Re: Weather

In a message dated 03/31/2003 1:19:15 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
mtalt@hort.net writes:

> now, all my Scilla, Puschkinia,
> Galanthus, Hepatica and Hellebores are blooming away as well as the
> early daffs.  Violets coming into bloom as well as Pulmonaria and
> heavy flower buds on Corydalis and Virginia bluebells and ground
> greening up all over with clumps of tender emerging foliage.  
> 
> 

Marge, we are heading down your way tomorrow morning and expecting to find 
spring there.  Our semi-annual birding trip to Bombay Hook, Delaware and 
Chincoteague, Va. is a bit early this year to avoid conflicts with 
organizational events, but after this winter I am really, really ready to see 
some spring.  When we were in Olympia, Washington, last month daffodils and 
fruit trees were blooming but when we returned to New York we were still 
snow-covered.  The snow has gone in the past week, and the ice from the pond, 
but the garden still doesn't bear walking around in. And now we have another 
light snow cover. I removed the mulch from one bed over the weekend and cut 
back the liriope edging so that the crocus planted under it could show.  Some 
crocus have bloomed on a sunny bank and Iris reticulata and I. danfordiae are 
blooming, and hellebores are sending up stems of bloom.  I have forced 
forsythia and quince branches, but the ones outside are still a long way from 
blooming.  Surprisingly, though, some of the perennials are looking quite 
green when they emerge from the snow.  I guess the snow provided insulation 
from the extreme cold we had this year.  In addition to the crocus and iris, 
about the only bright signs of spring are the goldfinches which are looking 
pretty yellow these days.

I am surprised to read that people feel peonies, either herbaceous or tree, 
need to be covered against frost.  I have always found these to be completely 
cold-hardy.  I just thought they couldn't take warm climates - that that was 
why I never saw them until I grew up and moved north.  But then, the 
herbaceous ones aren't even out of the ground here yet, and the tree peony's 
buds are just starting to swell.  I hope by the time we get back from 
Chincoteague Ma Nature will be in a better mood. 
 Auralie

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