The First Gardening Thread Of Spring 2025

(Has there ever been a Gardening Thread Mystery Click?)

Good afternoon gardeners and putzers. Miss KT is under the weather and I am filling in for her today. Hopefully she will be back next week with a clean bill of health and feeling fit and trim.

So the opening photo was from Hrothgar sent to yours truly. This is how I responded......

*****

A week ago our wonderful, talented and utterly useless weather forecast predicted 4-9" of snow. Not a flake fell. I'm happy the snow blower and snow plow had not been put away. We will find out if this new snow Armageddon will takes place.

So a couple of weeks ago I sat in for KT and discussed winter sewing of seeds. Here is what The Fabulous and I have been up to.

There are some cone flowers, balloon flowers, Shasta daisy among several other perennials. I'm not worried about the time line of germination. It isn't safe to plant here in our territory until mid May.

Please keep your comments to gardening, landscaping, Green items. We really don't need politics and/or current events here. Have a great day!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 11:45 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I'm awake!

Posted by: Weasel at March 22, 2025 11:47 AM (c8xsU)

2 Top 50?

Posted by: Weasel at March 22, 2025 11:47 AM (c8xsU)

3 I let 'em know downstairs.

Posted by: Weasel at March 22, 2025 11:49 AM (c8xsU)

4 The hell?

Posted by: Weasel at March 22, 2025 11:50 AM (c8xsU)

5 I did some winter sowing as well. The one I did with the jug did not work out so well. The others I did in gallon freezer bags and they grew really well I have already transplanted some as they are brassicas.

Posted by: BonniebBue at March 22, 2025 11:51 AM (6vCGz)

6 Mis Hum, Thanks for filling in. Prayers up and here's hoping that KT comes back stronger than ever.

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 11:52 AM (yTvNw)

7 90+ forecast here for Monday.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at March 22, 2025 11:53 AM (kWMii)

8 There all y'all are. I was beginning to think I was in the Twilight Zone and everyone had disappeared.

Posted by: Weasel at March 22, 2025 11:55 AM (c8xsU)

9 It's a coincidence but it seemed as soon as the calendar hit the 20th I noticed a whole lot of blooming going on. Overnight the ornamental cherry trees and magnolias were at least fifty percent in flower. Just lovely. Wildflowers are appearing in the grass and daffodils are on display all over town. Amazing what a little warm air and extra sunlight can achieve.

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 11:56 AM (yTvNw)

10 Beautiful spring flowers. Best wishes for the winter -sown seeds in jugs. Especially the balloon flowers.

Posted by: KT at March 22, 2025 12:00 PM (DZDR7)

11 Oh joy! Our lilac bush is leafing out. No sign of flower spikes yet but they may come. I was concerned that the harsher than usual winter would take it out but it survived. I'm hoping for a warm and humid spring morning, usually in May, where the scent of the lilac blossoms fill the backyard. It one the joys of home owning and having a little back yard.

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 12:03 PM (yTvNw)

12 I should dig out some pots and bagged soil and see if the flower seeds I bought in years past will sprout. They really should be started inside and then put out in this area.

But I'm also back on the "I'm tired of this town again" track. Funny how song lyrics are often perfect capsules of how I feel.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 22, 2025 12:05 PM (bP/i4)

13 What kind of thread do you use when you "sew" seeds?

Posted by: I gotta ask at March 22, 2025 12:06 PM (dg+HA)

14 Lilacs are tough JTB at least some varieties are. We had them in ND, they can handle very cold winters.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 22, 2025 12:06 PM (bP/i4)

15 And some of the neighbors here have lilacs. I'm not good enough about watering to have been able to get any going here in the land of drought. I content myself with the bee weeds that thrive in the sandy soil with no care from me.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 22, 2025 12:09 PM (bP/i4)

16 Actual flowers on a Forsythia. I shannot believe it.

Posted by: DaveA at March 22, 2025 12:10 PM (FhXTo)

17 Hrothgar I'm so happy you are home and sending pics of your yard.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 22, 2025 12:11 PM (bP/i4)

18 Your reply about your weather made me chuckle. I bought some carrot seeds, actually 750 of them, which will all not get planted in this century. It's a great day in the neighborhood for sowing seeds, some pruning, deal with 10k leaves, and repotting. Wherever you are hope you can enjoy the weekend.

Posted by: Snappy Suzie at March 22, 2025 12:11 PM (rzwGB)

19 Tuesday, high of 83. Wednesday, high of 39 with 33mph winds, gusts of 60, about 8" of snow. All highways in the cpunty closed and they had to rescue folks stuck in the ditches. The snow has been mostly gone since Friday.

