I just hope it dries out a little. My yard still has leaves from last Fall that need to be mulched, bagged and added to my compost pile. It's tough getting things done when five days a week you leave before daylight and get home after dark. I may actually wear short-sleeved shirts to work this week!

Oh my Janet, you do need a bit of sunshine from us living in the South. LOL However we had a freak snow storm this week too. All my daylilies are up and growing right along with my hostas, irises, daffodils and fruit trees in full bloom. Right now it appears that the hostas and cannas were the only things the freezing weather effected. Only time will tell. I can't even begin to imagine not having some blooms and green growth sticking up everywhere. I am now awaiting my dogwood trees to start blooming. Everything seems to be right on time as far as growing, blooming, and ahhh let's not forget...them getting pinched by another cold blast from old man winter. One day soon he'll be gone and we'll all be thrilled to work in the fields, beds, and gardens for extended periods of time. Come on Spring! I know your getting real close. Old Man Winter blow yourself out of here. We are all ready for Blossoms and lots of greenery. Happy Gardening Marian P.S. At least we could tell from your photos with the labels where your plants are suppose to be...LOL Beautiful days filled with lots of sunshine are somewhere in the near future for all of us. Hang in there a little longer.

Was in Guymon last evening and my pu just turned in at Wally World as I was leaving. So being I was in the parking lot went in to see what they had put out over the last week. Almost everything was out inside the store now. Just a few bulbs though and didn't see any seed potatoes. They had a lot of boxes stored just outside the doors in the outside area. I didn't go out to see what was there. This year they have a large Ferry-Morse seed display and a fair sized display with organic seeds from Seeds of Change. The FM seeds were very reasonable. Not sure if someone put the wrong price on the SoC seeds or not. They showed $5.49 a pack. Which I consider very high. Didn't buy anything but looked through both racks. They had all of the usual potting and seed starting mixes and supplies out. Last week they had a sale on plastic containers which I bought a few of and using as flats for onions, leeks, ect and wanted to buy a few more buty they were all gone and the area full of garden/lawn/Bar-B-Q items. Just 2 years ago I couldn't find any seed starting mix or potting mix anywhere before Feb 1st. So since I've kept at least a partial bag and some potting soil for insurance and both years the stores have had it out in mid Jan. More geese have moved in from the south over the last week. Notice a few more flocks moving north during the week. Everyone that is talking about it says it is due to little water and food south of here. They say the ducks/geese that use this fly way can go clear to the Mexico border and not find many water/food combinations. So not sure if them moving north is a good indicator of an early spring or just an indicator of hungry birds. I would say the numbers here have climbed to over a thousand now. The wheat is growing and some fields that they didn't even cut must have a little grain down on the ground as I've been watching them feed in them. They don't stay out feeding over an hour which indicates they are getting plenty to eat without a lot of work. Which somewhat surprises me. My two youngest apple trees just lost the last of their leaves a week ago and are showing signs of the buds growing now. The older one has buds I'm afraid won't wait long enough to bloom out from the way they look. I remember in the late 80's a winter like this. The last day of Jan it started raining. And then turned to ice and snow. Then the cold set in for around 2 weeks. Hope that isn't the case this winter. I keep telling everyone not to store their coats away yet. The good thing is the longer we go without a severe cold spell the less likely we are to have a prolonged extreme cold spell. But I've seen really cold weather through the 15th of Feb so not getting in too big of hurry starting too many seeds yet. Jay

For some of the clubs peony time is now the Pacific Northwest Peony Society is having a meeting. The American Peony Society meeting is in June. Also if you are wanting to develope your own peony now is the time to start thinking of what you want to cross with another peony. If you gather some of the first pollen, you could if it doesn't mold or something use it to cross with a later blooming type. I know for one good plant thousands are not commercial but wouldn't it be great to say "This is my peony. I planned it all myself." My early species aren't even up yet but my trees are trying to bud. Some freeze damage and rabbits will lower my blooms on the tp's this year. Live and learn.