March 2010 Northern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

I am so pleased to see from these photos that Spring is coming to the Ukraine, Dima..... but I am distressed to see from your avatar picture  that you still have a headache from the strain of your Doctorate ! 

[Oakwood]

Hi Maggi! Yes, it turned to be the minor consequences of Sci. degree obtaining   
but never mind! any case it would finish only by skull explosion 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

A wonderful line up Dimitri !! 

Yesterday, the sun brought out the best in my Pulsatilla halleri grandis ! 1 & 2

And if you try hard enough, you can already assemble quite some colours into one picture in the early Spring garden (3)

Muscari azureum is also at it's peak (4) - I think I'll have to do some weeding shortly... it seems to have selfseeded (5) a bit enthousiastically 


Primula marginata "Drake's blue" is even earlier than last year... despite the cold winter ?? 

[Sinchets]

Simon, I like all your plant combinations, like crocus intermingled with this or that groundcover, and here, anemones commingling.  Can you tell me about your Onosma, I'm a borag fan and like to know what species it is... do you have a pic of the plant in flower?

Yes, Mark- this is an Onosma albo-rosea grown from seed and now in its 3rd year. I posted pics of it last year, but if you can wait it shouldn't be long until it obliges again this year.

Welcome back Dimi. What a Colchicum-tastic posting!

Lovely Pulsatilla, Luc. Love how reflexed the petals are- you can feel the sun bouncing back off them!

[johngennard]

One or two from the garden a couple of days ago.

Corydalis malkensis
Rhodo. Dauricum Hokkaido X Leucaspis
Rhodo.Dauricum Sanderling
   "           "          "         close-up

[Lvandelft]

Has anyone got Cardamine enneaphylla?  I think it is the best of the genus with charming nodding cream flowers and bronze foliage.  Sadly I lost mine - I think the spot I'd got it in was too dry for it.

Not C. enneaphylla but this one used several years to flower for the first time here,
but now has two flowering stems.
 
Cardamine kitaibelii

[Lvandelft]

Here is good old Saxifraga irvingii 

and the next plant must be with at least more than 25 years,
acquired once at Jakob Eschmann's Nursery in Switzerland.

Primula vulgaris ssp. sibthorpii                     

and always good doer
Narcissus Tête à Tête       

[TheOnionMan]

Muscari azureum is also at it's peak (4) - I think I'll have to do some weeding shortly... it seems to have selfseeded (5) a bit enthousiastically 

Lots of tasty pics presented here... nice!  Luc, you'd better watch your Muscari... and "they" talk about Allium getting out of hand

[TheOnionMan]

Has anyone got Cardamine enneaphylla?  I think it is the best of the genus with charming nodding cream flowers and bronze foliage.  Sadly I lost mine - I think the spot I'd got it in was too dry for it.

Not C. enneaphylla but this one used several years to flower for the first time here,
but now has two flowering stems.
 
Cardamine kitaibelii

Luit, Cardamine kitaibelii is a delicate delight!  I've been looking for some of the better Cardamine, currently growing C. pentaphylla which is well established here, but several of the smaller species died out.  I like the look of this one a lot.

[WimB]

Some pics of plants which are flowering now:

Androsace carnea ssp. rosea
Anemone blanda
Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Papageno'

[Sinchets]

With temperatures closer to those we normally have here in May, and the promise of a clear sunny day, we took a trip to the area around the Rusenski Lom Nature Park. It was too early for most of the areas characteristic steppe vegetation to be visible, but these Adonis vernalis -the biggest we have yet seen-were enjoying the heat of the day. The biggest flowers were 8-10cm in diameter.





 click on the pictures to enlarge them.....

[Armin]

Wim,
you must have a quite protected warm garden. Your flowers are already so ahead

Simon,
Adonis vernalis is one of the nicest spring flower I know, very impressive 'sun discs'. Unfortunenately I lost mine in a very dry summer. I was in the wrong believe a steppe plant can manage drought easily...

[Maggi Young]

Simon, how timely that the new issue of International Rock Gardener is out now, including a photo of Adonis vernalis, and here you are with these beauties....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=international

[WimB]

Wim,
you must have a quite protected warm garden. Your flowers are already so ahead

Armin,

In general I have a very open garden, but I've tried to create some warm and sheltered corners. Also, we've had two weeks of very mild temperatures (up to 20°C) now which has accelerated all flowers.
No such temperatures yet in Bayern?

[Armin]

Wim,
on Friday we had 20°C in the "Bavarian Nizza", too . But yesterday had thunderstorm with strong winds and today cloudy weather with chilling 9°C...brrr.
My pulsatilla's and anemone just pushing through the ground.