THe warm weather also caused my three little plots of marsh marigold to appear. I bought one 1 gallon pot and divided it into four plantings, one oc which was pulled up and destroyed--I think by deer. The other three look like this.

One problem we're having already this year is a lack of rain. I was hoping we'd get some last night and today but it looks like very little will actually fall. Can't believe I might have to water in March!

Last fall I planted some trout lilies (dogtooth violets) in the oak/blueberry woods towards the swamp and they're starting to come up!

I planted 28 Black Mondo Grass seeds and ended up with...28 seedlings! When I potted them up I decided to double up most of them, since I'm not even sure what I'll do with 14+ pots, let alone 28. Anyway, it's fun to have something germinate so well--a lot of my experiments don't work out. I don't know if it matters, but the seeds weren't collected until some time in December, so they had a month or more of freezing nights, though the weather this year has been particularly mild.

The weihenstephaner gold sedum grew quickly last year and overwintered well so I picked a few 1.5 to 2-inch long stems and simply inserted the cut end into potting soil. I probably should have used some rooting hormone but sedum doesn't seem to need it. We'll see how they do, but I expect near-100% rooting.

The really odd thing about the willows, though, was that our cat loved drinking the water from the bowl of water they were in. I can't help but wonder if the salicylic acid leaching from the willow had some sort of effect on the cat!

These pussy willow branches were trimmed from a shrub last fall. I put the stems in a bucket of water over the winter, wondering what would hapen. Well, as you can see, they rooted nicely.

I planted 4 twigs about a week ago and they're already rooted in well. This is a good, fast-growing native plant for use in wet areas, of which I have a lot.

This one shows the new leaf growth coming on.

The weather channel says it is 63 degrees outside and I can attest to the warmth (though I don't have a working thermometer on-site).

The three Arnold Promise witch hazel I planted in fall, 2010 are starting to come into their own, after one full growing season. The bright flowers (photo taken today 3/8/12) are a real delight for the spring gardener and, much to my surprise, there was a honeybee hovering at one of the shrubs! I'll check in a bit to see if it recruited others.

Arnold Promise witch hazel is also very fragrant (though last year I noticed the fragrance didn't start as soon as the flowers opened but seemed to strengthen over a week or so), and I planted these where the breeeze should waft (gotta' love the word waft) the fragrance into the driveway, so we can smell it when we arrive home from work.

I'm using little test cups to see if seeds I collected last fall are viable.
1. Garlic chives
2. Gailardia
3. Amsonia
4. Helenium
5. Carolina Allspice
6. Ligularia
7. Veronicastrum
8. Coreopsis
9. Maltese Cross
10. Hibiscus
11. Obedient plant
12. Not sure

I have lots more seeds but this way I figure if something isn't viable, I won't waste a bunch of space and pots.

A few of the black mondo grass seedlings coming up in the shallow dirt with shredded paper mulch tray. I'll have to put them in individual pots shortly.

Little black mondo grass shoots coming up through the shredded paper mulch in a seedling tray. First signs of spring gardening at this house.