Can it be???Bare roads!

lol it looks like they're only bare because show's been shoved to the sides! but hope a real thaw is on its way - slowly!

That's amazing!!! Does it mean it will be getting warmer soon?

It was 95ºF (35ºC) today here in inland San Diego and in many other cities in San Diego County. It was an official record high temps 87ºF (29ºC) of in downtown San Diego.

wow! that's a contrast!!

Yes, it sure is...

It's been much hotter and drier than normal this past winter in San Diego's mild, dry subtropical climate.

Fran: we had our driveway plowed so many times this winter! We have a neighbour who has a large tractor with a huge plow on it! He will be able to take his wife on a long vacation this summer with all the work he's had this winter. my hub is dreading the bill! Delonix: oh poor you, D1...no break in the hot weather? We've had some warmth and the snow is finally going. the stream is cresting. Did you have any precip at all???

that's amazing, Lori, somehow it never occured to me to wonder who cleared theroads! in cities, it just gets done by the councils - the main roads, anyway, and in any case we never got as much snow as in your pic (not since the 60s anyway)

lol maybe you and Delopix can swop some weather? send each other boxes of what each of you has too much of??

The township clears the main road...but we have a long driveway which is hard to keep open with just a snow shovel, Fran. I've always marvelled that I could remember the change! Since the 50's it's been much warmer...I always thought that 1960 was the hinge point...since then our winters have been milder...with the exception of the last one of course. The water is so high in our stream that I'm hoping it will crest soon. If it gets higher our driveway will be under water! I would happily send D1 some snow...but I don't think he'd appreciate it!

I have a dcoumantary about "the big freeze", UK winter of 62-63, I think - snow came down in November, didn't thaw till the following April; it said that villages had to be supplied by helicopter, and the people said how eyr quiet it was, because the birds soon died.

the 60s certainly seem to have been a peak for winters, until recently, of course. When we went to church for midnight mass on Christas Eve, the snow that had been piled up on the kerb was about wait-high (of course i was smaller then!) - and they only cleared the main roads, so when one crossed a side-road, one often found the opposite kerb by tripping over it.

Waterlogged drie doesn't sound at all good - especilly if it freezes! I have a large bag of salt that I kept for paths (not needed it for some years) but ti'd take a dumper truck to salt your drive, I think.

The brook at the back has wide open ground to each side, and there's abotu a ten-foot rise from the open gorund this side to our back fences, so we're pretty safe from rising water - it'd have to rise at least ten feet, and spread about a hundred yars each side, to be a risk.

It's too late for this year, but can something be done when yours goes down to decrease future risk? Of course, mostly it's down to $$$!

We had a couple of cooler days...then now it's hot again...then it'll cool down a little for a few days then warm again. It's kind of like a roller coaster. Overall, the weather is still much warmer than average.

Lori, we sure can use the water; however, never the snow...San Diego has never recorded snow...at the low elevations, anyway. I've read back in December 1967 it snowed on top of some the higher hills around San Diego. Like: Mt. San Miguel (2,500 ft [762m]; Mt. Soledad (850 ft [251m]) and Mt. Helix (1,365 ft ([416.05 m])

I'd guess that our elevation is about 1200 ft., D1...and as such we still have snow, It has melted in the Ottawa Valley even though they are farther north and east of us. We are on the weather rollercoaster too....that cap of frigid polar air that covers the pole has slipped over us for periods up to two weeks in duration over the course of the winter...seems like the same pattern is repeating as we approach warmer weather. I think I mentioned that last summer was one of the coolest we've had in a long time. It took tomatoes and peppers much too long to fruit last summer...without row covers and other strategies they just didn't do well. My dahlias bloomed AFTER the first frost in the first week of September!...crazy mixed up. I'm hoping for better things this summer. Will be buying myself a roto-tiller and a very heavy duty lawn mower this summer. Experience has taught me that I can't make do with my trusty round mouth shovel...I'm getting old enough for mechanization! lol....

Fran: I'm always envious of the long growing season you have (compared to ours). I understand that in parts of England and Ireland crops are planted in February!

Wow! That's amazing you still have snow on the ground!

I heard on the Weather Channel another arctic front moved into the northeastern states even to as far south as northern Florida. It's been a crazy and cold winter for most of the U.S. (of course, the exception was most of California and some other western states).

