Carol, this is the scripture I read at my mother's gravesite :

Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:23-26

We're journeying toward that bright kingdom where God will wipe away every tear .

Thank you everyone!! After reading all of your messages I feel like I've had a long hug from each of you. I truly loved reading them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. <3 <3

Carol, when I didn't see your usual late night posts last night, I was worried about some sad news from you today. I'm late to comment, but I needed time to think about you and your family, and what you're facing. My hope is for an easy and peaceful final exit for your mother, and for you and your family, a peaceful acceptance of what is a sad, but most natural thing. Take care, dear friend. Diane

Thanks, Diane. I really appreciate you as a dear friend. I just heard that I should go and visit with her. She won't be going home. I'll respond when I get back. Much love to everyone here.

For you Carol. Safe travels and peace in your spirit

Kristine, Beautiful iris! Are they blooming now?

Roman, You will love your Vanilla Strawberry H-I have 3 VS Hydrangea bushes now planted tiday and a VS Hydrangea tree! They are very showy and bloom beginning summer to freezes in late fall!

69 F TODAY, but so warm I had T-shirt on:

I’m back after a few hours outing with Anastasia trip to MacDonalds, the store snd a walk-run around the block and garden w/ Anastasia. Then few hours gardening… Gardener came & shovel oruned 7 roses, a hosta, & few plants to clear back of bed next to front porch and he laid down 6 bags of my Espoma soil there.

IT STARTED RAINING ………..& My Vanilla Strawberry hydrangeas arrived-I actually ordered 3 of them! So I planted them IN THE SPRINKLE RAIN…..with boxwood inbetween all along porch back of bed. Some roses/bulbs left there in front of bed.

Front bed finished! For now anyway! Lol!

I am ordering one more Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea to put on other side of porch bed-to finish and a few boxwoods. . (Moving few plants around on that side.)

And I finished pruning roses IN RAIN-I had one left! Lol! I pruned south side home roses last fall & they were about 2 1/2 feet and I never pruned them this spring-they just leafed out and look good! I only pruned 5 them & left the rest alone this spring. .

Then in home I potted my 3 sm. pink pots of tuberoses-pink & white under griw lights!

Berry, look at my La France carnations, below pot -1 week growth under grow lamps! (Bachelor Buttons are the bigger leaves in pot below…)

Next M/T Gardening project:

Now I have 6 hydrangeas on yards to prune left. Next week I may finish. Gardener will help remove 5 more roses & I am moving a few ROS & butterfly bush around in beds. He will help me clean other side porch bed.

My last 2 dahlias coming in mail now…. and other roses…. plants shipping….The Gardening SAGA goes on & on…..more olans… Yikes Yikes! 🤪🥀😇 Is it ever finished?

Picked up 8 wax begonia plants today.... $4 total so not bad...

There was to many plants blooming and a bit overwhelming...lol...So will go back down soon when I'm not in so much of a hurry...lol

Jim, Pretty potted begonias! Potting is fun!

Diane, My fav rose photo above is ascot! It is similar to my Autumn Rouge. We will see hiwcAutumn Rouge blooms-it’s such a baby now. Love those wine colors!

Oh Kitty, what a joy! I am all for a sprinkle gardening party. Your porch layout sounds absolutely lovely- I cannot wait for all of my hydrangeas to bloom. Starts around end of June for us- right around the corner! I planted 4 castle spire Holly’s yesterday before realizing they’re hardy up to zone 7………. Not sure where my mind has decided to run off to but I’m hoping they’ll be fine in their spot. A little experiment. My lemony lace elderberry has thrived despite being hardy up to zone 7. We shall see what some TLC will do.

We had a bit of rain today as well which was wonderful considering I’m still kicking this bronchitis. It seems Mother Nature is helping a sister out as I have no irrigation system installed. That’s on my list of projects to accomplish. Sigh.

Jim, $4 for 8!! That’s a steal. I love finding good nursery prices but it is dangerous for me. If I could I would take all of the plants. And stray cats. I’ll take them all. Lol

Bring Me Sunshine

Saw a Tarantula Hawk Wasp twice today and it terrifies me. When the coast is clear and the sun goes down a bit more I’ll take more pics.

