Another Morning in Mid-March (in Zone 8b)

This morning - as I was being dragged around the garden by the irrepressible Wild Dog - I noticed that my purple bearded iris had opened just in time for May Dream's Gardens Garden Blogger' Bloom Day - well, almost, except for a minor technicality:  the bloom wasn't exactly connected to the plant.  Unfortunately it is in a favorite path of the ever vigilant Stanley, who enjoys the mad dash from one corner of the front yard to the other, and while he tries, he desperately tries, to stay on the designated paths - his vigilance (and over-flowing enthusiasm) gets the best of him.  And the bearded iris.

It needs to go on the list of things to move.  That would be far easier than curbing Stanley's enthusiasm, which I wouldn't have the heart to do anyway.

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Seeing it there this morning, lying on the ground, at first glance it resembled the feather of some wayward tropical songbird.

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There's much going on in the garden - wind-blown blooms of the camellias (I still have nine different camellias blooming), the roses are budding out like crazy-things, the mediterranean bay (aka bay laurel) is blooming for the first time ever, there are daffodils and all sorts of azaleas (I've only included one or two), the spring-blooming magnolias are happy (I haven't included an image of 'Elizabeth', my favorite, - the wind was blowing too strong and the blooms are quite high up in the tree), a wall of fragrant tea olive - mingling with the strong fragrance of the texas mountain laurel (which, if anything, benefited from our dry year) - and there are the beautiful leaves of the variegated lacecap hydrangea, the one where each spring I get leaves that are a beautiful white with hints of pale, pale green and yellow (but only hints) - and, as always, there is much more - but I had to end this gracefully.  I could go on.

Yes, quite a bit like last year - and if anything, a week or two slower.  The one observation that seems consistent:  there is evidence of the harm inflicted by last year's drought (one that is predicted to continue).  There are far fewer flowers on the silverbell, a number of the blueberry branches did not set fruit - nor leaves (and they are brittle and most likely dead), the same is true for the two japanese maples - there is just a sense, an awareness, that the past year was not an easy one for this one acre garden. 

But the resiliency is also apparent, in a few weeks or months new shoots will emerge, there will be evidence of new growth - but I've taken mental notes of those plants that seemed to have struggled the most, and I will try to watch them more closely through this next summer.

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Ever wonder about the phenotype of your garden tomatoes?  There's a bit less to wonder about.

Another reason that I am not in support of biofuels.

Another study to confound the whole global warming thing.

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I need to work on a report for a few hours, before meeting my brother for dinner - who came down to visit neighbors who have had an oceanfront home on Pawley's for the past two months.  To my brother, who lives in the mountains of Vermont (near Stowe) - a 70 degree, overcast, and breezy day is indeed a glorious one (and perhaps, just this once, he is right).  He and his friends are driving down to Charleston for the evening - now that makes things easy for me!  His daughter, my only niece, is in Charlottesville - and I'm receiving text messages from her, about my mother's misuse of words and confused speech.  The problem with this whole cancer thing (as if there is only one problem) is that one doesn't know where the next assault will come from - there is alot of confusion, unpredictability, worry - one needs to reacte, but it is difficult to reacte at each and every twinge, it's a predicament ripe with potential drama.  So my niece will continue to update me, via text messages, as she goes off to a very, very early dinner out with my mother and father - a dinner that was my mother's idea. 

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As I go through this experience, I realize that my mother's jumbled brain is becoming contagious - as I struggle with keeping my own functioning with some degree of clarity.

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Now - to back to the garden! 

(Pretty soon I am going to have to ask the County Clerk to show me how he formats his footnotes - I'm becoming more footnote than post I fear.  Is this something that is also contagious?  I do hope so.)

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Yes, definitely - now back to the garden.  Do enjoy.

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Comments

[Carol, May Dreams Gardens]

Thanks for joining us for bloom day. Interesting observations about the garden being a bit slower this year, and showing the effects of the drought. I planted a silverbell in my back yard last fall and am hoping to see a few blooms later this spring. All your blooms look very fresh & springy.

[Pam/Digging]

I did enjoy! Thanks for these beautiful flowers. Your garden looks farther ahead than mine, but I won't be posting until tomorrow or Monday.

