I've started WS'ing some things, pretty much plants that I'm pretty confident would self-sow here... This is only my 2nd time of trying this, so I am fairly much in experimental mode! I look on it as plants that would have the instruction to "sow as early as the ground can be worked." In March I'll be doing some things that are a bit more tender... and probably most of the things I winter sow I'll also start a few seeds of under my lights to see how that compares.

OH no. Nothing is blooming up here. Colder than the hubs of ...... until about March. But I bet you by the end of March both will have blooms. Well, maybe first part of April. I will check my database. Wish I had access to it from this laptop, but it is on my desktop two rooms away. And I am still in 'early morning mode', jammies coffee and all.

I checked and the first blooms on Snowcap are April 30. The other Arabis (Little Treasure, Compinkie) run about the same. The primula are the first to bloom along with the Arabis and Aubrieta, followed by daffodils, ajuga, lamium, and beregenis. These are all pretty solid as to health and bloom times.

Aah! I did not think that Alaska could get spring that much ahead of us!

We are back in the deep freeze again. 22 below this morning, but we had a little bit of snow Tuesday, thank goodness, because the we didn't have very much left and I'm a little concerned about some of the more tender perennials surviving this winter.

BRRRR -- that's cold, Susie ! Are you getting all the wind too? (we had a balmy 9F this morning, the sun is out but things are really blowing around) Looks like this weather is going to be around for at least a few days... but it's nice to see the sun getting a little higher in the sky

We had so much wind yesterday it was hard to keep the house warm. It only got up to 1above yesterday and I don't know what the wind chill was but it was darn cold! Thank goodness even though it was very cold this morning, the wind had died down.

Holy cow Susie. You are worse off then us. We haven't seen below zero around my house all winter. Maybe 8-9F. Not much snow either although our larger dumps usually occur during Jan-March. Just when you are hoping for spring.

At least when we get the March and April snow they usually don't last long. Except last year.....I think it was April before we saw any kind of thaw at all. But every year is different and I think we are excited whenever Spring decides to show up!

We are having the most ridiculous weather here: daytime temps in the 50's!

4susiesjoy said:...every year is different and I think we are excited whenever Spring decides to show up!

Isn't that the truth !!!

I was able to plant out a month earlier than normal last year. Wonder if it will be the same this year, or if Mother Nature is just messing with me!

Snow devils were using the hard-snow-encrusted rock garden lump for a jump yesterday. It was pretty cool to watch while I was having lunch. A couple of times I actually caught myself thinking, "wheee-eee!!" when they'd go airborne over the mums.

Chelle, I think cabin fever may be setting in...

Weedwhacker said:Chelle, I think cabin fever may be setting in...

Yep!! I need to get out today. Whether by snowshoes or car...

HI guys,
This is the weekend for the "Big Chill" in the Northeast. Wind is supposed to really kick up late tonite and howl into Sunday for most of the day. I hear stuff like -30 degree wind chills! We've also also had snow showers off and on all day. Right now nothing, but supposed start up again later into early Sunday morning. Not much snow predicted, maybe 3-4 inches. I can't even remember the last time I saw the street. Even Patch doesn't want to go out (he's my avatar). I have a bird feeder bell hanging from a hook outside right above my sliding glass back door. He parks himself there and watches the birds. Gotta admit, I like watching them, too. Just going to hunker down and try to stay warm.

The weather had been pretty good here the past few days, lots of cloud but I won't complain at 40f degrees. I rained hard for a couple of hours last night at bedtime, that was nice as it washed the dirt from the streets. Today I cleaned out the bird feeders and did a little clean up under them, get quite a build up of old seed during the winter..

Yes, so much for the mid winter spring... I think the entire state of Michigan is under some sort of warning/advisory/emergency A couple of the major highways here in the UP have been closed down, and even where I am, in the southern upper peninsula, the wind is howling and the wind chills are something like -20F or lower; up in the north (on Lake Superior) it must REALLY be crazy!

And meanwhile, the UP200 sled dog race is taking place this weekend up in that northern area -- this is a photo of a team coming into the checkpoint at Grand Marais earlier today



Those mushers and dogs have to be some pretty tough cookies!!

Brrrrrr... Sandy that sounds real nasty.

Margaret, it was a very good day to be retired and not need to go anywhere; I'm especially thankful that DH did NOT have to go out to work on the railroad (which he did for 39 years) !!

Overall, though, we've had a pretty nice winter, nothing like last year's deep freeze/deep snow. We could still get plenty of snow, of course, but once we get past February the temps should be getting better and better.

I'm just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. C'mon, it's only February...this warm weather can't last! Just wondering what is waiting around the corner, beyond the forecast window. Shiver.