I've been waiting for you, Dave!!! Now I feel rewarded, LOL.

I'm grateful that you posted the May pics as well - a sight for snow-sore eyes! I assume the pip-parade will follow in due time? ;-) Lucky you to be able to muck about already!

Cheers!

Jo

I'm not a pothead but I'll answer your question anyway. How are we doing prepping for this year's display? Sigh..... this is how we're doing. Photo taken 10 minutes ago. Again....sigh.

See? Snow-sore eyes! Great pic, Hostanista!

Josephine, that is terrible Full sun here today and all the snow gone but we have been in the lucky category. Not going to order hosta from Ontario or we wouldn't be getting them until July this year. That is two winters in a row , is it not?

Dave are you leaving all your pots out now? Mine are all cleaned up and ready to go but still tucked up in the garage. Was going to wait a bit longer

This is Texas, so it's 70 F one day and 29 F the next. Until Easter, I'll be covering and uncovering, shuffling them in and out of the shed, the shop and garage. I don't know if you'll be able to see in this photo (I haven't figured out Houzz' photo utility yet), but all my fragrants have some degree of pip development and Wolverine is beginning to show leaves.

bk

Delaware Today This is how we're doing. Photo taken 5 minutes ago.

I have snowdrops up and tulips are trying to break ground. Very early and warm for us here in Stockholm. Loved the pics.It was a sight for sore eyes. Thanks,

Love the lineup of pots, Dave ;-)

No pips here! Just took these two pics.

My hosta in pots are stowed in the unheated garage.

Here is a hosta bed (mid-right in pic):

The snow is melting a bit today, but temps will bottom out again tomorrow.

Honestly Paula I don't know how you manage to keep up with all the feeding and watering (and up-potting). Sheesh. I think I am too lazy of a gardener to do it your way - glad mine are all in the ground!

Seems like I'm ahead of most of you guys. bk I will probably be doing the same as you in the next couple of months. Temperatures will rise, the sun will come out, which, given everything is in a black pot, the soil around the plants will warm quite quickly. Pips will start to show and then temperatures will drop over night and frost will form. Cue for action with fleece and anything else I can find to cover them. This normally results in quite a lot of brown spotting on the first flush of leaves.

frugaljon, my pots stay out all winter. Today is the first time I have done anything to them since last year. This is my 4th year in Wales, 800 feet up on the side of a hill, they stay out all year and I have not lost one yet.

Dave

Dave, to write in degrees Celsius, we here in upstate NY have for weeks now around -20C at night and -10C high at day, with 15 cm snow every Sunday, around a foot of snow on the landscape, and that will never change so it seems, also looking ahead for 10 days. But I have hosta seedlings in the basement in 3 trays, mostly streakers, and that helps to indicate that there will be spring in too many weeks.

Bernd

My pots are showing subtle signs of growth, temps dipping down a bit for a few days, have a little snow lying so hopefully they will think twice. I keep mine in a little shelter I cobbled together as I have no garage space and I would be afraid of rot if I left them out, we have very wet winters.

Denis

Almosthooked, Hostanista's picture tells the story! However, even with some very cold days, like presently, this winter has not been quite consistently cold for long stretches as last winter. From what I've read, we should have a normal (whatever that means) spring. The only thing we can rely on, weather wise, is its unreliability!

God Bless Dave, Frugaljon, Bkay, Stoc and Paula for giving us a glimpse to keep us "fed".;-)

hostanista I keep wondering how you do it in the snow. Me? my son lives here and he is the mower, house keeper and cook. Makes my life easier so all I have to do is work and garden.

Looks like I've done it again !

This is the view from the windows this morning.

Not so much compared to you guys I know but it just shows winter has not finished with us yet.

Dave

I love seeing other parts of the world and what they look like on the same day...given time change and all. You have lovely views!

Drove home 14 hours from my Mardi Gras vacation only to not be able to get up the last hill into the driveway because of ice. The car's still sitting there waiting for DH to get the tractor out and do something about it. I'm glad I missed the 6F low and the snow. I'm pretty sure no pips were up before the frigid temps showed up. (See new profile pic of me and the grandsons.)

Kathy

Spring

The three of you make a cool group, ZKathy! Sounds and looks like you had a great vacation!

Yikes, I do not know why we are still so cold here in Mobile. The wind out of the north, rain for two previous days, now some thin sunshine but not much warmth, and it was 30 degrees at sunset yesterday. It doesn't sound like much to you folks and I'm not complaining, just looking for a warm spot for me to sit in the garden. I have a few with green pips barely visible, but nothing exposing real growth. I made my first round of debris removal, but need to go again. Wind is bringing down sweetgum tree balls with spikes on them, already picked up 4 bushels of those. I did not tip pots this year, and have decided the weak plants might as well be allowed to succumb to make room for those which thrive so well.

