How Does Your Garden Grow—Early?

Has the got the nature around you baffled? Leave a comment or post a photo of signs you've seen of an early spring.

Snowdrops on Time
Irrespective of recent record heat, snowdrops are appearing right on schedule, said Betty Ann Addison, landscape designer at Gardens of Rice Creek in Fridley.

"They're the first flower of spring," Addison said. "If you plant snowdrops, they're blooming now."

The tiny white flowers are always out by , she said.

Get Out
Addison urged people to get outside now. "I'm anxious that people should get out in their yards," she said, dismissing newspaper advice to stay off the grass.

"Gee whiz," she said, "pick up the branches, take the mulch off, take off the old perennial [parts]." Her advice: Any work you do now is work you won't have to do later.

Hardy Rhododendrons
Addison was planning a lecture she'll give in Chicago on her work to develop hardy rhododendrons. 

Her current crop is a mixed bag. "Some look wonderful and some look rotten," she said: it's a matter of genetics. "You keep weeding them out that way."

Fridley Farmer's Plans, who blogs as the Fridley Farmer, said in a post Wednesday that he had completed all his garden ordering—about $100 this year, half the amount of past budgets.

His focus in 2012: beets, peas and basil:

Beets because I like beets (and I bought a pound of beet seeds last year!), peas because you can never have too many fresh peas, and basil because last year’s crop was sufficient for cooking, but much too small to make pesto. And I love pesto.

But he has leftover seeds and other interests too, including raising herbs. Check out his garden-order list, down to the penny, at the Fridley Farmer blog. (He has also .) Last year at this time, Fridley Patch visited Moore's yard to .

What are you planning to do in your yard or garden this year? Leave a comment below.