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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day March 2014

What a difference a month makes!  February's bloom day seemed a little less bloom filled than usual and now there are lots more blooms to be seen!  It seems like everything needs attention in the garden right now as the rapid growth of spring begins.  The lawn got mowed for the first time this season today and the spring clean up continues.   Here are some things blooming in my garden on the ides of March this year.


I usually drag a few primroses home to brighten up the back steps.  The ones from last year are now planted in the ground and are just a few days behind these new potted lovelies. 


 
 
Stachyurus praecox earns a place in my garden for this winter - spring display. For this I can overlook the fact that it's a pretty dull character the rest of the year.


These crocus have increased for me each year and now there's quite a nice drift of them in front of one bed.

The camellia that we inherited with the house is in full swing a little later this year than most but the screaming color is very welcome this time of year.

Ribes sanguineum  should be making the humming birds happy.


The contorted filbert continues its winter show with dingle dangly catkins that move with the slightest breeze.

Daphne odora.  This one is on one side of a path and

Lonicera fragrantissima is on the other. 

Vinca major covering a slope isn't so bad if it gets mowed once or twice a year.

Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'
 
Pulmonaria

 
Helebores are still looking grand!  H. 'Cotton Candy' 

Noid double pink.


Helleborus argutifolius 




As I was poking around in the glass room to water some plants that have been mostly ignored all winter, the blooms of  Agapetes x ludgvan cross caught my eye. One plant is full of them!  A little paler than usual but lovely all the same.  I was also thrilled to see that the couple of clivias that I got from Sally Priest last year are in full bloom again.  They were blooming when I put them away for the winter and are now at it again.  What an easy and pretty plant!

Last but not least the blooms of Improved Myer Lemon that came from the Portland Yard, Garden, and Patio Show are beautifully perfuming the air in my kitchen.  Many people have recommended growing citrus and recommending this very plant for fragrance and quality of fruit so I thought I'd give it a try.
 
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  Click on the link to her page to see what's blooming in gardens the world over.  Many thanks to Carol for this special tradition.
 
 

47 comments:

  1. While we are sharing some of the same blooms today, you are much further along than I am.

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    1. That's interesting. Once your really warm weather sets in, you'll be leaping ahead of me again!

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  2. Lots of lovely blooms this month . I seem to be always a little behind everyone else in the blooming . Happy bloom day Peter !

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    1. Happy bloom day to you Linda. It's o.k. there are special remedial blooming class available for your plants that are a little slow.

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  3. It's always interesting to me to see that you are just a tad further along than I am, down there in the valley, while I'm up on the ridge 600 feet higher in elevation. You have lots of lovely blooms, but my favorites are the dingly-dangly ones, on the filbert and the Stachyurus. I have a tiny contorted filbert that I'm not convinced survived the winter, but I also have a wild filbert, that is covered. I completely ignored it for bloom day, what a terrible oversight. I was looking down and should have been looking up. I wonder where I can find room for a Stachyurus?

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    1. You won't be sorry about finding room for a Stachyurus! They're not too finicky about sun and mine grows in the roots of the timber bamboo so even though I give it a little water every now and then in the summer, it's thriving in fairly dry soil. If your contorted filbert didn't survive, I've got one of the ones with red leaves in a big pot that needs a good home.

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  4. I think I could easily go primrose mad. I've tried a few in pots but they're just so hard to pull through summer and get to a good blooming size like yours. What a great spring garden to explore every day -- must be quite the distraction!

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    1. It is now that it's lighter longer and we've moved the clocks ahead. Previously, I left and returned in the dark and only saw my garden on weekends; now there are garden tasks to do after work!

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  5. Love the dingle dangles, and everything else. Nothing going on here yet, just a few signs of green. Your garden is like a hot house!

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    1. I'm very lucky to live in the Pacific Northwest (zone 8) where we don't get the kind of winters that much of the country does. Spring is coming soon!

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  6. The only blooms we have in common are Camellias. Your winter chill is the same as mine. Your lovely cool summer plants would not stand my summers. At least we're not in Arizona.

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    1. It's a trade off. We can't grow a decent large tomato here. Many lovers of hot weather aren't fond of our summers. Forget about peaches... Fortunately, on the eastern side of our state, the summer temperatures are very high so we're not without access to fresh, relatively local produce!

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  7. Lots of blooming going on in your garden Peter, and what the heck I'll jump on the bandwagon and add a cheer for the "dingle dangles"...

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    1. The recent break in the constant wind and rain did wonders. Glad you like my dingle dangles. (I don't say that to just anybody!) I stole that horticultural term from Dan Hinkley.

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  8. Reading through comments, you seem to be ahead of everybody. What's your secret (OK, then it wouldn't be a secret)? I do that thing with primroses too, and once in the ground they bloom nearly year-round. The foliage is pretty cool too.

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    1. Our freezes this winter were not as harsh as what you got in Portland so things were able to bounce back a little faster in my garden. I can see the salt water of Puget Sound from the street where I live (or if I climb up on my roof) the water has a moderating influence. In the winter we're often as much as 10 degrees warmer than other parts of town. My side yard is very sheltered. It's between two tall Victorian houses and has a large English laurel hedge on one end and a bamboo grove and our garage on the other so that might also contribute. There is a lot of leaf litter over from fall that has protected plants from cold. Sometimes being lazy pays off.

