Crazy March Explosion of Bloom

It is just amazing how many things are blooming this March! I wonder what the rest of the season will be like? We have cooled down a bit today, and I think we're supposed to stay cooler (but still above normal) for a few days. I'm crossing my fingers :-)  The daffodils are almost gone, and the hyacinth are in full bloom. I wonder how long it will be before the bearded iris begins to bloom?

Last year a friend gave me two tiny Virginia bluebell starts, and they've both become small clumps with buds this spring! Once the clumps are a bit larger, I want to transplant some to the woods behind the garden bench, where we already have scilla.

The heather is still blooming away, and the glory of the snow that I planted next to the heather is now coming up through the edges of the growing shrub. I really like the blue and pink together, although the blue is kind of washed out in this photo.

The flowering quince is gorgeous this year! The same friend who gave me the bluebells, gave me this shrub as a stick she'd dug up where her neighbor's quince was spreading into her yard. That was about 5 or 6 years ago. We had this same color quince at the house I grew up in, so I have a nostalgic attachment to it. This is a cool shrub because you can prune it just by cutting off the ends of the branches without hurting the blossoming.

Our young red bed tree is also doing really well. We tried to establish red bud trees several times, and this is the first time we been successful.

I feel like I need to get out and take pictures almost every day, in case I miss something!

March Bloom Day

The garden has burst forth, this past week. I keep hoping that the weather will stay on the warm side, so I won't have to run around throwing sheets over some of the perennials that are starting to green up. In the past, it wasn't unusual to have extremely cold March nights.

The deep yellow crocus are already gone, as are the small white crocus. They lasted about two days. I have some dark purple crocus that are opened, and then I have this striped purple that I really love, although I don't remember a name.

I also like this one from the side: the bottom of the flower is a deep purple, and the stripes are evident as well.

Last fall I planted a new light purple crocus (Vanguard, 1934) that is doing very well.

And our honey bees seem to be enjoying it too.

One patch of "glory of the snow" has also opened.

I have a bunch of daffodils with green and buds, but one patch of early flowers are blooming away.

The scilla in our woods have sprung up and opened, something that usually doesn't happen for weeks yet.

Last year I planted a clematis, and since I haven't had much luck with them, I am overjoyed to see new growth on this one.

And our pussy willow is managing to survive through the various rabbit damage it experiences each year.

All in all, this is a pretty amazing March Bloom Day --I bet it will be years before we have another one with this much growing!

Slow Down!

I'm not ready for summer! And my early spring bulbs are gobsmacked by the heat. 80 degrees in March is too much of a good thing!

From Snow To Spring, In A Week

Yesterday we had a snow-eater south wind! It was up in the mid-sixties by the afternoon, and the snow is gone, except for some tiny patches hidden in wooded areas. Wandering around, I took a few pictures of spring emerging in the garden.

These are the purple crocus, pushing up through the leaves and mulch.

These two snow drops emerged a month ago, and have been in stasis. They don't seem any worse for the experience.

The yellow crocus, always early to bloom here.

The heather, which has bloomed all winter and simply emerges from the snow looking just as it went in, and the first honey bee I've seen so far.