads and haven't fixed the links yet. I did a GW search for Mobile Features threads and found them. It would probably work for the landscape threads too.

Another of my favorite daffodils appeared today, 'Thalia'. I love this with 'Hawera' but that combination hasn't bloomed yet.

Claire

claire - i haven't contacted GW yet re transferring since I have limited use of my right hand. It's just too much cutting and pasting to get all the links together into an e-mail. and now that the links aren't working in the current thread, add searching to the list of things that is too much work right now. i'll be happy if I get the May thread up and running by 1 May - the goal being full text in the beginning!

pixie_lou: I sent that email originally on March 12 and I just sent it again without changes so the comment remained in there. Of course you wouldn't want to be doing it now with an injured hand!

I made the search suggestion for terrene's benefit.

Claire

Hi Claire, I found the part 1 thread because it's on page 2 of the forum and where Pixie mentioned that she had broken her wrist.

So Pixie lou you had a head injury also? I had a pretty serious concussion too, accompanied with a brief period of loss of consciousness. Wow. Yes both injuries will likely take longer than 4-6 weeks to resolve. My best advice is be diligent about doing your wrist exercises! You will not get full mobility back if you don't do them. And I remember my OT telling me "rehabilitation of a broken wrist is painful". And it was most painful in the beginning, as you get range of motion back it will ease. I remember her pushing the wrist to the pain limit during therapy sessions. I have pretty much full range of motion in the left wrist now, and it's not my dominant hand (but I am fairly bilateral and use it for many things).

I think I have that same Thalia Daffodil, that also came out today. I just love the daffs!

I added Thalia two years ago and this is the first year it's making a decent showing. Quite attractive and I've noticed that it stands up well to a good rain. My 'Ice Follies' have gone by. They always do, as soon as it gets warmer. I wonder if anyone has any experience with daffs that stand up to heat if we have it earlier than usual?

I was walking around the yard today and noticing how well the native plants are doing. I added some Tiarella cordifolia in the Fall of 2009 from NEWFS and now I see they are really spreading and looking very healthy. Very happy about that. I needed a dependable groundcover in that area and the area is near a lot of tree roots that suck everything out of the soil. Heucheras and Pulmonarias are looking like they are barely holding on. Making plans to go back to NEWFS and see what else I can add.

Very pretty daffodils, Terrene! I love watching plants emerge in spring too. I often forget what is where and find happy surprises for weeks. I try to update my list of plants I'm trying to locate.

That's a long time for therapy for the wrist. I hope you don't have to have a second surgery, Pixie Lou!

I have Thalia, but it is only green leaves as of yet. Does anyone else find the scent of this one unpleasant?

I'm finding some of my early perennials are starting to bloom along with the daffodils. Here is what is blooming now at the house:
Forsythia between the road and the veggie garden planted to make mowing easier around a telephone pole support cable.

Pulmonaria 'Majeste' (I think) just coming into bloom.

A double daffodil coming up through the short but sprawling quince 'Jet Trail':

Magnolia loebneri Leonard Messel:

A piece of the entry garden with sprouting perennials, Aubrieta and daffodils. I'm especially fond of the dandeliony one.
{{gwi:202124}}From April 28, 2013

Many of the shrubs and flowering trees have buds popping, but the kousa dogwood outside the kitchen window is still in winter bud mode.

The red maple flowers are just beginning to fade.

These self-seeded bleeding hearts are blooming in pink and one lone white (upper right corner.)

nhbabs: Those bleeding hearts are way ahead of mine - do you think the stone steps retain heat and speed them up?

The wisteria has flower buds! I'll bet that's why a squirrel looked guilty a few days ago when it saw me watching it in the wisteria. I glared at the squirrel on general principles and it ran off. Squirrels eat wisteria flower buds so I chase them off when buds appear.

I could even smell the wisteria flowers.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Mon, Apr 29, 13 at 18:27

It's SPRING! And I have zone envy, too. Bill, your photos are wonderful and tempt me to move further south. NHbabs, love the stones and bleeding heart. Mine are in a shady area so I don't think they are as far along as yours.

I love forget-me-nots when they bloom but then they get tall and unsightly looking. Should i just clip them?

After an internet hunt for Black Chokeberry, we found a nice though small selection at Scenic Nursery in Raymond NH but they were already 6' tall. I wanted something next to a spreading cottoneaster that wouldn't get any taller than 6' and preferable stay shorter. These didn't look like could be pruned back much. Should you check out this nursery, it's in a delightful spot tucked next to a river, be warned that they are not open on Saturdays. I thought their shrub prices were reasonable. I ended up with Halo Dogwood. Our house is white so I think the red stems will look nice in winter and provide some perches for the birds we like to watch/feed.

I keep meaning to take photos of my garden. After watching for bloodroot by the side of the road, I discovered I had some in my garden. I must have gotten it at last year's plant swap and it's very happy in my garden (soil on the moist side).

The wonderful Viburnum Onandago that had to be moved away from the house was moved to my future wild life sanctuary. The viburnum kept getting taller, even after pruning (I waited a year too long) and was at least 9 feet tall. The pruning caused it to spread, I think. Fortunately, my husband has a backhoe. We only lost a couple of branches. I know this area of our property can be wet but it's wetter than I expected. The next day any holes left from backfilling were filled with water.

