Sunday, March 15, 2015

March Bloomday for 2015

March! The month when Portland gardens are typically exploding with blooming bulbs. It's been an early spring here, but there are still a few crocus, lots of daffodils, and the tulips are just getting started. I'm not a big planter of spring bulbs, in fact these inherited daffodils are all there is...

The blooms of Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' are waning, although there are a few new blooms still opening.

Last Bloomday I shared my concern for the buds on the Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’, turns out most of them are opening after all.

However there are a few that look like the shriveled one about mid photo on the left...

The hellebores are still shining bright, Helleborus argutifolius.

Helleborus x hybridus 'Jade Tiger' blooms are fading to green.

And the foliage is growing. This plant is gorgeous no matter the season.

I think I picked this one up at a plant exchange, I have no ID for it.

Abutilon 'Nuabtang' Lucky Lantern, not yet planted, picked up just last Sunday at Little Prince of Oregon Nursery.

Also not planted, Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow'.

This one has a bad rap, but it behaves pretty well in my garden. Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae

Euphorbia rigida, I love how it seeded itself along in a row.

There are seeds already developing on this years blooms. I am thrilled, more plants!

Ceanothus 'Dark Star' just about ready to burst into bloom.

This stage just might be my favorite.

Foliage about to burst on the Podophyllum 'Red Panda'. You can see flower buds in there too, which is how I'm rationalizing including this photo.

This one is in just for fun, Syneilesis aconitifolia emerging from the soil, fuzzy little mushrooms. Oh wait! There's a small patch of Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae in the background. There are blooms after all!

Arctostaphylos densiflora ‘Harmony’ is the last of my trio of manzanita to bloom.

The bumbles love it.


Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Hindwarf'

A NOID rosemary

Grevillea 'Neil Bell', how many months in a row now has this one been blooming!?

Grevillea australis, and I could detect just the slightest honey fragrance.

Grevillea ‘Poorinda Leane’

Just a couple more, inside the house. I keep waiting for this Tillandsia bulbosa to really get with the blooming, but it seems frozen in this state.

This NOID tillandsia is going to bloom!

And the Ludisia discolor is taking it's time, although those buds keep getting taller and taller...

That's a wrap on my Bloomday offerings. Click on over to May Dreams Gardens for links to all the bloggers participating in the monthly celebration of flowers in our gardens!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

50 comments:

  1. Hellebores and edgeworthia.. so beautiful. Who needs bulbs? It's a hot topic for me as well, voles and mice destroy every bulb I plant so from now on I will be looking for spring colour from shrubs and perennials. It doesn't seem so hard..

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    1. I wish you much success. For me it's an issue of forgetting where they are during the other months of the year and driving a shovel into them. And then of course there is the foliage. I want to cut it back right away which doesn't make for a long lived bulb.

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  2. I love the Tillandsia in the yellow vase as a way to display them. I have a bunch just sitting behind my kitchen sink, I really need to find a way to jazz up the presentation there. On both of the Arctostaphylos that I planted last year, the tips of the branches where the flowers should be have withered and died. I guess I'm just going to have to trim those tips off and hope they flower next year.

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    1. Thanks! When it comes to displaying my (growing) tillandsia collection the fact that I'm also a vase collector does come in handy. I wonder why your arctostaphylos tips died? Maybe our sudden freeze last fall? I do think cutting back the tips is a good thing, bushier plants in the long run.

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  3. Lots of fantastic colour in your very interesting garden. Some I know and some are unfamiliar. I am sucker for all the Euphorbias and I have just bought 'Ascot Rainbow' so will be interested to see how it performs in my uk garden. A brief aside, the label on my newly bought plant had a double 't' in 'Ascott', which I thought didn't look right, so I am interested to see that you spell it with only one 't' - which looks right.

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    1. Interesting spelling difference. I would chalk it up to my inability to spell most everything correctly but a quick check says I didn't just spell it wrong. It's a great plant isn't it?

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  4. Sometimes I think plants are the most interesting just as the buds begin to form and just before they burst into full bloom, as shown with many of your plants. That Ceanothuse is so dramatic and lovely just where it is right now! You have a wonderful Hellebore collection! I'm envious! Happy GBBD!

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    1. I have to agree, interesting and full of potential. Looking at other Bloomday posts I was just thinking I needed to add a few more hellebores to the garden.

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  5. I can always look to your garden on bloom day to provide lots of interest. How do you do it? You have the magic touch. Happy Bloom day.

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    1. Ha! You are the kindest, my garden isn't all that magical. I do wish you could have joined us last year for the Fling.

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  6. I love those Edgeworthia - too bad they want regular water. I also love that Ceanothus, which I've yet to come across here - I may need to break down and try getting it by mail order. It's nice to see you Grevillea going strong - I might get to that Australain Native Nursery in Ventura after all so I'll be keeping my eyes open for G. australis.

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    1. Yes...mail order! I think you'd love it in your garden. I will be so excited to hear what you discover if you make it up to that nursery. They next time we're in L.A. visiting family I have 2 must-do's on my list. Your garden and that nursery.

