Signs of life for 2014

[stevelau1911]

It's been mostly below freezing for the last 2 weeks, but we are on a thaw where over 1ft of snow has melted all the way, and that is enough to set off some plants for next spring.

Here's one of my tree peonies. It might not look special in any way, but if you look carefully, the bud in the center has leaves that have elongated breaking the protective sheath, and this should be happening in all of them as they are producing vernalin so by the middle of March, they should take off very quickly.

This wasn't around 1 month ago, and the rest of the buds were not quite as swollen as they are now.


Here's one that actually looks like a tree peony, and this is set to turn into a flower seeing how big it has swollen up to already.


This is one of my indoor carnivorous plants "drosera regia". I'm growing them from seed, and from a small plant.

The seeds do appear to be very viable, taking 1-2 weeks to sprout roots in the peat/sand mix.



Here's the bigger plant which does show noticeable growth with the new leaf so far.



I find it interesting how the alliums always try to resume their growth every time it gets above freezing just to go dormant again.

[Iowaboo]

I have seen no sign of life on this side of the planet

[stevelau1911]

Try growing sundew plants. My drosera regia plant and seedlings are showing noticeably daily gains despite having very minimal lighting with a small LED light bulb. It is a tropical plant so there's no need for dormancy.

Here's the drosera with the 2nd leaf unfolded halfway since I got it. That lighter spot in the middle is the 3rd leaf.


The seedlings are mostly working on their 1st carnivorous leaf. They will need some food, but I don't want to use fungus gnats because I know they can quickly cause an infestation of larvae which can wipe out tiny seedlings pretty easily.

[JWH]

I noticed today that all of my hostas are ready for spring with fat buds under the mulch, same with Fargesia Rufa, Robusta, and Scabrida all have shoots under the leaf litter.

I'm going to check the Gunneras tomorrow. Fingers crossed they didn't die last month in the cold snap, all are under 6-8 inches of leaf mulch.



Update-
I took a peek at the Gunneras today, they are doing fine. The baby crowns are starting to push out leaves, I don't see any leaves in the main crowns yet.

[stevelau1911]

Wow, it looks like your gunnera will get huge next year. I have tinctoria surviving now, but my main manicata died over last summer. I think you really need to have a pond to get these things to their full potential.

On another note, one thing I'm looking forward to seeing is how my kinshi Japanese tree peony sprouts back up after having all of it cut off for grafting. Here's how it looks and its progression over the years.

This should be one of the first things coming up especially since they seem to have the capability to grow any time that the soil is unfrozen just like garlic. Here's a February blog post from last year showing just how early they can sprout. http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/2 ... early.html

2014: It's basically a stump without visible growth until I see something, but this is a good experiment to see how much energy is stored in the branches vs the roots. If almost all the energy is stored in the roots, the growth sprouting out of the ground should exceed that of 2013.


2013





2012




2011


2010: definitely only a 1 year old grafted plant

[stevelau1911]

The new leaf on my king sundew grew much larger than I expected as it is about 2 1/2 inches in length now. I guess this means they can upsize under indoor conditions. I guess in another 10 days or so the current unfolding leaf should exceed 3 inches.

The little water droplets do look pretty cool.

[JWH]

Daffodils are coming up.


Fargesia Robusta 'campbell' Shoots are just under the mulch. It looks like it's going to have a major upsize this year.

[JWH]

Most of my Rose bushes are showing new growth...I need to get out and prune them back asap.

[Tarzanus]

Sign of life. That will soon perish

[JWH]

Is it spring yet?

F. Robusta 'campbell' and Chimonobambusa Szechuanensis 'emei II' think so.

I'm Shocked to see these szechuanensis late fall shoots survive 11f unprotected, and continue growing after the freeze. I really like the dark purple/black it's new culms can turn in cold weather or bright sunlight.



This szechuanensis shoot wasn't there 6 weeks ago.


Found this F. Robusta 'campbell' shoot above the mulch, I pushed some more mulch over it just incase...


Happy to see an old insulated food cooler tipped over this gold variegated NZ flax was enough to keep it alive, it really adds a nice pop of color during our foggy gray days.



Yucca Gloriosa 'variegata' survived unprotected, really like this one too for winter color.

[johnw]

That's impressive to have a Phormium come through 11F cooloer or not.

Any idea how hardy C. szechuanensis is? And at what altitude it grows?

johnw - -4c and blowing like hell.

[JWH]

Johnw-

I noticed bamboogarden.com has it in their rare collection now, this is what they say about it:

*Chimonobambusa szechuanensis
Height: 19' Diameter: 1 inch
Hardiness: 10̊ F
Recommended for USDA zone 8-10 A shorter Chimonobambusa with leaves and canes that tend to develop a reddish or purplish coloration. Has small root thorns at each node. Extremely prolific grower.
Found on Mt. Emei, China.

I got mine from Bamboo Plantation this is what they have to say about it:

"A square bamboo from Sichuan, China where it grows at 1000 to 2400 m. Used for shoots and as a food source for giant pandas. Introduced to France in 1990, relatively new to this country."

It's one of the hardier chimonobamusas from what I understand, but I haven't had a winter yet do significant damage to any of my chimonobambusas. Summer drought is another story though, they can get very very unhappy looking if not kept well watered during our dry summers.

[JWH]

The early "spring" continues here. I'd say 6-8 weeks ahead of a normal year. It's the earliest I've seen plants start growing, since getting into gardening, and paying more attention to the plants.

Some bamboos are growing new leaf buds and branches.

Chusquea Culeou new branches and a runty new shoot.



Semiarundinaria Kagamiana elongating leaf buds and new branches starting on Fasuosa 'viridis' culms.



New leaves and side branches sprouting on Hydrangea Macrophylla and a climbing rose leafing out.




Variegated Vinca minor flower bud


Plum blossom buds


Salmonberry bushes will start blooming in a couple days, the purple petals are visible now.

[JWH]

Clematis



Hazelnut tree with catkins



Sedum 'autumn charm'


Found this good sized Bashania Fargesii shoot today. Most likely a late fall shoot thats resuming growth now.

[canadianplant]

jwh

Is this early for all this to be happening?