Gardening by the Book

[BooksAdmin]

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Spring is coming!

If you are thinking of trying some type of gardening this year, or are a new/ old Quarantine Gardener,  whether it's on a window sill or 800 acres, come talk about your successes and failures with us.  We'll share advice, good books on gardening,  the best places to find help, and enthusiasm!

[ginny]

Welcome!!

We thought this might be a good place to talk happily about our gardening efforts and to share enthusiasm and experiences and any resources as spring approaches.

Friday I went into Lowes Big Box Store here to get some Miracle Grow Moisture soil additive and the  double  LINES, the long long lines to just check out from the garden center were astounding.  My own cart mysteriously filled up with a lot of plants!!!!   I have dug enough holes this week so far to qualify for a subordinate acting part in The Dig! But will they live?

I've got some snapdragons seedlings in narrow pots on the windowsill, but perhaps I started THEM too early?

 It was 80 degrees here Friday but it's getting colder again. Are you contemplating growing flowers or veggies or something new  this year?   If so, let's share tips, books, Youtube instructional films, enthusiasm and stories.

Welcome aboard!

I am trying to root some dahlias from last year. I've never had dahilas till last year and they were very pretty. But apparently you have to dig them up, but HERE you really don't have to.  They make many small tubers like potatoes. which you then plant once you separate them.

I think I have made several mistakes. I have followed all the instructions on YouTube, but they differ!!!  They are in a long planter here in the house where the frost can't hurt them, and there is some light,  but I wish I had not cut them up now!! So I'm starting them early as our last frost is  April 15.  Fingers crossed.

What are you growing or planning to grow this year? Share your plans with us!

[jane]

Ah....how nice to dream of gardening.  Here in the Upper Midwest, we're still dealing with cold and snow...got another 4" yesterday, after almost all of it had melted from earlier storms.

Keep posting, please, of what you're planting, so I have some ideas when that time finally comes here....middle of May for us.

[Siobhan]

Hi Ginny and Jane!
I planted onions and garlic in the poly-tunnel last October, and they ought to be ready mid May. We also planted potatoes and courgettes last week. Today I am going to pot up some sweet-pea for our cottage garden. I also have to plant up 6 more box hedge plants to complete a square!! During the week we will also put down seeds for a meadow. We did this last year and it was beautiful!! Lots to be done in our garden here in Co Cork Ireland!

[ginny]

Siobhan! From County Cork Ireland, no less! Welcome, welcome! And Jane with 4 feet of snow!!! Welcome!

We're from all over, this should be quite exciting!

Siobhan, it  sounds like you do a lot more planting than I do, this is wonderful!

Tell us about your cottage garden? And your box hedge square? Is this in aid of a sort of formal garden?

One of my biggest problems is in not having an all over plan and organization. I see something,  I want one and I plant it.   I have visions of the overall plan but it never LOOKS like what I envisioned or see in the gardens of others. There IS no plan.  This year I am determined to accomplish this at last.

I am really worried about my new dahlia undertakings, I have no experience with them and wish I had never dug them up!

Off to prune the roses, I have a great printout I found on the internet about pruning hydrangeas, and they are named by type and the new varieties,  which ones to prune,  and which not, so am finished with that and thrilled all my new ones are alive,  so now I need to prune the roses and it's ALMOST too late. But we're to have temperatures in the 20's Fahrenheit here this week at night.

At the moment the Bradford Pears are blooming their hearts out, as are the forsythias. . I know people hate Bradford Pears,  but you get a lot of bang in the spring for them and ours are quite old, what's left of them, they break off, and they are something to see.  Also the quince is blooming.  Here's a photo of my grandson with one of ours, a couple of years ago:

[jane]

Siobhan...wow...you are indeed quite a gardener.  It must be beautiful.

Ginny...Those pear trees are beautiful....and a handsome lad with them.

The snow is gone...and I've seen crocuses...croci?...on my walk this morning.  Nothing else bloooming yet, those the daffodils are pushing through the ground. 

