{"id":2337,"date":"2008-03-15T19:29:55","date_gmt":"2008-03-16T01:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=2337"},"modified":"2017-07-20T10:11:27","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T15:11:27","slug":"garden-bloggers-bloom-day-march-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/monthly-comparison\/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-march-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"GBBD 200803: Mar 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nCarol at May Dreams Gardens<\/a> invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.\n<\/p>\n

March 15, 2008<\/h3>\n

\nIf, as Carol quotes Emerson, the “earth laughs in flowers”, then for this fleeting moment at Zanthan Gardens we are ROGL. March is typically the month that I have more types of different flowers blooming than any other. I’m not saying the garden is drenched in blossom here. Quite the opposite. In fact, a visitor just this week remarked that the most overwhelming color in the garden right now is spring green. But as early spring flowers give way to late spring flowers, March provides a greater variety of plants in flower than at any other time of the year. Often it is just a stem of this, or a couple of flowers of that. April will be the month of masses of flowers but with less variety.\n<\/p>\n

New for March<\/h4>\n

\nBeginning in March, I can find something new blooming in the garden almost every day. The paperwhite narcissus have given way to the jonquils. My only large cup daffodil, ‘Ice Follies’ bloomed between GBBDs. After that came the yellow daffodils, ‘Trevithian’, ‘Hawera’, and then the Quail.\n<\/p>\n

Trevithian
\n\"Narcissus<\/p>\n

\nThe jonquil ‘Trevithian’ began flowering on March 3rd and three flowers are still open. They always come back but they never flower vigorously in my garden.\n<\/p>\n

Hawera
\n\"Narcissus<\/p>\n

\nThree diminuitive triandrus ‘Hawera’ nod their heads. They are so small and delicate, I think they must be fairy flowers. They began flowering on March 10th.\n<\/p>\n

Quail
\n\"Narcissus<\/p>\n

\nOne stem of the other jonquil ‘Quail’ opened on March 12th with three flowers. Notice the brown edges caused by the 95F\/35C degree heatwave that hit Austin yesterday. I saw it lying flat on the ground yesterday. Luckily some cold water and cooler temperatures today perked it up in time for its GBBD photo.\n<\/p>\n

Cilantro
\n\"Coriandrum<\/p>\n

\nThe meadow is filling in. The cilantro, Coriandrum sativum<\/i>, has been rampant this year. It looked very weedy for awhile but now that it is flowering all is forgiven.\n<\/p>\n

False Dayflower
\n\"false\"<\/p>\n

\nThe cute little faces on the false dayflowers, Commelinantia anomala<\/i>, always make me smile. I’ve spent ten years selecting the bicolor flowers and weeding out the solid dark blue ones.\n<\/p>\n

Rose ‘Ducher’ and Bluebonnets
\n\"rose<\/p>\n

\nMy new ‘Ducher’ rose likes is much happier than the one I lost, probably because I put it on the opposite side of the yard where it could receive sun all winter. I’ve never seen ‘Ducher’ bloom like this. It looks like it’s on steroids, but it’s just Dillo Dirt. In my experience, ‘Ducher’ prefers cooler weather and blooms best for me in early spring.\n<\/p>\n

\nMore bluebonnets, Lupinus texensis<\/i> are opening. Most of the flowers are still on the plants that oversummered, but a few fall-sprouted plants are beginning to flower, too (although not very profusely).\n<\/p>\n

Baby Blue Eyes and Cilantro
\n\"Nemophila<\/p>\n

\nIn stark contrast, the baby blue eyes, Nemophila insignis<\/i>, seem to be on a quest to take over the garden.\n<\/p>\n

Grape Hyacinth
\n\"Hyacinth\"
\nA few blue bottles, Muscari racemosum\/neglectum<\/i> just opened this week. I noticed them already flowering at Pam\/Digging’s almost a month ago.<\/p>\n

First Larkspur (Opened Today)
\n\"Consolida<\/p>\n

\nThe blooming of the larkspur, Consolida ambigua<\/i> marks spring, part 2 at Zanthan Gardens.\n<\/p>\n

Rose ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’
\n\"rose<\/p>\n

\nThe last two weeks, ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ has been putting on quite a show. She beat the shade and the little green worms. She is one of the roses I stripped in February.\n<\/p>\n

