I've never tried Rhodora but I found this:

Rhodora seed capsules take the full growing season to ripen, changing from green to tannish brown, and splitting in mid-autumn. Like all rhododendrons, the seeds do not need a winter cold-period to germinate. Most propagators sow the seeds in the winter, indoors under lights or in a greenhouse. Seeds are sown on the surface in a soil mix of sifted sphagnum peat moss, then covered with plastic to maintain moisture until germination. Seedlings are slow growing and may reach a few inches in height by springtime. Juvenile plants can be moved outdoors in late spring or early summer. In the wild, seeds of rhodora often germinate in a bed of moss or on a rotten log. This can be mimicked in a nursery environment, and, though it is a much slower method, does result in robust plants.

If like Rhododendron seed, they need a low pH soil mix and 100% humidity. I place sandwich bags over the pot to achieve 100% humidity and use a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite.

Suzabanana, great looking orchids

Suzabanana, you have such a great collection of many orchids! Where do you keep them? In one of the photos they seem to be near a window/porch corner?

I have a sunroom attached to the house which is where all my plants live :) It's where we survive winter!

Sped, does a frost window garden count? Saw this as soon as I was out of bed this morning and had to get the camera. Looks like a winter gift to me.

closer

Jane, the frost photos are amazing!

Jane, those photos are fantastic... they look computer-generated as if they couldn't be real. Really glad you woke up when you did!

Do they count, Jane? Absolutely!!!! Those frost photos are amazing! Did you edit them in any way, or did they actually appear as seen? I see dandelions growing amidst ferns. Those are certainly the most interesting winter "flowers" and "plants" on this thread.

Suzabanana, your exotic orchids are positively magical. I would live in that sunroom all winter, as it sounds like you do.

Sped, no, no editing OTHER than cropping it to show the 'flowers' closer. It was magical and now just a memory on a dry, sunny window.

Jane, love the frost art! I scraped some of that off my windshield yesterday morning, but it was nowhere near that beautiful. :)

Tim, I would like to try that ginger that you have. I will have to protect it some. What's the variety?

Suzabanana, is your sun room heated at all? Mine is not, but faces south. The coldest it ever gets is mid 40's, and that's rare, when it's near zero overnight. On sunny days it will be around 70. I have an oncidium in spike now and a BLC with new growth. There's also a miltassia shelob webmaster that grows like crazy, but has only rebloomed twice in 6 years.

Jane, my first thought of the frost was a flowery border too, with ferns. Great capture!

Tim,

the camellias are all alive. The largest one that was about 7 feet tall by 5 feet wide suffered a lot. I had to cut it back to within a foot of the ground. It's now about 2.5 x 2.5 feet. The others didn't need to be cut back much, but I don't see any buds on any of them. The fall blooming "Snow Flurry", which has NEVER had any problems with cold, also surprised me by having a lot of dieback. I cut it back a lot. Strange that part of it that I didn't have to cut off made several buds during the summer. It normally blooms Oct. - Nov. The buds are still there, never opened. But it has grown back pretty well.

Bill, the 'hardy' ginger is:

https://www.plantdelights.com/products/hedychium-gardnerianum-tara?stale-link

Bill, I'm glad to hear your Camellia collection is returning. Which one appeared to be the hardiest? The last two winters had some cold temps, 2014-2015 was very cold with a long duration and 2015-2016 was even colder but very short duration. The back to back winters may have contributed to their setbacks.

Tim, they were fine in 2015. Although some of the buds on the spring-blooming types were damaged, since they are formed during the previous growing season and have to "sit out" the winter. The hardiest has always seemed to be the one fall blooming type called "Snow Flurry". That one has endured winters that have damaged the others, without any damage itself. But my observation about "crazy" winters is that last winter (2015-2016) was mild for quite a while. December 21-31 was not cold. Even most of January was above normal. It did seem to be colder in late January, but only what we would consider normal. Probably seemed cold because we'd been spoiled a bit up to that point. I think the plants never really got prepared for real (normal) winter temps. And then on Valentine's Day 2016, we got blasted with -9, the coldest in 30 years, and one daytime high of only about 10. And then, 52 within two days later! I really think that all of that was the problem. That largest camellia has survived really well for many years and so had that "Snow Flurry". But I think the odd, roller coaster weather was what injured them.

