We've had a mild winter and a rather warm stretch of weather so some things are blooming a bit earlier this year than last.
Camellia japonica
Here's the giant camellia I inherited with the garden. Joining it in bloom this month is the also inherited magnolia.
Lots of hellebores blooming. Here are three - 'Anna's Red'
'Cotton Candy'
'Onyx Odyssey'
A few last crocus.
Some crocus planted by the gardening squirrels. I find bulbs coming up in the strangest places.
Ribes sanguineum planted by a bird years ago.
Akebia quinata 'Shirobana'. The scent of the flowers is gorgeous and reminds me a bit of fragrant stock.
Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'
Tête-à-tête daffodils and that poor Rheum palmatum atrosanguineum that looks like it really wants to be divided into four plants. Maybe next weekend...
One of the two magic Abutilon megapotamicum which have bloomed all winter this year! Gotta love a plant that blooms constantly!
Stachyurus praecox.
Double flowered Primula vulgaris.
Daffodils and very fragrant Skimmia japonica.
Pieris japonica
One lone Anemone blanda from a small group planted many years ago soldiers on year after year. I rather like it's common name Grecian Windflower. Perhaps next autumn I'll give it some companions.
Pulmonaria popping up to say hello.
Ceanothus
Viburnum bodnantense 'Dawn'
Forgot to take pictures of the Grevellia and Lonicera fragrantissima, still blooming.
Meanwhile, inside the greenhouse- our old friend, Impatiens congolensis.
Agapetes
Couldn't resist throwing a poinsettia or two out there for extra color after the holidays were over.
I'll compost them when the colored bracts fall.
Clivia.
Jasminum officinale perfuming the air.
Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' just starting to show color.
Begonia 'Gene Daniels' continues to bloom and grow. What a great plant!
Happy GBBD!
The primula is so cool...never seen that before it's fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI'm very fond of the double primulas!
DeleteWonderful 'Onyx Odyssey', Peter. What a color!
ReplyDeleteI liked your poinsettias, are they indoors plants? Happy GBBD!
'Onyx Odyssey' goes through a nice series of color changes, starting nearly black, going through a slightly maroon period and now almost blue. Poinsettias are indoor plants here.
DeleteWow! So many beautiful flowers!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Thank you Lea! Happy GBBD to you!
DeletePlenty of early spring blooms. Happy Bloom Day !
ReplyDeleteHaven't we been lucky with our mild winter? I say that as a winter-like storm is raging outside. I think we got all the rain we missed earlier this winter yesterday and today!
DeletePeter, you have SO many blooms for March :) So cool! I especially love that you've kept your poinsettia's going in the green house!
ReplyDeleteMost people get rid of their poinsettias after the holidays and I got tired of looking at them inside but out in the greenhouse, they add a nice shot of color.
DeleteOh my goodness, what a lot of blooms! You mentioned "the last of the crocus"--I'm still waiting for the first one to show up here! Seeing your primulas reminded me that I saw these doubles for the first time last year at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show and loved them. I wish I could find them at a local nursery. Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteSpring will find you very soon! The double primulas are widely available here, even at the big box stores.
DeleteThe giant camellia/magnolia combo is awesome! Spring has certainly come in with a bang. I love Hellebore Onyx Odyssey, Stachyurus praecox and Agapetes. So many treasures.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, I'm not particularly a fan of pink but it seems to be all over the garden. I'm lucky to have so many fun plants!
DeleteHappy GBBD! All your flowers are gorgeous! I love the Stachyurus. I've been trying to figure out if there is somewhere that I can fit another couple of small trees in my back gardern, but I worry that there won't be enough sun for them back there.
ReplyDeleteShade tolerant trees? I know that you're not particularly a fan of Acer palmatum but how about a Variegated Cornus kousa? It would absolutely shine against your gorgeous evergreens, a bit shade tolerant, flowers followed by pretty red fruit that remains after leaf fall for another show of red against the evergreens. Did you already have trees in mind?
DeleteYes, there are a couple of spots back there where I think I could fit a small shade-tolerant tree, like one that won't get more than 20 feet tall. If such things exist.
DeleteGood Golly! Is that inherited Camellia as huge as it seems?
ReplyDeleteI've been interested in a flowering current for a while. How do you like yours? I love the spring flowers but not so much a messy shrub. I understand it very tolerant of pruning so I hope to keep it under control.
