I swear Dawn, you are like the den mother--or maybe earth mother--for this area in garden web. Your input is nothing less than amazing.

I am still flummoxed (a word I got when living in the UK) by this weather. I'm ready to put out the tomatoes, but don't have any ready yet! Every morning I go outside I'm convinced it is spring!

I am also hearing frogs and I saw a toad today - spoke to him? Does anyone else do that.

I have conversations with everyone - especially the "wild things," LOL! ...though if I admitted it anywhere but here and at home, people would probably think I am nuts!

I've got Spring fever with all this sunny weather and warm temps. Even the perennials look like they're ready to get to work.

I'm actually grateful for the weather, and between the large amount of sleet we had here in Shawnee, the length of time it took to melt, and the recent bit of rain, the ground is nice and moist which makes our new beds MUCH easier to dig... Feels like Spring!

Ada

Daffodils in the open yard are just above the ground, but the ones on the south side of the house in a protected area, are about 5 inches tall.

Some of my wintersown perennials are just beginning to peek out.

I am ready for spring to arrive, but I know even when it seems like it is here it is too early to plant most things. I haven't started my tomatoes and peppers yet, but I need to get on the ball. I also need to do some heavy-duty flower bed work.

Dawn - When I looked at Mesonet rainfall today, I saw something I don't think I have every seen before. You had the most rain!!! OK, I know it was only half an inch, but only one other location had more. LOL I am glad that you did get a shower anyway.

The only frog I ever talk to is the one that lurks under an outdoor light catching bugs, and I almost step on him every summer night. Some nights he jumps, then I jump about as far. So I have talked to him a few times. LOL

The spring peepers are calling here too. Heard them yesterday for the first time. Have a lavendar crocus--self-seeded; I know I didn't plant it where it is--now blooming as well as gold. Daffs are 5-6' high where they are shallowly planted and the three stems I brought in the house are breaking open.

Ox, It always feels like spring has arrived in Feb. here in southern OK, and probably in most of the rest of the region too but winter drops back in once every 7-10 days until the end of April most years, just to keep us guessing! Just watch.....and you'll see. : )

Helen and Ada, I speak to all the wild things, and sometimes they speak to me. For example, if I am slow to put out the deer corn in late afternoon on winter days, the does make the fawns stay in the woods while the does stand in the pasture and "scream" for me to hurry up and get the corn put out for them. They have me trained really, really well.

Carol,

I noticed that on the Mesonet as well, and I have been trying hard not to gloat. We haven't had the "most rain" on any given day here in Marietta in probably a couple of years. And, that mere half-inch of moisture dropped our Keetch-Byram Drought Index from 674 to 640 in one day. That's a huge drop, considering the KDBI usually only goes up 1 or 2 points a day. It was getting so close to 700, which is extremely high, so I feel better now that it is back in the mid-600s.

Dorothy,

The buds are swelling on my fruit trees. Have you seen anything similar? I am starting to hope for a couple of cold nights to slow them down, because it seems like they are trying to bloom too early, and that, I suppose, is yet another sign of spring.

Dawn

Yep the frogs are singin here also. Elm trees are buding out and i seen some buds on oak trees also. I figure the fruit trees are to, just dont want to look.

got some daffodils bloomin on the south side of the porch.

I see Easter is in the middle of April. gonna be hard not to plant too early. Especially with the warm days we have had.

Still waiting on my order from whilhites. placed 1-25-09. Maybe this week they will show up. Going to be too late to get the broccoli started.Lucikly i have another type started.Need to start the warm season stuff pretty soon.

Yes, Dawn, I was looking at the plum yesterday and the buds are way too swollen. We seldom get plums from this tree--a seedling from under SIL's tree--because it blooms too early.

The cherry alas, will not bloom as we are going to have to cut it out. The ice broke every single limb down. It was pruned too short when we planted it. Some nurseries do that and then the weak crotches that erupt made it sucseptible to breaking.

I've been hearing the spring peepers since getting back from Mexico, too. Also, the maples are budding and look like they will flower soon. That's the first honey crop for the bees.

I hope things don't warm up enough to flower and then get frozen again. This'll be the third year our peaches get frozen, and we get no fruit

Sure does make for nice conditions to dig in the garden, though.

George

Today's sign of spring is this: the henbit is blooming in Love County (though not yet at our house). I saw some blooming outside the Thackerville Post Office today. It is sort of amazing, because the little green plants have just begun erupting from the ground since the ice fell--prior to that, they had no moisture.

And, the other sign is today's Tornado Watch.

One more sign--tomato plants have arrived at the Gainesville Wal-Mart. Is it too early for them? Well, of course, it is, but I did't let that stop me from buying a couple for earliest tomatoes.

I looked at the Santa Rosa plum tree today and it is about 4 to 7 days from blooming. We need some really cold nights fast, and I don't think we'll get them quickly enough to stop the blooms. You can bet we'll get cold weather after the darn thing blooms, though.

George, I only get a really good peach and plum crop about 1 out of 3 years and it is really frustrating. I've done all I can---choosing recommended varieties with the right number of chilling hours, but it doesn't help enough since we still can't make the weather do what it is "supposed to do".

Looks like an early spring warm-up for most of us, even though I am positive we all have some freezing weather remaining.

Dawn