Plant delights doesn't have that ginger for sale now. I will have to do an online search. Thanks for that info.

Took a walk around today and got a few shots of garden life in my life.

Somebody gave me flowers (smile) but also, the lotus blossom is keeping well from last fall as are the geraniums and this jar of tulips in water is sprouting. Sort of like having four seasons at once.

This jar is farther ahead.

Jane, do you chill those tulip bulbs before "planting" them in water? I'll have to remember this next year when so many bulbs go on sale in early winter.

moilep - yes, put them in the refrigerator (see link below) before placing them in any medium, be it water or soil. Mine were not chilled for the time they state, so we'll see what happens. Mine were chilled for about a month. In the past, when chilled for a shorter time, I got shorter stems, but they bloomed. Or, if you go to Costco at the right time, just buy a glass vase of forced bulbs. That's how I got the containers made specifically for forcing bulbs. :)

How to grow bulbs indoors

Thanks for the link, Jane, and for the Costco tip.

Bill - yes, my sunroom has it's own heater and humidifier but I only run it when it's cloudy and below 50F in the room. On a sunny day it will get over 80F inside even if it's 0F outside.

suzabanana - I have a small heater in the sunroom that I will run if it's under 50 in the morning. I also leave the ceiling fan on low to keep from getting cold pockets down nearer the floor. So far so good. I know the orchids appreciate some air circulation. What potting medium do you use for your orchids? They seem happy with whatever it is!

I use different medium for different plants, but more and more I am adding sphag into the mix of bark. I've found that even in summer, humidity is an issue so the sphag helps a lot. Most are in clay pots but a few that prefer moister conditions (Paphs, Phrags, Masdevallias etc) and nearly all have a blanket of sphag over top of the medium. Vandas are hanging in baskets with sphag over top which seems to keep them happy.

Your spag is the long fiber, not the brown peat - am I understanding that correctly?

Yes, long fiber sphagnum moss. I have a few recent acquisitions that I have yet to repot that are in a peat-moss medium. They will be repotted in spring unless they are blooming. It can be very hard to wait until spring to repot, but it's really the best time for orchids.

This has not been a memorable winter in the garden and I haven't really had photo-worthy things to report. It's been some cold and some snow and then some warm weather and snow melt and then some cold and some snow again. These ups and downs aren't good for plants that were expecting to remain dormant for a while.

On a hunch today I bushwhacked in to the Arnold Promise witch hazel which is in considerable shade now (where did those other shrubs and trees suddenly come from?). Sure enough, the witch hazel is beginning to bloom!

Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise'

While I was nearby I checked on a couple of American Hollies and some of them still have berries. The yellow berries are among the last to get eaten - maybe not too tasty, or maybe it hasn't been cold enough for long enough to ripen them.

Ilex opaca 'Goldie'

So spring is closer, but they're talking about maybe 3 to 5 inches of snow on Thursday. Or maybe not.

Claire

Winter has returned here with snowfall of something like 2" an hour. The light fluffy snow over the icy crust will make getting outdoors easier. More snow is predicted for Sunday as well.

Lovely picture, NHBabs! - probably best appreciated from a good distance away (like here in SE Mass where the snow hasn't started yet).

Claire

Just outside Boston the wind is blow so hard it is snowing sideways.

It's a little hard to see what's going on out there....

Claire

Well, the end result could be 15" + and we have several hours to go. Can hardly wait to roof rake. :(

But on the brighter side, the sprouts taste great!

Maybe if I look a little closer....

Nope.

Claire

I love your stained glass wreath, Claire!

Thanks, spedigrees - I look forward to putting this up every winter. Sometimes I think I should leave it up all year round, but then I wouldn't get that pleasure of pulling it out of the cellar again.

Claire

This morning the garden became a field of snow diamonds.