Only issue I have had with it is some powdery mildew.

AllSass, gorgeous Bring Me Sunshine. I'm surprised in your climate (pretty dry?) that this rose gets powdery mildew. I've been debating about BMS versus Golden Zest, which has a very similar look. Ben, if you're reading this, can you post a few pics of GZ on this thread? And I'd like to see more photos of your BMS All Sass when you have time and horrid insects aren't gliding around.

It doesn't take a lot to poop a geezer like me out, but I did plant all my lovely snap plants from Elaine this afternoon. It was miserable outside with icy breeze and not warm at all. The sprinklers are all set up and I need to run them again.

Kristine, my iris are blooming, too, and I need to take a current photo. All I've got are old photos. Yours are great beauties with such delicate coloring. I wish these flowers lasted longer.

My alyssum is not only coming up from direct seeding a couple of weeks ago, it's blooming in one bed. I'm happy about that. The white seems to bloom earlier and better than the purple alyssum. I'm sure white is the default color of alyssum.

I have orlaya, lots of orlaya, probably too much orlaya. But I love it. Thank you, Lisa. What I'm wanting now is Diascia Apricot Queen, hardy to only zone 9 or so, and Totally Tangerine Geum. I'm on an orange/apricot kick.

Jim, you are the last of the big spenders. I don't think I've ever escaped from a garden center or nursery only spending $4. But what a bargain for such nice plants.

Kitty, I can't keep up with you. It sounds like your weather is nice and warm, but you're having rain. I've got a lot of poppies getting ready to grow up from large bases of leaves. They'll be blooming soon. Thanks about Ascot. When I looked at Longago Roses' Ascot auction on eBay about eleven this morning, the bid was up to $64 and it had over four days to go. This is an own root Ascot. Mine are both grafted, and I've grown them since 2012. They came from Palatine. Diane

Ascot in front.

A favorite photo I've shown many times. Ascot growing out over the slope in back.

Allsass,

Gorgeous Bring Me Sunshine & she is sooooo golden! Colorful golden like DA photos! Myst be it colors golden in bright CA sun? Hamilton on you tube says his rose inn UK weather is straight yellow-pretty , too. What are your temperatures with Golden blooms now? And I looked i to that T-Wasp-Oh, My goodness! What’s your location? San Diego? Where are you near taran!ulas? I lived in LA , Arcadia & near Porter Ranch close to foothills-no tarantulas! Yay! Only roaches, Lol!

Diane, Wowza, Plenty of Ascot blooms! What a beauty! $64 Ebay-& 4 days left-too stiff for me, Lol! And I am tossing roses-down sizing! Lol! I gave my roses 12 roses!

But I just counted about 28 new roses on my porch & few new potted sitting on bed-to plant after they grow a month or so. 🤪🤪🥀🤪🤪🥀😊😇

You have blooming iris NOW!!!!! Oh, My, your garden is taking off! Warm wratger for you!!! It’s cool hearing your Orlaya & Alyssum are seedlings! Love to see photos!

My iris are 2-5 inches baby tall leaves, Lol! My spring is still cool! My Japanese 3 potted iris are ”loving this rainy weather!—-/ just their type of weather! Lol! (Roses are ok so far-but not loving rain!) This cool spring is good for my growing hyacinth, tulips and blooming , ranunculus bulbs, and daffodils! And fertilized grass is filling out-super green-tall-loving rain-2nd mowing soon.

My roses from Rogue Valley arrived today, just when they said that they would lol

Jeri Jennings left ( ignore my Croc l) and Ellen Tofflemire on right.

Prepped the beds for zinnia seeds and planted my purple Rose Of Sharon. Great day( even cleaned bathrooms ha ha )

Kitty, Iris photo from last year. I know, I know I need to show new photos, but they're in the camera and I haven't set up my 2024 computer photo album. Violets blooming all over the place. What a weed. Soon, I'll have Lily of the Valley blooming. And no, our weather isn't very warm right now. I'm glad I don't have to plant 28+ roses. Gaaaah. Diane

Carol, I just now saw the sad news you posted about your mother. I’m so sorry! My thoughts are with you. I hope you get to spend some sweet quality time together before she leaves you.

