A Late Afternoon in Mid March (in Zone 8b)

 

Arugula flowers...a favorite, and a reason to let a few of your plants flower and go to seed.  They're lovely, don't you think?

I realized today that the last time I participated in May Blooms Gardens "Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day" was 20 April 2010.  That is much (much) too long... so today, after I took a friend and her husband to the airport (they flew in on Sunday night), I grabbed my camera and went outside with the dogs and battled the wind (hence the less than adequate focus of many of the images) to get some shots of what's blooming in my garden. 

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~Narcissi jonquila 'Sailboat' (Division 7)~ 

The daffodils have been blooming for awhile now - the first daffodil unfurled on the 17th of February (which would have been my Mother's 77th birthday).  I had just returned from a workshop and conference in Puerto Rico - and the next morning, there it was, greeting me.  Now, almost a month later, 'Sailboat' is in bloom, as are a number of others.  There are also several late bloomers that are still out there, waiting their turn.    

 For now, I'll just show a few of the ones I found in bloom this afternoon.

 

 

 
 

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~Camellia japonica 'White Nun'~

It was a challenging year for the camellias.  Many of the sasanquas got damaged from the cold weeks we had in November and December - and as a result, the japonicas got the message and their buds stayed tight, stubborn, impatiently waiting for a string of warmer days.  When the warmth arrived - the camellias all came out at once in what could only be described as a glorious display. 

 
~Camellia japonica 'Sea Foam'~ 

 
~Camellia japonica 'Magnoliaeflora' (planted in memory of a sweet and rare beagle girl)~ 

 
~Camellia japonica 'Lemon Glow'~

Last fall I planted 'Lemon Glow' - one of the first yellow camellias to become commercially available.  The one I have is small (less than 2' tall) but it was covered in buds and now blooms - formal flowers that have pretty butter yellow buds that seem to fade to a less attractive color of yellow over time.  The jury is still out though - I'd like to see how it does after it gets a bit of size on it, and perhaps after a less unusual winter. 

 
~Camellia japonica 'Mathotiana'~

  
~Camellia japonica (thought it was Brigadoon, but it's not)~

This really is a stunning camellia, this photograph doesn't do it justice.

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~Old Blush (1752 China)~

 The first rose opened up yesterday - an antique rose - and from the look of buds on this china rose and on the other roses around it, soon the garden will be filled with the fragrance of roses.  It will have some compeition though:  the tea olives are giving it another go, and the wisteria is slowly budding out, and one of the hollies is smothered in tiny fragrant flowers and happy bees.

I love roses.

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Magnolia stellata (top) and Magnolia x 'Jane' (bottom) - the star magnolia is beginning to fade, 'Jane' is just hitting her stride - and 'Elizabeth' (not shown) hasn't opened up yet.

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~Pyrus pyrifolia, asian pear~

Happy Bloom Day.

Comments

[kate]

Nice post! I found your blog via Bloom Day. It's nice to see a garden with a collection of plants so like what we can grow in Portland, OR. I guess it's that Zone 8 thang... you have a wonderful collection of Narcissus, I see! I love Sailboat. Have you tried Sweet Love?

[Pam]

Kate, thanks for stopping by! I'm guessing that we are similar... until July-September, when we're much warmer (and perhaps more humid?) than you guys. I do love zone 8 though (we're technically zone 8b) - although in the 15 years I've lived here, I think we're migrating towards zone 9. Haven't tried Sweet Love, but will definitely look it up - I love the smaller ones (and have a bunch that I did get a decent photo of yesterday - it was just too windy to keep the smaller ones still!). Wish my garden was filled with them!

[Sheran]

What lovely pictures, Pam. Thank you. Here in the upstate, the daffodils are about finished. My old china roses are budding, but no blooms, yet. I still have plenty of snowdrops blooming, which is odd, since they usually finish before the daffodils. It has been an odd season. Candytuft is blooming, but the primroses are a long way off.

[Annie in Austin]

That array was worth waiting a year for, Pam... such lovely things you can grow in SC! The M. stellata photo is just magic and magnoliaflorae is too.

My lone C. sasanqua put on a show in December but 3 days in the deep freeze at the begining of February took out the japonica flowers. I don't know many people growing camellias in Austin so am not sure what 'normal' is supposed to be.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Pam]

Sheran, do you which china roses that you have? I'm always curious what old roses other folks are growing It's an obsession, you know...). I've always had an odd snowdrop-daffodil relationship here - when I lived further north, they were early bloomers, but here along the coast my always bloom at the same time as the daffodils - not sure why that is (the other odd thing - the hostas in my parents garden in Virginia always start emerging before mine. Not sure about that one either, but might have something to do with cold-period). Anyway - after a dreary and chilly week, looks like we have a pretty weekend ahead!

Annie, thank you - I've been a deliquent (and burned out) blogger of late - my motivation seems to have left me. But I love that monthly documentation of the garden, and I've missed it. Sounds like you had a tough camellia year - our sasanquas did terribly (the early cold) but fortunately most of the japonicas kept their buds tight throughout most of the winter - so we had most of them blooming at the same time (in the 16 years that I've lived here, I've never seen so many blooming at once - it was lovely). Nice to hear from you - I hope all is going well.