I went for a walk Monday with my youngest daughter & was surprised to see that the daffodils had sprouted so high.  Another tell tale sign that spring is quickly coming is that I've seen many landscaping crews out cleaning up yards & spreading mulch.

I got the mailings out last week for the membership renewals & have already started to receive them back.  Thank you.  I'll be working on getting your membership cards back to you.  (For me, today is definitely another inside day with temps in the 30's with winds gusting around the 20's.)

Is it spitting snow where you live?  All Fairfax County afterschool buses have been canceled today.  I'm hoping the snow doesn't amount to much, and I would like to see it warm up a tad, so I can imagine spring being here soon.

I got two notices this week that may be of some interest, if you are on the hunt for some mail order roses.  Vintage Gardens (www.vintagegardens.com) just e-mailed to let us know they have just made their final updates to their availability list & Rogue Valley Roses (www.roguevalleyroses.com) last bareroot shipping date set for February 25-26.  They both have sales going on if you order enough roses.  There are many more nurseries to check out if you are interested in mail order,  just go to Helpmefind (which you can find from our Other Useful Links link from the home page), do a rose search, and then click on the buy from tab to see if any of the nurseries have it available.  Happy hunting!

The lighting this morning is beautiful.  It must be the rain is leaving just as the sun is rising.  My witch hazel is glowing & I hadn't even noticed it was in bloom yet.  My heathers are in bloom with their delicate pink flowers and even the pussy willow which was raked around by the strong winds & the ice storm is managing to put on a bit of a silvery show.  Time to make coffee, put on my bean boots & go for a walkabout in the garden on this almost 60 degree morning.

I subscribe to Fine Gardening & see that they are co-sponsoring a 62nd Garden Symposium at Colonial Williamsburg with the American Horticultural Society.  They dates are May 4th-7th.  If you are interested check out: 

www.history.org/conted/#garden