Wow!
That cactus bed shows no sign of the trauma of the blizzard. 😀
My Musa basjoo are ahead of yours, which is surprising to me as your soil temps are above mine--the warmest I have seen is 60 F at 4", and the 37 F forecast for tonight won't help.
Your palms all look good. My Washies, indoors in pots for the winter, look happy but only modest spear growth. It will be fun to watch yours grow--maybe time-lapse video? 😆
--Erik

GREAT collection of plants. Your big Ensete is HUGE! It's kinda cool to see burn on your Sequoiadendron. What was the low temp it saw?

Jim- You're off to a raging start! Your garden is going to be IMPRESSIVE this year!

The one that stood out for me was the waggie, it just looks TOO good form being in a zone 5 area for winter LOL.

Arent you planting a bit to far away from last frost?

Everything looks great Jim. I see you have dandelions already which means your soil temp is way ahead of mine. Hope you have a long growing season for that stuff.

I will echo the sentiments. Looks very nice and by June it may be indistinguishable from the tropics. Or the desert. Depends on which angle you are looking.

Me too.

With your warm weather, you may be gardening for the rest of us this year.

Your palms make me drool
Barb

Eric

I got lucky in that nothing really got smashed-

my Nanas are way behind last year!

Tim-(Mass)

Ensete will be fun to watch this year!
Also the Ensete Glaucum,I have wanted one for a while!

Sequoia-
-8F ,all I did was put a piece of plywood northwest of it 😕

Paul

It will be fun to watch everything grow this year,I will have
to check that cactus flower against last years date.

Thanks Jesse
I didn't understand your comment

Arent you planting a bit to far away from last frost?(???)

Tim

Me too Tim,looks like some cooler weather the next week or 2
hopefully then more summer like weather!

Thanks Jack

I can't wait to see the Nanas/Thai giant take off...
my Banana plant last year flowered at a much smaller size.

Barb

Make sure you drool over those Washys so they get watered!

I think my palms are a little small for being drool worthy
but a few should be more noticeable after this year.....

Most people only see the Bananas,Thai giant etc.

After this year the Washys,Fortunei and Nainital should
show up on thier radar screens! 8)

Looks like this one bloomed at the same last year-with in 3 days!

Look how much farther along the Basjoo were on April 15th of last year compared to this year...

(this years pics posted in 1st post)

Sorry Jim LOL

Arent you planting a head of schedual? Your still due to ger some frosts arent you?

The stuff really looks good your are definatley way ahead when it comes to growth. This year your gonna run out of yard.

my palms are a little small for being drool worthy

Nonsense.
Any palm that's already put out 3 fronds mid-April is awesome.

We have been truly blessed here Jesse and I mean it,the last hard frost was at the end of March.

It was 28F April 5th the night before I planted my Brugs 😀 -it didn't bother anything as it
went up to 65F that day.

Avg last frost is April 15 nothing below 36F in the 15 day.
The weather pattern is so progressive right now it changes over to
fast to get really cold,it is a little cold some nights for the Nanars
and Colocasia but they needed to get out of the basement/house!-

They are actually better off outside....oh yea,the bananas did see 28F one night,
(April 5)not an issue since they don't have leaves....yet.

Mike

I know,I wish I had more room,I just bought a little variegated Holly off e-bay!

.....it's tiny though 😉

Barb

Your right,the Washys are going to be something this year(not like Bill's 😉 but
still...decent!),to bad there are so many Bananas planted around and in front(of them),
people always notice that stuff...some guy thanked me for doing all this the other day!

Really,that's what he said-"thanks for doing this" 8) -that's one of the cool things about having
everything planted in the front yard-only problem is people sometimes will mess with it-
there is a bar 1 block down and sometimes- these- soused people stumble by..........

That's what the cactus and Agaves are there for-the guards! 😈 😈 😈 😈 😈 😈 😈

Jim,

some guy thanked me for doing all this the other day

About time, from what I've seen of the rest of the street's landscaping (yawn...like most neighborhoods).

Yours is spectacular and it's time people took notice, and said so.
Maybe he's keen to grow some exotic stuff too Jim

"soused people"... 😆 😆 :drunken:
Some of those 6 foot tall Agaves would be a nice hedge.

Barb

regarding the Sequoiadendron.......-8F is too warm.....there must be another issue. Perhaps your duration below 0F is seriously long or something. There's a 30' tall specimen in Greenville, Rhode Island....I'm sure they get down to -8F or so every year. I had one in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and it started out real small......I never had an issue........but your IOWA.......sounds way colder than here.

The growth rate on those are incredible.....here's what mine did in R.I.

April 1997: 6"
April 1998: 7"
April 1999: 1'-8"
April 2000: 3'-4"
April 2001: 5'-9"
Sept 2001: 9'-4"
Sept 2002: 13'

After I moved, the new owner cut it down 😥

Photos

http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/swallowtail/179/hardiness/sequoiadendron_giganteum.htm