First day of spring...so hoping for some warm weather soon.

jane

[Siobhan]

Thank you very much Ginny and Jane!! Your grandson is beautiful, Ginny, and so too are your amazing Bradford pear trees! I’ve never seen anything like them!! We live in a rural part of Cork but it’s lovely and quiet! And we appreciate it all the more now with the pandemic! We don’t have a formal garden, and the box hedges are only a minor addition. From time to time we have the company of cattle in the field beside us  when the farmer lets them out to graze.
 Best of luck with the new dahlias,  Ginny, and I hope the temperature gets a bit warmer, Jane! All the best. Siobhan

[ginny]

 Thak you both. We have a very fast Spring. It is beautiful but you have to move fast or it's so hot you can't breathe, plant, or move, unless it's a hot summer plant or seed.

 Oh golly I went to the grocery store today  (my one weekly exciting outing) and the flowering cherry trees just about ran me off the road.  We have one giant one at the barn,  but these were lining the street where the grocery was and I just pulled over and had a very happy lunch just looking at them. That is one beautiful tree. It was 81 degrees (27 celsius) here today but with  torrential rains yesterday and tornado warnings. Thankfully all is well here but poor Alabama and Georgia!

Well Gardening Disaster #2, of what I am sure will be a series, as I am a ....."Quarantine  Gardener, " taking it back up after several years of neglected efforts,  in the Pandemic. I have two lemon trees in the house, one of which is about 6 feet tall. It had leafed out gloriously a couple of  weeks or so ago, never saw it so robust,  and then last week BLAM, it  threw every single leaf it had on the floor! EVERY one! And the little Meyer Lemon tree  about 3 feet tall did,  too. There's nothing wrong with the leaves, no markings no bugs and the trunks are alive but out they go! YES!  They will be happier under the dogwood tree where they can get real wind and filtered sun and rain.  They were happy there last year and they are going to be happy now.  hahaha  And if a freeze comes  in the middle of April I will cover them up.

The snapdragons with the shade cloth off are gorgeous.

Maybe the way my garden is going so far we should rename this Putterer's Corner. hahaha

[Siobhan]

Sorry to hear about  your lemon trees, Ginny. I was in a garden centre yesterday (although not many are open owing to the pandemic) and I saw some lovely lemon and mandarin trees, with fruit on them! Pity I can't post substitutes over to you! In our wet and damp climate they would have to be kept inside, even during our summers!  Ireland has a lovely green landscape due to all the rain!!! I tried to grow a lemon tree from a lemon seed, but without success.  But I might give it another go!!

[Siobhan]

Here's a flower posy with flowers from last year's meadow!!

[ginny]

 Good heavens if that's not the most beautiful thing!!! What a sight that must be! I sometimes see these big packages of wildflowers, is that what you put in the meadow? Golly moses.

[Siobhan]

Thank you, Ginny!

Yes, it came from a big package of wildflowers that I bought in a supermarket (grocery store). It wasn't at all expensive. This year, I sourced a meadow from Pictorial Meadows - a UK company. I'll let you know how I get on with this one!!!

[jane]

Siobhan...that meadow must be spectacular...as is your arrangement.  I have seen those packets of wildflowers, too, but haven't had much luck. Maybe time to try again.  Cost is minimal.  I did have some luck planting  milkweed to help with the repopulation of Monarch butterflies.  I used to see them all the time, but the last few years have seen a decrease in quantity. 

My neighbor has bee hives and he lost them all last year in our intense cold.  The Veterinarian who actually owns the hives said he lost 23 of his 25 hives that are situated around the county.  He likes the town environment for his hives...less change of pesticide hitting the bees.

Our temps have gone cold again, but there are buds on the lilacs waiting for another warm spell.

jane

[Siobhan]

Thank you so much, Jane. It would be great if you tried the wildflowers again.  The ground needs a bit of prep for weeds, and although I didn't do it last time, it is suggested that the seed is mixed with sand for even distribution. We definitely had more bees and butterflies in the garden - more than the previous year. I am so sorry to hear about your neighbor's bee hives! What a pity!   

[ginny]

We used to have  bee hives but the beekeeper died, what an intersting man he was. We had some kind of disease here that killed them.

