Signs of life in 2013

[canadianplant]

is it spring yet ?



up to 40 cm of snow.................

[JWH]

I guess not there at the north pole

[stevelau1911]

Canadianplant,

What are your normal temperature ranges at this time of the year? We are kind of cold as it has only been a bit above freezing all day with flurries.

Regardless of that, the spring progress seems to be accelerating now as April temperatures have been average, helping us catch up.

Here is some progress.

Peonies.

This one has 7 flower buds

































Blueberries











Garlic








This one is as big as a leek



Asparagus- not upsizing





Vegetable seedlings; Kale & Choi sum







Fargesia denudata completely uncurled leaves




Pear buds close to blooming







Daffodils; should bloom in 2-3 weeks





Daylilies





Musa basjoo banana





Strawberry plants; Started from 1 tiny plant last spring





Yucca; divided, and asiatic lilies

[JWH]

Never noticed this before, but my trillium flowers change color. They started out white and have turned pink as they bloom out. I've been taking a picture of a single flower most days to track the color change.

[canadianplant]

Steve - Our normal temps in april are roughly 8C for a high and probably -3C for a low. To make it simple, ive been a month behind since feb.... Apparent warm up in a few days ... PLEASE DONT LIE THIS TIME

[stevelau1911]

Let's hope this warmup starting this weekend will be for good because I hardly saw any progress on the plants this week. The maple tree buds swelled up, but just didn't pop, and it looks like everything is just hesitating to grow. Anyways here's just a few photos showing stuff that should look interesting in a couple weeks. I think in 2 weeks, there's probably going to be an enormous change if we really do consistently get highs in the 70s with lows in the 50s in the next few weeks.

Here's the fastest developing peony which looks like it could bloom next week if it is warm enough.


Just some garlic chives that will fill in with a few weeks of warm weather.


Unidentified plant next to raspberry


Here are an assortment of peonies. I'm interested in seeing how the blue one in the bottom left will turn out when it flowers. It seems to be a bit slower growing and shorter than most tree peonies of its age group. Perhaps it will become a dwarf version.

[JWH]

Your no-id plant looks like some variety of mustard green to me.

[pokenei]

I did something bad yesterday. I was desperate to see signs of life from my musa basjoo plant, so I kept on slicing it off lower and lower at the base...and sliced off parts of the corm itself (about 1/2 inch). The corm part feels stiff, but all parts of the pseudo stem are mushy and 100% dead. The main stem will not grow back.

If the corm is in fact still alive, I hope I didn't damage it too much... hoping it can still put up a pup or two. The corm was about 3.5 inches wide.

[stevelau1911]

It must be a very cold hardy mustard because it's been growing through quite a few freezes.

I think a sliced musa basjoo corm should be OK. My musa basjoos should each have a leaf out in another week or so, but it does look like the pseudo-stems shrunk a bit, now that the dead part of it dried back to become a thin layer of skin.

Here are some more pictures. Enjoy.

3rd year tree peony is getting huge, but no flowers yet.


A 2nd year seedling can have plenty of leaves like these.



This Kinshi tree peony has 9 flower buds as opposed to only 1 from last year.


The smaller Japanese tree peonies are starting to gain stems, but not that many of them are flowering yet.



Itoh peonies look very crowded.



Ginseng plants are finally coming up.


Daisies in full bloom


Peach tree just starting to bloom


Tulips getting close


Strawberries look ready to flower soon


Sempervivums starting to make offsets.


Gunnera manicata inside wall o water for frost protection starting to wake up


Here's the difference between a garlic chive bulb planted in good soil vs the side of the stream with no fertilization. Both them are planted from 1 bulb divisions about 1 month ago.
Here are some in a poor location.




This is what I got when I planted one in compost/ manure.



Goji plants/ cutting divisions





Apple root growth. This fuji apple sends up little trees from its roots once in a while.


Aphids already working on the Asian pear seedlings


Clump of daylilies


Lilies


Lavender


Moso bicolor leaf buds are starting to swell so shoots should be on their way


Garlic and raspberries


This is likely something I planted, but I don't know what it is.


I have no idea what this is, but it looks too fat to be a weed.

[JWH]

Your ducks in a row picture is great!

Some of my sempervivums and sedums have had dramatic color changes in the last week. Was probably the bright sunlight and warm temps. Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' and Sedum Populifolium are going to bloom soon.

[JWH]

Borinda macclureana is leafing back out. It acts almost deciduous here dropping 75-90% of its leaves before winter. It has the most vibrant green leaves of any bamboo I grow.

[johnw]

Went over to a friend's today for the final unwrapping of his Trachycarpus fortunei. Amazing what a little bit of foamy underlay will do....not a scratch. The white stuff is suphur dust.

[stevelau1911]

JHW, I think the temperatures here are catching up to the west coast by now as we've been in the upper 70s pretty consistently now. It's only a matter of time before all the bamboos shoot, but I always have plenty of excitement to share other than bamboos.

Here's the only actinada arguta issai kiwi plant that survived the drought from last summer.


Lambs ear


Hardneck garlics are getting use, and can possibly send scapes over 6ft by August.


Pear blossomes



Cherry blossoms



Moso bicolor leaf buds showing lots of vigor, as well as old leaves turning yellow



Gunnera tinctoria trying to get adjusted to full sun


Peach seedlings



Blackberry cuttings taking


Garden veggies




Carrots



Peonies close to flowering




Strawberries blooming



Tree lilies just emerging

[JWH]

It's looks like spring is well underway there Steve!

It's going to be in the 80's here for the next 4 days, way above normal temps for this time of year. Hopefully that'll encourage iridescens and parvifolia to shoot. I finally planted one of my musa basjoos outside. I mail ordered 2 Musa Sikkimensis 'bengal tiger'. I'm hoping they will do nearly as good as basjoo, or at least better than mekong giant.

Sedum Glaucophyllum is getting ready to bloom. Gunnera Tinctoria bloom is getting bigger. About a dozen rufa shoots are up over last years growth, with several hundred just below the canopy

[canadianplant]

"signs of life"