No way it’ll spread. Several Bottlebrush buckeyes have been in the garden for years, with no evidence that the shrubby, small tree would become a suckering, wide spreading clump. Until this week, when I showed my wife what I first thought were the many seedlings surrounding the clumped stems. I then looked closer to see…

‘Elizabeth’ (Magnolia x ‘Elizabeth’) is a glorious magnolia, tall and floriferous with pale yellow blooms. Could it possibly be improved? Of course yes, if only the flowers were the same brilliant yellow as the breaking buds (below). ‘Elizabeth’ is the most prominent tree in the front garden at the moment with many thousands of yellow…

Flowers and foliage of our native Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens, below) are delightful, but the argument to encourage planting the native rather than the more aggressive Japanese pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis) is rarely successful. The Japanese version spreads in the toughest, dry shade while the native is slow, though steady, wherever it’s planted. Despite its poor…

Thankfully, new growth of several trees and shrubs was not injured by twenty degree temperatures (Fahrenheit) a week ago. Flowers of camellias and magnolias were damaged by the freeze, but this is cosmetic damage only. The browned blooms look horrible, but new buds continue to open and there is no injury to the tree or…

I don’t recall how the little sweet violets (Viola labradorica, below) got started in the garden. I suspect I planted one years ago. Certainly, I did not plant the green leafed violets that are only slightly ornamental. They’re a bit of a nuisance, though I could care less that they’ve invaded the small, weedy, rear…

Predictably, early flowering magnolias (‘Royal Star’ magnolia, below) and camellias have suffered in recent cold that has dipped a few nights into the lower twenties. More buds are set to open on both, so pink and white blooms will soon join the brown mush, at least until the next freeze. Not a great look, but…

Sure enough, the twenty-six degree (Fahrenheit) night came and flowers of the ‘Merrill’ magnolia were damaged (below). Flowers are just opening on the ‘Royal Star’ magnolia so these should be okay, but there are many buds still to open on both that would not be injured by the freeze. This is routine for the early…

The first of the trilliums (below) is up, ten days earlier than a year ago. While temperatures have turned cooler in recent days, there were several inches of snow a year earlier that delayed flowering. Ups and downs are the norm for March, but so far the garden has been breaking early and freezes have…

I must take credit on the rare occasion when it is earned. A year ago, a yellow leafed winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata ‘Ogon’, below) exhibited only a single flower. Two years earlier, the winter hazel had been moved to this location that I figured was part sun, and possibly the move diminished the number of…

While damage to flowers of early flowering magnolias seems inevitable, there have been times in recent years when all made it through unscathed by March freezes. Surprisingly, the early flowering ‘Merrill’ (below) and ‘Royal Star’ are barely early after this mild late winter. I recall years when both showed their first color in late February….

Despite mild temperatures and thus more time spent roaming the garden, I must have been more anxious than ever through this winter. The number of mail order plant purchases that are now beginning to trickle in should verify this, but I also have plans to add another redbud and a magnolia from the garden center,…

A year ago, on a mild and breezeless March afternoon, the sweet scent of the paperbushes (Edgeworthia chrysantha, below) wafted over the garden. Very likely, the scent wafts regularly, but for once, my severely limited sense could smell it. Probably never again, and today I tried mightily to make the connection, with no luck. Oh…