As expected, the season for two early flowering magnolias, ‘Merrill’ (below) and ‘Royal Star’ came to an end in Monday night’s twenty degree cold (Fahrenheit). Rarely do the magnolias’ flowers fade without damage from a March freeze, and though flowering was a bit late this year the cold was not unusual. No harm was done,…

Unfortunately, there is but one lonely bloom on the yellow leafed winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata ‘Ogon’), further evidence of my too often faulty judgment shoehorning plants into spaces with less than ideal conditions. In this instance, I shall claim that options were limited. The hazel was struggling in damp ground, and this space facing west…

Several of the magnolias are flowering today, with others set for next week. But, cold is on the way, so while already opened flowers of ‘Merrill’ and ‘Royal Star’ will last four or five days (at least) the next batch of blooms might last for only a few hours. Weather in March is variable, but…

After several very mild days, the earliest of the magnolias have quickly burst into bloom. Buds of ‘Merrill’ (Magnolia x loebneri ‘Merrill’, below) were cracking open on the weekend, and a few warm days have pushed it quickly into flower. ‘Merrill’ is always first to flower in this garden, beginning thirty feet up and working…

The primary caution while tidying up the edges of the koi pond is, don’t tumble into the chilly water. Northern water snakes must be avoided in summer when they might suddenly appear from beneath the cover of Japanese irises, but they are not a threat in the cold of mid March. The water of the…

True to its name, Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa, below) flowered just in time for last weekend’s snow. Unfortunately, the snow was deep enough to hide the blooms, and when it melted the flowers were on the decline. Such is the garden in March, with daily additions that come more quickly than the subtractions, and…

Without fail, gardeners hedge when declaring their favorite flowers, changing by the month or by the day, and I am hardly different. But, of all flowers, I most favor the yellow tipped, tube-like blooms of paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha, below). I anxiously watch the large buds from early winter until the first glimpse of yellow shows,…

Day One – the snow day While snow in March is not unusual in this Virginia garden, neither is it an every year occurrence. So, I must tour through the garden armed with a leaf rake to dislodge clinging snow from branches that arch over the stone paths, but also to take before photos of…

A narrow growing, columnar purple leafed beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Red Obelisk’) will help to fill the space vacated by the removal of a redbud that leaned far over this area of the garden. The leaning redbud was tolerated for too long, threatening to topple onto the greenhouse, so the further tilt following the early January…

Today is cold, dreary, and raining. A few degrees colder and this would be wet snow, so just another very typical March morning. In another day or two it’ll be short sleeve weather, then cold, and back and forth, and this is all to be expected. With unsettled weather the norm for March, the one…

Certainly, there are gardens with many more hellebores than this garden’s hundred (maybe two, but who’s counting?), and while I will never admit that there are too many of any plant, the quantity of winter flowers is quite satisfactory, at least for now. No doubt, in the future many more hellebores are likely to be…

On a mild, late February afternoon I couldn’t resist. Much clean up was done earlier in the day, and now an area of evergreen sedge (Carex ‘Evergold’) was cut to the ground to reveal snowdrops that have long been quite tangled and barely visible. Plans were made to dig the largest clumps at the ideal…