Signs of life for 2014

Other plants we have or landscape elements like ponds.

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JWH
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by JWH »

canadianplant wrote:jwh

Is this early for all this to be happening?
Yeah it's about 6 weeks too early.
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by canadianplant »

Damn.... you can send that east any time you want,
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by stevelau1911 »

It did get up to 38F today as some patches of grass can bee seen, but I am still noticing absolutely no progress at all on anything which is pretty unusual for March. One thing I have noticed through observing many springs is that it will only take a few days, under a week for signs of life to emerge as long as soil temperatures can manage to rise above freezing which should definitely occur by the end of this month.

At least the garlic survived, but it's pretty easy to tell that no new growth has occurred so far.
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The only real signs of life seem to be limited to my indoor plants
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The hat plant happens to be flowering, but surprisingly the amaryllis bulbs aren't showing any signs of trying to grow yet.
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by JWH »

My Daffodils are just about to bloom.
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Vinca is blooming
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The arctic outbreak in early february zapped the first batch of salmonberry blooms, the bushes are blooming again now.
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My Forsythia and plum trees look close to blooming. 55-62f highs for the next 10 days. Crossing fingers the worst of winter is over here.
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by stevelau1911 »

I'm not sure if this is all growth from the fall, or if there's been progress, but the snow has partially melted, and it looks like some things are still alive. The peonies or fruit tree buds are still shut and dormant.

Garlic, this definitely looks effected by today's sun, but growth is questionable.
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Daylily, barely out of the ground
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Sedums, look like they did open up just a little bit
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

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Rising to a high of 54F today, it looks like some of the earliest plant are clearly starting to grow, only to be smothered by a foot of snow tonight, but it's good that they will be protected. It's not necessarily that warm, but this is the warmest it has been since fall, and one warm day is enough to wake some things up.

Here's the yellow crocus that definitely wasn't there 2 days ago.
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The peonies are just starting to break out of dormancy, and they should be very exciting in another month or so.
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The greenhouse rose all the way up to 93F today which was enough to melt away most of the ice in the barrels allowing me to water all the plants which appeared to be dehydrated. Even with extremely cold temperatures in the forecast, it probably won't get that much below freezing again for the rest of this winter.
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One thing I found to be pretty interesting was that the vivax aureocaulus buds are already elongating.
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by stevelau1911 »

It's supposed to be in the 20s and teens for the next 4 days so no signs of growth on anything happening now, but going into April, I'm expecting to see almost everything wake up if we do get average temperatures. We have had below average temperatures continually since November getting way below average especially in March, but if this forecast holds, peony blooms, and bamboo shoots are practically guaranteed by the beginning of May.

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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by JWH »

Plum, Cherry, and Peach trees here are blooming. I noticed today that the bees are out.

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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by stevelau1911 »

Just comparing the graph from a few days ago to today on April temperature predictions, it looks like the forecasters really have no idea what the temperatures will be any more than 3-4 days in advance.
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That's a pretty bold prediction for it to be that much below average so I'm pretty sure they will adjust it back up some in a couple days. We haven't had a month of above average temperatures in half a year by now.

The NWS is saying just about the same thing for April.
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by Alan_L »

stevelau1911 wrote:Just comparing the graph from a few days ago to today on April temperature predictions, it looks like the forecasters really have no idea what the temperatures will be any more than 3-4 days in advance.
:shock: :lol: Yep, and that may be getting even worse as weather becomes more intense.
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

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My issue with them is that they cannot make up their minds on what the forecast will likely be. For example, today's temperature graph looks nothing like what they posted yesterday. They will say it's going to be cold and snowy one day, then warm and sunny the next for the same days, then switch back and forth.

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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by stevelau1911 »

It's still not warm yet, but most days have been above freezing, and that's enough to cause this much life to occur.

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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by JWH »

Musa Basjoo is coming back from the ground. I tried protecting the pseudostems overwinter with a cage full of straw and leaves...but it didn't work :(

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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by johnw »

Nice pot of snowdrops there Steve. Did you grow them from seed or divide them?

Ours are mainly over though a few species are just surfacing now.

johnw - +16c here today and sunny.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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Re: Signs of life for 2014

Post by stevelau1911 »

I got the snow drop bulbs from a neighbor who was getting rid of hers so now I have a nice pot of them. I haven't decided where to plant them yet so I'm leaving them potted for now.

Even though things are still moving slow, I did notice a lot more new grow today after a nice rain. Our April has has generally average temperatures, but if the predictions for May hold true, peony blooms, and bamboo shoots could be held off until June which has never happened before. Usually, all shooting is done by June.

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