Yesterday I went to Home Depot (Big Box Store) and there were some very beautiful Pennington wildflower packets but your thought on the weeds needing to be under control, Siobhan, stopped me. Are these annuals or perennials? I wonder if you could put them in an already established bed?

But of course they had these packets of oriental lilies and they were a little more than a  dollar apiece (9 dollars for 8 bulbs) so I splurged. Have never had any before but that's how i got started with dahlias so I thought what the heck.

But I've pulled my gardening books out again as they show a finished perennial bed and I've just gotten another catalog in the mail so I thought I'd ADD perennials to this new bed I have  for.....hopefully....something to look at every day in the summer.

Lupines. I like lupines.  I think our problem here is we don't have the climate for certain plants. I've got a book which shows in full color and talks about each plant, 54 Landscape designs for the Southern garden and the 200 plants most suited. The color diagrams are wonderful but the photos are better because a lot of times the plants don't look like what you would expect.  I figure I can put stuff in this new garden which is similar to or the same thing they advise and enjoy it.

[Siobhan]

With regards to weeds and weeding, I hope I didn't put you off the wildflowers too much, Ginny! To be honest, I hardly did any weeding and they turned out OK. We put down annuals - but I know you can also get perennials, too. This year we put the wildflower seeds in various places in the garden for added colour, so yes, I'm sure they could be put them into an established bed. That would be a great idea! The oriental lilies sound lovely! You must take a picture of them when they are in bloom! I'm sure you must know all the Latin names of the plants, Ginny! My husband was saying that he would love to find out the Latin names for some of our trees. On the internet I looked up the Latin for Norway Spruce and it said - Picea abies - and Spanish Chestnut - Castanea sativa. I must find a book with the Latin names of plants - it would be very interesting!! 
 

[ginny]

 Botanical Latin is fascinating, it really is,  and it seems unending.  I know some of them, but like you, I'd like to get a book on it because they are so much fun.

I saw those packets again and I am sorely temped, especially since you can get annuals and I'm talking about a pasture but I can't see any reason why not to try, you've had SUCH good luck! And in this long border I have, why couldn't it be there as well, a mixture?

I'm going back to get some hydrangeas  when they have them and I'll get a packet then, they seem very popular, and they also seem to be giving out, selling well. I'm quite excited about this.

It's so hot outside today it's discouraging. I'm putting out houseplants as we speak. I  had  bought more snapdragons (people here usually plant seed in the fall, they are annuals here) but I am enjoying planting huge plants which have been cut and have branched like many bushes) and they are not happy as I planted them without a shade cloth so I fixed that this morning. They like cooler weather than the blast furnace out there now. That's what happens in our springs, one day cold and the next over 80 degrees. The dogwoods this year are breathtaking as you come up the drive, it's a very good year for flowering spring trees here.

I found a website that says that lemon trees can be grown in our USA zone with a great deal of trouble outside. That's all I need to hear, I'm going to try it. They are outside now.

[ginny]

Our beautiful spring is suddenly over and it's 85 degrees and hot and dry. We need some rain. But the little flower garden is gorgeous and this weekend ought to be a sight to behold. The snapdragons look like Disney World's if you've ever seen them and all the roses are bursting into bloom. Unfortunately the  porch is also full of things I intended to plant before it got hot and whammo it's HOT!

My pride and joy however  is one tiny sprout in the kitchen under lights which is all that's left of the gigantic dahlias from last year. I can't believe how MANY people I have dragged over to see it and I bet they can't either.  One green stalk about 4 inches high and 3 leaves, you'd have thought it was rare Polynesian  breadfruit or something. hahaha

Oh and at the big box (Lowe's) garden center this year, guess what? Not the first of those red ball geraniums! Not the first. Every other kind, though.  And every other shade of red.  Happily mine spent the winter looking through the window longing to get outside and today out they go to be repotted on a shaded porch till they recover themselves.

I did take out the two lemon trees and it got down to 31 twice but the  younger one is putting on leaves like mad. I don't understand the Lemon Tree!

What's happening in YOUR garden? Anything yet?

