March Blooms

Wild Columbine

I was looking through my photos to see just when the leaves popped out last year. On my drive to Gloucester and back today, I noticed how the trees were green and red, all ready to let lose their pollen and tiny leaves. If you look back to my Woodpecker Tree blog post from early April 2010, you'll see that the tiny leaves are out, so we must not be too far ahead this year. A couple of weeks ago, things were really moving along, botanically speaking, but our recent cold spell is keeping the buds from advancing.

Hydrangea

I took a few pictures yesterday so that I would have a record for next year. The wild columbine is from a plant I bought at the Virginia Native Plant Society sale a few years ago. A friend told me that she had collected the seeds from New Quarter Park years ago and continues to contribute plants from them to the VNPS sale. I've divided and divided and spread it all around my yard too, so look forward to seeing it in it's new locations this year.

The hydrangea came from Mom and Dad's house. They have lots that have been propagated from some they collected from Nana's yard in Mathews (she died in 1992). We dug one up in the fall. I split it into three pieces for replanting in my yard and all are faring well.

Golden Ragwort

The golden ragwort came from New Quarter Park too. In May 2005 when I started working there, the woodlands were full of it. The next year we dug up some that had sprung up in the trails. A couple of plants followed me home. I love the yellow flowers but, unfortunately, so do the deer. I guess those plump purple buds just look too good and fresh after a long winter without such new vegetation.  

Lungwort (see comment)

This dainty little purple and pink flower was purchased before I was a convert to native plants. However, I ask Phillip Merritt what it was last year and he said that it was native. Whew. He told me the name of the little bugger too, but I can't remember it now. It's one of those lovely plants with bladder or wort in its name. 

Dogwood

The dogwood is leafing out too. A couple of the dogwood trees in my yard almost perished in the heat last summer. Their leaves fell off in August. Let's hope for a little less warmth this summer. We can hope, but ...

In a few days I'll share some photos from my vegetable garden. The tomatoes are 8 inches tall inside and ready to go out soon. I planted carrots, sugar peas, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, parsley, and dill outdoors on a warm day last week. I hope I didn't jump the gun and that they can stand a couple more cool nights.