Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Spring blooms before winter chills

Well, we're having an interesting weather day, this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in April. I am sitting here typing this wearing shorts, and I expect to have a sweater on by evening. It's in the 60s now in central Maryland, after several lovely days when it hit 80; might reach 70 today in the middle of pouring rain, and then this evening the temperatures will drop into the low 30s or even high 20s, and if the precipitation hasn't moved off by then it may snow.

So (from photos taken over the last several days) this is what it might snow upon.




Daffodils, of course: the top is my mutant daffs that evolved from a very old planting of yellow trumpet types, the middle is one of the new bird-named ones that I would have to look up, the bottom is the delightful Thalia.


Muscari - and the white and mixed color ones are coming out too, though I didn't photograph those.


Hellebores, finally.



And just to say that spring is going to happen all at once this year (when it's not regressing to winter), budding bleeding hearts and Virginia bluebells.



I even have a few tulips blooming.



This is my blurry attempt to capture the anatomy of red buckeye, Aesculus pavia, which is just starting to bud. All those leaflets, and then something like sepals down below, and the pink bud above. If the cold snap doesn't ruin them, the flowers will be out next week.


Another flower the cold may nip: the gorgeous floating-in-air blooms of the Little Girl Magnolia that is either Anne or Jane.

However, the timing worked out just perfectly for all the cherry blossoms, including those in East Potomac Park in DC, which we popped down to see on Sunday (and walked what my FitBit tells me was 9 miles, OMG).


Also have windflower anemones, forsythia, loads more daffodils, and redbud just about to burst out. The warm spell spelled the end of the crocuses and miniature iris, but I really can't complain about the display.

8 comments:

  1. What a pretty array of blooms! Hope they make it through the cold snap for you. We're having a late-season cold snap here in Austin, TX, too, and I fear the mid-30's temps will be enough to damage some of these heat-loving plants.

    Love the tulips... we don't see many of these here. Ditto for the Virginia Bluebells. And cherry blossoms... so lovely!

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    1. Texas has been hit hard this year - my son's in Houston, so I'm following the weather - and it's a shame you have to put up with another chill. Pretty soon we'll be complaining about summer, though! Cherry blossoms in DC were for once right on schedule for the end of the Cherry Blossom Festival - tons of people visiting and very happy.

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  2. So many lovely blooms! Those mutant daffs are actually quite pretty. We're in the midst of the same weather pattern--except it hit us last night. I certainly hope the freeze doesn't nip some of your blooms, especially the magnolia. Our old magnolia tree used to get hit by the frost every other year, it seemed, but when it bloomed, it was glorious.

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    1. I have my fingers crossed for the magnolia (and my neighbor's gorgeous saucer magnolia tree) but I think the wind ahead of the front will probably knock a lot of the blooms off anyway. And the mutant daffs (it was either lead paint poisoning or an actual mutation, I don't know) amuse me every year.

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  3. Oh, do I feel your pain! Traveling back home to upstate NY tomorrow - right now it's 34 with snow as I write this comment - I'll be traveling through Maryland and I hope the snow is gone by then! (I'm sure it will be). Your "mutant daff" is gorgeous. Happy GBBD! Alana

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    1. We had a little sleet but no snow, and some things look a little crispy but I think they all survived - whew! Hope your garden is fine also.

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  4. Your mutated daffodils would look great in a sci-fi movie, astounding! I hope your flowers make it through the freezing temps and snow. I planted Virginia bluebells last year but don't know if I can hope for any blooms this year. I can't wait!

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    1. I love Virginia bluebells so much - I hope yours do well! Everything seems to be hanging on through the cold so far, and it is getting warmer from today on, hurray.

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