The inherited Camellia is, indeed huge even though each year that we get heavy snow, parts of it break off. It eventually fills in but it was twice as big around as it is now before the winter before last when we got a foot and a half of snow followed by ice - snap, snap, snap! I love the flowering currant and don't find the shrub very messy as far as shedding litter. I use the hedge trimmers on it every summer as it's too close to a path and I often trim it back by about a third. Each spring it erupts in colorful blooms that the humming birds love.
DeleteThank you for including your Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'. I'm seeing them around town in bloom but could not for the life of me remember their name!
ReplyDeleteIt's a cheerful thing but also runs about a bit.
DeleteSuch bounty! I don't think I've ever seen a Camellia grow that tall - or bloom that much. My poor Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' doesn't like our warm-hot weather and opens only one bloom at a time, as if tentatively testing the air to see if conditions are hospitable. I'm glad to see the flower on your Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' - hopefully, mine won't be far behind. It too seems to be inclined to keep its buds tightly closed - I hope this isn't a trend.
ReplyDeleteThere are many of this older variety of camellia around our neighborhood but most people sensibly keep them trimmed back. There was one monster specimen by a hundred-year-old brick church just up the street from me. Unfortunately, both the historic building and camellia are now gone. Poor Ned had some buds earlier in the year but either it dried a bit too much between watering or didn't like the light or temperature and they sat and did nothing until they fell off. This new batch of buds looks happy and like they'll open.
DeleteAlmost too many beautiful things to grasp. Nothing really happening in Wisconsin other than warm weather which will help get things started. I have a Hellebore Cotton Candy that should bloom this year. Yours has me all excited at what to expect.
ReplyDeleteI'm very fortunate to live in this climate where we don't get real winter! I sometimes miss the snow but having blooms all winter and being able to grow so many plants kind of makes up for it. I think you'll love 'Cotton Candy' as it's such a sweet color! Happy almost spring!
DeleteThat blue Primula is spectacular! You have so many amazing plants blooming all at the same time! I'm jealous of the Camellias because I can't grow them in my zone 5 garden. Gorgeous, gorgeous blooms. Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteThe double primulas come in a nice variety of colors. I'm very lucky to live in this climate where so many plants are hardy! When camellias were first brought from Japan, gardeners were unsure of their hardiness so they were grown in greenhouses. Perhaps that would be an option for you?
DeleteYou have such a wealth of blooms! I love your primula. Happy Bloom Day!
ReplyDeleteRight back at you G.L!
DeleteWow! I wish we could grow camellias, crocus, and hellebores. . .without being outlaws to soil and weather. And I'm astounded about your abutilon that bloomed all winter. Really gorgeous garden!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda. You can grow some pretty great plants in Texas that would rot here in our soggy winters! There are trade offs in every climate, right?
DeleteWhat a feast you are enjoying! I like the crocus/bowling ball combo.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the squirrels know best.
DeleteI wish spring would slow down too. But I'm enjoying my blooms too. Today they're getting a drink.
ReplyDeleteA drink and a bit tossed around by the wind but we did need the rain.
DeleteWowwowwowow! Mahvelous. The monster Camellia is special--I hope you keep that.
ReplyDeleteDid the squirrels "plant" the bowling balls, too?
Thanks, Hoover! I've a soft spot for Camellias blooming as they do in the late winter/early spring so that will stay as long as I'm the gardener here. Who knows what'll happen then? Just yesterday a very nice young couple came into a nursery where I was helping out for the day and wanted to get rid of three 5 - 7 foot palms. She showed me a picture they're lovely but they want to remove the trees and gravel mulch and plant a strip of lawn. To their credit, they were trying to re home the palms rather than just chopping them down.
DeleteWow Peter, what a marvellous selection of flowers! Love your camellia and magnolia together, superb specimens. My Kerrya is nowhere near flowering yet, I'll have to go and have a talk with it!
ReplyDeleteWhy not plant the poinsettia out and let them act as foliage filler somewhere rather than composting? (Maybe they're not so good after they've served their purpose?)
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of lusciousness, even before you got to the stuff in the greenhouse. What a great Bloom Day you had.
ReplyDeleteI' ve been away for a few days and got behind with my blog reading so I missed this. Wow, what a lot of gorgeous things in bloom. You are ahead of us now with lots of flowers that we have still to come. I' m still waiting for my Stachyurus. What gorgeous hellebores. So many lovely things, I don' t know where to start.
ReplyDelete