The only colorful bulbs are crocuses and a few Siberian squill, no open flowers yet, but you can see the colors in the closed blossoms. The daffodils don't seem to have even emerged yet. There's a pansy or two in bloom. Lots of other stuff going on  corn salad has come back; sorrel, thyme, and sage have leafed out. Brambles have leaf buds, some (blackberries) starting to break. Celeriac and just a couple of kale and chard plants seem to have made it through the winter.

HI socks: thanks for the tip on retailmenot.com and ebates.com. We printed out coupon for $36 off from Vision Works, but didn't bring it along, since thought our kid's glasses would be covered by insurance (can't use coupon). When we were ready to pay, our insurance didn't go through, and we had to DRIVE ALL THE WAY home, just to fetch the coupon. I don't like shopping at Bed & Bath Beyond since it's a hassle to take the 20% coupon along. I forgot one time, and the store clerk won't give me one. What I love about the Internet is it ENABLES the average person to take care of themselves better, without paying $$$ to "experts" who don't give a damn. My husband is "one" with his car, so when it broke down, he knew immediately that's the generator. He took his old generator to the auto-shop to be tested. They tested it WRONG, and told him it's OK. So he took his car to the dealer. The dealer charged $$$ for diagnostic tests, but could not find anything wrong with his car. HIs car broke down again !! He got mad and took it to his friend, a mechanic. His friend agreed that it's the generator, put a new one in, and it WORKED !! Same with my sister, a retired Internal Medicine doctor with decades of experience. My period stopped at menopause (51) for months, then it came back ungodly heavy. My M.D. sister told me it's cancer. I disagree, and told her it's from the pumpkin seeds I eat for months. She didn't believe me until I dug up researches from government website that prove the potent estrogenic effect of pumpkin seeds. My 12 year old daughter was also eating tons of pumpkin seeds, and had 1-month-long period. Both of our bleeding stopped when we stopped the pumpkin seeds, with the Internet confirmed our suspicion.

What about when the hydrangeas go and the Montauk Daisies take over Kidding!! I like the idea of carrying the sign color to the door - that could be very pretty. Does the sign color look good with your siding? I love the Dusty Mauve @houssaon posted. I haven't seen that before - may steal that for our front door!

What is your concern? The plant is Ficus elastica 'Tineke'. If you can rely on the meter for an accurate pH level, 7.0 is about the upper limit. 6.0-6.5 would be more desirable and can be achieved by using an acid-forming fertilizer like Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, which is very likely the best choice you could make. Fertility and watering practices are inextricably intertwined. Ideally, you would water thoroughly each time you water, completely saturating the entire soil column, using enough water that at least 20% of the total volume of water used exits the drain hole. This type of watering ensures minimal build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil and that the actual ratio of nutrients in the soil does not become badly skewed over time. You'll do better if you skip the water meter and use a tell made from a 1/4-5/16" wooden dowel rod. Insert it in the soil all the way to the pot's bottom and water only when the soil is nearly dry. Tying your fertilizer applications to the number of times you have watered makes more sense than arbitrarily using the calendar as your guide. Fertilizing about every 4th or 5th watering during the dark months, and every 3rd or 4th watering during the long days of late spring - early fall is a good plan. Your plant wants very bright light, 4,000 - 8,000fc. Light diminishes by the square of the distance from the light source. What this essentially means is, a plant 5 ft from a window gets only 1/25 the amount of light it would receive if 1 ft from a window. I have many species of ficus and all are grown in full outdoor sun in summer. This is just general info. We would need to know what has you concerned in order to address the issue directly. Plants grow when they make more energy during photosynthesis than they burn during respiration. If your plant is not growing, it means the plant is using all it's current energy production, to keep it's systems orderly. Plants in this state are especially susceptible to insect herbivory and disease pathogens. Typically, if low light is not the limiting factor, it will be inappropriate nutrition or a root problem, like soil compaction, root congestion, or a fungal root infection, but as of yet, there isn't enough information to reach a conclusion re root issues. This link to Care of Ficus Trees in Containers might be helpful. Al