[jane]

I'm way north and west of you....but a "scorching weekend" here according to local weatherguessers.  90 here, too, and a 40 mph hot wind.  It's still two weeks too early to put anything in the ground, and we desperately need rain.  However, the hydrangeas (sp?) have buds and the hostas are popping up and spreading out. 

jane

[ginny]

Oh hydrangeas! The only ones I have in bud are the  two Wee White which made such a glorious picture last year.  I had been thrilled to see how lovely a bush they had each made this year.

Yesterday as I walked past I could not help but notice that half of the one on the left was gone. GONE!  It looked like some mad pruner had cut them off cleanly about 3-6  inches from the ground. GONE.

All foliage with them also gone! What on earth? I took a photo and sent it to the  Extension office in  Clemson asking for help. Then as it was Saturday I went online and read and read. DEER I read. Rabbits. I sprayed around the poor plants for that. Then CUTWORM I read. I sprayed organic bug spray for worms/ beetles/ caterpillars.  Go out at night and SEE what it is, I read.  I went out at twilight and spied a humongous beetle beetllng (sorry ) straight for it. It is beetling no more but no beetle could have eaten every scrap of the foliage! Could it?

What IS it it, does anybody know? Am I going to have to fence these bushes off in front of my front porch? That would be attractive. Not.
 
What to doooo? No other plant is thus affected?

[ginny]

The Extension service responded they think it's deer and not rabbit, so I put one of those green plastic chicken wire fences around it, it's only 2 feet tall,  you can't even see it till you're on it and so far so good (one night). We have armies of deer here but my husband says he does not think it's a deer. Whatever it was went somewhere else last night.

On another exciting gardening front, yesterday I took out my prize dahlia seedling to plant it in the rain over my lunch hour (it was actually a tornado watch but I did not know it till I came back inside,) and somehow along the way (they are quite delicate apparently) it  became injured and its  little stem which seemed to be scraped, would not hold it  up. I put it in a pot and braced it  against the wall of the pot and covered it  with  shade cloth and the roses arching down seemed to welcome it  (I know, I'm gaga) and I was really disappointed and afraid to look  this morning lo and behold it's  leafing out with another leaf!

And the one I didn't manage to get out of the garden as advised is growing like a weed. I will NEVER follow the advice again of anybody on dahlias who does not live in this area. This is an  enclosed elevated garden ringed by brick and a brick terrace which you can actually feel in the summer radiating heat. It simply did not get that cold. Had I left it in the ground it would have multiplied like a weed and we'd have had tons of gorgeous flowers.

I need to join the local society and listen to what THEY say.  They have a sort of convention every year, I'll see what I can learn from that.

What's happening in your neck of the woods? One of our Latin students yesterday from Britain repeated an old saying, ""Ne'er cast a a clout till May is out."   If we waited here to the end of May we'd broil to death trying to plant and water anything.

[ginny]

 It's May 7 here, fans of blowsy overgrown gardens, here is what my little terrace garden looks like this morning:


I am so glad I had not pruned the roses yet. It never looks in the photos like it does in person. Maybe because the camera can't really get it all in on either side.   But it really is a bower, to me.  For instance, there is  a hollyhock out of sight on the left and the leaves are 14" across.  It was the weak spindly one I put in the little  garden because I had no place for it with the others and I thought it would not thrive anyway. It's the only one which seems to have survived. The Godzilla of Hollyhocks. 

[jane]

WOW....beautiful!  I love the fullness of everything.

jane

[ginny]

 Thank you! It IS,  it's just bursting, I wish I could get a decent photo of it.

[ginny]

I'm really getting into this gardening thing. The roses this year are helping in that they've extended here way way to the left.  I wanted to add another post  extend it way across the porch like they do at
Queen Mary's Rose Garden on great thick ropes but I can't get ONE person here to want me to do that. Honestly. Everybody wants it cut back when it finishes  blooming. They say if I continue it out the entire thing will come down due to the weight in a storm.   We seem to worry an inordinate amount here about weight in storms, especially with the grape vines which I do admit come down in one.. And I do admit it's not me putting the posts and the vines and all that entails back up, either.

