Spring Progresses

Saturday, 20C; today 23C!! Stuff is just jumping out of the ground and/or into bloom. Many hours on the bike this weekend too, despite back and butt problems which are just about conquered (I hope)...

Daphne mezureum shown here has added it's scents to that of the red maple flowers (no photo)







And the bees are out in force, this bumblebee condescended to sit still for a photo. More honey bees this year than the past several too.






And the white form, Daphne mezereum forma alba. A sweeter more clovelike scent than the pinkish type.

Here, a worm's eye view of some snowdrops. Not the best focus, but they are interesting flowers up close. Canopied by Rhododendron fortunei.

Peony noses of all types are up suddenly just about everywhere that I've put them. This is the furthest along as usual, Paeonia mairei. Still in small pots but rooted into the former lawn below; Every spring I swear to get them planted out in fall and every fall manage not to...







Surprisingly, to me, the tree peony Paeonia rockii is also already breaking out of it's buds, rather earlier relative to the rest of the peonies than what I am used to seeing.

Muscari species (a Grape Hyacinth) sort of in bloom, it's sometimes hard to tell when they open. I've lost track of the name of this one, I think it might be something to do with Armenia but not sure anymore. It seeds around like none of the other species that I have tried, a great bonus.

A Thlaspi species, not long-lived but seeding about in the sand bed. These are little alpines which have been with me for over a decade now.

The main crocus show. The Thlaspi is in this bed, far back on the right but I don't think you'll be able to see it in the photo.

An addendum to the previous post on frost damage amongst the Hellebores. This poor ugly blasted shoot may also have been the victim of that frost, but it was fairly well-covered with dry bracken leaves so I hadn't seen it before the cold snap. It is also possible, particularily since this plant was moved into the ground from a pot late last summer, that this was unseasonally last autumn's growth and the frost damage is the more normal result of the entire winter.

Broken Thermometers

Back to winter here:



Snowdrops dropped by snow...









Helleborus niger, white flowers well camouflaged.









And the dark red Helleborus orientalis hybrid, can't you tell?








Forecast low for tonight -8C, with a high tomorrow of -7C??!!! Meanwhile +19Cin Firenze (northern Italy) just now.

Spring flowers already?

First, yes it's true I am back at posting to this blog again! Can't promise that I'll keep it up regularily or long, but we'll see as we go along. The multi-year gap involved here was spent gettin my head together on nursery and personal issues and managing to mesh gardening with cycling (still not a done deal, but getting there).

So.

A very early spring, a good two weeks earlier than usual. Nor was it a very cold winter either, overnight lows rarely going below -15C. More, there has been a good run of sunny days to break the frosts, whereas we have been more used to cloudy or wet springs (or at least that seems to be the case from looking back at my cycling records!!)

Two days ago crocus leaves were starting to show in a couple of sand beds, and Helleborus niger buds were swelling and semi-open. Today, crocus flowers are in bloom and the Hellebore is noticeably open. Other Hellebores are starting to show flower stems in bud erecting themselves above the ground. Probably black alder bushes are in bloom too, but they are not showy and I haven't walked into their area very often since I ran out of dogs.




A pair of yellow-flowered Hellebore plants just showing through the snow down the hill from the house. The first is just a bud at ground level right now, the second further along. One of them is a species and the other is a hybrid, but their labels are still under the snow so I can't be more specific now.













Snowdrops, budded but not quite open. These are in deep shade beneath a large Rhododendron.








A large Helleborus orientalis (Lenten Rose) hybrid quite far along because it is situated not far from a basement wall close to my wood stove, so the ground there is the warmest in the yard.







A well- and long-established bunch of crocus in the root zone of a Spiraea bush (hence all the branches laying amongst them). These probably first opened a couple of days ago but I didn't notice them until today. How is that possible?!
These are no particular species or cultivar, just a generic crocus patch which started as a half-dozen corms sometime in the early 80's. I suspect there has been some self-seeding in addition to the corm offsets.


A couple of species or botanical crocuses in a sandbed. The yellow ones are pretty obvious, the pale lilac-coloured ones are shyly hiding beneath the leafs of a yucca.








Helleborus niger, the Christmas Rose. This in a bed along an unheated section of the basement and beside the sidewalk. Sunny at this time of year, shady once the trees leaf out. I planted a pair of these close together, but the other one in the pair blooms in November, and yes, still showed some remnants of white sepals as Christmas approached. These are not as vigorous for me as H. orientalis and its hybrids.

2008 postings at last: Signs of Spring

Yes folks, despite the stuff the Weather Channel is waffling about, Signs of Spring are in the air. Primarily, I passed an outdoor flea market today while out on the bike...

Crocuses showed up with today's sun.

Helleborus niger, up against the house.




Snowdrops almost ready to open.






Bike and snowshoes together... says a bit about the state of the trails in the woods here.

Despite the temperatures, more spring signs

Yesterday, just a bristle of pokey green leafs. Today, the first crocus buds-- and wait, is that an open one in the middle (sheltered from the cold wind by its buddies)? Close enough to "open" for me.

The snowdrops featured a few days back are, by the way, still tightly closed...

Signs of Spring!!

The spring Equinox blew in at -10 degrees Centigrade here, and a full coating of white stuff on the ground. But today--- Ahhhh, today--- definite signs of spring:


Snowdrops poking clear of the leaf litter and already in bud; they'd probably be open but they're sitting in the shade of a large Rhododendron and don't get much direct sunlight.

And more inportantly:


The road bike (the yellow one) gets an airing for the first time this year. Shorts weather in fact! Reassuring to find out that all the hours spent on the trainer over the winter were not completely in vain.
(The mountain bike has been out in most weathers and most days this winter, thanks to snow tires with studs)