I was able to get the beds filled with potting soil. I have a bit more to do but am ready to plant cold weather stuff. I have berry bushes coming in this week.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 22, 2025 12:12 PM (x6JeD)

20 The forsythia is blooming here, as is the Indian plum. The early plums are all blooming and that includes the two grafts I did this year.
Everything but a couple of the very late apples are cautiously breaking bud, and the only thing I am waiting for is to see if any of the cherry or peach pits I planted are going to sprout

I still have too much yard work to do.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 22, 2025 12:15 PM (D7oie)

21 Tuesday, high of 83.
Posted by: Notsothoreau

93F here on Tuesday, perfect weather for here!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 12:15 PM (Ut78G)

22 14 ... "Lilacs are tough JTB at least some varieties are. We had them in ND, they can handle very cold winters."

Good to know. We've had the bush for about thirty years. Even had to cut out old deadwood a couple of times. But the unusual winds, cold and ice in our area had me concerned. (I suspect our colder than usual winter would be considered spring time in the upper midwest.)

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 12:16 PM (yTvNw)

23 Gardening has to wait for strength and coordination to return... damn stroke!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 12:17 PM (Ut78G)

24 13 What kind of thread do you use when you "sew" seeds?
Posted by: I gotta ask at March 22, 2025 12:06 PM (dg+HA)

Gardening thread. Duh.

Posted by: Emmie celebrates the Audacity of Trump! at March 22, 2025 12:17 PM (Sf2cq)

25 Our Forsythia were a bust. Both shrubs died within two years. Never bloomed. The ground here is really unsuited to growing anything but weeds.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 22, 2025 12:17 PM (Q4IgG)

26 Gardening thread. Duh.
Posted by: Emmie celebrates

ISWYDT!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 12:18 PM (Ut78G)

27 KT! What's up with the 'back in the hospital' thing? I was hoping you were done with that experience. Best wishes for great test results so you can get back to 'keepin' on keepin' on' ...

Posted by: Dr_No at March 22, 2025 12:18 PM (ayRl+)

28 I'm potting up my tomato seedlings and reseeding some peppers.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 22, 2025 12:19 PM (q1ouM)

29 It's only going to get to 75 here today, but tomorrow it will warm up a bit to 78.

Our Forsythia are blooming like that, and garlic is coming up all around it.

Posted by: fd at March 22, 2025 12:20 PM (vFG9F)

30 One of the pleasures of the season are all the patches of brilliant gold in so many yards as the forsythia start to bloom. When full sunlight hits them they seem to glow.

I should establish a small forsythia if only to be able to take cuttings during the winter. Bring the cuttings inside, stick them in water and soon you have them coming to life on your table. It's winter magic.

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 12:21 PM (yTvNw)

31 {{{AZ deplorable moron}}}

Hugs to you and your better half!

Posted by: Emmie celebrates the Audacity of Trump! at March 22, 2025 12:21 PM (Sf2cq)

32 Thank you from us both!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 12:23 PM (Ut78G)

33 Hey bluebell, I saw some bluebells blooming yesterday.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at March 22, 2025 12:24 PM (dg+HA)

34 KT! What's up with the 'back in the hospital' thing? I was hoping you were done with that experience. Best wishes for great test results so you can get back to 'keepin' on keepin' on' ...
Posted by: Dr_No at March 22, 2025 12:18 PM (ayRl+)

Get better, KT.

We don't want you (or anyone else) to get on the frequent patient card - 6 admissions and your next one free.

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 22, 2025 12:27 PM (VNX3d)

35 It got to the low 70s for a day this week and thought I would check out the containers in the yard, maybe clean them out. Not a chance, just blocks of wet, frozen dirt. Will try again in a week or two. Not doing seedlings this year, just nursery started plants, so there is time.

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 12:31 PM (yTvNw)

36 I have caliche soil but a ton of oak leaves and a good bit of deer poop as well as baby duck bedding (pine wood shavings, duck pee and poop) Anyone have any suggestions for trees that will grow well in hard weather (low in the zeros, high in the hundreds, very little rain but I can water regularly)

Posted by: PITA soil at March 22, 2025 12:37 PM (scCRd)

37 34: I know. You go in for one thing and they find other things to work on or explore.

And prayers for AZ deplorable moron.

Posted by: KT at March 22, 2025 12:38 PM (LXlRM)

38 And prayers for AZ deplorable moron.
Posted by: KT

Back at you!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 12:38 PM (DfCet)

39 PITA soil, you might consider catalpa or its cousin, desert willow, depending on what suits your purposes. Maybe even something from the poplar/cottonwood family. Possibly an evergreen like a pine or spruce?

