I think the chickadees, titmice and downies have had a bumper crop this year! I've never seen (or heard) so many dee-dee-dee's before, it's so fun! So far I've only seen one young red-bellied but they maybe only bringing one at a time to the feeder. And just one young cardinal - which really is not a bad thing, I can only imagine what it will be like if all 70 cardinals from last winter bring all there babies to the feeders - I'll have to take out a loan for birdseed. I've also seen house wren, phoebe and catbird fledglings. This evening I was following a spread-wing damselfly through the woods and I heard a bobwhite! We haven't had any in several years so I was really thrilled to hear it. I thought about trying to track it down but the mosquitos were eating me up alive! And the buck was stomping and snorting at me since I was standing in his bed :^)

Thanks so much for all your wonderful responses - I'm glad you liked this, and it's good to hear there are many more northern gardeners like me that recognize themselves in this poem. I found myself muttering Seuss-like comments grousing about the work of uncovering the roses this year, and wondering why on earth I'd covered them in the first place (particularly this year), so I figured writing this into a full Grinch poem would let us all laugh at ourselves. Seil, AnneCecelia, Kate - it's good to know I'm not the only one out there fretting over protections when there really isn't anything we can do about it. Like barefootgirl, I've been hitting the antiseptic hard already because the roses are telling me it's pruning time - fully leafed out in mid-March no less - even if we get a late frost, there's nothing I can do to stop them! Harmonyp, I'm honored that this posting ranks as so delightful in your book, but I've benefited from all the truly informative posts from all of you over the years. Many of the roses in my yard are there because of the recommendations and photos from all of you on GW, particularly Beth's photos(I turn to her photos on HMF more than any others to judge the real colors and appearance of roses, at least at their best). I don't think we should read this poem to our kids or novices, however, as it's a tad discouraging (even without the frostbite). My kids look at me dragging myself inside at twilight, bleeding profusely and dressed like a particularly scruffy bag lady, and for some reason they don't seem as excited as I am about growing roses! Fortunately they love the homegrown fruits and vegetables, so there's hope for them as gardeners some day! Happy pruning, with fingers crossed for no late frosts Cynthia

Narcissus, finally Wallflower Seaside plantain A few columbine flowers Schizopetalon in a container Purple lupine Buttercups with magenta creeping phlox by the rock (pictures soon) A few forget-me-nots Viola King Henry still going strong, rock cress & aubrieta going by Chives Woad Ajuga Starflower Silene armeria (which I love) Field pennycress (which I also love) White campion (which I don't - at least not as much as I've got) And the ladyslippers are back! :) This year I am committing myself to learning more about the area natives. On my woodland walk today I found garlic mustard, and some small shrub with white, 4-petaled flowers that I would have sworn was a wild rose, but it had no thorns. I couldn't find it in either my Peterson's or the Ct. Botanical Society website. Not too many wildflowers in bloom right now - more in my yard than in the woods, LOL.

Diane, Like almost all fast-growing trees, Silver Maples tend to be weak-wooded and prone to disease. It also has surface roots that worsen over the years as the tree grows ever larger. The surface roots won't be a huge issue unless the tree is near enough to the house, a patio or a sidewalk to lift the concrete and cause damage. Although it is not my favorite tree, I don't especially dislike it. We kept the one in Fort Worth because its shade was the only shade we had on the west side of our house and I felt like the kitchen would have been unbearably hot on summer afternoons without it. I couldn't get anything much to grow in the soil under it because those big surface roots took up most of the space and apparently greedily sucked up the water too. Even normally rampant ground cover type plants couldn't compete with it and survive under it. So, whether to remove it or not is, to me, a personal thing based on whether you like the look of it, whether it gives you any trouble, or whether you'd just like to replace it with a better-quality tree now as opposed to 5 or 10 years from now when it develops pest or disease issues. Also, if it is anywhere near a planting bed of any type, when it sheds its seeds, they tend to pop up everywhere and have to be pulled out. I think if it were in my yard near the house and it was not essential for shading the house, I'd take it out and replace it with a high-quality tree. Fort Worth organic gardening guru Howard Garrett, aka The Dirt Doctor, is very blunt and tells it like it is. I've linked the description of the Silver Maple from his website because it makes me laugh every time I read it. He doesn't sugarcoat things, and when people would call in to his radio show with problems with silver maples, as you might imagine, he'd tell them to get rid of the tree and replace it with a better one. As you'll notice, he disses the mimosa in his answer, and I absolutely love mimosa and planted one here years ago for the hummingbirds, so I don't always agree with The Dirt Doctor. However, my mimosa is near my garden so I can watch the hummers visit its flowers, and it is not in a prominent place in the landscape. I wouldn't have put it up close to the house because, like almost all fast-growing trees, it too is weak-wooded and prone to insect problems. That doesn't make me love it any less, it just makes me keep it more in an out-of-the-way location. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Silver Maple Tree Info From Howard Garrett's Website