Poor confused plants

We had a bout of warm weather in January that to my surprise resulted in the daffodils beginning to sprout. What surprised me is that such a relatively short period of warmth was enough to confuse the plants. The period started around the 8th and only lasted about 5 days with highs >40F including a 3-day stretch of highs in the 50s & 60s peaking at 64F on the 12th; most nights were also fairly warm with temps above freezing.

Daffodils sprouting in mid-January

This is definitely the earliest I've ever seen this occur and easily bests last year's February 4th "record". They have even grown more since then, so we'll see how they do this spring.

(Note: this was posted on 3/3/2013)

Other bulbs

Unlike the tulips, the rest of the bulbs that I planted seemed to do ok (although I never saw the Allium...). These were taken on May 4th:

Blue Bells

Baby Moon Daffodils

Happy!

Winter? I'm still waiting for you to arrive...

Winter just didn't come this year (and yes, I'm still alive, btw)... I didn't even have to use my shovel once this winter - it's just sad (I know, it's not technically over, but odds are getting more slim by the day that we'll much more snow this winter). But, on the upside I have had a nice break from yard work, so winter still served it's purpose in that regard. Now, I'm starting to think about spring. Our daffodils have been thinking about it, too, as evidenced by this photo from few weeks ago:

Daffodils sprouting on February 4th

Poor confused plants. I feel for you.

So, I'm coming out of hibernation now. By the end of last year I was just eager for winter to be here and to have a break from all things yard-related, despite the fact that I did a few things since I "went dark". I'll be back-posting these for my records, and will have more posts coming as I gear up for a busy 2012.

Bulbs galore

My last work of 2011 (early December): planting roughly 100 bulbs in the backyard in pouring 45 degree rain. Not the most fun way to spend a Saturday, but I was convinced by my Mom to go out and do it (after all she gave me half of them!) and that the reward in spring would be worth it, despite the fact that this is way later than these should typically be planted. So, since doing unconventional things comes naturally to me, I did it! This is what I planted (excuse the mud, they were taken after I planted them - many months later, in fact):

Daffodils

Tulips

Blue bells

Crocus

Allium

My Mom gave me all of them except for the Tulips (which I purchased at CostCo) and some of them are in memory of Calum: "Remembrance" Crocus and "Baby Moon" Daffodils (I can't remember if any of the others have a connection). Due to lack of space, I couldn't plant them in the memorial garden (but they are special nonetheless), so instead I planted them nearby in the backyard along the lawn in front of some trees. Not being anywhere near skilled at garden design, I tried to plant them in a logical fashion that might look ok (but most likely probably won't), so we'll see how it works (assuming they even come up)!

(Note: this is a back-post, posted on 3/20/12)