Well...my pussy willow has soft buds on the end (green underneath when I flicked them off) AND same for my forsythia. Now be patient with me, I've been gardening for a long time but not very seriously...so I don't know names like you guys. I have (I think little hyacinth) growing next to the house right up against the foundation. Medium green long leaves with white stripe up them. I MUST learn how to post photos here. Anyway, it's getting close. Time to prune my fruit trees, I believe. Maybe I'll wait until the next rain/wind storm finishes. And then maybe wait until after the next snow storm...but soon, really soon!

I hear mallards quacking in my back yard. For the past three years a pair of mallards have nested in my pine tree tops planters. I've been watching for them to return. The neighborhood kids and I enjoy seeing each day's new egg and waiting for the ducklings to hatch. The yarrow has some green growth and some tulips and daffodils on the east side of the house are starting to bud.

Good news! The ground is bare of snow here on the south coast of MA (of course we still have some gnarly piles of dirty snow)....but the lawn is green! And....I was pleasantly surprised today to see some golfers playing at the New Bedford Country Club! So golf has arrived in southern-most New England and will spread north over the next 4-6 weeks. Even though Nemo's snow is gone, the tree damage is extensive. Although there are lots of broken limbs here and there, what is most amazing is the shear number of uprooted trees. I **had** a very large cherry laurel....about 8 feet tall...full lush and of course evergreen. Nemo pulled the entire thing right out of the ground and then flattened it under 15 inches of heavy cement. I can't even budge it even though the snow is gone and the ground is soft and unfrozen. I guess I will cut it way back to primary branches, dig it up, and replant it. My large southern magnolia lost 2 branches, but overall did much better than I originally thought it did the day after Nemo. It is a bit misshapen now and I am wondering if it is time for a very aggressive pruning next month....to get it all tight and bushy again. I think the main message is....prune prune prune. The more you do it...correctly...the better the odds the tree or shrub will survive these historic events.

Hi All! The seemingly narrow path we took from Hooti's Jan 8th post of "The First Signs of Spring" (at Walmart) have finally widened. From our counting Week's and Day's 'til Spring it's now just Hours and Minutes away. It is the prelude to awakening and the eventual peeping of life and of what's to come from the soil we all love upon Spring's arrival. Let's hope that we continue to have nice weather in CNY as the snow is melting away and that by April 1st, which is ONLY 11 DAYS AWAY, our blanket of snow will be gone from our Garden's and Yards. Then, like Hooti, when we drive to Wally Worlds Garden Store (or our local Nurseries) we will only see the snow banks that are left in the parking lots. For us it will be the final closure to the Winter of 2004-05. Have a great Spring Season. Jim