Sorry for the delay! I didn’t see that scary wasp for a couple hours so I ran outside and took a few more pics then had to make dinner.

Bring Me Sunshine (evening edition 😍)

Diane, I’m coastal and not only do I get powdery mildew but I also get black spot as well. Neither are very serious problems. I have noticed when I see black spot on a rose, you can bet it was preceded by rust. Not all of my roses that get rust get black spot and most of them do not suffer from any diseases.

It’s pretty humid here tbh, only gets dry in the Fall and Winter, but if dry you mean the amount of rainfall and it only being seasonal, then yes it is dry but it just rained last Wednesday and also will be overcast half the day until June/July. I think you should get it. All of your Austins are stunning and I can’t imagine this one being any different.

Kitty, isnt it terrifying! I had no idea they existed until this morning! I asked the same question about terantulas. I’ve never seen one in my life and that is what worried me more than the wasp. I asked a friend in AZ about them and she said they get one every year but do not have tarantulas. They’re solitary thank goodness! We’ve been in the mid 70’s It has been foggy the last few mornings. I can’t remember the last time it was over 80 tbh but that rose is in full sun, sun up to sun down.

It’s very pretty, has hints of apricot, it reminds me of Roald Dahl but toned down and more dimensional.. The outer petals are cream with a slight yellow hue in them. It’s definitely not yellow like my Golden Celebration or my Molineux but maybe that’s because it’s newly planted? It‘s wide too so it will need room. Thankfully I gave it plenty of room since I didn’t have much to go on. Roses get a lot larger in California than in the UK and I can tell it’s gonna be a husky one. No clue what the scent is like. I didn’t detect one while taking the pics and was anxious to get out of there. That wasp was near there when I saw it both times today 😬

AllSass, is this your scary thing? If so, I saw Hummingbird Hawk Moths for the first time last year... incredible! At first, my DH and I thought it was a weird hummer, but then it obviously wasn't! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingidae#:~:text=The%20Sphingidae%20are%20a%20family,are%20found%20in%20every%20region.

Susan, here's one of those moths you mention. We get them from time to time, but when I grew a lot of petunias, we really got them. This one is on a nasturtium flower.

AllSass, thank you for more photos of your Bring Me Sunshine. I love the color and bloom structure. My Golden Celebration is golden not what I'd call a yellow like Julia Child. Your BMS has a lot of deep apricot in its center, which I really like. In my salad days, I lived in Redondo Beach and several cities farther north, among them San Jose, which I always thought would be an ideal climate for roses. Please keep those photos coming. Diane

Allsass, Yours is the prettiest BMS I’ve seen! I love a lot of mulidimensional color with the lighter outer, golden inner and hint of apricot! gorgeous! I’ve had Tarantula Hawk Moths too. Ive read they have one of the most painful stings there are. I planted native zizotes milkweed for monarchs and that wasp apparently will get nectar off of it. Of course the Monarchs prefer other plants- so go figure.

I love the bearded Iris photos. My grandmother has some planted in her garden and I fell in love with hers. I want some for next season in my garden.

Speaking of hawk moths, just got this on Friday!

Wow, Magpie so pretty. We got into having a butterfly garden after seeing polyphemous moths on some of my knockouts. They were huge and so cool. I had Carolina Jessamine at one point and we would have those Hummingbird Hawkmoths every evening for a while.

Nice tattoo Magpie! :-)

Nanadoll, last of the big spenders remark made me laugh...lol....I just have lots of will power...lol...

Magpie, spectacular and so original to have a moth tattoo instead of the usual butterfly. When we lived in Tonasket on a pristine mountain, the insect life grew so big it looked prehistoric. The side of the farmhouse with a porchlight was covered with large beautiful moths, they were astonishing. The big white furry moths are my favorite.

I hope my nasturtiums will draw some hummer customers .

Salmon Baby nasturtium I ordered , last year all my baby plants died and my gardening confidence is a little shaken . I'm going to plant these in a protected pot.

