It is truly spring - the hummers have arrived!

[Shirley U Geste]

Was having coffee on the porch this morning and a beautiful hummer came looking for food.  

It has to be a returning one that was here last year as it went right to the spot where I hang my feeders.

I just made fresh nectar and will be putting it out right away.

The day they arrive is when I feel that spring has truly started.  

[val2525]

We're just now getting in plants, although it's still cooler weather plants (pansies mainly). It sucks.

[Shirley U Geste]

Don't forget you are higher in elevation then we are.

The garden depts here are getting stuff in daily, so it won't be long till you start getting some too.

But I know the waiting is frustrating, but thank goodness we don't still have snow like a lot of other boardies.

[zoesam]

We had a little layer on the grassy areas of snow this AM.

I love hummingbirds, yay Shirley!

[kritter]

Probably one of the better things about living in south Texas is that we start getting in great plants in March. We have had hibiscus, bougainvillea, and the like for several weeks now.

I have my eye on several hibiscus trees that I am waiting to grab when they hit the Sale Rack.

I like getting plants in the ground and settled before the heat sets in for the summer.

[sunsetpainter]

Love those hummers!  It will still be a few weeks yet before I can put our feeders out.  Still too cold here at night and they might freeze.  I usually put the oriole feeders out first because they return first, and when I see the hummers by them, I will put their feeders out.

[val2525]

Apr 3, 2015 15:02:49 GMT Shirley U Geste said:

Don't forget you are higher in elevation then we are.

The garden depts here are getting stuff in daily, so it won't be long till you start getting some too.

But I know the waiting is frustrating, but thank goodness we don't still have snow like a lot of other boardies.

Yeah, and temps in the mid 70's. I think the garden stores here just don't get stuff until the last minute because it's not a huge gardening city. My only true complaint about here. Gardening sucks.

But I did find some kanaloche (or whatever it is) at Walgreens, so I'm hitting a couple more today to see if I can find a few more. They'll bloom all the way to the first freeze next fall

I have a bag of potting soil, too, I may break down and buy some flower seeds and just plant those. If I have to wait for blooms, I might as well save some money!

[Shirley U Geste]

I like getting plants in the ground and settled before the heat sets in for the summer.

That's always my goal too Kritter. I want them to be established a bit before the heat really hits.

I think I am pretty much done. The flower garden has spouted like crazy and I put a few color spots in too so it doesn't look bare till the others bloom. The morning glory came back like gangbusters this year and will be going up the trellis's pretty soon. The geraniums all came back well and are starting to put out buds.  Plus I have the 2 tomatoes in, and also all the herbs.

I may add a few more pots of flowers as the season goes on but I think for now I am set. Now I can just relax and watch it grow and enjoy the birds and the hummers. Unless we have a blast furnace for a summer I think this will be my best garden yet.  

  

[Shirley U Geste]

But I did find some kanaloche (or whatever it is) at Walgreens

Those do pretty well here Val.  What colors did you get?

Just don't overwater them. They like to dry out a bit between waterings, I learned that the hard way. 

[kritter]

My roses are blooming like crazy. We have had more rain than usual so I think that has helped.

I have some new flower beds in my mind for the area on the far side of the cat pen but will wait until the sale rack flushes out to plant them.

I am too cheap to buy full price for the most part-the sales racks have spoiled me.

The mountain laurel blossoms are falling now and between them and the tassels, everything is a mess outside.  I need to break out the blower and get busy before I track it all inside.

[val2525]

Apr 3, 2015 20:43:05 GMT Shirley U Geste said:

But I did find some kanaloche (or whatever it is) at Walgreens

Those do pretty well here Val.  What colors did you get?

Just don't overwater them. They like to dry out a bit between waterings, I learned that the hard way. 

I had them as outside flowers in Tampa. I'd put them under the patio if we had too many rain days in a row. They should do ok here, they're just hard to find. I bought hot pink and orange. I'm hoping to find some yellow today, but I'll take any color they have. Nice plants, 4" pots maybe? 2 for $10,99 I think it was. Walgreens is where I bought the really nice patio pots last summer, too. Nicer than the Lowes by my house AND less expensive. The gorgeous violet pot came from walgreens too. So I've been stalking the stores lately

[val2525]

I need to get a hummingbird feeder. They like the bush by one of my living room windows, chinaberry maybe? So I thought a hummingbird feeder there would entertain the cat (he can sit on the desk and look out the window) but also not annoy the neighbors who have to walk down the side of my unit to get to their unit (triplex). I was afraid a regular bird feeder there would be to much of a mess, and it's not wide enough for a bird bath. But a hummingbird feeder would be perfect there!

[val2525]

Hibiscus like it here too, but we won't have any of those for several weeks yet. We're not past the latest "historical" date for last freeze yet. *** insert huge eyeroll *** We're hitting 80's already.

[Deleted]

Here is one I saw yesterday. They are hard to get a photo of. So zippy. I only have ever
seen a few in my life.

[Shirley U Geste]

The hibiscus are out in the stores down here, but other stuff is still trickling in.

The early warm weather took them all by surprise I guess. I've lived here for 19 years and it's never been this warm this early in all that time.

We are about 2 weeks ahead of usual here, but I will take it.