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  9. Lots happening in your garden. Stachyurus is divine, it can be as dull as it wants in summer because just look at it now! Strings of yellow beads, what else looks as stunning as this? Agapetes is new to me. Is it difficult?

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    1. Stachyurus is a favorite and often we alone get to enjoy the show as few garden guests come by in the winter. Agapetes is easy as pie but must come indoors during cold winter days. In mild winters I've had them survive outside with protection. Not fussy about water, thrives on neglect.

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  10. Spring has arrived in your garden! You have such a lovely assortment of blooms. I smiled at the Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora' picture. Happy GBBD, Peter!

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  11. Nothing outdo the Daphne odora for intoxication scent. The citrus is a close second. What does it mean "Improved Myer Lemon"? Improved so it can it be grown outside year round? Because I would grow it for fragrance alone if it was hardy enough.

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    1. I'm not sure what that means but have heard it described as having the flavor of a lemon crossed with an orange. Imagine the lemonade. It has to come in during the winter but I've heard its praises sung by so many people and have been told that it's easy to winter over and continues to bloom year round. Sounds wonderful!

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  12. What a lot of lovely spring blooms you have, spring has certainly arrived for you. Your Stachyurus is wonderful, what unusual flowers! You have reminded me that I really must divide my double primulas or they will fade away!

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    1. I must get better at dividing my double primulas! Stachyurus blooms are interesting in that they are quite rigid. If one were to cut a branch to place in water, thinking that the blooms would gracefully fall, he would be disappointed to see that the blooms stay in their exact position. One must cut with care!

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  13. Oh Peter, you have some mighty nice Hellebores there! I'm on a mission to add more. Happy Bloom Day !

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    1. They are favorites of mine (aren't all plants?) and are available at every nursery, box store and super market in these parts. Happy Bloom Day!

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  14. Perfectly lovely! We don't have any flowers yet in this part of Virginia except crocus.

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  15. You've got a plethora of beautiful spring blooms despite your horrid winter weather! I can't believe the mass of crocus - if I get one bloom here and there, I think I'm doing well. I was also jubilant when I found 2 buds on my one and only living hellebore - I can't imagine finding clump after clump of them.

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    1. I didn't know that crocus would survive without winter chill. Maybe that's just tulips? Most of my crocus don't do as well as this one. They get dug up just about every summer by mistake and thrown around in other beds. This guy just keeps proliferating. I'm thinking that they're crocus tommasinianus.

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  16. You've got currant blooms already! sigh. You're a bit ahead of me too. Lovely blooms! I can't wait to hear how your Improved Myer Lemon does. I can only imagine how fragrant it is! I'd love to get one someday. Happy GBBD!

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    1. I had only seen them in larger pots at fairly high prices, even at the box stores but found this one at the YGP show from the Seven Dees space for a nice price. Happy GBBD to you Jenny!

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  17. Loving your ribes blooms - I miss ours, but it got too big for our space. I can't tell for sure from your picture, but I'd hazard a guess that your bright, inherited camellia could be 'April Kiss'. The blooms look very simmilar to ours. Happy Bloom Day, Peter!

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    1. I'd been wanting a ribes for a while when I noticed a (bird planted?) volunteer in my garden. It's not in the best spot for its size (birds don't think of the overall plan or mature plants sizes sometimes, that must be why they call them bird brains.) but it doesn't mind having a big haircut every year. Because it was a gift from the universe, I'd have trouble getting rid of it.

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  18. Aren't we lucky to have so much in bloom already. Spring really happens on time here!

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    1. We are indeed lucky to live in this beautiful part of the world with towering evergreens, the sound, mild winters, and exuberant springs!

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  19. Your double Primulas look so lovely, like bouquets. I'm always afraid they won't return so have stuck with the plain single ones. I'm still drooling over the double Hellebores as well, I'll have to get over to the gardening centers and see what they have. Your garden is also ahead of mine, though I've seen a lot of flowers starting up in the last week.

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    1. The doubles have actually been much more reliably perennial for me than the singles and they've multiplied nicely for me. Hooray for spring (in 4 more days!)

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    2. Good to know, I'll have to check them out too.

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  20. Lovely blooms Peter and glad to hear spring has finally arrived there! Busy times ahead but hey, it'll be the good kind of busy us gardeners have been longing for :)

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    1. I'm so looking forward to getting out there and doing some major editing!

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  21. You have quite a lot of dangling and downward-facing flowers! Makes me think your garden is designed for lying on the ground and looking up at the sky.

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    1. It's a lovely thought but if one were to lie on the ground this time of year, (s)he would either get up soaking wet or simply be swallowed up by the mud. My flowers are just shy or maybe they like to shed the blasted rain that is ever present when they're blooming. Thanks for finding my blog and commenting!

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  22. I love the Stachyurus blooms! To me, the bark is also attractive with the white lenticels against the dark background. Maybe the specimen at the JC Raulston Arboretum shows it better. There you go taunting me with Agapetes again. So cruel.

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    1. Cruel is my middle name! Agapetes always surprises me with its random bloom times. I got a beautiful variegated leafed Stachyurus last year and am growing it in a pot to see if the blooms are as lovely as this one. That would certainly solve the problem of the plant being kind of blah for the rest of the year.

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  23. yay!! Spring is here!! I love it!! I didn´t know Stachyurus praecox...it is stunning...

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    1. Stachyurus praecox is one of those plants that no one notices until it's in bloom. I love it for it's dramatic late winter/spring show.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.