10 good things for March

Chloris at The Blooming Garden writes a monthly roundup of the best things in her garden in any given month and has decided to make the day the 23rd of each month so that others may join her.

There is no shortage of choice this month as spring has come to My Hesperides Garden and it is such a pleasure to walk around each day to see what is newly flowering and watch progress on buds that are slowly opening.

One thing I can see from the kitchen table is the progress of the Wisteria, extra special this year after loosing all the blooms last year to the Beast from the East!

Wisteria ‘Prolific’ 18th March

Wisteria Prolific today 23rd March

Wisteria ‘Prolific’

It is as if the colour was waiting for today to show. in another couple of days I think it will be open completely.  There are so many buds, I’m so excited to see it flowering.

Viburnum burkwoodii

Usually Viburnum burkwoodii is the first to flower but this year carlessii beat it by a couple of days.

Viburnum carlessii

Narcissus Thalia

Thalia are gorgeous, I need to pick more to bring into the house as they have a delicious perfume.

Clematis armandii

Another white spring flower and another that is delicately perfumed.

Magnolia stellata

There is Euphorbia rigida and E. myrsinites all around the garden

Both these Euphorbias seed prolifically in the gravel so I’m able to lift them and place them where I want them.  They have been the most obvious statement of spring’s arrival; luckily they work well as a back drop to all the spring bulbs and then continue to look attractive even in the heat of summer.

Hyacinth Miss Saigon, Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide and Euphobia

More Hyacinths from a mixed pack

A little mix of spring colour from bulbs

Muscari and Hyacinth Delph Blue

Suddenly the foliage of the bearded Iris is growing too, another month and they will be flowering too.

Hyacinths Berry Fruit mix

Just behind the Hyacinths you can just see Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’, which has been a great success this year.

Muscari with Euphorbia

There has been blossom in profusion from the fruit trees but I only have an image of the miniature flowering peach (I think that is what it is but each year I forget!!!

Dwarf flowering peach

 

Then of course there are tulips

Tulip Miami Sunset

Tulip White Triumphator

I love how the sun shines through their leaves

Tulip ‘Negrita Parrot’ and Hyacinths

Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’

Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’

I’ve rather lost count, but I think that is ten!  Spring is here now in Italy, the cold wind we’ve been experiencing all month has finally dropped and it is wonderfully warm.  Do visit Chloris and perhaps find ten things you’d like to share from your garden too.

Singing the blues

Spring bulbs are continuing to give a lot of pleasure in the garden. A surprising number of them are blue.

Prostrate Rosemary

The rosemary has had flowers since November but there have never been quite as many as there are now.

Muscari

Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’, I increased their numbers this year and love this view along the upper slope path

The ones in the foreground have been there for several years but those behind were planted last autumn.

Crocus

The light shining through the petals of the crocus is so uplifting.

Hyacinths

I find the perfume of hyacinths in the house too strong but in the garden they are perfect, plus their strong form can be appreciated from inside the house.

Anemone coronaria ‘Mr Fokker’

Anemone coronaria ‘Mr Fokker’ makes an ideal contrast with the inflorescence of Euphorbia rigida.

Anemone coronaria ‘Mr Fokker’ behind and a self sown seedling that looks like it is a cross between Mr. Fokker and Syphide

It is nice to see that the Anemone coronaria are crossing with each other producing new colours to enjoy.

What plants in your garden cross with each other to produce new colouration?

 

 

Today in the Garden 1st March 2019

Yesterday when I was in the greenhouse I glanced out and was horrified to see that the Cypress by the gate was billowing with smoke; I thought someone must have set the tree on fire – but no as I looked at all the Cypresses they all looked as if smoke was blowing away from them.  Then, of course, I realised that it wasn’t smoke but the fine dust-like pollen!  I pity anyone with an allergy, the pollen is so fine it filled the air and there would be no way of avoiding inhaling the pollen.  Stranger still was the fact that the day seemed to be completely still (after days of strong wind), yet the pollen didn’t stream off the trees constantly but in gusts.

Today was cloudy but not cold; ideal for taking some photographs showing the advance of spring.

Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’

More Anemones are opening their buds around the garden; I have sown the seed I saved last year; I want to be able to have them all around the garden and have enough to pick for a vase.

Anemone coronaria

Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’

The white Anemones remain with short stems; they are the most prolific Anemone in the garden but grow with consistently short stems – very annoying.

The formal beds looking towards the left hand border

You can see Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’ on the left and Euphorbia rigida peeping out between evergreen shrubs giving a shot of early colour all around the garden.