Just hope it doesn't mean we will have a scorching summer though. I like some heat, but I don't want to fry.  

[val2525]

Whee! I haz plantz!

I went to Lowes by my house (totally sucked) and another customer was grumbling with me and mentioned that her neighbor said Home Depot got TONS of plants in. That reminded me that LAST year, HD did get plants in earlier than Lowes, so off to HD we both went (not together of course, no idea who she is but that doesn't matter to folks out here).

I ended up with just a couple of geraniums. The plant prices are the highest I've ever seen , so I'll have to stalk the distressed sales in a few weeks. But I also picked up a third kalanchoe (yellow!), some cute colorful planters on sale at Joanne, and my geraniums, so the patio will look decent for now. Of course, we have a cold front moving in tonight so I have all the plants watered and tucked up under the sheltered part of the patio. Not freezing, low 40s. They'll be fine.

[Shirley U Geste]

I love geraniums, I have 4 plants, all in various shades of bright/dark pink. The hummers seem to really like those colors and it draws them into the rest of the garden.

They have always grown great for me here, and I love that earthy smell they have.

Our nights have been hoovering round around 50, so I don't have to worry about the plants at all.

Sounds like even with the cooler weather your yard is starting to take shape. It's fun putting things together each year cause you never wind up with exactly the same style you had the year before because of availability and weather.

[Shirley U Geste]

That's a good pic Steph.

The zippy little demons move around so fast it's hard to get good shots of them.

Is that in your yard? If so that one will tell his friends and they might come to feed too.

[Deleted]

Apr 4, 2015 4:53:30 GMT Shirley U Geste said:

That's a good pic Steph.

The zippy little demons move around so fast it's hard to get good shots of them.

Is that in your yard? If so that one will tell his friends and they might come to feed too.

There were two of them flitting around.

[Shirley U Geste]

They are such a joy to watch.

I have coffee on my back porch every morning and watch them feeding. It helps me start the day with a smile.

[kritter]

I love to stalk the distressed sales here at Lowes.

My HD doesn't seem to play that game but they don't bring in the huge amount of plants that Lowes does.

[val2525]

HD here does mark down distressed, just not as much of it. I think our HD has more staff allocated to the outside lawn & garden than Lowes does. If you're watering the plants and have them displayed in the right areas of the department, you shouldn't have a lot of distressed to mark down. Ot that's what my manager always told me when I worked at Lowes. But that was years ago and in FL where the outside lawn & garden was staffed year-round. I don't think they staff like they used to. At least not here, anyway. The one by me waits until the plants are dead to mark them down. Really lousy store. I go to two other stores that are out of my way, better plants. And at those 2 stores, the distressed plants really are just stressed, not dead

[kritter]

I love my Lowes for distressed plants.

During this time of year, they aren't really that distressed but have been there a couple of weeks and room is needed for the new stuff coming in. If there are only a few left of a certain plant, they will go to the sale rack to free up space.

My Lowes gets their big plant deliveries on Friday so I go Friday afternoon and see what they are moving over to the sale rack. In all the years that I have been buying off that sale rack, there have been few plants that I couldn't revive.

[val2525]

The two stores I stalk for distressed bargains mark down on Thursdays, so they're cleared out for new plants on Friday. I see lots of regulars on Thursday afternoons We chat and compare plant care notes. Even the manager chats if she's working. I think she likes knowing that we're buying and reviving her babies.

[Deleted]

I'm so happy to hear the hummers are back even if they won't be back here for a couple months.

Our peepers are singing! It is music to my ears and a sure sign Spring is on the way. I leave our windows open a crack and let them sing me to sleep.

[Shirley U Geste]

Aren't those signs of spring heartwarming Dressy?

They let you know the better weather is coming and Mother Nature is slowly trading her heavy overcoat for a colorful spring dress.

[sunsetpainter]

Apr 6, 2015 22:31:39 GMT @dressydames said:

I'm so happy to hear the hummers are back even if they won't be back here for a couple months.

Our peepers are singing! It is music to my ears and a sure sign Spring is on the way. I leave our windows open a crack and let them sing me to sleep.

I just heard the peepers today!  I love hearing them at night.

[Deleted]

That is a great hummingbird picture. They are so hard to even see they are so fast.

I was hoping to get some pansies at Produce Junction while I was buying Easter flowers, but they did not have any yet. I grabbed up two pots of mixed (yellow and light purple) mumms for $1/each at Lowe's today. They were in cute, bright pots I guess for Easter. They were a tiny bit wilty, but not bad. They were $9 on Saturday. They're not my favorite flower, but for the price and with the pots they were worth it. It hit 70 today so we lounged outside, read magazines (me) and sniffed the air and looked down on everyone (cats).

[val2525]

Are you sure you didn't miss the pansies, Fashion? Even here, it's pretty late in the year now for pansies, all of ours are on clearance.

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2015 4:58:04 GMT val2525 said:

Are you sure you didn't miss the pansies, Fashion? Even here, it's pretty late in the year now for pansies, all of ours are on clearance.

They have them other places, but Produce Junction is always the cheapest for plants. Mostly they just had out Easter stuff when I was there and either pulled everything else to make room or were waiting to put everything else out on Monday. Or maybe I missed them. It's been too cold here to do anything outside until just this past week or so.