My 1/2 acre, which I seeded on the 18th was showing a general tinge of green this morning. Tonight it's supposed to be 29 degrees here. It's out of my hands, as far as I'm concerned. I'm considering seeding it with dandelions ... salad greens, wine, nice colors, etc. "Life is too important, to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Yes, we have gotten some frozen "stuff" that is laying thinly on the roof and porch and creating a very thin icy shell on the outside of jugs, but the earth shows no signs of frost. I ended up not covering anything. We'll see what happened. I had just put squash in the ground, and that was my main concern. I figured that if it freezes I still have plenty of time to start more. Since the other true frosts didn't kill anything I wanted to experiment and let this night take its course. It will only warm a little today and remain overcast, so based on today's finding I might be more careful tonight. I still don't understand why you all insisted on taking all of our snow this past winter. So very inconsiderate of you all. I think we got snow about once a month. But, at this exact time, I'm not minding that you hogged all the cold stuff!

Yum, yum! I'd have a great time with all that fruit. I'd make sure I'd use the apples for Linda Lou's Apple Pie Jam. You can even use that as filling for fried (or baked) apple pies, as my DH informed me. Pears I'd just can them so I could have them with cottage cheese as a snack whenever I wanted something healthy and tasty. Peaches, I'd freeze with just the slightest touch of sweetener. They are like a breath of summer when you take them out and eat them during the winter months. Just some of my thoughts of what I'd personally do with them. My mouth is watering right now. Skye

I almost suggested yesterday that you cut them down, Alice, but I was afraid you'd Freak Out! And I still think you might! How tall are yours by now? Mine are up to a good foot already! The reason I think you might freak out is because, especially if yours are very tall already, I'd be inclined to recommend you cut them ALL the way down and let them start all over again! Are you freaking out yet??? Here's why! If you just cut off the "tips," what you'll be doing is "pinching" them, and when pinched, Shasta Daisies will develop two (or more) stems where they're pinched! That sounds like a good idea, right? Well, it is, but in this case if you pinch them near the top of the existing stem, the new multiple stems they produce will be much "weaker/skinnier" than the original stem, and Shastas--the tall ones at least, need pretty strong stems to support the flowers. If you cut them all the way down they will also "thicken up," but since they'll be growing up from the base it'll take longer and they should develop heavier stems--probably not quite as heavy as the ones you have now, but better than what would develop further up if you just tip pinched them. 'Becky' is the best tall Shasta (IMO) because it does have such nice heavy stems--AND it has the largest, most "perfect" looking flowers of all the Shastas I've ever seen--and because of the large flowers it really DOES need the strong stems to keep it from flopping. If you decide to just pinch the top I'm pretty sure you're gonna need to "cage" it somehow to help support the flowers when it blooms. Can't be sure of that since I've never tip pinched mine, but I'm pretty sure that's what would happen! If you cut it all the way down--like, I'm talking about an inch, or no more than 2 inches, above the ground, I don't think you'll have that problem--but I can't be absolutely positive about that either since I've never cut them down when they were this big. (If yours are still 6" or less I would definitely cut them down to an inch!) If you pinch the tips you're going to be delaying the bloom somewhat anyway, and if you cut them all the way down it'll probably delay it a little bit more, but I don't think it'll make all that much difference! And, even if you cut them down--pinch them or cut them all the way down--you STILL have aphids in there, and you're still going to need to keep "treating" them, probably for the rest of the summer. I suspect, from what I've seen in my yard already, the aphids are going to be worse this summer than "normal," probably because all the warm weather is giving them a head start this year! Now here's something to think about! :-) I don't remember how much perennial gardening you've done up to this point, but you're exhibiting a condition called Worried Gardener Syndrome! You need to work on getting that Ohhhhm Word into your vocabulary more frequently! ;-) Trying to "unfold" the developing buds to solve the problem--any problem, isn't gonna work because: 1) it's not possible to get ALL the bugs that are that deeply embedded in the foliage, and 2) there's no way you can "play with" foliage that's that tender without damaging it. The bugs are gonna still be there anyway, and the damaged foliage is not gonna get "better," so it'll stay ratty looking the rest of the summer, and, if you mess with it when it's starting to develop the flower buds, you'll probably wind up with some pretty warped looking flowers. When you have aphids or mites en masse, you need to either just cut the plant down or just keep "bathing" it in soap water a couple times a week, so you keep killing the bugs as the new tips grow out. (And, giving the plant a good spraying with the hose a couple hours after the bath--not TOO hard, will help by washing off the aphids that were Enfeebled and made mostly defenseless by the soap water!) I'd say to stop Hovering, but Hovering isn't necessarily a bad thing! Hovering to see what's going on and to enjoy the developing plants and flowers is a GOOD thing, and Hovering to keep an eye out for problems is a GOOD thing, but Hovering and then Freaking Out and doing more damage than the bugs could potentially do is not a good thing! When you're Hovering and you see a problem, practice your Ohhhhm Word, and then walk away and contemplate the Next Best Move! In addition to doing the most useful thing for the plant, this practice might also help keep your neighbors from calling the guys in the white coats! :-) Now, here's the Good News! You still have PLENTY of time to cut them down and let them come back! Since it's been such and "early spring" I don't think you'll even set them back all that much from "normal" blooming time! Here's a graphic demonstration! Spring of '09--exactly three years ago to the day, as a matter of fact, I "re-did" my main 'Becky', and by the middle of July it was in full bloom! Captions on the pics explain what's happening in each if you click on them! And---TA DA---here it is blooming on July 15, 2009! Much smaller than it was before The Renovation! Now, three years later, it's growing all the way back in to the grass again! Maybe next year will be another Renovation Year! So there definitely IS still hope for you this year! Relax and enjoy it---bugs and all! Skybird P.S. You should see that poor, lonely single Iris next to 'Becky' now! It's BIG and budding!