Photo courtesy Neil Turner/Flickr

So what does yesterday’s late snowfall mean for your landscape?  In general, most plants will probably be fine.  The snowfall itself shouldn’t harm your plants unless the snow built up on trees and shrubs and broke branches.

Some flower buds on trees and shrubs may be killed, which might result in fewer blooms this spring.  That’s a concern for fruit trees, which would produce less fruit if too many flower buds die, but, for most trees, it just means we’ll see fewer flowers.

Any native perennials should be fine, since they are already adapted to our temperature extremes.  Take a look and make sure that root balls haven’t popped up, and if they have, gently push the plant back level with the surrounding soil.

For bulbs, the edges of foliage might turn brown and dry, but it probably won’t have any lasting effect on the plants, and it shouldn’t stop them from flowering.

I haven’t put any veggies in yet, but if you have, I hope you gave them some protection.  Those of you with a cold frame or some type of cover should be fine.

Will spring ever get here?  Temperatures are forecasted to warm up now, so I’m hoping we are finally about to get some spring around here!

Photo courtesy Dendroica cerulean/Flickr

I was out at my local home center stores yesterday, browsing through the garden centers, on the hunt for pansies to give to some children as Easter gifts tomorrow.  I wasn’t surprised to see how little they have yet in stock, given the cold weather we’ve had recently, and a lot of what was in stock was not all that healthy.  It was pretty obvious one store had just gotten in a shipment as the plants there looked very fresh and healthy, and the other had wisely moved a lot of it indoors to get the plants out of the cold.

The vegetable selection was what I expected for this time of year – not much, mostly cool weather stuff – a few perennials, a few shrubs.  Really, a much smaller selection than you would normally find for the end of March, but nothing that unusual, until I came across the display of impatiens and marigolds at one of the stores.  Really?  I know people want a jump on planting, but these things are out too early by a good month.

So, it’s a good time to remind all of us gardening-deprived folks to be smarter than the average home center when picking an appropriate time to purchase your plants.  I recall seeing tomatoes last year out about a month earlier than they should have been, too, and I wondered how many people just trust these stores to not offer plants at the wrong time of year, take one home and are back in a week or two for a replacement.

It’s one more good reason why I prefer frequenting my local nursery, which puts stuff out for sale at the right time for planting.  I guarantee you won’t find impatiens or marigolds for sale there until they will actually live in the ground without extraordinary effort.

You can find some good stuff at the home centers, but you better know what you’re buying. Just because it’s on the shelf doesn’t mean it should really be planted yet.

It was 23 degrees this morning when I walked my son to his bus stop.  I know I have become spoiled and it’s only the beginning of March, but I am READY FOR SPRING!

Signs are starting to pop up around our yard.  We have one snowdrop that has been blooming for the past three weeks, but other than that and one lone yellow crocus, nothing else is blooming yet.  There’s plenty up out of the ground, so it won’t be long now.

For the first time ever, I’ve had not one, but two, rosemary plants make it through the winter.  I didn’t take any rosemary inside this fall – just sort of forgot about it – so I’m really pleased to see the two plants survive.  Looks like some snapdragons made it through, too.

The tulip cutting bed I planted is starting to show life.  About a third of the bulbs are up and starting to grow, and the hardware cloth does look like it did the trick in keeping the squirrels out.  No signs it’s been tampered with at all.  I’ve got my fingers crossed, because I am really looking forward to cutting some bouquets of tulips for the house.  (See my blog posting on my tulip cutting garden for more info on this.)

The bird activity has picked up quite a bit lately too.  Yesterday, we watched three bluebirds eating from our inkberry bushes.  We had a great up-close view of them enjoying dinner.  If you couldn’t feel the temperature and just listened to the singing, you’d swear spring was here already.

I am itching to get outside and do some cleanup to prepare for planting.  Now if only the temperature would cooperate . . . did you hear there’s a 70% chance of snow on Wednesday?? Ugh.

Photo by Thinkstock.com

This time of year, landscapes often suffer from a case of the blahs. Winter can be the most difficult time of the year to make your yard look attractive.

This is a good time of year to assess your landscape for its winter appeal. Plan now to add color, texture and interest to next year’s winter landscape.

Read full article.