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More pictures-again(-:

12 years ago

What a spring here,already averaging +13F over last April...!

Cactus first-

I put the phone there for scale-they almost ate it! JK

Almost every barrel cactus is loaded with flowers!

I think about 17 barrles etc,are getting ready to bloom.

I always forget this thing is even here....but....

my T.Nanus was the first to recover from spear-pull-never would

have guessed it would be this one,as I mentioned,I always forget it's there!

Little green part in the center is the spear pushing up.

Petasites japonicus(var) has really spread out this year...

you can also see the blooms.

Rajapuri next to it to shade it.

Many surprises this year with the mild winter and warm March...heres 3 that made me smile(-:

1.Gladiolus-zone 8?

I have never seen them survive here over winter,much less come up in MARCH!!!!

2.Rose Mallow coming up in March is unheard of here.

3.Butterfly bush-if you look behind the Sequoia

(which BTW was completely undamaged this year),upper right hand corner

you can see a Butterfly bush.

These USUALLY die back to the ground and then grow to about

6' here during the warm season.....these did not die back

and have kept shoots alive all winter-this year it will start

from 6'

Also(3.1)look at the Pampas grass,it is already a foot tall!

Usually it comes up in late April/May.

A few other pictures of springy Iowa.

Saba(foreground)is really taking off-Redbud in distance.

Anyone know what this flower is????

Honeysuckle

Washys have really taken off-one of the leaves is already 3' across.

Lilac and Crabapple.

Black Bamboo is refreshing it's spring cover.

3-4 weeks ahead of last year(-:

Yucca hybrids from Tim(Mass) and Kory's(Mn)on the right.

Tetrapanex steroidal giant coming up-anybody want some(-;

Cactus getting bigger is nice but this guy is getting tough to move without one of us getting hurt (-:

These big leaved Castor bean plants get big leaves right

out of the bean!

By mid summer leaves can be 42" across/plants well over 12'.

Palms

Overwintered Princeps....good year to try it,can't wait until

it recovers from spear-pull....it will be a beauty!

Nainital and Fortunei-both have grown over a 1/2 a foot(spears)in the last week.

All new growth on this Abyssinian,almost a foot so far

and almost 2 months ahead of least year!

You know it's been a warm March when a Madagascar palm starts growing!

2 palms I am really looking forward to watching develope..

Chamaerops Volcano X Chamaerops Cerifera from Max Cola in Italy.

Fortunei from above.

Little T.Tesan hit the ground running...

planted a few weeks ago it has already put out(another) it's second divided leaf.

Some Trachy seedlings,Tesan,Manipur,Takil,Nova,Winsan,Princeps

(from Garry,I guess they all are(-;)and S.Lisa,S.Brazoria.S.McCurtain.

Also my poor little spindly Thai giant

Thanks for looking!

Click for weather forecast

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Comments (15)

chadec
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Love all the cacti! None of mine are in bloom yet. I can't believe your mellow is ahead of mine. Can't wait to see them in a few months.
jimhardy
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
What is a mellow????
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islandbreeze
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for posting all the great pics! Awesome to see your yard coming back to life. Your cacti are definitely getting some nice size to them. And those Agave have got to be worth some $$$ at the size they are.

Rose Mallow are sold here as zone 5 plants I think, supposedly as hardy as hardy hibiscus. I'm surprised they usually aren't hardy for you.

Is your black bamboo hardy for you? I thought they were zone 8 bamboo.

Is the 11th pic down an aloe plant??

I found that Thai Giant might be able to be stored as a bulb, just an FYI. I tried it this year because I could never keep mine alive in the house without them rotting, and they started to grow roots a couple weeks ago...I'll keep you updated.

Thanks again for sharing!
chadec
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Love all the cacti! None of mine are in bloom yet. I can't believe your mellow is ahead of mine. Can't wait to see them in a few months.
arctictropical
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow... great pics, Jim! My yard won't look like yours until May or June! I also can't believe your cacti are in bloom! We are expecting more snow over the weekend. Great job!
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great pics Jim.

did you overwinter your thai giant in the ground? I dug mine potted it and stored in the greenhouse. I just put it back in the ground. Its still green so i hope it comes back.