Very interesting program on  youtube called The Impatient Gardener. The woman has a normal yard and it's full of flowers,  and it's kind of a step by step along with her development of the gardens, some of which are spectacular.

[ginny]

OH we're having a slight cold spell! Highs in the 70's!  NO rain. Lots of watering, dragging those huge no kink (with lots of kinks) hoses. Does this count as going to the gym? hahaha

Am planting seeds in a 3' long unused planter on the porch, to transplant later on. Have put in Shasta daisies, and hollyhocks, since the ONE surviving puny hollyhock  plant from last year which I moved to the garden above, which just gets prettier every day) is 6 feet tall  and looks like two giant towers,  so I'll try some more  for next year. It also has a couple of rust spots.

Just found a packet on the remainder shelf (no telling how old it is) of Canterbury Bells, so will plant them next. It SAYS container variety but will transplant them when they (if they) come up.

How is YOUR garden growing?

[jane]

I put two varieties of Coral Bells...a reddish one and a dark, dark one in the front.  I'd had them a couple years ago, but they hadn't survived the winter, so I'm trying again. 

Mostly what's growing is out of control Chinese lanterns and spearmint.  I pull up more of them as I walk by. 

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-control-chinese-lanterns-4125583

On a positive note, the balloon flowers are coming up nicely.  They self seed, so I don't know if they'll be the purple ones or the cream ones. 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=balloon+flowers+perennials+images&atb=v186-1&ia=web

We had a little rain last week and temps in the 30s and 40s, but now to get back up into 70s and into the 80s by next week.  What a rollercoaster!

jane

[ginny]

 Wow, those are exotic looking weeds, the Chinese lanterns, I've never seen one! And they grow wild!!

Oh I AM glad to know somebody who grows coral bells, I've been seeing them at Lowe's and they are gorgeous!! I love red colored plants, period, had just planted Loropetalum here along the foundations where I had a gap. I think here it's also known as Chinese fringe flower but I could be wrong. Love anything red.

Something ate the leaves off the new cherry tree yesterday and I sprayed the deer repellent everywhere, including on self, by mistake so I am pretty sure no deer will bother me.

It's returning to heat today, the weather sure is strange. I have the irrigation now complete in the long bed, and today's the day to put the pipes in the garden above, which is a bit daunting. I'm using the pipe system we have in the vineyard, because I'm used to it.   I hope it works. With such heat you really do need  water.

[ginny]

Just a quick  update, am off to Lowe's (big box store for home projects, etc., ) as yesterday I saw they had a daylily called Chicago Apache for 6.99 instead of the 14.99 plus shipping the growers want and  it has  several scapes so am going to get more.

The hollyhocks I planted resulted in ONE blooming plant this year which unfortunately, despite being 10 feet tall has rust. I did not know what rust was but I can see how disappointing it IS, as this plant has several stately spikes of pink which unfortunately do not open their flowers so you can see them folded and know what it might have been. Such a shame.   I've got some coming on in seed and they will have to have their own pot away from the main garden. I suppose there is something to spray for rust, never heard of it.

New cherry tree eaten totally by deer making a great comeback.

Anybody know what to do with chipmunks? Digging up the pots and flowers on  the porch for something they apparently had put in the pot.

The little ONE dahlia which I had managed to grow by cutting it into a million pieces, according to the dahlia society info and videos, one managed to live,  thank goodness, and  is now eye height, the new ones are all in bud and the ONE I inadvertently left IN the ground here is over 6 feet tall and covered with buds.

I think the main lesson I have learned this year is grow plants in accordance with your own zone because if you don't you'll be quite disappointed. All that time and trouble wasted on "saving" the dahlia from the weather, not necessary here.

Lemon trees: one dead (the one which threw all its leaves on the ground, one looking pretty good (the small one). Have moved it into the sun.

Snapdragons which supposedly it's too hot for here, doing splendidly. Hydrangeas doing splendidly.

We're now in the Japanese beetle plague stage which may go through July. Nasty little beasts. Eat rose blossoms  in a day.