Berry, that beautiful nasturtium looks like a tropical hibiscus. Love it. In the past, I've found some of the more tropical and light colored nasturtiums tend to have less vigor than the tried and true. And only one long trailing type measures up to my standards. They seem like easy plants to grow, but sometimes not. I grow my big trailing nasturtium in a pot and set in in a plant stand. It's protected and the cascading leaves are more showy. One downside with using a plant stand is our awful wind usually tips the stand over about twice a season, though it's sitting on the raised deck next to the house. Don't give up on this beauty. I think I'll plant my pretty orange snapdragon seeds in planter boxes for protection. Diane

Diane,

We are starting comminuty garden on my work campus with deer! We are near woods and lake. The deer are on campus every day! A person bought tomatoe plants, swuash and green beans which I think deer will love.

Can you share your deer repellent recipe with me to soray weekly? or soray after every rain?

One recope is just tobasco sauce and veg. oil oil-will it work?

Thx, Kitty

Kitty, I use a repellent I buy on Amazon, and it's the highest rated among the many they sell. For years I've used Deer Out in 32 oz concentrate, which you dilute with water. Then I use a small pump sprayer (not attached to a hose or anything), and start spraying, primarily the roses in back. This sfuff works pretty well, and I've tried a lot of repellents and soap, cat pee balls, you name it. Rotten eggs is the primary ingredient of all deer repellents, and Deer Out also contains oil of peppermint, and oil of white pepper. It smells, but the peppermint oil helps cover the smell, and the deer don't like it. This is organic and I also spray it on my tomato plants, and it would work on any plant. I've never had a problem with taste on tomatoes, and the scent dissipates quickly. Roses keep their scent fine. You really need one of those wire cages big enough to hold humans which you can enter through a wire door. Diane

Susan, I wish it was a moth but it was clearly a wasp. I do get those sphinx moths, they love the Gaura. I didn’t see ithe wasp today but I did have a nightmare about it last night!

Diane, here’s day 2 of BMS

It does have a beautiful scent. I’m terrible at describing them but I could detect tea and a sweet, kind of a citrusy perfume scent. whatever it is it smells good!

Diane, such a spectacular pic of the hawk moth on your nasturtium! I tried to get a pic when they were here last year without success... I hope they come back this year. And Magpie, that looks like the same guy on your arm! AllSass, yeah upon reading further posts, I figured we were talking about different critters, since you mentioned stings :-D

Echo, I've only seen a Polyphemus Moth once, and it felt luckier than seeing a shooting star, I was so happy. What a beauty they are in this world. I'm covered in tattoos of flowers and creatures, I can't help myself! Maybe I need a Polyphemus Moth tattoo as well lol. I also have bees, a sheep, a fox, a rabbit, 3 magpies, a lizard, and a raven.

Magpie, I saw this on IG and thought it was so cool, nature inspired. Apparently Rose is a polyphemous moth host plant. My butterfly garden started after my daughter found the polyphemous moth. it sparked our interest in host plants. We have varieties of milkweed for the monarchs, passion vine for the gulf fritillary and variegated fritillary butterflies, rue for black swallowtails and giant swallowtails. I tried planting a wild cherry tree for tiger swallowtails but it died. Tried planting dutchmans pipe vine for pipevine swallowtails but my seeds didnt take. I think at last count we had 53 types of butterflies and skippers visit our garden. The most exciting for me was a Mexican Silverspot butterfly which was outside of its normal habitat (too far north). lots and lots of running outside insanely with a camera and ID’ing on iNaturalist. What seems to bring the most butterflies are lantanas, zinnias, and butterfly bush in my garden, despite the many native plants we have. The hardcore native plants purists would have you believe otherwise. I find most of my native plants bring a TON of bees.

since we are on a rose forum I will also post the bloom of the day: My Grand Dame from Heirloom roses finally bloomed. Love the scent.

Well I am amazed at the fragrance of ‘At Last’ …. Also impressed with the next flush of flowers despite all being blown by from the rain. I have decided to give her a chance. Most of the blooms start out a beautiful peach shade and fade to a pale yellow.

So lovely Romans. gorgeous color

Allsass, your BMS almost has a Juliet appearance to me when Juliet looks orange versus sometimes that cream pink look . If i had a promise mine would exactly like your BMS I would have ordered it yesterday 😜

AllSaas, GORGEOUS BMS rose! Golden Dream! Bring On to Me those Sunshine photos! Hee, Her! Love seeing her oerform! Mibe is bareroot, soaking…. just a stubby bare root now-Lol! Someday for me-gorgeous , too!