Jane

Very pretty snow diamonds, Jane!

Well, the windows have cleared and there IS a yard out there!

I know because I shoveled in that yard before breakfast, and after breakfast, and before lunch, and after lunch... Now the birds and critters have food and water, and the car has a usable driveway and people can walk to and fro (except where the roses are leaning over and blocking the path again).

Claire

The snow is almost gone now and I discovered snowdrops and hellebores beginning to bloom today! I made videos just because the sound of the early spring bird song was so lovely.

Snowdrops

Hellebores

Claire

Wow! Birds' songs are wonderful! Are those Lenten rose hellebores, Claire? I lost mine the very first year, but they are pretty.

Thanks, Jane. They're not Lenten roses. I'm not sure which hellebore they are; I haven't had good luck with hellebores and I moved a couple a few years back so I need to see the open flowers to be able to guess at an identification. I know they're not the ones that have done well for me in the past so this was an added surprise. I'm just delighted to see anything blooming (and listen to the birds singing).

Claire

Winter Jasmine (J. nudiflorum) is always a welcome sight in winter. With the recent mild spell (68 degrees today!) it really looks nice. Photos taken this morning.

Lovely, Bill!

Wow, Bill. That's gorgeous!

Second Wow!, Bill. Glad you have such nice blossoms to give joy.

Jane

Thanks for all the nice comments. It actually hit 70 here yesterday. This jasmine has tiny leaves after it's done blooming, so in the autumn they just sort of disappear, so no mess to rake. The stems are green all year. Too bad this jasmine doesn't have the fragrance that most of them do, but the warm bright yellow flowers in winter make up for that.

Mid 60's today and my first crocus, C. tommasinianus 'Roseus' is up! This is only in one spot under a beach plum facing south.

And the first hellebore is, I think, the hybrid 'Blackthorn Strain'.

Jane: I was wrong in my first post when I said it wasn't a Lenten rose. I was confusing Lenten rose with Christmas rose, but after some googling I've learned that the hellebore hybrids are commonly called Lenten roses. Sorry for the false information.

Temperatures are in the mid-60's today and I've been pruning the roses that got bent over by the snow, blocking the path. I'm on day two of a probable three day job - these are monster roses and I'm trying to save as much budding canes as I can for bloom this summer.

Claire

Well, I finished the rose pruning today and removed vast quantities of deadwood; enough so I could unravel most of the healthy canes and hoist them onto the shepherd's hooks. I did have to cut out some green stuff as well.

This was the rose pathway on January 8, 2017.

I only shoveled as far as the rose blockage. After the snow melted I was able to shove the roses up a bit so I could sidle past, but I got bitten each time. That's sweet Autumn clematis on the shelves to the right. That doesn't bite.

And this is what is left today. I won't describe the state of my favorite work shirt that took the brunt of the thorny resistance (the hat and sunglasses and gloves protected most of me).

I also cut back the sweet Autumn clematis that's growing on the fence and the storage shelves.

The real test will be whether the roses bloom around the Fourth of July as usual. I also need to figure out how to maintain the roses so they don't get this tangled up again.

Claire

Bravo! You Will be well rewarded with blooms! You have given them a new lease on life.

I came upon this springing spring map this morning and thought it a fun thing to share- link below. And, totally naked 'frosty morn' sedum venturing forth.

Click link if interested: Just how early IS spring arriving?

Jane

Wow, Claire! That was a lot of work, but I'm sure your rose and clematis will be happier now.

Jane, love those sedum babies popping up. And, yes, I think we will have an early spring. I was staying with my grandson in NYC this past week and saw blossoms on the trees at Carl Schultz Park in an area faces the East River and is fairly open. The strong sun must have perked up the trees. At home, our Cully River Birch has leaf buds that are starting to open.

All of my Hellebores have flowers, but, unlike Claire, I'm too lazy to clean up the dead Hellebore leaves and oak leaf debris that has blown around most of them. However, one of my newest Hellebores stands alone and looks glorious, especially when the sun shines on it.