steelnut

Her coloring reminds me on honey

Beautiful pups!

PA weather - look outside, then look again 5 minutes later and it's changed. Like today. Wind and snow and then sunshine with the birds singing away. Right now it's beautiful, I have the door open and the birds are very happy, worms everywhere. 

I want nice weather so that I can go out and play in the dirt

It depends on how low the temperature gets and whether you have blossoms yet.

 

http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berry/production/pdfs/strfrostprotect.pdf

Lots of blossoms, we covered them just to be safe.

Does anyone know if a frost will kill my strawberries?

So sweet!

A family member cooked some up last week. He steamed them first then cooked in pan with leaks and butter. They were very good, like restaurant good. I don't know what they look like but they are around here in dubois area.

I've read that they're plentiful in the New England states and Canada. But, I know that I read something somewhere a few years ago that they can be found in PA, it may have been on this forum. We've been pigging out on leeks, son brought us a five gallon bucket three weeks ago and another one on Mom's day, we love them! 

Also, side note, it's morel mushroom season now and it doesn't last long.

That's another thing on my bucket list, I want to find some!

Does anyone know where I can find some black eyed susan vines?

Thanks so much! 

Has anyone ever seen them in our area? I so want to try them.

Last years herb garden was the first year in a raised bed off the patio that hubby make for me. I just couldn't believe that the thyme came back, it was a first for me.  

I've never seen anything like that, good grief, quick work!

I've always been told that thyme is not a perennial and that oregano is. And that's how my herb garden has always worked until this year.

My thyme came back and the oregano died?

I've been puzzling about that lilac comment for a couple of days now. I had to drop something off at the city building today and darned if the lilacs don't have buds on them. All is now clear. It will be a long time before mine get buds. I think I live in a cold pocket.

Yep, I have some buds left, but with this cold stretch coming, we'll see what happens....

Its darn hard to freeze a flowering spring bulb. They have a sort of "antifreeze" in their cells. The tulips are usually blooming late enough to avoid the spring snows but the crocus often get hit. My daffs are rarely frozen.  I have daffs, scilla, grape hyacinths, crocus, primroses and hellebore blooming now. All were under he snow and all were fine when it melted. When a flower or plant freezes the cell walls rupture and there is no coming back for the frozen. By the way,  I highly recommend the scilla. They are a "minor bulb" but have a major impact if you want to naturalize bulbs.

 

Why one type of tulip bulb escapes the appetite of critters and another doesn't is a mystery. I suspect that some of the bulbs produce something that makes them unpalatable just as some people are not bitten by mosquitos.  It's the same with plants. It is hard to tell what's going to get eaten although some of that is just deer with plant specific appetites.  I just don't think that tulips are worth planting unless you are critter free. The deer eat off the flowers if the bulbs manage to escape. I've even tried growing those tiny specimen tulips and they only lasted a few years. They were growing among the scilla so it would have been a very meticulous squirrel to have picked them out. 

 

Beware! The daffodils on the walkway are not growing wild and we shoot to kill.

My daffodils are still splayed out and just sick looking for some reason. I only have a few scilla and they're just fine and the crocus are okay, too.

First thing this morning I went outside to check and all of the daffodils were frozen along with the crocus

About half of the lilacs were frozen too.

I love tulips and planted over 100 bulbs back about 10 years ago. The critters seem to love those bulbs. I planted all colors. Here's the weird thing, the only tulips that I have left are the purple ones, how is that possible???

Not many!! Only dirt most people play with is on Farmville.

 

I grew up playing in the dirt, mud, horse/cow pastures, & swimming in the "sulfer" creek.

I know, it's sad. I've been saying for the last few years that I never see kids riding bikes anymore in good weather. I know a lot of parents are afraid these days to let their kids go out to play. I can't imagine what it would be like. We went out after breakfast, straggled in for a bite for lunch and then had to be called in to eat dinner. And we were dirty little critters after a day outside, lol!   

Me too! And having a tomato that tastes like a tomato.

OMG, me too! I'll buy a tomato, but there is absolutely no taste at all, they just put a little color into my salad. 

There is actually a beneficial biotic exchange when you touch clean living soil so it explains why people love playing in the "dirt"!  Clean soil isn't dirt but regardless of the term used, it does touch the soul.

I agree, I grew up playing in the dirt and making mud pies. I don't think I'll ever outgrow it. Makes me wonder if any kids today even know what that means?

 I'm so looking forward to playing in the dirt!

Aww, so cute and I love the flooring!

I forgot about that place, I think I went there two times as a teen.

I love it, thanks for sharing! It made me think of warmer weather on this cold winter's night

I always put 1 Tbs of brown sugar and a pint of home canned tomatoes in mine. It's not sweet at all. We have it with pork and knockwurst and mashed potatoes. Some PA folks believe you have to eat in on New Years Eve for good luck, my family always had to have it on New Years Day.

Down south they believe in eating black eyed peas on New Years for good luck.