Ok, researching yesterday Magnolias & Cafe Latte rose! I have been wating a Nagnolia for many years !!!! I had one 30 years ago in CA! So I ordered for front yard-the pink small Jane Magnolia tree (10-13 feet will grow only!) To put on side front yard by fence.

Jane Magnolia Tree, Pixie Gardens

And decided it time to add a ”coffe rose,” So I ordered…

Cafe Latte rose, Kate Roses photo

Vintage mauve color

Diane, What type of magnolia do you have?

GRACE ROSE FARM SHIPPING!!!!!!!

And Grace Rose Farm shipping niw my 4 roses and ROUGE ROYAL!!!! Woohoo!!!!!

Diane, Thank you! I will order your deer repell.! Great! Love hearing it works!

Kitty, good luck with the stuff. It's not 100 per cent effective because only high fences and cages have that kind of effectiveness. I checked out cages for you, and there are a zillion types on Amazon and other online sellers. The sizes and prices range from modest to expensive. I still haven't heard from Greedy Grace. I'm so disheartened by all the problems with sketchy online sellers that I hope to never read about Grace again. But, of course, I get a promotional mailing from them everyday. Today was about new stock they had and I noticed prices were lower. Remember, until you have those four roses in your little hands, it's all pie in the sky.....We've had our magnolia for about 20 years, and I don't know its name. It looks a lot like the first pic above you show. Of course, you didn't get the icky weather, and cold in California the way we do, so every year our magnolia has lots of brown mixed with the pink. I hate that. This year it had a tremendous number of buds and about three fourths of them ended up partially brown. Be careful in your climate about magnolias.

AllSass, thank you for more gorgeous photos of Bring Me Sunshine. I had convinced myself I wanted a Golden Zest instead (check out Ben's GZ and pics on HMF) and I'm on a J&P waiting list for this very hard to find rose. But your BMS is so beautiful, I may have to have one, probably next year. In a few days, I pick up my 5 gallon Angel Face from Edwards. It's my second one, and I love this classic rose, and its scent, too. Diane

Angel Face with Friend and neighbor Young Lycidas

86 degrees F here today again...Tomorrow will be the 80's...THEN a funny thing happens

Saturday the high will only be 58 degrees.. F....lol ...Then we bounce up and down like a yo yo with temps for awhile with lots of rain showers... Usually by June 1, it stays more steady...

Enjoying all the photos! :-)

Jim, we're doing the yo yo thing, though we haven't had nearly as hot temps as you have. Now we're going to have rain, which is not frequent in May, usually. Still, I'm happy with they way things are looking and growing. I'm beginning to think Pennsylvania has become part of the Hawaiian Islands--86! Nanadoll

LOL Nanadoll... me too...lol

I read in that other thread you hardly have insect problems or disease on roses...Wonder why that is??? It so bad here in PA that I thought of building a plastic bubble over my property...lol

Diane,

Have fun shopping & picking up the fabulous Angel Face! Must be fun to just go pick-up a rose you really wanted. No place for me to do that-I must order. Edwards will be a blast! Bet you will come hime with a big haul!

Thank you, again! They are planning to build a fence , to keep deer out, for the larger community garden at my job campus and refurbish a sm greenhouse. . For the ladies’ flower beds beside their home, I will spray the tomatoes, squash, petunias, & beans for deer. They already bought these olants & I will order the deer spray for them. The petunias are sitting outside-wonder if the deer will eat them before I get a spray? Oops! Lol! I am taking ladies shopping for flowers tomorrow & ordering Magenta Chiffon 2 ROS that they picked out! They have new beds with a few flowers-so we need to water w/ hose daily now!

76F tomorrow-it is warm spring now! Veryvsunny!

Sorry about your Magnolia, but at least you see it bloom a little. I watch every spring many neighbors have Magnolias here. They seem to do well! Yheyvare soooo oretty now!

And the Kwanzan Cherry trees are now blooming in the community, the giants if cherry trees, & my Kwanzan, too! My K tree is about 20 ft tall, 4years old-it’s headed to be taller than my home maybe in 10 years, Lol! They can be 40+ft. . My home is 3 stories, not counting basement. K tree reaches 2nd story now. Maybe trim in fall. Cherry blossom photos tomorrow!

