Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for March 2018.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, we are in the ping-pong stage of changing seasons.
After several days of remarkable spring-like weather in late February—days I spent potting up pansies and violas and feeling behind in cleaning up the garden—the weather turned back to winter and I was scrambling to find my coat again.
Yet in spite of the on again off again warm weather, the blooms have been coming forth. Some days the flowers look pretty good. Some days they look pathetic. On those days, if flowers had wishes, they probably wished they had waited a few more days.
I looked back at last year’s bloom day post for March and was not surprised to read the same story. Warm, cold, warm, cold. It’s how spring arrives.
Anyway, without further comment on spring, because I know others have far worse weather woes, here are some blooms in my garden in mid-March.
Up top is Crocus ‘Pickwick’. One of my favorites because of the purple veins.
I planted quite a few of them last fall but they seem to have come up as all white.
Hmmm… I need to find my order form and perhaps send a nice note to the company I bought these from to find out if they made a mistake.
Another white flower is this double-flowering snowdrop. Galanthus something or other. A keeper for sure, though to see the double petals you have to get down on your knees and gently lift the nodding flowers. Perhaps that is by design?
The first of the daffodils started blooming a week or so ago. These are miniatures. They look pretty good consider they have been snowed on a couple of times. I usually dig up some of them later in the spring once they are done flowering and move them about a bit.
A new yellow flower in my garden is Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis. Yes, that is a light dusting of snow on them as of this morning.
Here’s a better picture of the Winter Aconites taken later in the afternoon when the sun had coaxed them open, along with some Iris reticulata.
Nearby are some Syberian Squill, Scilla siberica. I’ve been feeding peanuts to the blue jays all winter long, which is why the little blue squills are surrounded by peanut shells. I’m going to clean all those up and stop feeding the blue jays this spring.
Out in the back lawn, the early waves of crocuses, which were mostly light purple and white, have faded and now these darker purple crocuses are coming on strong. There have been crocus blooms in the lawn since Feb. 9th which means over five weeks of blooms and still going. I’ll probably plant another thousand or so crocuses this fall.
There are some clumps of crocuses in the flower beds, too.
And on the front porch, the violas I planted on February 27th, to go with the pansies I planted on February 20th, are happy to be next to the brick on these cold winter nights. Or are they spring nights now?
Oh, and what is this bloom?
It’s my second book, (Bookus carolii ‘Homegrown and Handpicked’) getting some sun on a sunny afternoon.
What’s blooming in your garden as we make the transition from winter to spring? We’d love to have you show us for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. It’s easy to participate. Just post on your blog about the blooms in your garden on or around the 15th of the month. Then leave a comment below to tell us what you have blooming and put a link in the Mr. Linky widget so we’ll know how to get to your post.
And always remember…
“We can have flowers every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
Hi Carol! Thanks for hosting and congratulations on the arrival of your second book! It looks like spring is arriving in your garden with those colorful blooms. It has been an interesting month in the garden here in the northeast. There will be some surprises in store when you visit! Happy Bloom Day!
Hello again, Carol! It's always fun to take part with you (albeit briefly at the end of a long garden update). Your blooms are just ahead of mine but we've a very similar mix (with the exception of the pansies). I too love Pickwick for its purple markings, and have purple crocus planted in lawn. I must check out my tete a tete narcissi now. I love the purple markings of my iris reticulata 'George' just seen in with a single snowdrop taken last night. Sadly it has probably past its best and I should have been out to see it sooner (after the snow melted).
Happy GBBD to you and everyone taking part today 🙂 Congrats on your second book too!
The weather is playing ping pong here too, although rather more at the cold end of the spectrum. But it's hellebore time so I'm not complaining. Love all your crocuses, mine all get eaten. I've mostly given up, just a few in pots.
We also had a mild February. March has mostly ponged – not as bad as east of us but we are experiencing winter all over again. I had hellebores starting to bloom and now they sleep under snow blankets. Some here in upstate New York even had crocuses coming up. I enjoyed yours. Maybe one day spring will be here for us, too.