Posted by: Emmie celebrates the Audacity of Trump! at March 22, 2025 12:41 PM (Sf2cq)

40 Love all the forsythia talk. Don't forget that there are several varieties.
You don't need to settle for the first one you see on the nursery shelf.

Posted by: KT at March 22, 2025 12:43 PM (1+epL)

41 Mulberries. It's hard to kill them.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 22, 2025 12:47 PM (cvWHI)

42 Mulberries: investigate types carefully.

Posted by: KT at March 22, 2025 12:55 PM (1+epL)

43 The grocery stores always have some cut flowers and small potted plants. This month I noticed one selling small pussy willow plants. First time I've noticed that. They look really cool. I don't usually use a word like 'adorable' for a shrub but these might qualify. I should learn more about them for our area since a I have a vague notion that they are beneficial for certain bees and butterflies.

Posted by: JTB at March 22, 2025 01:01 PM (yTvNw)

44 Arthur's amaryllis won't come up until May, and only then for a week or two.
The flower that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very very brightly, my little bloom.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 22, 2025 01:03 PM (l+HyW)

45 We had a great old mulberry tree in the neighborhood as kids. It was a neat little place to sit up in the branches and pick berries. We learned how to pick ripe berries. Being a chubby little five year old I didn't mind eating sweet berries, some with tiny yellow bugs. After giving this some thought now at age seventy two I think this may have been the source of the itchy pin worms in my coolie back then. heh heh

Posted by: I'm Gumby Damn It! at March 22, 2025 01:03 PM (37aB+)

46 I have caliche soil but a ton of oak leaves and a good bit of deer poop as well as baby duck bedding (pine wood shavings, duck pee and poop) Anyone have any suggestions for trees that will grow well in hard weather (low in the zeros, high in the hundreds, very little rain but I can water regularly)
Posted by: PITA soil

What zone?

Posted by: MkY at March 22, 2025 01:04 PM (cPGH3)

47 O well time to turn the soil I guess to prep the little veggie garden. was surprised last season at the production of my cuke vines. wow cranked out many dills...

Posted by: I'm Gumby Damn It! at March 22, 2025 01:06 PM (37aB+)

48 Our native (Mo) mulberry is the red. Most often one sees the white, which is the silkworm tree, and generally a mess.

Posted by: MkY at March 22, 2025 01:06 PM (cPGH3)

49 Gotta go, but PITA, check your state's extension service.
Chinese pistache grows in Witchita, which is pretty damned dry.

Posted by: MkY at March 22, 2025 01:11 PM (cPGH3)

50 Get well soon, KT!

Posted by: MkY at March 22, 2025 01:24 PM (+Pp+Q)

51 Congrats to Weasel on the win, place and show!

KT and Az deplorable moron, here is wishing you both a return to good health.

I need to divide a hosta that has completely exceeded the space that I originally planted it in. It is just a big mound right now, is this a good time to divide it up? I am not sure that the location where I want to plant half of it is fully
thawed out yet.

MisHum working overtime today!

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at March 22, 2025 01:25 PM (0nHVk)

52

Massachusetts joined other shithole states such as NJ & NY and banned the sale/purchase of Temprid last year, so I have to go to New Hampshire to buy it.

Temprid is excellent insecticide. Well worth the drive up the road.

Posted by: Soothsayer at March 22, 2025 01:26 PM (nEBJe)

53 This was Willowed in the previous thread, but deserves to be seen far and wide :

163 Oz curricula:

Studies in Midgets with Doll Fetishes 201 - "Throw another shrimp on the Barbie"

Posted by: muldoon at March 22, 2025 11:58 AM (/iMjX)

Posted by: The Anti-Willow at March 22, 2025 01:32 PM (Yt3ED)

54 I can see the Sierras today. Snow on them too cloudy yesterday. Still pretty cold at night for California.

Posted by: KT at March 22, 2025 01:32 PM (1+epL)

55 A couple patches of daffodils have been blooming for a week, the ones by the house need another week. Bluebells and irises are up, peonies should be up soon. No asparagus popping through yet. Grass is greening up and trees just starting to show their leaves.