Rose ‘Blush Noisette’<\/p>\n

\n‘Blush Noisette’ has just emerged from the shade of the Texas Mountain laurels and put out a few flowers. I forgot to get a snapshot of them today though.\n<\/p>\n

Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’
\n\"Anemone<\/p>\n

\nThis was the first year that I’ve ever grown anemones. They were both more successful and less successful than I had expected. More, because they flowered at all, even after the raccoons kept digging them up. Less, because I should have planted them all together en masse<\/i> to get a nice effect rather than dotting them here and there. I always make this mistake.\n<\/p>\n

Bridal wreath spiraea
\n\"Bridal<\/p>\n

\nAbout six years ago this spiraea had huge white sprays like some giant floral fountain. Then I came very close to losing it. This year, a couple of stems are making a comeback.\n<\/p>\n

California Poppies ‘Mikado’
\n\"Mikado\"<\/p>\n

\nMore California poppies are blooming.\n<\/p>\n

This has been a pretty good year for the flowering trees, except for the Mexican plums. However, many plum seedlings are popping up. I think few fruit usually mature but because it was cool and rainy last summer a lot more did. The rainy summer of 2007 has had a dramatic effect on all the other small flowering trees. The cherry laurel, the Texas mountain laurel, and the redbuds are heavier with blossom than I’ve ever seen them.<\/p>\n

Texas Mountain Laurel
\n\"Texas<\/p>\n

\nThe sickly sweet grape soda scented Texas mountain laurel, Sophora secundiflora<\/i> is in full bloom right now. 2008 has been a spectacular year for Austin’s Texas mountain laurel. I think this was due to last summer’s extra rain. I don’t think mine have ever had this many flowers.\n<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Cherry Laurel
\n\"Prunus<\/p>\n

\nThe flowers of cherry laurel, Prunus caroliniana<\/i> are not as showy or scented as Texas mountain laurel but the bees seem to like them just as much.\n<\/p>\n

Viola
\n\"viola\"<\/p>\n

\nAlthough the violas have been blooming since November, I’m putting in this shot of them because this yellow one popped up among the white and purple Sorbet ‘Coconut Duet’. It is the first hard evidence of violas self-sowing in my garden. I don’t know if this is from this year’s seed which reverted or from last year (when I had yellow violas).\n<\/p>\n

\nThere are diminuitive flowers on three other plants that I didn’t even bother to photograph: the lavender, Lavandula heterophylla ‘Goodwin Creek’<\/i>, has one spray; in the oxblood lily nursery, I noticed the pretty pea-flowered common vetch, Vicia sativa<\/i>; and the potato vine, Solanum jasminoides<\/i>, is twining its way through the chain link fence.\n<\/p>\n

\nCarol said we could count potted plants and two began flowering this month.\n<\/p>\n

Meyer Lemon
\n\"Meyer<\/p>\n

\nI’m relieved that the Meyer lemon has staged a comeback. I was afraid that it would hold my neglect last year and subsequent rough treatment of it during repotting against me. When I repotted it on February 10th, I cut it back by two-thirds, hacked off a lot of potbound roots, and stripped all the leaves off it because they were covered in sooty mold. Now, a month later, it is putting out new buds and leaves like never before.\n<\/p>\n

Butterfly Amaryllis
\n\"Hippeastrum<\/p>\n

\nTwo flowers are now open on the butterfly amaryllis, Hippeastrum papilio<\/i>. I realized that the close-up shots I took the other day don’t show how large the flowers are. These are by far the largest flowers in bloom today.\n<\/p>\n

Still Flowering<\/h4>\n

\nThe four types of oxalis that I grow bloom off and on all year. I don’t think I’ve photographed them for GBBD before, so here they are.\n<\/p>\n

Two varieties of Oxalis triangularis
\n\"Oxalis\"
\n\"Oxalis\"<\/p>\n

Oxalis crassipes
\n\"Oxalis\"<\/p>\n

Oxalis pes-caprae ‘Scotty’s Surprise’
\n\"Oxalis\"<\/p>\n

\nAlso still flowering from previous months are viola, pinks, sweet alyssum, and the redbud tree.\n<\/p>\n

Complete List for March<\/h4>\n