Is Winter Over Yet?!?

PeaceLoveBonsai

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Here in St Louis, we still have a few weeks left of winter and I’m going stir crazy!

I’ve organized my pots
B3B5A1A9-B632-40F2-AE23-87A2CF48CDB4.jpeg

Organized wire
BD671BB0-15B8-413C-A292-7DA9AD09B9E0.jpeg

Tried tropicals...with mixed results
1D741E39-F7E2-486B-AC3A-F8CA055098BD.jpeg

Thought about building a tokonoma...didn’t get far
110C5FD5-EEBD-46F9-8761-A6F42CC5BFB1.jpeg

And started sketching trees, just to keep my mind busy!
E233E11D-C8B1-4811-A078-9B286888CD61.jpeg


Is Winter over yet?!?

I don’t know how you Canadiens and Northerners do it!


What have you done this winter to keep busy?
 

Nybonsai12

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I feel your pain.
I start seeds indoors over the winter under grow lights on heat mats to try and extend their first season by a few months but it's really just to keep me busy. It's nice to see green things sprouting in December/January.
 

Cadillactaste

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Here in St Louis, we still have a few weeks left of winter and I’m going stir crazy!

I’ve organized my pots
View attachment 227137

Organized wire
View attachment 227138

Tried tropicals...with mixed results
View attachment 227141

Thought about building a tokonoma...didn’t get far
View attachment 227139

And started sketching trees, just to keep my mind busy!
View attachment 227140


Is Winter over yet?!?

I don’t know how you Canadiens and Northerners do it!


What have you done this winter to keep busy?
Made use of the snow.
20190210_193700.jpg
 

GGB

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This winter has been flying by for me and I don't know why. Usually I'm right there with you, losing my damn mind. I jot down projects all spring/summer/fall that I plan to get to in the winter months and it helps. Rebuilt a bench, bought then read some books, planned my nursery trip for april. did some wiring, planned a collection trip, took some cuttings, started some seed, and I still have a few things to do before spring hits. I definitely recommend the "winter list". The holidays keep me busy enough until January 1st. From there out I'm carefully managing my sanity
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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@Gdy2000 and @Carol 83
You guys have had a lot more snow and cold than usual. I was down there 2 weeks ago, and was surprised at how cold it was. (Sorry Carol, I did not call because family had all my time booked) I'll be back in March.

I'm chomping at the bit too. My last frost date really is somewhere around May 1 to May 15, so I have a long wait.
 

Wilson

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We got hammered with another big storm in the great white north! We use greenhouses so we can have a longer season. I have worked my pines, BC, crape myrtle, elms, all winter. I even took a day off cause the storm to repot to elms today. I also get my kids propagating tropicals in the winter, and some root cuttings too!
 

Carol 83

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I am SO over this winter. We had a cold, snowy November, a mild December, then freezing January. It's supposed to be 60 tomorrow, then snow1-3inches Friday night. My little crabs are about to bloom so I've been shuffling them around to keep them cold, but above freezing. I am holding you to the "few more weeks of winter" @Gdy2000 !!
 
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Already got about 10cm growth in trident maples, mulberry and Chinese elm Ficus never really stopped growing this winter. Olives are starting to grow whereas others such as acer palmatum, English elm or JBP are still ‘sleeping’

It’s been the mildest winter I remember on this side of the pond.
 

River's Edge

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Already got about 10cm growth in trident maples, mulberry and Chinese elm Ficus never really stopped growing this winter. Olives are starting to grow whereas others such as acer palmatum, English elm or JBP are still ‘sleeping’

It’s been the mildest winter I remember on this side of the pond.
Got stuck in my own driveway after coming home from california ( cold and rainy there). Snow and freezing temperatures predicted for the next couple of weeks. Three weeks ago it was warm and some trees started to move. Now they are in the greenhouse or workshop.
 

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Silentrunning

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I am up in mid Michigan visiting my brother and his wife. I can’t believe how much colder it is than in North Carolina. In N. C. the buds on the trees are starting to swell and the grass is turning green. Here in Michigan I can still walk out on the ice on my brother’s lake. Spring is a long way off up here.
 

M. Frary

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I am up in mid Michigan visiting my brother and his wife. I can’t believe how much colder it is than in North Carolina. In N. C. the buds on the trees are starting to swell and the grass is turning green. Here in Michigan I can still walk out on the ice on my brother’s lake. Spring is a long way off up here.
The snow is past my knees.
 
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Already got about 10cm growth in trident maples, mulberry and Chinese elm Ficus never really stopped growing this winter. Olives are starting to grow whereas others such as acer palmatum, English elm or JBP are still ‘sleeping’

It’s been the mildest winter I remember on this side of the pond.
Correction: buds are swelling on acer palmatum too. Just did a quick repot during lunch hour
 

namnhi

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Is this a valid question to ask now? We could get down to 40 next week. Am not complaining but this is cold for us.
 

Japonicus

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Supposed to drop 41ºF Sat night here from 77-36, then frost through next Wed. lows in mid 20's early in the week.
Like Leo we typically call Mothers Day last chance of frost. IIRC 162 days growing season.
I've been limping on a nail in one of my studded snow tires putting air in weekly for the last month.
I think it's time to put the all seasons on.

This Winter I did a very late air layer on a dwarf Acer palmatum that's still live.
Just finished a dig and pot up of a 10 yr old palmatum.
All my palmatum are very swollen if not just in early leaf already.
The dissectum, Japonicum, and Shirasawanum are all lagging behind quite well thankfully
but my Japonicum looks to be starting to open flowers at the 1st stages.
I like how @Leo in N E Illinois mentions how the Japanese maples tend to push about a month too early
but the other deciduous trees in his landscape signal when to repot.
I've been watching cues all along like the daffodils, forsythia, cherry trees, and azalea are all in bloom now
and mentally logging that with tasks I'm doing, or are soon to follow.
 
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