IM kind of a pretty big weather buff myself, and I used to get the farmers Almanac every year when I was a kid as well. I still read it for its interesting articles and such, but really, I think that NOAA is more accurate as its more science based rather than on oak trees "MASTING", and other natural phenomena. For those who don't know, "MASTING" is when Oak trees overproduce acorns to an extreme amount. It happens from time to time some reigons, and from what I understand is more of a survival insurance than anything else. It happend here several years ago, and it was truly incredible just how much acorns were produced. Never seen anything like it. I think it only occurs once in like every 50 or 100 years or something. Anyway...Im still hoping for ( and thinking that it will be) a very mild winter here in the Mid Atlantic. We have the same saying here... " if you don't like the weather in D.C., wait 5 minutes". While its not that volatile all the time, we do get fairly changing weather for large portions of the year, especially spring and fall, we were can see 40 degree differences in temps in sometimes as little as 12 hours. The D.C. Metro just does not have the same winters it had regularly up until about 1995 or so. The last true "blizzard" we had here was in 1996. The rivers and bay almost NEVER freeze over anymore in the last 10-12 years here, and seeing teens and low 20's in the city is fairly uncommon anymore. Were also very hurricane prone here as well, although most are usually strong to medium tropical storms by the time they get here. Although, a few have come through at a category 1 hurricane, like Isabel in 2003. IIRC, it was finally downgraded to a Tropical Storm once it moved just north of the D.C. Metro. Its center passed about 50 miles due west of downtown D.C., putting most of the metro area, and most of VA/MD in the worst / strongest quadrant of the storm. What a trying 24 hours that was. I rode it out in my east facing 14th floor apt at the time, and we had sustained winds up there of 82 MPH for several hours at the hight of it, with a gust to 106. That was the gust that blew the anomometer off of the balcony railing. I can tell you the vines that I could not get down, and the 10' river birch in a large half whisky barrel were all defoliated by the winds, and quite a few of the windows were blown out on the east and south facing windows of the high rises we lived in. Im glad we heavily tapped our large plate glass windows up, because those were the ones that were breaking into peoples apts. Anyway, lots of varied weather here. It keeps things very interesting. I just wish we were 1 zone warmer! Who knows, in the close in dowtown areas of NoVA and DC we have moved into a zone 8 in the last 10-14 years, maybe a zone 9 is coming? Im not for "global warming" but man it would be nice to have even milder winters than we do now.

Thanks all. :-) Bonnie, I look forward to seeing your pictures of all that. A peach tree - wow! And I'm still trying to figure out how to get my annual containers looking good too...I have petunia seeds coming to start, and will get geraniums from our annual "Geranium Fest" in May. Maybe this year we'll both get good pots... Steve - I'm not sure how to say this without sounding completely insane, but my husband and I spend far more than 2 months on our annual Halloween party. We...uh...start planning/working on it the day after the previous one, truth be told (it's always the weekend before Halloween). We just start the actual *decorating* 2 months before - it takes that long to do the whole house, and finish with the yard. Of course, there's always room for 1 (or several) more people at the party! :-) I just got our first order of props for this year's theme yesterday, along with another order of seeds for the greenhouse. Those zinnias just went *crazy* last summer - I just tossed the seeds out in the spring, and they took over *everything*! I'm going to start seeds in the greenhouse this year, so I can put them where I want them - they tried to smother out my roses last year, and that just won't do... Skybird, those plants in the river are indeed, thyme - I think it's "Mother of Thyme", but have forgotten how to spell the Latin name at the moment. Thanks for the tip about pulling plugs from the middle! I think I'll do that when it warms up a bit, and see if we can't get it spreading better. We want that whole river bottom covered with thyme eventually. I forgot to add that my hubby will be building a bridge over the river this year too. Like I said, with the bindweed, we just went into pure smothering/pulling mode. And between the weed mat and several inches of thick mulch, it's not anywhere *near* as bad as it was. I'll continue to hand-pull it though...I'm not a fan of chemicals in the garden (even on ornamentals), and it's not too big of a chore to go out and weed every other week or so. It really is a million times better than it was though - that whole mulch-covered area was just wall to wall (so to speak) bindweed...that's a big part of why we decided to landscape that whole section of the yard. As for the Clematis, they'll be planted along the "dividing fence" line, not out by the greenhouse. Their roots will be underneath roses, dahlias, and mulch, and with any luck, they'll grow all over that green garden fence. So I think they'll do okay - they'll get southern sun for most of the day, but lots of shade for their roots at the same time. Here's my freshly cleaned out greenhouse from Saturday (when it was around 90 in there with the door and windows open): And a partial view from my back door yesterday. It's still snowing today, of course...Brrrr! I am glad I didn't start seeds as early this year. Last year, I had them in the greenhouse already by now, and it was a pain to keep the heat up when a similar cold snap hit the first part of March. I decided to wait a couple weeks this year, and I'm glad I did!

TGIF is right! I have spent the last few hours doing yard work - the grass is cut, the edges are trimmed and the sidewalk and driveway have been blown. At least the outside is ready for the Derby Day party tomorrow! I;m sorry so many of you are having carpy weather, it seems spring has sprung here. HEre are a couple of pics of what my yard looks like right now.... Tonight we are going to the opening of a new ice cream shop - Sweet Pea - where a friends daughter is starting her first job tonight. I don't care for ice cream, but my guys do and I'm sure I can get something else. Tomorrow we are having a few friends for a Kentucky Derby party - I will probably put a couple of dollars on Eight Belles (the onyl filly in the race) but that is sentimental only - I don't think she will win. Sunday it is supposed to be rainy, so we will probably lay low and just watch movies. Annie - I will be toasting you with champagne on May 10th, it is my wedding anniversary too and I can only hope you and Elery have many years of happiness. DH and I have an 11 year head start, but we can vouch for the date being a lucky one! Have a happy and safe weekend everyone! Alexa

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