Will it ever be Hosta weather?

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 15, 2008 4:42 pm

Some of you are out fertilizing and watching for early blooms. This is what my major Hosta area looked like yesterday.

thy · Post by **thy** » Apr 15, 2008 7:38 pm

You live in a Danish house from the 60'...sorry but it sure loook like the ones here

Great houses by the way

Ann... to comfort you, I can om´nly say: Every year my hostas have had noses and even spikes before reldons showed they were alive

And every year his hostas have unfurled before mine

reldon and I joined this forum close to the same time... so I keep tracks

Crocus are lovely

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » Apr 16, 2008 8:51 am

Pia - stop hosta~stalking me!!

I have some hostas that are just breaking thru the soil, but most are still underground. The rains last weekend brought an end to my crocus that had been in bloom for a good 3 weeks. Early daffodils in a sunny spot have been blooming for at least 10 days now.

Hang in there, ViolaAnn!! The snow has to disappear eventually - right??

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » Apr 16, 2008 8:59 am

Just seeing snow is depressing now! Enough is enough!! Right? Hang in there, Viola Ann! Spring is on the way and will stick around for a while. I've got eyes poking out here and there too and that's always promising.

Post by **Chris_W** » Apr 16, 2008 10:18 am

Like you, right now the only thing blooming is crocus, but we haven't had any snow on the ground for a couple weeks now. And there is going to be a string of days around 70 degrees coming here, so it won't be long before we start to see eyes.

Don't worry, that snow won't last forever, and it is certainly better than having them come up too early

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » Apr 16, 2008 10:54 am

Horrors! I hope that goes away really soon.
The good thing about the cold spring is that my snowdrops stayed in bloom for at least 3 weeks this year, and the crocus have been out for a few days now. The scilla are showing up now, and soon I hope to see daffodils in bloom.
My first ones show up about 2 weeks after Redlons, so I'll be out there looking in a couple of days.
I walked around Monday afternoon and found a few hosta eyes just breaking the surface, and I covered them up a bit.
It went down into the 20's F Monday night.
I think spring is coming, but it looks like you'll have to wait just a little bit longer, Viola.
Linda P

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 16, 2008 8:31 pm

It was ALMOST shirt-sleeve weather today and it made a big difference in how much of my Hosta garden I can actually see. I bet by the end of the week most of MY snow will be gone. I'll still have some in the back yard on the north side of the house though and I'll have to look across the street where the piles of snow dwarfed mine and will stay much longer than even my back yard. Now have LOTS of crocuses blooming and by the weekend should have hundreds.

Ann

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » Apr 16, 2008 11:49 pm

Good news.

It was definitely shirt sleeve weather here this afternoon after the winds died down. 77 in mid afternoon. I worked out in the garden wearing a t-shirt [& jeans] after I got home from work.

baja220 · Post by **baja220** » Apr 17, 2008 7:52 am

Good to hear!!! I won't be too long now!

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 20, 2008 1:46 pm

Here are some crocus pics from yesterday. snow in the front yard is all gone now. Still have a wide ridge on the north side of the house, but it too gets smaller daily.

Unfortunately, it seemed a good idea to leave the oak leaves as a mulch when they fell. Guess I forgot about how these bulbs will pierce them. Have some of them collected now. Others will wait until the crocuses finish blooming.

MollyD · Post by **MollyD** » Apr 20, 2008 6:16 pm

I spotted Wolverine coming up today!

MollyD

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Apr 20, 2008 10:02 pm

While we had an unusually cold Friday and Saturday night, with some places on Vancouver Island with as much as 30 cm (2ft) of snow, the daytime temperatures were such that I actually dug up 7 Hostas at various stages of unfurling to wing their way East to a lucky gal in Harriston..... this included a sizeable S&S that I didn't want to ship completely unfurled for obvious reasons.

Thank goodness you guys back East are warming up, my Hostas had to suffer the indignation of wet snow Friday night, but none look any worse for wear....

Walnut grove · Post by **Walnut grove** » Apr 20, 2008 10:03 pm

OMG Ann, Glad to hear the temps are starting to improve. Hopefully your snow will be gone for good. Temps have been well above average here...87 degrees here yesterday, high 70's all week. My garden is really starting to pop. Eyes are starting to poke through everywhere. And it feels wonderful to be outside playing in the gardens. Hope your day comes real soon !

Elaine

MollyD · Post by **MollyD** » Apr 21, 2008 7:57 am

Ann I don't think the oak leaves will stop your bulbs. In fact they'll probably love those oak leaves!
My crocus came up and the rabbits promptly ate the leaves and flowers off

So I'm going to plant lots more daffodils since nothing will eat those

MollyD

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 21, 2008 9:35 am

The BULBS do come up right through the leaves. Not so sure about some of the hostas though and they provide good hiding space for slugs and look unsightly on top of my regular mulch. So I'll gather them and compost them in the pile with the others.

Sorry about losing your crocus. Around here, the big culprits are squirrels. I wouldn't mind if they'd EAT the buds, but the generally just chew them off and then decide they don't like them. But this year, for some reason, they've left the crocuses alone. Last year I lost about a third of my tulip buds to them.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 21, 2008 9:38 am

Elaine - nice to hear from you. It will be awhile as I still have snow in the back yard, but I don't think things are generally much behind this year. The snow came early and was deep all winter so it provided a nice comfy layer of insulation for everything.

thy · Post by **thy** » Apr 21, 2008 9:54 am

Do you know the name of the botanical crocus in the 2. pic .. very nice little one with pointed leaves

Love crocus specially the botanical ones

Nice and sunny here in the daytimes, but even last night we had one more light frost, only minus 0,7 C , but it stop my hostas in the shaded areas from sprouting

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 21, 2008 11:00 am

Thy - I don't, but I think I know someone who might. I'll try to find out.

Ann

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Apr 21, 2008 2:07 pm

According to Todd (from Dave's Garden) who is a horticulturist in Newfoundland, the variety is C. sieberi 'Tricolor'. To me, it's just a different looking crocus. LOL I've never kept track of the varieties the way I do my Hostas.

digs57 · Post by **digs57** » Apr 21, 2008 9:08 pm

Ann -

Isn't mid-Canadian climate just the very BEST??!!! We go from "chipping 5 inches of ice off the driveway" to "shorts & bbq" in a matter of a week or so. My sense of the incongruous adores the eye-blink winter to summer contrast.

My lawns are full of chinodoxas and scillas... and the hostas are waking up. Lancifolia and Emerald Ruff Cut are already above ground.

So.... pretty soon we'll have the opportunity for garden visits.....