Must be Spring.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 22, 2025 01:36 PM (Cus5s)

56 I had to look up caliche. Now I wonder how an oak tree was able to grow in it. The first few hits with the web search were all for very southern SW areas so might not work were it gets down to zero once in a while in the winter.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 22, 2025 01:39 PM (bP/i4)

57 "Anyone have any suggestions for trees that will grow well in hard weather (low in the zeros, high in the hundreds, very little rain but I can water regularly)"

You could drive around your area and see what has done well. Your local nursery probably has some good ideas as well. Issue for me is deer eating down many varieties ... have to strongly fence the trees in for at least a few years.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 22, 2025 01:46 PM (Cus5s)

58 Our town is mostly recovered from the tornado that swept through here a week ago. A large number of trees were blown down, particularly evergreens, as they have very shallow root systems.

By some miracle, my own backyard was untouched by the storm. However, a tree in my front yard has a sizable limb caught up in the branches. At first, I though it had been blown in from somewhere else as I didn't see a break. However, it turned out that a large limb high up in the tree broke off and fell into the rest of the branches. Doesn't pose a danger to my house, but I'll need to remove it eventually.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 22, 2025 01:54 PM (cweKM)

59 I just got back from a 60-mile round trip to pick up 9 yards of manure for 'Ol Whatersname. She's now distributing it from the trailer to various flower beds and garden patches.

Posted by: Bert G at March 22, 2025 01:56 PM (VARTN)

60 I've got a race against time brewing......
2" snow today, mid 60's next week. April 1 is my date for starting tomatoes, pepper and cabbage in the grow tents.

Have to clean up the tents, wash out the pots, fill with medium, sew seeds and then set grow lights and heaters.

I'm about to graduate off of cane after hip replacement and hope I'm up to that amount of activity by next weekend.

That would be week four after surgery. Not bad, yay me. My schedule was nearly perfect timing for gardening!

Posted by: Derak at March 22, 2025 02:06 PM (CzgmU)

61 Lilacs are almost indestructable. At least mine have survived my neglect. Have the yard about 50% surrounded with them, all off the same mother stock. There are a couple of areas that grow out under my fence so I take a flathead shovel and sheer the roots out. Dig another hole, throw the bundle in and Presto I have another Lilac bush. My original ones are almost 12 feet tall and over 30 years old. Should be blooming soon.
Someday I'll have the whole yard surrounded.

Posted by: Reforger at March 22, 2025 02:13 PM (xcIvR)

62 I'm not sure about the trees in my front yard. I think they are ash. They have reddish leaves in the fall and red berries. Those seem hardy too.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 22, 2025 02:13 PM (cvWHI)

63 I can see the Sierras today. Snow on them too cloudy yesterday. Still pretty cold at night for California.
Posted by: KT

Such good memories of those mountain views!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 02:22 PM (OQ4/y)

64 Sowing, not sewing.

Posted by: look whats not at March 22, 2025 02:23 PM (nakGR)

65 Sowing, not sewing.
Posted by: look whats not

Sow while you sew!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 22, 2025 02:26 PM (OQ4/y)

66 Sew the wind, quilt the whirlwind.

Posted by: mikeski at March 22, 2025 02:40 PM (DgGvY)

67 +1 for lilacs being immune to winter. I'm allergic to them. Living in MN doesn't help.

Posted by: mikeski at March 22, 2025 02:41 PM (DgGvY)

68 Good afternoon Greenthumbs
The weekend is here

Posted by: Skip at March 22, 2025 02:42 PM (fwDg9)

69 Worked a funeral at our church this morning, and helped a husband clean up an aluminum cake pan that his wife wanted to use for plants. Can you tell that I go to a Dutch church?

Posted by: pookysgirl can finally contribute to the Gardening Thread at March 22, 2025 02:45 PM (Wt5PA)

70 NOOD

PETS!

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at March 22, 2025 02:50 PM (Vqx30)

71 From Boise area: Lows 28-39 F, highs 45-63. A little rain. This coming week predicted to be rather warm.

Spent the day at the gun range with one of our students, and some folks from eastern Idaho, who will all be going to a national competition this summer - exciting!

We had a pine tree taken out and a maple trimmed back, by professionals, this week. Crocuses have flopped, first few hyacinths blooming, tulip leaves 4-5 inches tall, daffodils just coming up. We started cutting down more of the invasive rose hedge out back.

I haven't yet planted any seeds outdoors but that will certainly happen this week. I shared seeds with my neighbor and his cute kids - red, yellow, and purple carrots.

We visited our Humane Society to check out their barn cats, and chose two that we'll pick up this next week. Now we're busy buying all the items we'll need, and Husband will be building them a shelter (since our barn itself is not suitable for cats). If anyone has advice, please put a note here and I'll be sure to read the Pet Thread to find your advice.

Posted by: Pat* at March 22, 2025 07:21 PM (0+4qO)

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