Mike
gatraffic
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Nice pics, got me wondering if a Barell would grow here in Marietta????
chadec
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I meant your Rose mallow, but autocorrect on my phone took over! Not sure how I double posted. Did you get your washys from ebay? Since all my sabals made it I have been thinking of trying one. Not sure which is best though.
tropicalzone7
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great pics as always! Your yard looks way ahead of mine this year! Those cacti are all looking amazing and the banans will have a full head of leaves before you know it. Cant wait to see the progress in your yard a few weeks from now!
Im trying purple castor beans this year, this is the first time I have tried castor beans. I hope they grow fast and look good with the other plants!
Thanks for sharing!
-Alex
jimhardy
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Ryan

The Rose Mallow is hardy here but I have never seen it come up in March!

The Butterfly bushes are already as big as last year because
they did not die back like they do in years where we go below 0.

This was(based on low temps)a zone 7a winter.

The Black Bamboo looks about as good as it ever will here
with out a cover,even though the leaves are 50% damaged
all the branches are live and leafing out again.

11th pic is Manfreda Maculosa-beautiful flowers!

Yea,I overwatered my T-giants indoors and lost one or two...
good to know about storage,instead of watching them
decline over winter-thanks Ryan-do keep me updated.

Kevin

That sucks about the snow!

These guys are early bloomers and it gets pretty hot
over the rock in the cactus garden which speeds things up!

Mksmth

I did not overwinter it in the ground it was in a west window inside.(-:

Chad

Yea,the Washys are from e-bay-there are also a couple Filibusta in pots.

I would recommend S.Louisiana,S.Brazoria,S.McCurtain,
they are all slow while producing strap leaves but IME speed up
when the leaves didvide...I get about 4-5 leaves a year from the S.Lou's.

I was really suprised to see it(Rose Mallow) coming up but 80s will rock the plant world!

Alex

Be carefull what you wish for(-: the Castor's will grow fast
and the purple color is really gorgeous!

I would suggest trying the big leaved ones too,they are super tropical looking!

BTW

The Saba is really blasting off!(-:

Click for weather forecast
bill_ri_z6b
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Nice photos Jim! The flower you asked about (pic. 20/21) looks like flowering quince (Chaenomeles sp.) to me.

{{gwi:5901}}
bradleyo_gw
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jim, Jim, Jim, many you still have some work to do. I still see grass in your picture! Dude, you're yard is turning into a jungle. I can't believe that desert bed especially, some of those cacti are awesome. How many of those are conceivable hardy without protection? I believe you heat at least a little bit under your mini-winter-greenhouse. If you don't mind me putting you to work, it would be awesome if when you took closeups of your cacti, you included the info on the tag such as in the echinocereus reichbachii pic.

And I'm not so sure about the rose mallow. I know rose mallows as a generic name for several hardy hibiscus varieties. I'm not aware of any that bloom first thing in the spring, if anything mid summer at best for northern climes.
jimhardy
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Bradley

Warmest March by +7F over any other I could find has things happening I have never seen before!

The Maple across the street is already been leafed out for over a week and I have never seen it cast a shadow in the yard in spring.

I don't have tags for all the plants-it takes so long to
post all the pics that I figure....easier to go back and I.D.something for someone later if need be....

I doubt much of any of this stuff would survive winter without protection(in regard to cactus)mostly/at least from winter moisture.

Click for weather forecast
bradleyo_gw
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
While it was an easy winter here by normal standards, we still had a low of -4F, and it was only the 5th warmest winter at least as of the 30th.
jimhardy
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My feeling is that I will be covering or digging up some of this next week as I have a bad feeling we are going to be getting colder.

I just hope it is short lived and MN doesn't feel like she owes us a winter!!!!!

Click for weather forecast

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