This year I plan to expose the hosta to more sunlight for more hours. I'm relocating the blues to the main hosta garden where they can have morning sun and dependable shade. My experience also says that my problem is not shade in the summer, but shade in the winter. Having my shade cloth up would keep them dormant for a longer time, even when the sun warms up and the trees are not leafed out. I'm also thinking of removing two of my 3 pecan trees, which have bagworm infestations, and nothing for amateur gardeners to treat it with. The worms draw the moles, and the pecans draw the squirrels, and by the time dormancy arrives, I'm disgusted with the way things look.

Incidentally, in north Alabama, the county where I was born got 11 inches of snow yesterday. Not to compare with Boston's 100 inches this season. Sure glad we live in south Alabama...for weather, at least.

Still snowing. You can see some old scapes from last year near the center of the pic.

I have had some rainy grey days not getting out of the 50 deg range for either the low or the high temp. I did do a walk around today and I still do not see any pips. I have been enjoying this coolness as it is soon to be my last for a while. 70 and 80ies next week. I have seen what I call the 'Purple Trees' that bloom at the very start of spring, insert smiling face here. It is coming.

It has been cold and wet here (for North Texas). It's rained, it's sleeted, it's snowed and started over again. It got up to 49f yesterday, but nights have been in the 20's f. Snow is predicted for tomorrow. It's just cold and nasty.

Meanwhile, all my hosta with pips are still in the garage where it's about 45. Most are just pips, but Wolverine has 4" leaves.

bk

Hey, Dave! Got any Hosta updates since Feb. 21st? Those pips must be far along by now?

How about another pic, please?

It's going to be 54F today!!!!! There is still snow on the ground, but it looks lower by about a foot, I'd say! Spring is almost here! :0)

Jo

It seems the cupola on the shed is still there, the benches haven't disappeared after all, I do have a front porch and dozens of small trees and shrubs are popping up all over with, still rare, but increasing sightings of bare ground.....along with destroyed markers out front, rocks tucked 'safely back from the road' plowed 20-30 feet down the road and undoubtedly croci struggling to push through the thick crust of iced snow; but likely no pips until the ground thaws a little more.

In central WI the beautiful weather we are having is just a bonus, right now. It could be a blizzard next week, but until then I will take advantage of it. The ground is too soggy to do anything fun. I don't dare pull the leaves up yet and am resisting the temptation. There is plenty of other work to do.

I hear you, Smorz....dying to get hands dirty. Better go for a drive and see what Garden Gallery has out in way of bulbs....ANYTHING....just to be able to do something that relates to gardening.!

Well, I did what Ken says not to do...I went tromping through some of the backyard, gathered up the HOSTA pots that came out easily amongst the snow...and lined them up along the north side of the house.

BUT I only tromped on snow packed down. Ground still frozen. I just had to gather up the pots so I'd have something to "play with" without having to walk on thawing lawn.

Then I went to the sides, "poked" around (lifted dead hosta vegetation but put back down) and I found signs of life!

1. One green pip on one (one of four) of Doug Beilstein's streakers!
2. Blue Cadet pips, real low to ground, but dark and shining!
3. Plantaginea pips coming along the fastest!

Things are finally happening here in one part of Ontario, zone 5! WooHoo!!!!!

Jo

Well, I laid down some carbboard to kill off lawn and make new beds, I pulled the stalks out of the wildflower bed and threw the stalks and seeds out back on the trail, marked some brush to be removed and trailing blackberry to be transplanted, and gave the hound a lesson on sit/stay on the property line while I worked. And only glanced at the hosta beds from far away, Lolz. I went and fertilized the seedlings in the grow room, for a quick fix ;)

Jo asked for an update and pictures.

Very little to report. Our normally mild and wet south westerly winds deserted us to be replaced by very cold easterly's coming from Russia and blowing across northern Europe.

I did find a couple showing this morning. First Love and Loyalist.

I have been mulching over them as they start to show. It's only in the mid 40's during the day falling below 30 some nights.

Dave

Aw, Dave...thank you for indulging me! Those pips are lovely! First Love is up a fair bit already. The colder temps should slow it down a bit I imagine.

We've had rain today and the snow pile is definitely getting smaller, finally. There are already some signs of "green" in my garden and the anticipation is building. :-)

I've got in-ground pips already. Still very low to the ground, but they're showing up all over. Forsythia's are blooming about 2-3 weeks early. Crocus and puschkinia bulbs are flowering, as are a couple early daffodils. Wasps, flies, ladybugs and box elder bugs are getting an early start.

I've been pulling weeds standing on the walkways and driveway. Still not stepping into the gardens but things are drying out fast. We're warmer than usual and no spring showers (or snow) in the near forecast.