Need to attach the DYI irrigation pipes now in position. Rainbird online is very helpful for the pieces needed.

That's about it from me, what's growing in YOUR neck of the woods?

[ginny]

My projects are coming along pretty well but once again I am victim to no PLAN, and thus the overall effect is not quite what I wanted. I should have done more "by the book."  However now I have three flower beds well under rehab:  I've got one completely planted and  about 75 feet of the longest one (100') full. The third one is still in need of triage but it's better than it was. However I fear the all over effect of that long one may not be what I had envisioned, but the good  news is it's plants,  and they can be moved (seriously thinking about some yard help when that occurs)  when (and if) it's ever cooler.

 If you don't move fast here you plant in 90+ degree weather and there are not many plants other than daylilies I know of you can do that to and expect them to live. I'm pretty well confined to planting now along the soaker hoses if anything is to survive but they are  in partial shade during the day which helps as well.

You really cannot kill a daylily (hemerocallis)  unless you try hard.   I have seen them in commercial operations stacked against a barn with no dirt whatsoever on them  (bare root) in the hot sun with nobody but me concerned.

Oh and my big ball red geraniums are back with a vengeance, including the ones which have been houseplants for years. Much happier outdoors.

I'm really enjoying planting seeds, too.

[jane]

Here in Iowa we're also sweltering in 93+ degrees and no rain.  The most I can manage outdoors is getting the sprinklers set up and running. 

We're to get a cold front tonight and maybe 20 degrees cooler tomorrow. What a blessing that will be.

Stay safe in the heat and humidity!

jane

[ginny]

What heat the entire country is having! It's unreal. I hate to see the water bill. My walking has dwindled to almost nothing. I know you will enjoy that cool!


I STILL don't have the pipes connected which I laid so carefully  in the small garden off the terrace so am still  watering by hand. My excuse is it's too hot to sit there and struggle with them and the mosquitoes, but I think that's a cop out.  Still  I don't think there is anything I dislike more than dragging hoses. Imagine the luxury of automatic irrigation!! We're also in a drought as well.

[jane]

My sister has inground irrigation or whatever it's called where they can program the sprinkler heads to pop up and spray for a designated time.  My BIL, however, had to dig up at least half of it and clean out the roots that had compressed the water lines and even invaded the pipe that one of those water lines was in.  He'd pulled up the triangle concrete blocks that make the walkway to their front door from the driveway.  More roots to dig out.  He was fortunate to have a neighbor he'd never met...lives at the other end of their dual cul-de-sacs...stop and offer to help him.  The guy helped him for 2 hours, went home for a rest and returned to help for a couple more!  My sister said it works better now than it ever did. 

I drag hoses, too.  We had a brief shower this afternoon, but maybe more tomorrow, the "weatherguessers" say. 

jane

[ginny]

I'm actually glad to hear that. The ultimate might not be ultimate, then. I don't know why I did NOT realize that after all the issues we had with the vineyard irrigation. Of course if somebody runs a plow through one of the main conduits, it's hard for water to continue on. hahaha But we had issues before that, mainly with clogging. And the majority of it is above ground.

I need a neighbor like that, what a great guy!

[ginny]

Now that it's August and as hot as hades and totally dry, the hydrangeas planted last year are really show stoppers. Just beautiful. Not much else blooming except the dahilas, the biggest of same the one I forgot in the garden, it's incredible Super Dahlia! It must have 10 six foot tall  stalks, all covered with buds.   I've got rudbeckia, the Goldstrum yellow, amd I need more of them and more red ones. Roses are coming back after the assault of the Japanese beetles and the voles  have tunneled from below and completely destroyed all Oriental and Asiatic lilies. I hear they will do the same to my hostas so am glad they are still in pots. People here actually plant them in pots to avoid the Horrid Vole. Strangely enough the snapdragons are holding their own. I'm used to them petering out in the heat, not so if you prune them and water them enough. Will it ever rain?

[ginny]

Well, it's officially? Winter, how is anybody's garden doing? I am astonished to see a flower called Painted Blanket blooming its  heart out, out there in the garden!!!  I counted 12 blooms on 2 plants yesterday. We've been pretty warm here but we have had temps of 27 at night.

