I am late this month posting. The images were taken on the 14th but I’ve not had time to write anything until now.
I am fascinated by what triggers plants into growth and flower. I have been visiting the UK and have been enjoying all the daffodils. This is a plant that needs cold weather to trigger flowering; I planted a huge bag of mixed daffodils by the side of the drive a few years ago; the following week we had a lot of rain and I fear many of the bulbs must have rolled down the slope under the loose covering of soil or just turned over. The first year following planting there was a respectable amount of flowers but by no means the number that had been planted, the following year there were less this year at this moment there is one bloom, so not the drifts I dreamed of!
After the snow had melted I was surprised at just how many plants where ready to begin to emerge from the soil. Where before the snow there was no evidence of tulip bulbs, now the leaves are pushing strongly up giving me hope of a colourful display to come. The usual suspects of Rosemary and Teucrium have been flowering for a while, before the snow fell they were already putting on their blue display.
close-up of flower, huge Rosemary bush by greenhouse
Teucrium fruticosa, one of the very first shribs to come into flower, as early as January sometimes
The slope has grown a lot since March last year and the streams of prostrate Rosemary and Muscari are really producing the effect I had hoped for when planning the planting.
Viburnum tinus, Cerinthe, Muscari are the obvious stars of the garden this month, early Convolvulus cneorum and a silver-leaved Buddleia have attracted pollinators into the garden that I would have thought would only be attracted by more perfumed flowers at this time of year.
click on the image below to see what’s flowering in My Hesperides Garden in mid-March.
This is my only daffodil flowering at the moment - so not the drifts I would love
A belated thank you to Carol at MayDreams garden for hosting this inspiring meme. If you haven’t visited yet why not click over to see links to gardens from all over the world.
Hopefully you will be able to join me this month for Gardener Bloggers Foliage Day on the 22nd of this month. I’m hoping for some autumn colour from the southern hemisphere.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
It is fascinating isn’t it how plants come to life in spring and how some need cold or heat to trigger flowering. A couple of bulbs I’ve tried have never really come to much and it’s because I haven’t given them the right conditions. I should really study more where they come from and what habitat they like rather than hoping they won’t mind the Welsh wet. Lovely to see your garden blooming after the snow.
For me bulbs that are Mediterranean do best needing dry summers and just a short sharp cold period to flower, Daffs need longer colder weather I think and also more rain in summer. Christina
Love the purple blooms of muscari and rosemary…we are just getting our early blooms and they are 3 weeks ahead of schedule…happy belated bloom day!!
Your prostrate rosemary looks amazing. I like the muscari picking up the blue of the flowers
Thaks Helen, I’m enjoying the ‘rivers’ of blue which will hopefully be followed by a ‘stream’ of purple alliums; that’s if they flower for a second year.Christina
I just love rosemary blooms! For some reason, my rosemary does not bloom – maybe it’s not old enough, or I need two – not sure. Anyway, your one daffodil is pretty. Sorry you didn’t get the drifts you dreamed about. It’s always disappointing to have one thing in our minds, and something completely different in the garden!
Maybe your Rosemary flowers so early you don’t see it. Mine started in December and usually carries on until April. Christina
Rivers of blue and streams of purple sounds delightful. I can ‘see’ that!
Love all your rosemary , they look really good on your slope, the only way I can grow it is in a huge planter with sage and thyme. Ours has been flowering since Christmas, which amazed me, never done that before. What a shame more of your daffodils didn’t flower, maybe they are just biding their time after tumbling down the hill!
Sadly I think the daffodils just don’t like the climate. Christina
Thank you for sharing your garden on GBBD. Spring is a wonderful time isn’t it! Not sure why but my Rosemary looks healthier now than it has done for many a year – no blooms yet though 🙂
Maybe the lack of water this winter has helped your Rosemary. Christina
Well, I have lots of daffodils,but I covet that silver leaved white buddliea-its beautiful. I do hope the alliums return- they are doing so here,the purple and the white.
I think England is the best place for Daffodils so I’ll have to visit every year when they’re in flower. Christina
Hey Christina! It looks like Spring has definitely arrived in your garden! Beautiful. The slope looks really good, I like those big creeping rosemary. What kind of verbena is the one in flower in your gallery?
Hi Alberto, the Verbena is a groundcover. It flowers almost all year and has grown to cover huge amounts of the garden all from one original 9cm pot! Christina
I know, I have a similar one which is verbena rigida but yours is a paler purple than mine… could it be ‘Polaris’?
Sorry Alberto, I really don’t know; when I bought it, it wasn’t even labeled as a Verbena!
Hope you had a nice bloom day. I have been busy and not getting around t blogs as much or as fast. The rosemary is my favorite and not one I can grow outdoors.
I have the same problem not enough time to read and comment on all the blogs I’d like to. Christina
Christina,
There are some wonderful pictures in your slideshow! I just love the structure of your lavender hedge garden – and it all looks neat as a pin from here! Great job! And also the planting rhythm of the rosemary (which is so beautiful) with the irises behind, the muscari and grass around it. What type of grass is it that is to the left of the rosemary? Short and so well filled out for the season.
From these pictures, I really think that you and I prefer a bit of rhythm to our plantings, yes? Perhaps that is why I enjoy your garden so much! Thanks for sharing. And also for all of your comments over at WMG. I so appreciate you being an encouraging voice to me & my gardening.
~Julie
Thank you Julie, I very much appreciate all your comments too; and yes rhythem is important to me. The only grass that is actually green at the moment is Stipa tenuissima – it self seeds everywhere in the garden, I used masses of seedlings on the slope and I love the way they move in the wind and are so freshly green in winter and spring. Sharing my garden via the blog has given me enormous pleasure and I feel I’ve found a great community in the gruop I follow and who follow me. Christina