Spring has Sprung

Daffodil 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation Bloomed 3/7/2020

Spring is Marching right along, the first Daffodil of the season bloomed today. As far as I can remember this is the earliest one has ever flowered in my gardens to date! This variety is Rijnvelds Early Sensation which is known for being very early. I have two clumps one near the house and one well away from the house in a bed out in the front lawn. The big cold snap we got last month when the low fell to -9 destroyed all the buds that were above ground, the only reason why I have this one is because it popped up after the cold spell. The ones out away from the warm foundation were also spared because it was cooler out there and they were not as far along.

The weather the past week or so has been very much so spring like, 50s most days with plentiful sunshine. Today it was nearly 70 and more of the same is expected tomorrow. Monday we're foretasted to get some rain which would be nice, the grass is still very brown but some rain would make everything burst to life.

Snow Iris bloomed 3/6/2020

Crocus Bloomed 3/1/2020

 The jewels of early spring are all joining to make for a nice display, since the last update Crocus and Snow Iris have bloomed. It seems like certain colors of Crocus bloom earliest, it starts with light purple, cream & white bloomers followed by yellow and dark purple blooming-types later on. They have yet to join but they will in the next week I suspect. For the snow Iris two colors can be found in my gardens the light blue and another intense blue which hasn't started blooming just yet.

Garden View as of 3/7/2020

The updated view shows that the Daffodils have really shot up, many color types are nearing bloom and will probably be in full bloom with in the next couple of weeks of the weather holds.

Spring Planters 3/6/2020

Since the weather shows no signs of turning much colder, it was time to switch out the winter pots to something with a bit more color! I ordered these violas bowls at the greenhouse where I work, the color is just stunning the way the blue/purple come together, these particular ones are also sweetly fragrant, attracting honey bees desperate for some early spring pollen. Now, some may be thinking WHAT?!? planting pots already but its going to freeze! That's just it though, Pansies are extremely hardy. People often wait too long to plant these because they unnecessarily worry that they can't take freezing temperatures. There is a reason why extremely is in bold, one year after I planted we had a late season cold spell when it got to the single digits and snowed. The pots froze solid dirt and all. The Pansies survived with only a bit burnt blooms, after a week of warm weather they recovered just fine! So you can plant without worry knowing they favor cooler temperatures of this time of year.

Southern Magnolia as of 3/7/2020

 Checking out the Southern Magnolia Trial tree showed some impressive and promising news, the more mild winter conditions this year were not too hard on this for its first one, over half the leave remained green on this Brackens Brown Beauty variety, they are known for browning pretty badly in cold temperatures so the fact that didn't happy shows how the winter was a warmer one. The green leaves is also a very good sign the tree may have survived. I wont know until the tree flushes new growth in May. If it does survive it would have insured the coldest temperature of -9 and a high of 6 one day this past winter.

1 week of March last year

Are you feeling this spring is early then last? You are not wrong, its much earlier then last, by as much as 3 or 4 weeks! This year its Daffodils and we're planting Pansies , last year the first week of March was still snowy and we had extensive winter snowcover ( last year was an exceptionally late start for spring ) Just goes to show every year is different!