On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 12:48:05 -0500, "madgardener"
wrote:

I decided with temperatures predicted to be near 60o F today and it already
being 61o F, I needed to go back outside and sweep and clean the dog run,
pull out some more vinca and begin to assess the spring showings. Not that
there weren't showings already, but as I was sweeping the fallen soil and
leaves and debris westward, noticing that there were smiling clumps of vinca
grinning out at me from between the landscape timbers that I have decided to
replace with an idea I saw I think in Lee Valley garden tools. A brace of
sorts that holds stepping stones verticle that you attach a top piece to
make really decent raised sides on a garden box.

Suddenly a soft mother of pearl blue caught my eye. Blue?? I stopped and
focased on where I saw it and YES!!!! The first crocus!!! WOO HOO!!!!!
This excited me to the point of stopping my sweeping and I ran over to the
Colorado bed and sure enough, there was another clump of grassy leaves and a
YELLOW one. ALRIGHT!! Although it seems a bit late for my crocuses to be
just beginning, I am pleased beyond description. And add to that the fact
that I with the warm temperatures today, my Cornelian Cherry tree will burst
open today. GBSEG Spring is on it's way here in Eastern Tennessee!!!

madgardener up on the sunny ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking English
Mountain, zone 7, Sunset zone 36



Snap, Marilyn!!! Mine are also just opening in my Scottish (Dundee)
garden - we have been around 40s - 50s F this month, and it's been
yet again a pretty mild winter overall here! I just wish that in
another five or six months I would be able to say that I was
experiencing the 90+ F temperatures that you will have in Tennessee,
although some would say that the 60s - 70s that we usually get here
are more civilized! However, as you know, the two and a half years
that I lived and worked in East Tennessee (Knoxville) way back made me
a definite aficionado of summer heat, something I certainly miss back
here!

Best wishes
Geoff