February 2016 in the Northern Hemisphere

[ruweiss]

The missing winter in our region supports flowering of
geophytic plants.
We started more than 25 years ago with 4 corms of
Cyclamen coum from Eastern Turkey and must say,
that the ants did and do a good job.

[Robert]

The weather has turned ungodly warm and dry again. It was 21 C yesterday at our farm! 

My wife and I had much work to do at our Sacramento, California home. This time I brought my camera. 

Salvia semiatrata blooms all winter in Sacramento. It will be finishing-up its bloom cycle very soon.

A seedling Abutilon loaded with flowers now that the weather has turned warm.

The first of the Narcissus in bloom. A generic variety, but cheery.

Camellia cuspidata ? I have to admit the only Camellia that I like. The plant came from the Western Hills Nursery, Occidental, California - many years ago. The pure white flowers always looks so pristine. I am not up on Camellias at all. I have been told it is another species or hybrid.

The last of the flowers on Cyclamen coum in our Sacramento garden.

[Gabriela]

Wonderful Robert. I particularly like the Salvia.

I don't know, maybe we need a thread called - February in the North of the Northern Hemisphere  Out in the woods yesterday:
Symplocarpos foetidus

[Steve Garvie]

Some warm cheer between the storms.
Anemone biflora

[Robert]

Generic pink Helleborus - still very much appreciated in the garden. They have been in the garden for years. They seed about and spread throughout the garden.

Iris reticulata 'Harmony' - Also generic, however a real trooper! This variety blooms consistently and returns strongly under a wide range of adverse conditions. I can not say this for any of the other reticulata type Irises I have grown, which is not many. Still, I am impressed with this variety for its strong constitution.

[ian mcdonald]

Aye, tis a strange year here. It is supposed to be getting colder this week-end. The soft growth put on by many plants during this mild spell may be damaged by later frosts.

[Hoy]

After a couple weeks with mild and grey, rainy, stormy weather we have got sun, little wind - and freezing temperatures.

Not much in flower though. Only the snowdrops are soon in full flower but a single crocus shows some colour.

[Robert]

Spring is continuing to progress here with temperatures 23 C or above for the last 6 days.

A nice compact Narcissus papyraceus hybrid blooming today.

Trond,

It seems that your springtime may be a long drawn-out affair. Not such a bad thing! 

[Leena]

Last week most of the snow melted here, but yesterday it snowed more!
I hope after next week it will melt and I will see snowdrops  in March, the forecast promises warmer than average March and April here. 
Picture is from yesterday morning.

[Chris Johnson]

Some winter sunshine at last, encouraging plants to stir.
Ornithogalum lanceolatum

[Robert]

Leena,

What a beautiful snowy scene!   

I wish that we would get some snow too, at least up in the Sierra Nevada.

[Gabriela]

Yes Leena, so very beautiful! I wished for more snow but it didn't happen here. I had hopes for an early spring last weekend when I found Hepaticas with nice, fat buds.

And then horror with very little or no snow cover and last night temperature: -23˚C. Day temperature: -20˚C to -17˚C. I only took a picture for the records.

 

[Leena]

Thanks Robert and Gabriela. 
I feel for your plants Gabriela, snow is a good protection from cold though I don't like it otherwise, it makes everything more difficult when there is a lot of snow (not so much this year). Perhaps your Hepaticas are used to cold do maybe they survive it even without snow cover, let's hope so  .

[Hoy]

Spring is continuing to progress here with temperatures 23 C or above for the last 6 days.

A nice compact Narcissus papyraceus hybrid blooming today.

Trond,

It seems that your springtime may be a long drawn-out affair. Not such a bad thing! 

Robert,

with the temperature well above 20C I would call it high summer! We rarely get that kind of weather even when we have summer

The spring here at home is a protracted affair As we have no real meteorological winter (the mean temperature below 0C) we instead have a prolonged spring lasting from January till June

Nice Narcissus! I have to wait a month or  more for my first ones. . . .

[ian mcdonald]

What is snow?