[Vera]

Beautiful blooms. I especially like the Camilla.

[Ki]

All the photos are stunningly beautiful. I especially like the one of the very light pink C. japonica. Our C. japonica is still blooming too which seems to be a nice trait of this plant. When it gets cold it goes into a semi-dormancy and the warm weather starts the blooming process again, prolonging the flowering season to last from October well into April and even May. We also have a C. sasanqua but it doesn't seem to be quite hardy and has stopped blooming since last fall. The Fotergilla will look wonderful when the pompoms open. Can't wait for ours to bloom but that's still a long ways away. Quite a difference from zone 6b to 8b.

A footnote? Never!

[kate]

I loved scrolling through and enlarging your photographs. It is great fun on a sunny, cold day to imagine actually being able to see these beautiful flowers and to breathe in their scents. I can well imagine Stanley enthusiastically stepping into the Iris ... my theory is that dogs think they are much smaller than they actually are.

Your niece must be very glad that you are there to hear her words as she works through her emotions with your mother's cancer. It is hard not to react to each new happening ... thankfully you have a garden to retreat to and dogs to play with. These help to keep a sense of balance ...

My river rock path turned out much better than I expected. Mostly I enjoyed cleaning and discovering the amazing shapes and colours of the rocks. I think it worked well for my garden - but then, I have a small inner-city garden, so this is a short winding path. I love it.

[Annie in Austin]

One fallen iris petal is more beautiful than a bouquet of iris when you take the photo, Pam. If we're choosing favorites among your bloom day flowers I'll take the 'Seafoam' camellia. The idea of bay laurels in bloom surprised me... is yours in a container or growing in the ground?

I'm sorry to hear about your mom's jumbled speech- maybe those around her can figure out how to 'translate' for her so she doesn't feel so frustrated. Rough year is an understatement.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Jean]

Beautiful, all of them. I believe I recognize 'Dr. Merrill' star magnolia and a couple of Brent and Becky's own jonquilla cultivars. Am I correct?

For the discussion above about the blooming of camellias, not all bloom at the same time. I have a white C. sasanqua that is on bloom well before Thanksgiving and done by New Year's. Then there's 'Bloody China' (garden name here for Blood of China) which has a few scattered blooms with the other big camellia show and puts on its best show in bright red in April, to clash with all the pinks of High Spring.

[layanee]

You have so much in bloom! It is inspiring to this New England gardener. Just peeks and pecks of color here but it will advance north from your garden. As always, gorgeous pictures! Thank you for sharing your bounty!

[Pam]

Carol, thanks once again for hosting us. I do like this monthly documentation of what is going on around me. I hope that your silverbell does well - mine is in full bloom today.

Pam/Digging - I always feel like you Austinites are weeks ahead of us - so how funny that you feel that we are ahead!

Thank you Vera. That one white camellia, Sea Foam, is especially nice - the flowers are just all so incredibly perfect, they almost don't look real.

Ki, I have camellias that open up a week or so before Thanksgiving - and some that will be shedding their last blooms in late April. They're pretty amazing for sure. That light pink one was one of the first one that I got - in some lights, it looks almost a pure white - but then in another light it is clearly a light pink.

Kate, yes, I was wondering how large or small your rock river was. I do think they look best in smaller gardens. It's a challenge to do that sort of thing in my one acre space - sometimes small scale things just get dwarfed - maybe one day, when more spaces are filled and there is a better sense of scale to everything - smaller, more private areas will be revealed where a river of rocks might just work. I hope so.

Annie, thank you. And regarding my bay - it is in the ground. It was a tiny one when I first got it (a 'stick') and it was in a pot for a year or two, and grew slowly - but when I put it in the ground, it grew like a weed. This winter it got tiny white flowers that were not open until just last week - they were on the bush/tree for several months before opening. I've got mine in full soon - nothing seems to bother it.

Jean, I'm not familiar with 'Dr Merrill' - and it doesn't sound familiar (but I should try to dig up which one I have, and then perhaps edit this response!). Also, I've never ordered from Brent and Becky's - but I do think these are pretty common types.

Layanee, thank you - and as I've said before to you, when August rolls around, it is indeed a pleasure to see your cooler and much more colorful late summer garden - when thinks are fading in the hot sun down here!