A wonderful dark purple leafed perennial that doesn't bloom until late summer appears to be invasive. I don't want to remove it entirely but maybe it should be someplace else. It is Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker' (Hairy loosestrife) . Does anyone have experience with this plant and a recommendation about whether or not a should remove it from a medium size bed (about 15' x 4').

Babs, Forsythias are so cheerful in the spring. That one has a pretty shape to it. We had 2 Forsythias in a shrub border when we first moved in and they spread to the point, that when we removed them, there were nine of them to dig out. So in a small yard, I opted not to replace them. I enjoy everyone elseâÂÂs, instead. You have a lot of room for it to become massive. Do you know the name of that daffodil in photo #2? It has a nice long corona.

Defrost, I didnâÂÂt know you were planning a wildlife refuge. That sounds like a fun project.

I donâÂÂt have either of those plants you asked about, but here is a link to info on that Lysimachia. It seems to spread, but is not invasive. IâÂÂm surprised. We have âÂÂloosestrifeâ that has invaded so many natural areas here in Massachusetts, but I donâÂÂt know the latin, and it is a plant, not a shrub, so maybe they are not related?

Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Gardening info on Lysimachia

PM2 - I looked up the daffodil in my records and I am fairly sure that it is Itzim. It is one of the earlier bloomers and consequently has been blooming for a couple of weeks now. It's technically a miniature, but isn't really small. https://store.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/spring/productview/?sku=01-0620

I think my bleeding heart probably do bloom earlier due to their site which faces SW. They started in the bed at the top of the rock wall have seeded themselves around in the steps and wall where I have left them since they do a great job of supressing weedier plants. This is the old barn foundation wall to which Scott added the steps over to the left, just off the end of the ell. (The barn fell in 30 years or more before we bought the place, and this whole area was covered in saplings, trash and half-rotted barn when we bought the house.)

Thanks Babs, I'll have to put that on my list.

That old barn foundation wall, certainly made a lovely landscape feature. Sounds like a lot of work to do it. So did you have to fill in with soil above the wall? Very pretty!

PM2 -

We built some areas of the wall a bit higher to even things out and taper it into the hill more evenly (the house sits on the edge of an old river terrace) so we added some soil, but not much. I do like the look of the foundation, especially since we live in an area of glacial lake sediments, so these are the only rocks on our property other than a few in the river. It's lovely to garden without rocks or ledge, but I do miss the New England character that having large stones adds to a garden.

I'm a little late to the party for posting but I've been really enjoying this thread with everyone's great pictures.
Here are some from April from my garden.

Veggie garden is ready to go:

Backyard. I love spirea when they're coming out.

I love 'Leonard Messel' magnolias. They can withstand a late frost without much if any harm to the flowers.

One of the shade gardens:

I've been enjoying this pieris now that I've limbed it up.

Seedlings! Slightly windblown and a bit unhappy in this pic, but they're happier now that they are planted.

Time to rest after planting said seedlings. Just when my lights were turned out upstairs, I've started zinnias and some other veggies will be started this week under lights.
My DH is SO good about keeping these chairs painted and I like the fun colors.

Very lovely, thyme2dig. From the tuteurs to the chairs, the colors are lively and fun. The magnolias against the fence are stars. Very nice.

Two questions...among hundreds spinning in my head...

1. New to gardening in NE, coming from high desert zone 3. I water almost every day here. Am I watering too much? So far no moss or black spots or withering of my salad greens, snow peas and nasturtiums. I also spritz seedlings daily with a spray bottle.
2. Plan to plant scarlet runner beans in far railing pots, and chives and basil in far large planter with rosemary and parsley. Am I pushing my luck?

Thanks in advance!

Hi janniet, just noticed there was another post on this thread. You would definitely get more responses if you start your own thread to ask your questions. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you need to. Gardening is so much more fun without a lot of questions spinning around in your head! (g)

Watering pots every day is something I need to do when it is hot and sunny. I always feel that you can make mistakes with watering, if you rely on a 'schedule' instead of figuring out if the pot is dry. I would stick my finger in each pot up to the first knuckle and if it is dry then water. That might be every day or every other day, or longer depending on the weather. You might also try mulching your pots with bark mulch or straw to keep the pot evenly moist without drying out as often. But keep the mulch from touching the plants. I think I see that the gray pots are on the railing? The smaller the pot, the quicker it will dry out. I've never used that type of planter, so I wouldn't know whether to expect them to dry out sooner or not?

I personally stopped misting my plants after having read many times that you are inviting foliar problems to do so. And really I was only doing it indoors on houseplants to compensate for the lower humidity indoors during winter. Outside, I imagine the humidity is just fine for the plants. Maybe because you were in a desert location, that was different there?

What do you mean by 'pushing your luck'? with the scarlet runner beans and herbs? Are you talking about the two pots on the side railing that are empty, that you are putting scarlet runner beans in? Do you have a structure for them to climb on? Are the herbs in the large pot on the deck?

You have a very nice set up going on there!