I hope you will have at least a normal summer! (I'm hoping for the same here!). At least you will be able to grow a vegetable garden. I haven't done a vegetable garden in 3 years. I should have started my summer vegetables by February or early March. I still can start it, though. I start a vegetable garden any time of the year. :>)

lol they're having to redefine "normal" these days!

I'm not sue about "plantng seasons" as this is my first year in my first proper garden; the last one was a paved patio, so everything was in pots

I planted some bulbs in early March that should have gone in in Sept-Dec - thought I'd leave them till March next year but when I opened a box the bulbs were already sprouting, so I thought I should get them in asap, since they were obviously keen to get started. Some of them have started coming up alreay, barely a month later - I thought I'd hae to wait till next year.

Prob is, they didn't have those months to build energy stores as they would if they'd been planted at the right time, so I hope they don't over-strain themselvesk; the flowers will be smaller than usuaul. But they should be okay next year.

They were predicting snow for about a fortnight, did'nt show - we had a little bit of frost. It's not to late for it to snow - has happened in April before - prob is, the later it shows, the less prepared we are for it, so the harder it hits us - and the plants!

I really hope you miss it, Fran. According to the weather network we've been receiving polar winds from Siberia as the wind vortex at the pole has slipped south again..as D1 says, it has pushed south to northern Florida! No one is happy over here. I'm glad you've had a good winter. Nice that someone has! ;-) I remember my first real outdoor garden...I was sooo thrilled to plant the bulbs and know that I could just leave them to do their thing. I just bought some Crocosmia (Montbretia) Lucifer...tiny bulbs that I will have to lift in the fall...they are not hardy this far north...and Acidanthera murielae Callianthus...Abyssinian glads..(they have a dozen names) these corms are similar in appearance to the crocosmia. In my last garden I got them mixed up and lost some glads as a result. The crocosmia would overwinter in my other garden..but not the glads. I have bought them for years and each fall I lift them. The scent is so worth it. they have lovely nodding flowers with a pretty dark purple "eye"....going to find some large crockery pots and bury them in the garden. Next fall, voila! I just lift them and put them in the basement.

hmm, if the cold si coming from Siberia and moving further south, would it be warmer in Siberia?!

I still need to find out what most of the sbrubs are; and the plants as tney come up! once i know that, i can look them up and see what they do, how much they do it and when. then i can work on a plan, maybe move some, maybe discard some.

i love scented plants, they add another dimension to the garden; I did look for "strong perfume" but thought that might oerpower all other plants in a small space, so maybe "some scent" would be better for localised scent, different in each area. so much to learn!

agree....some of the spirea's have a very cloying sweet scent that I just don't appreciate. I have planted an Eleagnus augustifolia (Russian Olive~ a Siberian!) and when they bloom the smell is just delightful..but some find it too much. Also another Siberian ..Amur maple..smells like lilac and has lime green flowers which are almost invisible...I liked it because people would stand there puzzled...looking for the lilac and they were standing right under the Amur maple abuzz with bees and wafting that lovely scent! ;-)

lol that Siberian plant should feel right at home!

I've read that Mock Orange has one of the strongest scents, so that'd go in the front, to perfume the whole street!

my very favourite was the old-fashioned rose, such a gorgous scent as I remember it. dark red flower, that I called a "velvet rose" from the petal texture

and foliage scent as well; the sentled-leaf geraniums and mint of all varieites and lavender ditto ...

so many other scents: giner, peppermint, vanilla, honey ... I think i'd better go for "slight scent" so that I can get them all in - or as many as possible. And some scents might be more appreciated than others, but there's only one way to fidn out which are my favrourites!

Will await your decisions with interest, Fran. I have to go out and do some raking...the yard is all yellow and messy and I need to dethatch too...its coolish today so I can work without getting overheated!

have fun! *s*

it's going to take approximately forever for me to get stuff done in the garden, I think: I need to find a local gardener to tell me what I've already got, and to disucss possible changes, and then find a handyman or three to do tha actual work - can't see me lugging railway sleepers about! and, of course, I've got to find and buy - and have delivered - the stuff to work with, and store it till said hanymen can get to work