Jim, That’s ” WACHO WEATHER!” My ranunculus would not like it, Lol! You have chosen olants wisely to weather those temps! I can’t have 86F now-it would do me in! I am just starting spring planting time! Btw Btw, Loved your photos of Gracie & friend! Oh Oh, Idaho is a dry desertt and you & I have a humid climate. Bugs love our humidity beat the ocean! We have more bugs attracted to this humidity than anywhete I have lived. CA & Idaho being dry, may have kess bugs. But we each have bugs to deal with! Roaches & tarantulas in deserty CA near San Diego and not sure what bugs Diane gets? No mosquitos in Los Angelos-vlear bug free skies at night. Our summer evenings-watch out for mosquitos and all sorts of bugs!!!!! I dont stay outside in our summer evenings in NY! Ouch!

DREAMING……

I think I will dream of bathing in the shade of my Magnolia! And sipping my Caramel Frappe while looking at my new Cafe Latte rose! Awwwwww….(Spray the garden w/ dish soao & almost no bugs for a day.) And eating home-made Strawberry Shortcake wearing my southern sun hat! Niceeeeeeee! And don’t forget the southern bell sun-dress! One afternoon I can be a ”Southern Bell!” under my Magnolia tree, ( in NY, ) Lol!

Jim, as Kitty wrote, this is a semiarid desert, and normally it's pretty dry all year. This year has been an extra wet year, and the plants love it. Remember that irrigation is required here because of lack of rainfall, and that is a downside, and I have already started irrigating with the drip system. Our rain is not the kind of big rain that occurs in so many other areas. But it hasn't been especially warm here this spring, which is pretty normal. It will suddenly heat up, and last summer stayed between 95-100+ for months without a speck of rain. Haha about the plastic bubble, which you would bake in if you had our summer temps. In general, the Northeast US is black spot country (too dry here).

Kitty, no roaches (yech) here in Idaho, but I remember them in certain places in California, the worst being in graduate student housing at Stanford. Awful. I made the housing office bring in the exterminators to spray for roaches, but every unit had them, so it was hopeless. No tarantulas here that I know of. Zilch for mosquitos, which don't like me much, anyway. Skeeters are in town, though. We have two crabapples that are huge, and one smaller one. But no cherry trees. I don't think deer like petunias, so I wouldn't spray them because it might ruin those wimpy petunia blooms. See what happens. There are many plants deer hate, so I like to grow those, but roses are by far the deer's favorite, naturally. I don't think deer care for Rose of Sharon. Wait and see on that. Deer hate boxwood, lavender, and plants like salvia and Russian sage. They hate penstemon, and don't like snaps, either, or hardy geraniums (cranesbill, brunnera, Jupiter's Beard, coneflower, and rudbeckia. Lots more they hate. They do like some veggies and always left teeth marks in my pumpkins in a futile attempt to munch on punkns. Diane

Oh my gosh. So many of my roses that are newer to me (2 years and 3 years old) are forming buds and this will be the first time ever that I'll be seeing the blooms on them. I'm so excited but also so worried that the buds will never become blooms. Last year I should have seen many of these blooms for the first time but they were either prevented from forming or growing due to hail, or eaten before they even fully opened by squirrels who have finally discovered my garden. So hopefully this year! Such a mixture of anxiety and hope over it all!

These roses include: Himmelsauge, Isabella Skinner, Henri Fouquier, Hippolyte, Paul Ricault, Alchemist, William Lobb, Indigo, Ruby Voodoo.

Diane,

I love crab apples blooms! ! My CA grew bent over so I had it removed ladt fall. Neihbors have ine- they are soooooo beautiful! Is your CA blooming? I may need to get another in future.

Yes! The deer love a beautiful garden platter of veggies! Soray time! They love oansies, too! So I will spray! I chose ROS & many of the plants you suggest for the home garden bed-so deer will leave them alone, also! I am told that even with a fence the chipmunks & squirrels will eat the veggies in the community garden. Maybe cages is a good idea! Thank you!

