Sunday, March 15, 2015

March GBBD: Almost Spring!

On this March Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the few houseplants I have are enjoying the extra hours of daylight.


The Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus is re-blooming.  Apparently, it's an Irish cactus, 
because I notice from past years that it usually blooms again around St. Patrick's Day.


The Kalanchoe, though leggy, is also putting out a few tiny yellow blooms, the first of the year.

But why are we looking at plants indoors when it's such a beautiful day outside? The weather has warmed up considerably this past week, even reaching into the 60's, including today's bright sunny day.


When the piles of snow on the Lily Bed finally melted, I found these first harbingers of spring, the tiny Snowdrops.  I keep hoping they will muliply, but as of today there are just three blooms total.  I suppose all the digging I do in this area every fall to plant other bulbs hasn't helped, and I may have accidentally displaced a few.  Still, they are a welcome sight.


Nothing else is blooming yet, not even a crocus, but there are signs of life if you look closely enough.  I know it won't be long before the daffodils are blooming.



But first I need to uncover everything from the thick layer of matted leaves that blanketed the garden beds all winter.  It was such a beautiful day today that I spent a little time raking up the garden and cutting a few things back so that the emerging bulbs could finally see the sun.  One of the best investments I made last year was buying this little shrub rake.  It's perfect for raking around delicate spring bloomers--no more tulips beheaded by the garden rake!


It's so much fun to see what hidden treasures lie underneath all these leaves--
hellebore buds so happy to see the light of day!

I don't want to tempt fate by saying that spring is here yet--the temperatures are supposed to fall later this week again, and the weatherman even said that four-letter S--- word on TV.  But I'm hoping he's wrong.   Spring--it can't be long now!


To see what is blooming all over on this fine day in March, be sure to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens and see how excited other gardeners are about the arrival of spring.

24 comments:

  1. Isn't it exciting to find plants pushing their cold little noses into that warm spring air. I think it is funny that your cactus is a St Pats cactus. Happy GBBD.

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  2. Spring can't be far off now. The S word? Perish the thought! Happy almost spring!

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  3. Yes, spring is finally making its way to our parts! Did you take all the leaves off, or just the top layer, like I did? I am thinking of going back for more leaves, but am hoping to leave a few for mulch.

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  4. Wow a lot of emerging lives! They look great even at that stage.

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  5. It is amazing that the rest of the country got a warm up and we are still cold in the NE with 2 ft of snow still remaining. I am stamping my feet a bit and yelling 'no fair' but it is doing no good....spring is delayed and will be for weeks I fear. Oh well I can enjoy your spring Rose!

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  6. Rose, it's lovely to see your garden waking up. Nice rake. Happy Bloom Day!!

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  7. Temperatures in the 60s - that's hotter than we have had it so far this year Rose but you have had to suffer all that snow. I imagine that your spring flowers must come with a dramatic woooosh rather than the slow awakening that we have. Whatever way it arrives spring is most exciting and I hope that it soon well and truly arrives on both sides of the pond :)

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  8. It does the heart good to see the bulbs emerging, heralding the Spring.
    Lovely photos, as is usual.
    Maggie x

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  9. My Thanksgiving cactus has buds again too, but I've never before seen it bloom in the spring. Interesting to hear that yours regularly does. Your Kalanchoe is pretty too. I bought one of those rakes a couple years ago,and it is great! So many bloggers featuring snowdrops this month--I tried them a couple years and had no luck; maybe it's time to try again! Still buried in snow in my yard, but there are plenty of signs that spring IS coming! -- Kimberley

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  10. Rose, it's nice to see your beautiful garden and your lovely spring flowers !
    Greetings

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  11. What a great close-up of those snowdrops! I have two little clumps, one in the woods and one in a bed, that have also poked out to bloom. And I also don't understand why they never seem to multiply! Especially the ones in the woods --it's not like I'm digging around in there. I put them there in the first place (at least 10 years ago) and was hoping they'd spread. Where I grew up (in Ann Arbor), snow drops spread all over the place --they even came up in our lawn. But we didn't have scilla, and those have really filled in our woods, so I guess I shouldn't complain :-)

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  12. Oh, I just love seeing green shoots poking out of the earth! We still have a couple feet of snow, so it will be awhile, though it is warming up a little thankfully! I recently inherited a Christmas cactus from a fellow gardener that has just started blooming as well. A St. Patrick's Day cactus should be the name for it!

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  13. Oh gosh! So encouraging! Now I can't wait to get home and see if things are budding under the mulch. Those Hellebore buds are so cute. Mine are usually mishapen and off-color until the light of the sun warms them up. Your indoor blooms are so pretty, too! Happy Bloom Day!

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  14. Snap! My Christmas cactus is re-blooming too! Mine is just a baby, but it didn’t do it last year, the first spring I had it so I was surprised it decided to throw a new set of flowers for me at this time of year. Nice to see your emerging bulbs and plants, spring is definitely on its way, happy GBBD!

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  15. Boa tarde, é maravilhoso acompanhar o crescimento das plantas, elas sabem a data certa que se devem desenvolver, as lindas plantas anunciam a primavera.
    AG

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  16. It looks like spring is just about to burst forth at your place and right on schedule, too. All those emerging buds and bulbs hold such promise of color to come.

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  17. There is hope in that garden Rose, Spring is but a breath away.
    I split my snowdrops each year....even if the clump is small. I do it when they are in the green. I now have lots of small groups all along the woodland path.

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  18. I am envious. We have that four letter word in our forecast too plus a good foot of old snow on the ground. We'll be lucky to find crocuses in May.

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  19. It is nice seeing your garden awakening to spring. Snow is still here with cold weather this week, so we will be waiting as other parts of the US have spring during spring. I hope we get a week or two. Ha ha.

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  20. It's exciting time of the year!
    As for the snowdrops, I planted them once and never saw them again...I guess they didn't like that location!

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  21. My cactus bloomed at St. Patrick's too. Perhaps they are cousins? I love my little shrub rake. It makes that job much easier. I can see your spring coming to life in a week or too.~~Dee

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  22. l do have a few crocus blooming, but mostly Narcissus and early tulips poking up through the ground. Today is nice and sunny, but we're supposed to have snow flurries tomorrow. So spring may be slowed down, but it can't be stopped.

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  23. so wonderful to see all those bits of green peeking out. What a sight to see after a long winter.

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  24. Thanks, all, for stopping by!

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