I admit I am cold-weary. I will include the zone 9 weather wimp disclaimer - I'm just not accustomed to daytime temps in the 40's in March. That's a January thing, and frankly not that usual in January either. I'm hoping the mid to high 20 degree mornings are over- I have 3 flats of warm season seedlings under lights in my dining room that would enjoy being outside. But, with a few exceptions the garden plants seem to be powering through the weather just fine and season to date rainfall of about 25 inches (close to season normal) has been beneficial. For the most part the intervals between rain events have been long enough to facilitate spring weed control.
This March has been a transition month so far-the Hellebores hang on and the Daffs haven't blown out fast as can be the case if we have too many days north of 65.
This Daffodil is 'Teal'. I order it from Scheepers every year and plant it in 5 containers that I keep 'offstage' until they bud up and then I move them to my front garden. I discard them after bloom -my garden is small and I can only tolerate so much dying daff foliage so it is worth the 40 bucks or so a year to reorder. In my garden 'Teal' flowers seem to hold up longer than some of the other Daffodils I've grown over the years. I do have Thalia and Mt Hood in permanent locations.
These un-named Hellebores are colonizing right outside my front door.
Euphorbia 'Silver Swan' . I grew this one from cuttings taken from a plant I bought several years ago. This has been one of my best performing Euphorbias and since I fear the pervasive rise of plant branding has lead to variety disappearance in favor of the the newest (not necessarily better) cultivar I took matters into my own hands in the event I can never find one again. I've tried a couple other of the Euphs of this silvery blue variegation and found them to be very short lived. My original Silver Swan has been in my garden for close to 7 years and is just this year starting to look like it's slowing down. I'll be taking more cuttings later in spring to replace it.
Leucadendron 'Little Bit'. Cones, not flowers but they serve the same purpose so blooms they will be.
No ID Pulmonaria. I have several of these and they bloom briefly in spring and sport excellent foliage provided they get decent water.
More Hellebores . ..
This clump grew from my first Hellebore purchase-an un-named seedling that I bought at the late great San Francisco Flower Show back in the late 90's.Note the several zillion seedlings bottom right.
The annual display of Euphorbia characias wulfenii with a guest appearance from Brunnera.
Corsican Hellebore (Helleborus argutifolius) is a favorite of mine -big and showy. Lots of reseeding but no more than I can deal with.
My first Ranunculus of the season ! Not quite open but I included it anyway.
My poor Aloe 'Moonglow' has had a rough winter. It will take temps in the 30's ok but if we get into the 20's after the blooms are close to opening the top half of the flower is ruined. Since my neighbor replaced the fence in late Feb I had to cut the canes of the climbing rose that I used as a support structure for frost cloth thus they were not protected from a late season mid-20's morning. Not to mention the fencing dudes working in the area. A couple spikes were broken but they were already frost damaged. Fortunately this was the only plant that was injured. I surrounded my beloved Banksia baxteri with rebar and flagging tape.
This is the last flower left on Hakea laurina.
That's all she wrote for March. More rain on the way for the upcoming week so no doubt there will be more weeding in the near future !
As I recall, your hellebores always look great, Kathy! I'm lucky if I get 2 stems with flowers on my plants. Leucadendron 'Little Bit' is one of 2 members of that genus I managed to kill :( I hope some of your rain reaches us but the current forecast only calls for a chance of 0.05/inch on Monday afternoon and shows nothing thereafter for the next 10 days.
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