I thought I'd start a thread for us to post about our gardens. What are you doing day to day, weekends, weekly?

Today I brought out all my canna pots from the basement and put them on the deck. I'll clean them up if it warms up later.
I brought up all the bags of the cannas I dug up in the fall and all of them look great! I also brought up a nice big fat spider that was crawling up my arm. I swatted it to the floor but pulled my shirt off anyway incase I missed. I found it crawling on the plant stand...sucked it up in the vacuum and dumped it outside...hoping it wasn't a brown recluse. I am a spider lover until they are on me

I only saved one dahlia that was in a pot and thought it was a goner but saw some new growth on it. It's one of the purple leaved ones with a yellow flower. I gave up on my Dahlias last year...never bloom while I can enjoy them, always well into fall when it's getting cold and I don't want to be out there and never feel like digging them in November. I may do a few of the shorter ones that I can keep in pots and bring inside.

Thanks for the thread. It can serve as a reminder to many of us to get the stored bags and potted plants out of storage.

So far I've just planted phlox and lilies. So glad my faithful James put down the first 20 bags of pine bark mulch - 40 more to go.

I left my canna lilies & elephant ears in the garage all winter...probably not my best idea.....I have new ones I ordered this year, which are probably the only ones I will have.....I really let my back gardens go last summer, was hoping my part time worker would get to them, but he went on vacation in Aug. with his family & then back to college, so I have an awful mess.....poison ivy, bittersweet, multiflora rose, & heaven knows what else.....I did some cleaning, but not much, it's just overwhelming me....Ronnie, you were brave about the spider...you would have heard me in PA!

I bought a canna, Phaison, this year (online). Do you keep them in pots all winter?

I got to the overwhelmed point as well. Finally gave in to hired help and he's been a blessing. It's disconcerting to be forced to realize we just can't do all the things we loved doing.

Most of mine are in pots Arlene. I did dig some of the plain red ones last year and they all stayed nice and plump. I'm glad I did too ince the local guy I usually buy them from upped his price a bit. I guess everyone wants to make money off the virus...knowing nurseries are closed here for a while.
I started a few from seeds this year too that will go in pots. Only bulb I ordered was Stuttgart, hoping it does well I never seem to have luck with that one but the price was good so thought I'd give it a go again.
Pretty soon I won't be able to be dragging them to the basement. I'd give a lot for a semi heated greenhouse Maybe in my next life

I'm surprised you didn't hear me Marilyn...I let out a pretty good choice word and did somewhat of a dance around the kitchen, Archie decided to join in as he thought I wanted to play with him

Like this! I'm assuming this will be more for ornamentals (flowers, shrubs, trees) than vegetables since we have the NE Vegetable Gardening Forum. Good idea, even though I usually "sneak" a mention or two about my flowers into the other thread...when I have something to say.

I'm not as big on flowers as I am on vegetables. Give me a few dozen marigolds and zinnias and I'm good to go. I'm sure you all are going to post beautiful pics. Right now, I have about 36 of each growing in my greenhouse.

I'm hoping for tulips on my tulip tree this year. Last year was the first year and there were a few, so I am hoping for more this year. My two Empress trees look like they are going to have a bumper crop of flowers this year. And, of course, I am waiting for my red bud to bloom.

Ronnie - so when I do dig it (November or sooner?) I just would put it in a pot in an area around 50 degrees? I'm guessing no water during winter. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Jim - Good luck with the trees. My beautiful redbud is a goner and my Magnolia has some flowers but nothing like it once was. I'll have to get a photo and post it for evaluation on NGA.

Arlene I grow most of my cannas in pots so I don't have to dig them. If you have them in the ground dig them after the frost kills off the leaves, clean off any extra dirt land let them dry some . I wrap them in paper and put them in a brown bag or box and store them in my cool basement. They are pretty easy to keep. If by chance you get a freeze before you get them they will pretty much be mush.

Jim feel free to talk about your veggies here too since some may not follow that thread!

Sort of like dahlias. Thanks for the help.

You're welcome!

Digging holes here is not an easy task .. planted 2 red buds yesterday and realized the 2nd one must be in a spot with all clay .. water did not drain at all.. going to amend the spot or move it today . . Not sure yet .. figured with all the boulders.. how could the water not drain.. oops

Allison...what kind of red buds? The sunset red bud (I think that is the name) that we planted two summers ago died all the way to the ground after winter 2018-19. It grew to about 5 feet from the roots last summer. This winter, we wrapped it in burlap and straw, and the winter was not as bad. It is picking up where it left off last summer. Hopefully, it will mature and grow enough this summer to be better able to handle next winter.

This picture is from when we first planted it. It's about the same size now, but with three shoots from the ground. Don't know whether to let all three stay or just keep the best one.

Allison - we faced the same problem when trying to plant a Japanese maple but finally met success.

Jim - what a choice. If you dig out the sprouts you may wish you hadn't and if you don't you risk still eventually losing the mother plant. I loved my Eastern Redbud but it was killed by the winter of 2018.

Sorry to here that, Arlene. Here's a pic of my ERB from Spring 2018.

Glorious. That's what they're supposed to look like!

This was ours:

Redbuds are marginal here....there are some downtown by the PO, seem to do OK.....My magnolia is late, just starting to open now.....When my brother died, a friend gave me a weeping cherry....it has about 20 blossoms on it & grows every which way....I'm thinking of removing it & planted a star magnolia instead.....Here are some of my amaryllis blooming, it was a good winter for them.....

Too bad you lost it, Arlene. Are you going to get another?

This is late for magnolia, Marilyn. The ones I see around here have already dropped their blossoms. We had a beautiful star magnolia I planted as a baby that was only about 12 feet high when I had to cut it down in 2013 to make room for our jam storage shed. That and a gorgeous sunset maple that we planted when we first moved in in 1995. It was a good 20 feet high or higher, one of the prettiest trees I ever owned. I hated to have to cut it down. Pretty amaryllis!

Maybe. I'd have to find one locally.

This is a very late magnolia, & it's a purple rather than pink.....small, too....my neighbors are in bloom now...cold up on this hill!