Magpie,

Soooooo exciting! Your new roses will bloom! I am especially excited anout Indigo! Yhe others sound wonderful, too! Can’t wait to see it bloom!

A stroll in the garden…..bulbs are being tainted by sun…. but still blooming….76F today!

My Kwanzan Cherry tree, My fav!

It is only 2 stories tall-that photo shows attic, but tree is not that tall yet.

Winchester Daffs
My fav because they smell like gardenia!

Japanese Iris sprouted, 3 pots-looks good!

Ranunculus, I grew from corms

Tulips

Apple Blossoms

Kitty, Oh that cherry tree is simply stunning, and has grown so large in such a short time. I love the Winchester daffodils, too. Really unusual. Those typos about the iris are pretty challenging--haha. Or maybe you were really calling them poop. Our winds seem to destroy the blooms on our ornamental trees so quickly. The crabapple I like lease lasts about an hour, then drops everything which collects in damp piles in all my front flower beds. Then for the third time, I have to go out and clean up the blasted beds. Our yard is just too small for so many trees that get big I think your more gentle weather is great for flowering trees.....Back to the community garden where you work. I've read that you need to sink fence protection some to keep out the burrowing pests. That could be a lot of work. I wonder if the deer repellent would keep away squirrels. I know there are squirrel repellents out there, but have never had a squirrel problem. Powdered garlic sprinkled on plants rabbits are after does work some. I've used it. It's cheap, and easy to use, and might work on veggies, too.

How wonderful to see those buds, Magpie. Do you think squirrel repellent would work to protect them? I think I remember you telling us about the hail storm. I'm sure that was totally random and won't occur again this year. At least not at the crucial bud time. Diane

Diane, Ha Ha, ha ha, ha ha, ha ha, haaaaaaaa…. I corrected asap…. but Houzz has it’s own spelling for Japanese Iris!!! Lol! Thank you about my Kwanzan-She’s a beauty & tall! Garlic powder sounds good, too! I think I’ll try it today and spray eventually, too too, the home bed zi wotk in. When they dig the community garden-we will see what we all do to fix the deer & pests!!! We have ground hogs, too! Campus is next to woods & lake-gorgeous view! Wonder what other animals are in there? Hee, hee! The dafgs are unusual to me…, I olants along ”all my beds front, back back, side ysrds…, they bloom the latest when other faffs are done.

Diane, I was contemplating squirrel deterrent all yesterday morning. I'm not sure what I'll do just yet. A big issue is that there are large cottonwood trees right outside my property and a long fence line that I share with a neighbor where the squirrels love to dart along and sample all the rose blooms reachable from it on my side. Last year several of the clematis along that same fence had bites taken out of the buds as they formed so the blooms only had half the petals! 😒 I'll be observing closely this year and considering how to proceed. If blooms need to be cut to be enjoyed inside for a while, so be it, I'd prefer they stayed on the bush outside but if they get eaten the morning they open, what good is leaving them outside anyway. It's one thing to lose a few blooms here and there, and quite another to lose them all as they open every morning. I know you know the feeling (with deer).

Spring photo, I do love my pulmonaria.

Lady of Shalott

Lady of Shalott

Darcy Bussel

Kristine, Your Darcy is really doing well! Beautiful plump full roseymosey-wine blooms! Yummy! My Darcy is leafing out-looks more full this year. Yout garden is in rosey full bloom! Woohoo! How are your dahlias now ? I received this mirning my ladt 2 ordered dahlias from Swan Island. Swan Island really does well-labeling-sending tubers w/ eyes eyes, has a guarantee & grow booklet! They stamp tubercw/ name then give you plastic labels to use when potted-impressed w/ them them! I potted my 2 tubers quck this mirning & popped them under kitchen grow lights.

Carol, If you are there….. Romance Gardens uis shipping my 3 fushia today! Woohoo! Will you receive your fushia soon, too? And my Magnolia tree will be delivered Sat-tomorrow! And 3 out of my 5 ordered rosrs from GRF are shipped: Bl Baccara, Rouge Royale, and Mother of Pearl. Yipee!

Thanks Nanadoll..... Remember baby band OSO Easy Double Red I planted just last June! Its big already and full of flower buds... :-) Hopefully Orange Dude follows like baby Oso...