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  7. Wonderful collection! Reminds me of a couple of treasures I've got my eye on for around here – Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’ and Syneilesis aconitifolia are tops on my list for possible additions! Love the Grevillea too!

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    1. Oh...those are both great ones! I'd offer to divide my syneilesis for you but discovered they aren't really down with that.

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  8. You have so much going on in your garden. Those Grevillea are fascinating. The more I see of them the more I am drawn to them. A shame they wouldn't cope here.

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    1. Bummer. I am sorry as they are pretty great plants.

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  9. Well your blooms are stunning , but ooo-la-la , that yellow vase !

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    1. I've got a pair, forget where I found them but it was years ago, 15 or 20 at least.

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  10. Fun post! I love your Podophyllum 'Red Panda'. I'm adding it to my spring shopping list. Your garden is always such an inspiration.

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  11. I think I covet Ceanothus 'Dark Star' and Grevillea 'Neil Bell', but i think it would only lead to disappointment here.

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  12. I SO wished I lived in Portland. It's fun seeing your plants that we can grow but many of them we cannot. And I hope my Euphorbia rigida seeds out!

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    1. I was kind of under the impression it was inevitable (the seeding), maybe the gravel mulch provides just the right conditions. A nursery person told me that you've only got to buy it once, and you'll have plants for a lifetime. Since they are very easy to recognize (and pull) at a young age it's certainly not a bad one.

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  13. Many terrific blooms - the Edgeworthia, Grivellia, and that yellow Hellebore! Plus I'm looking forward to seeing that Ceanothus in flower.

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  14. Great array of flowers from a foliage garden. Beautiful.

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  15. Thanks for the fragrance update on Grevillea australis. Emerging Syneilesis foliage is so cute! Like little furry parasols that pop open as they get taller. Love the glossy Podophyllum foliage as well! So cool! Is 'Jade Tiger' growing in a pot? It sure looks happy.

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    1. Yes it is (Jade Tiger). I bought it last year at the O'Byrnes open house and the plant was so darn big (in a 5-gallon container) that I couldn't figure out where to plant it. It seems to be okay with container life.

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  16. Your manzanitas look so happy! I haven't been able to get mine established so far. Your Syneilesis aconitifolia is such an interesting plant too.

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    1. They have really taken off (the manzanita), which makes me happy. I do have one other small one that hasn't grown a bit in 2 or 3 years.

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  17. I love EVERYTHING. And thank you so much for introducing me to grevilleas! If I can keep the new one ('Long John') alive, I'll be checking your posts for others. I wonder how 'Neil Bell' would handle our summer heat...

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    1. I'm inclined to think since 'Neil Bell' does so well up here that it might not be thrilled to grow in your area, but I guess I don't really have anything concrete to base that on. You should check out the grevillea here: http://www.australianplants.com/plants.aspx?filter=true&key=category&value=S

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  18. Love the Podophyllum 'Red Panda', so alien -- glad you included photos of it at this stage!

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    1. I've been meaning to do one of those "emerging plants" posts but it's all going so fast! Glad you enjoyed it.

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  19. I've had the same thing as Alison with dying tips on the Archostaphylos, but plenty of blooms, too, to make up for it. Is there a difference between Euphorbia rigida and E myrsinitis? I keep seeing photos of the former which look just like the latter to me.

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    1. Yes, they are different species. The biggest differences I noticed (I've grown both) is Euphorbia myrsinites tends to grow in more of a creeping along the ground way where as E. rigida is upright. Also for me E. myrsinites tends to look rattier, the stems get leggy and loose their leaves. E. rigida stays tidier.

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  20. Beautiful blooms and so much variety! did you really had a winter in Portland?? It doesn't look like it, hehe.

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    1. Nope! We had a sudden onset freeze in the fall, and a couple more patches of cool temps (21F was my low here, -6.1C) but all in all it was dreamy!

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  21. Happy GBBD! You really have some lovely blooms. I'm super intrigued about grevillea's..your's is so colorful!

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    1. You need a couple! The three I shared all lived through winter 2013/14, with it's low of 12F and snow and ice.

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  22. The Grevillea Nell Bell is such a pretty color, and interesting that it has such long bloom. If all our winters were like this one it might make it here. The leaves are fantastic on the Ludisia, I hope it blooms soon.

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    1. It's been blooming since last summer! The blooms are getting redder, they used to have more of an orange cast.

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  23. Just gorgeous. All of it! I agree that the Ceanothus 'Dark Star' is as stunning at this stage as when it's fully blooming.

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  24. Those hairy mushrooms are bizarre. I wish we had cute bumblebees like that here! 'Neil Bell' is a really pretty colour.

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  25. Beautiful garden--totally coveting! Question: what kind of palm is in the background of your edgeworthia chrysantha 'Akebono' pictured?

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    1. Thanks! It's a Trachycarpus wagneriensis, about 5 years in the garden, still small.

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  26. Can grevellia be pruned a little without making it unhappy?

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    1. I don't see why not. I've done it with no problem.

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