March 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Robert,

The Rhododendron looks great! And as Gail says the blue Pulmonaria is fantastic. My Pulmonarias (which flower too) have dirty red-blue colours.

Hi Trond,

Yes, I get many dirty red-blue flowering seedlings. A few have interesting foliage - I keep them.

Now that spring is arriving there are many exciting developments in our garden. Domestication, evolutionary pressure, and mindful selection/observation are yielding some satisfying results.

[Yann]

After the guts gusts and the heavy rains it's time to walk a bit in the garden (btw what a wet spring!!)

Pulsatilla slavica, it was sown in 2014

[David Nicholson]

After the guts and the heavy rains it's time to walk a bit in the garden (btw what a wet spring!!).................

Did you mean 'gusts' Yann? It feels as though it's been blowing gales for years here

[Yann]

yes!!    under gusts i need gut. For 2 weeks it's blowing non stop.

[Gabriela]

Beautiful Pulsatilla Yann! Do not complain too much, look at my first picture of this 'spring', I was so happy to finally see a little 'icedrop'!

[Yann]

Whaouh  , indeed
Corydalis solida, a form i grow for a long time.
i found it near my parent's woods when i was at primary school.
I was what we can call a hooky player 

[Hoy]

Not a garden plant, quite the contrary. Cirsium vulgare. The rosette is attractive though.

[ArnoldT]

Gabriela

Priceless.

Sums up the definition of "snowdrop"

[Leucogenes]

Douglasia nivalis var. nivalis

[Tomte]

Douglasia nivalis var. nivalis

What a nice flower..

With me, Callianthemum farreri looks great at the moment. Last year the flowers were killed by late frosts, but not this time 
I love the blue veined flowers. The blue is more prominent than it appears in the pictures, but at least the lovely brownish throat is well recognisable. Makes a nice contrast with the green center.

[Leucogenes]

What a nice flower..

With me, Callianthemum farreri looks great at the moment. Last year the flowers were killed by late frosts, but not this time 
I love the blue veined flowers. The blue is more prominent than it appears in the pictures, but at least the lovely brownish throat is well recognisable. Makes a nice contrast with the green center.

Wow... Tom. An enviable specimen. Very well staged. With me one sees at present only tiny foliage. Maybe it is too shady with me. I have to wait for more sun.

Congratulations again...also the eye is fantastic. 👍

[Tomte]

Wow... Tom. An enviable specimen. Very well staged. With me one sees at present only tiny foliage. Maybe it is too shady with me. I have to wait for more sun.

Congratulations again...also the eye is fantastic. 👍

Thanks. But as regards the sun, I don't think so. I placed it in the sun for the photo, but otherwise it grows in deep shade at the north side of our balcony. It gets a little sun in the morning, but that's it.

[Leucogenes]

Thanks. But as regards the sun, I don't think so. I placed it in the sun for the photo, but otherwise it grows in deep shade at the north side of our balcony. It gets a little sun in the morning, but that's it.

Thanks for the tip... then I'm reassured. Then it is probably because I live in the Siberian part of Saxony. 😊

Servus
Thomas

[Robert]

18 March 2019
0400 UTC

It was a beautiful spring day today here in Northern California with a bit of high cloudiness and high temperatures running about 74 F (23.3 C). The following is a sampling of the plants from our Sacramento, California garden that looked nice today.



Cirsium occidentale var. venustum (center) with Salvia sonomensis (right).

Cirsium occidentale var. venustum can be an outstanding foliage specimen, especially this time of year. I may have accidentally mixed the label on this one as I grow a number of different varieties of this species. I will be able to confirm its identity soon enough.

Salvia sonomensis is a “must” for our California garden.



The last flowers of Erythronium multiscapideum for this season.



Primula (Dodecatheon) hendersonii is still blooming in our garden. The late forms of this species have not started to bloom.



The earliest forms of Triteleia laxa from the lower elevations of the Inner Coast Range, California, are just starting to bloom.



Pulmonaria seedling with speckled foliage.

They seed around the garden. Most are not worth keeping, however I always keep some of the best around to produce more seedlings. Who knows what might turn up?

[Robert]

California Hummingbird Sage, Salvia spathacea.

This is just one of a number of California Native Salvia species that are starting to bloom in our Sacramento, California garden at this time.



Geranium renardii

The flowers are nice, however I like the texture of the foliage.



I grew these Cyclamen from seed as C. balearicum. It would be easy to confirm their identity, however I have not done so. Never the less, some of the seedlings have interesting foliage and attractive flowers. It and a few other species are in full bloom now.



Cyclamen persicum may be very common, however they thrive and provide a great deal of color in our garden at this time of the year. I grow many from open pollinated seed and I keep the ones I like.