March 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

I finally had a chance to get out in the garden 2 days ago. There has been an abundance of rainfall in the Sacramento, California region this February. What a blessing.    We will not have to be concerned with drought this year. The garden is
'beat up' a bit from all the strong wind and rain, but...

I was able to get compost spread over a few beds (better late than never).

A fair number of plants are in bloom now, but these are the only ones that turned out. No second chance as the rain has now returned.



Crocus

The blue Crocus seem very easy-to-grow and are increasing well throughout the garden. They are most likely generic hybrids - the labels are long gone. There are some species too, but I never seem to have time to ID them.



The sunny day brought out the Erythronium multiscapideum.



Pseudotrillium rivale are blooming throughout the garden too. 

[Yann]

Galanthus fields 300m from the house (no it's not me who planted the bulbs)

[Hoy]

Although February 2019 has been one of the mildest ever in Norway (in southern Norway the average for February 2019 is 5-6C above normal) the snow still linger in the mountains.

Not many plants in flower!




Cladonia stellaris




Cladonia bellidifolia





Still enough snow for skiing but as you can see - very hard and icy due to the mild weather and then freezing temperature last night.

[brianw]

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Pseudotrillium rivale are blooming throughout the garden too. 
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Not many UK gardens you could say that about ;-)

[Maggi Young]

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Pseudotrillium rivale are blooming throughout the garden too. 


Not many UK gardens you could say that about ;-)

No sign of a photo, Brian??

[IanR]

Unseasonable spring sunshine in south of Scotland tempted out some early risers who might be regretting it now, including Chionodoxa forbesii, Corydalis Solida, Hepatica nobilis, Saxifraga "Donnington Veil and "Ottone Rosai".

[Maggi Young]

The prospect of  cold stormy weather is a scary one , Ian - fingers crossed we escape the worst, eh?

[Robert]

Galanthus fields 300m from the house (no it's not me who planted the bulbs)

Yann,

It must be nice having a patch of wild Galanthus very close to your house. 

Are wild patches of Galanthus common in your area?

Although February 2019 has been one of the mildest ever in Norway (in southern Norway the average for February 2019 is 5-6C above normal) the snow still linger in the mountains.

Not many plants in flower!

Still enough snow for skiing but as you can see - very hard and icy due to the mild weather and then freezing temperature last night.

Trond,

I will analyze the numbers soon, but February has been cold. No record breaking lows, just consistently cold.

I completely enjoyed the photographs of the Cladonia lichens. They are a very fascinating group. I enjoy encountering them here in California.

When we get rain on top of the snow and it freezes hard the snow becomes rock hard near the surface. Later in the spring when the snow starts to melt often a hard frozen layer develops at the bottom of the snow layer.

[IanR]

Nae saft southerners!
Sax marginalia 'Kubschia, Primula clarkei, Primula 'Tony' and Primula 'Lindum golden orb' about to join its mates.

[Yann]

far away their homeland Verbascum arcturus are ready to bloom. I collected seeds in november 2015, as you can see it grows fast but this plant is a real challange in our wet climate.

[ruweiss]

It is a pleasure to watch the new flowers in the garden:
Iris reticulata
Draba sphaeroides starts to flower
First flowers on Ranunculus calandrinioides
Callianthemum anemonoides

[Robert]

12 March 2019
2230 UTC



Spring weather is arriving to our part of Northern California. California Buckeye, Aesculus californica, in our Sacramento, California garden. This species is among the first to leaf out in the early spring.



Moraea elegans flowers with orange markings.



Moraea elegans with dark markings. We also have plants with pure yellow flowers. The flowers clearly have color variance. We will be growing more of this species from seed to see what we come up with.



The Pulmonarias add much color to the early season garden. They are very easy-to-grow in our garden.



Despite a “real” winter this year, Rhododendron moupinense x johnstoneanum is blooming well and looking great.

[Gail]

Fantastic blue on that pulmonaria - is it a named selection?

[Robert]

Fantastic blue on that pulmonaria - is it a named selection?

Hi Gail,

Pulmonaria 'Benediction'.

It is a fine clone and as you say it is a fantastic blue.

I grow other Pulmonarias in the garden too. I like the spotted foliage. The spotted types seem to seed around. Some are worth keeping others not. I keep an eye out for deep blue flowers. Nothing yet and they have been seeding around the garden at the farm for decades.

[Hoy]

Robert,

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