THAT one is a keeper. I need about 6 more for that bed. Very pleased so far with how it has come out.

Of course we now not only have  a giant rabbit, we also have TWO gigantic groundhogs which are NOT hibernating, absolutely huge.

You could hitch them to a wagon. My husband says if technology could capture their hearing for people it would revolutionize the hearing aid field because they have ultrasonic hearing. You can't open a door, they are gone.

And BOY are they destructive.

Am now seriously into bird feeders and enjoying it a lot. Just put a new one up this morning and it's a beauty, and very attractive to birds, I thought one was going to swoop down on me before I ever got it assembled.

What's happening in your garden? If anything?

[jane]

My garden is dead, dead, dead...all brown and ugly.  I guess the landscapers aren't going to get to me this year to trim it all down and haul it away. 

The birds are feasting heavily, esp. before a change in the weather.  They're also devouring the suet cakes.  And the squirrels get fatter and fatter eating the seed the birds toss to the ground.  Simple pleasures for me these days. 

 

[ginny]

 Yes I am also really into birds now, and bird feeders, and the antics are so fun to watch. I'm going to have to do something about the bluebirds, we do have them even over the winter, they were once endangered here,  and I need to do something because the more aggressive birds are hogging the feeder and we don't have the Blue Jays back or the Mockingbirds back  yet and THEY are very aggressive,  and I can envision an entire yard full of bird feeders to allow some of the more timid to be able to get anything at all.

The cardinals are just spectacular in their red. We have 12 males in red out there, a sight in the snow, but in the group one of them has appointed himself Master of the Feeder, and it's such a hoot watching him trying to get the other birds to leave. The little ones, the sparrows? Run him a   merry pace, I think they deliberately taunt him, I had switched to a bottom ring type feeder, and they go around and around it. It's a wonder he weighs anything from chasing them all the time. But I have to say he 's one of the biggest cardinals I ever saw.

Plant wise of course there's nothing. But yesterday it was 70 degrees and some of the daylilies are greening up. The strangest thing is the snapdragons, they are still green. It's been quite cold here for us, it got down to 10 one night and they are STILL green? In the raised bed.

I don't know what to do with them? This is about the time in this area you plant them. Does anybody know what to do with some which bloomed all year last year and are still  big, bushy and green? Will they bloom again? Should I cut them back down and wait for more blooms? Aren't they biennial so if they have bloomed once they won't again?

Despite half the world telling me they would not do well here in the heat they bloomed all summer and it looks as if they are ready again.

[jane]

Stay with whatever works for you in your garden.

Fresh dusting of snow last night and 10 degrees now at 3:30 pm.  The birds seem to come to feed about 4:00 every day...and even the woodpeckers like the peanut flavored suet cakes.  I'll have to make a trip back to FarmFleet for more seed.  I can only buy it by the plastic bag I fill as the 20# or 50# bags are simply way beyond what I can carry from my car to the shop.  Getting old is so much fun....NOT.

[ginny]

Oh I know what you mean by those heavy bags of chicken feed or bird seed. A lot of times those large bags spoil (especially with chicken feed) before a small flock can eat them in the first place.

I wrote the Clemson Extension service this morning early (I like asking the Extension  Service and apparently we now have a person back in office),  and got back a reply already. They said that "snapdragon' means different things to different people, did I happen to have a photo handy  of them in bloom? (They always want a close up photo).....I found one and it IS  Antirrhinum which most of us think of as those large gorgeous snapdragons, and she said that in this area (get this!) they are regarded as a tender perennial and due to soil conditions and water and the heat from that brick bed and porch they may in fact continue. I can find out by cutting them down to 5 or 6 buds and see. All this time I could have covered that bed with something warm, too.  They gave me so much pleasure last  year.

She said some people in this area treat them like annuals so that they don't have such tall stalks. I have never lived where they were any kind of perennial, I am quite excited to try. What have I got to lose? Just as you say, do what works. We've just become zone 8 anyway, which is new, too.