Euphorbia rigida

Rosemary

Rosemary has been flowering since the autumn but there seem to be even more flowers at the moment.

deep purple crocus

Hyacinth ‘Miss Saigon’

Hyacinths have been in the ground for several years now, I planted more last autumn too.  They reliably return each year giving a punch of strong colour just when we need it most.

Hyacinth from a mixed pack of blues

Grevillia rosmarinifolia, another plant that has been flowering for most of February.  This Grevillia is very hardy, I would like to try some of the other varieties but I rarely see them in nurseries here.

Top of drive border

You can tell it is winter by the patch of bright green in the field beyond the garden, it would be golden or brown in summer.

Lonicera fragrantissima

I think there are more blooms on the wonderful fragrant Lonicera than I’ve ever seen before.  Maybe due in part to more rain last summer.

Lonicera fragrantissima

So much perfume from such tiny flowers.

Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’

Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ are blooming all around the garden at the moment; I love them.  This variety returns well each year but other varieties are less sure.  After seeing the wonderful selection of varieties Chloris at The Blooming Garden has, I hope to try some different ones next year.

I hope the good gardening weather continues everywhere.  Readers in the UK might like to contemplate that their temperatures this past week have been between 5 to 15 degrees higher than here in central Italy where last weekend we had a icy winds from the north.  Even yesterday, which was a glorious day our temperatures didn’t rise above 18°C.

A few signs of Spring

At last!  Friday and Saturday were gorgeous days; sunny but not cold, not cold at all.  A day to open the windows to let the heat in.  Spring?  Well all gardeners only need a little sunshine to believe the end of winter is in sight.  Today, of course, is grey with a cold wind and so it’s back to wanting to be in fount of the fire.  But at least those two days remind me about spring.

The garden has its own rhythms, more dependent on day length than the temperature.

Snowdrops

If I see any snowdrops for sale in pots, I’ll buy some more and I might try to spot when the seedpods are ready to open and sow them into pots to increase stock

Violas

The jolly little faces of Violas are in pots on the terrace, tulip shoots are pushing though.

Iris unguicularis

Iris unguicularis

There are now three clumps of Iris unguicularis in the garden.  They flower for so long and seem so delicate, but flower on the coldest of days.

Iris unguicularis

Primrose

Primroses bought last year display inside the orangery were planted out in spring

Pale fleeting Crocus tommasinianus

Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’

Anemone coronaria ‘Mr Fokker”

Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’

Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’

Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’

Anemone coronaria a chance seedling with much paler inner petals

The Anemones produce copious amounts of seed and a few do eventually grow but again I think I could increase stocks more consistently if I sow some of my saved seed.  Does anyone know if they need heat to germinate or a would they be better left in the coldframe to experience some cold?

Anemone coronaria it seems almost lilac

Something to enjoy even on very cold days is the wonderful sunsets.  So difficult to capture but a pleasure just to sit gasping at the colours nature can produce.

Wonderful sunsets

Wonderful sunsets

Have a good week.

Hemerocallis – one day wonder!

Before the winter and spring just past we have had two years with very little rain; it has been so dry that many of the plants that are drought tolerant have survived but many have flowered very little or not at all.  Hemerocallis are one example.

Wisteria – secondary flowering and other news

As you may remember my treasured Wisteria ‘Prolific’ was so badly hit by the minus 12°C winds this February that all the buds were destroyed and there were no flowers at all:  the white wisteria (being situated on the north east side of the terrace and its buds always forming later than the standard colour) did flower but was a small consolation as much of it had been removed to create the outside kitchen, flower room and entertaining room.

Before and after the storm

While much of the UK has been bathed in sunshine (!!!or so I understand), central Italy is experiencing weather!!!!!

A walk around the garden May 2018 – Iris paradise.

As I mentioned in my post on Monday; on my return from Amsterdam to see the tulips my own garden had exploded into full growth mode.

When I left tulips were still looking amazing and there were buds forming on the bearded Iris.  Now all the tulips are just a memory and the Irises are in their full glory.

A walk around the spring garden, but what’s missing?

Regular follows of my posts may wonder why I haven’t been posting every day to show you the development of my treasured wisteria.  Usually it is in full flower by the end of March and here we are in the middle of April and still I haven’t shared any images with you.

5 minutes of amazing light

Today it has been raining all day, with strong cold winds it wasn’t a day to spend time outside.  Late in the afternoon I watched Friday’s Gardener’s World (available on You Tube; just as the programme finished I noticed it had begun to rain again but that the sun was also shining very brightly just before it went down.  I rushed out with the camera (it was 18.10) to try to capture the amazing light.