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| Reticulated iris. |
It's the Ides of March, and the spring equinox is not far behind now. On this March Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog, it's a bit overcast here in my Zone 6B Virginia garden. We may get a shower or two this afternoon, with more forecast for tomorrow with thunderstorms and wind as a front moves in. We've had nice warm weather this past week, but desperately need a lot more rain to bring out the spring flowers--here's hoping.
I was thrilled to see the dwarf iris (Iris reticulata) I planted last fall coming up in Herb's bed! I have never grown these before, how did I ever overlook them? Such perky flowers deserve a place in everyone's garden. My order included assorted varieties in blue shades--some have light yellow eyes, others deep yellow, almost orange, and some none--those reddish purple ones are gorgeous! I hope they'll multiply in the years to come.
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| Iris reticulata in the Herb bed. |
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| Reddish purple iris. |
The 'February Gold' daffodils are out in force, with clumps in the front yard, the bed by the driveway and several spots in the back yard beds. I can't help but smile when I see their bright yellows, always a cheerful sight! Even better, deer and other critters never bother daffodils as the plants are poisonous.
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| 'February Gold' daffodils in the front yard. |
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| Clump of 'February Gold' by the driveway. |
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| 'February Gold' daffodils in the back bed. |
My winter aconite (Eranthis cilicica) are popping up in the back bed, but they have yet to carpet the ground as I envisioned. I wonder how long it it will take before they begin to look like an actual ground cover?
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| Winter aconite (Eranthis cilcica) |
Within the yellow flower spectrum, some of my crocuses are still blooming--these must be the 'Orange Monarch' variety I planted last fall, but they are not very orange, more like a deep cadmium yellow with feathering. The other crocuses are pretty much done with their flowering.
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| Crocus 'Orange Monarch'? |
The hyacinths are coming up too--I love the startling turquoise bases of the 'Delft Blue', and the white ones are also lovely.
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| Blue hyacinth. |
A few Siberian Squills are coming up in the woodland garden on the east side of the house. The two Hellebores under the Japanese maple 'Bloodgood' are in bud, but not open yet.
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| Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) |
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| Buds of Hellebore 'Flower Girl' |
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| Buds of Hellebore 'True Love' |
The sweet violet 'Queen Charlotte' is sporting its first flower today--the deer seem to find this variety particularly tasty, so it hasn't spread as much as I'd hoped, but it's making some progress.
The Forsythia in back has buds patiently waiting for a warmer day to open--probably in one week to ten days more.
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| Sweet violet 'Queen Charlotte' |
Indoors, my white Phalaenopsis orchid has two flowers open, and two miniature Phals are budding--I hope these will be in bloom in time for April Bloom Day. My yellow hibiscus is still blooming too.
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| White Phalaenopsis orchid. |
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| Two miniature Phalaenopsis orchids in bud. |
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| Yellow hibiscus braided standard. |
That's about it for my garden this month, thanks for visiting, and Happy March Bloom Day!