Lovely!
Congratulations on finding your new book blooming today. Your garden fairies must have been very busy pushing it up out of the ground. It's that crazy time of year when spring and winter are duking it out but thankfully, spring always wins in the end. Strange that all your new crocus came up white. I just got some Winter Acontie at a spring plant sale (always forget to order them with the other bulbs) so hopefully next year they'll be blooming in my garden too. Thanks again for hosting!
I saw those peanut shells and read how they got there and can only wonder if you have squirrels? I can't imagine the squirrel party in my garden should I put out peanuts.
Congrats on the new book!
I'll admit, I'm envious of all you gardeners that actually have real blooms to share, when mine have yet to wake up. I'm cheating this month and merely sharing my dreams.
I wish Crocus loved my garden the way they love yours –
heck, I'd settle for them just tolerating mine.
Congratulations on book #2!
As always in winter in the north, it is such a treat to see others' spring bulbs in bloom. Yours are beautiful. Thanks for creating and continuing this way for us all to share our flowers, Carol!
I must plant more early Spring bulbs. I love the Winter Aconite. I am excited to hear about your book. I will order a copy!
I am going to plant more bulbs this fall. They just pop up when you need a little spring.
I'm back in the GBBD swing of things after a break due to the nasty polar vortex and wind storms we suffered through this winter in the Mid-Atlantic. So happy that spring has finally sprung!
Hi Carol, here in Vienna we had the same situation with the weather. It was super warm this week. Everyone seemed sure that spring had finally arrived. Winter jackets were put away. However, it´s getting colder again- minus 7 degrees on the weekend. I love your double galanthus. It looks so pretty. I too have some galanthus blooming in my garden, though no double varieties. I am very much enjoying my cyclamen coum plants-such lovely rewarding plants they are.
Have a lovely week!
Best wishes,
Lisa
The 'Pickwick' crocuses are my favorite, too–so pretty! You are way ahead of me in blooms, even though we haven't had snow in awhile. But I'm still glad to finally have something to show off for Bloom Day this month!
We are still in snow here in Minnesota so I have shared my indoor blooms. The Christmas cactus is having a grand time blooming right now.
You have lots of beautiful and delicate spring bulbs this month! I can't seem to post my link on your site this month, but I'll come back in a bit and try again. Happy Bloom Day, Carol!
Hello everyone! I’m new around here.. not even sure if I successfully posted my bloom day link. In any case, thank you for all the lovely posts and see you next month!
https://thelowerleftcorner.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/bloom-day-march-2018/
Thank you for hosting Carol! Oh you have greenery and beautiful colors popping in your garden. Here in Minnesota is hard snow still and while it’s warming up, more snow is expected. We will see.
It's lovely seeing those classic early bulbs! I am waiting for my late narcissus varieties to bloom and have only the species freesia, F. alba, to represent bulbs this March – how odd! Such is a desert garden… Congrats on the book 🙂
Congratutions on your 2nd book! I'm in awe of the amount of crocus bulbs that you plant in the fall. I imagine the payoff is supremely delightful!
Carol, I'm not as far behind you as I thought I would be. We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground, but crocus 'Pickwick' (love those purple veins!) is trying to push its way up past the snow and bloom. -Jean
I am glad voles don't get to your crocuses. As many of your northern commenters have already said, I am also showing my indoor blooms and sharing a few hints on coping with cabin fever.
I am glad voles don't get to your crocuses. As many of your northern commenters have already said, I am also showing my indoor blooms and sharing a few hints on coping with cabin fever.
Congratulations on your new book! Your garden is wonderful too. I also have winter aconite this month. ~~Dee
Nice I Like It.
Congratulations for new Book.
Hi Carol,
Well, I've picked this day of 8 inches of snow to catch up on my posting for GBBD showing all the flowers that were in bloom before this snowfall. So it goes…