Encore azalea ‘Autumn Amethyst’ (below) is an unusual sort, at least at my place. While Encore azaleas typically begin their autumn blooming season as early as August, with heaviest flowering in September and October, ‘Amethyst’ often begins this cycle late in October or November. And, it’s the only azalea that I’ve experienced with a few…

I don’t claim to speak for gardener’s as a group, but I suppose that like me, many are fascinated by the beauty of simple things, today perhaps the tiniest violet (below), considered a weed by many, but richly colored and beautiful enough that the gardener momentarily forgets the woes of this world. There are plenty…

Today I’ll step away from my typical wordiness to catch up on blooms that have slipped past in the last week. This is a splendid time to be in the garden, so enjoy.

Things are popping up all over the place. There are perennials and ephemerals (below) that I recognize and recall, and others that I have no idea what they could be. But, soon I’ll find out, and failing to recognize emerging old timers and newcomers is nothing new. I plant every year, and it’s easy to…

The vagaries of early spring weather occasionally bring together the flowering of all of the garden’s magnolias that more regularly bloom weeks apart, as well as other flowers holding over from late winter along with early spring bloomers. In this last week of March the winter flowering witch hazels (Hamamelis x intermedia) have faded with…

Happily, I am still working, contentedly distracted by the everyday routine instead of the woes of today’s world. As I approach an indefinite but nearing schedule for retirement, I contemplate that first year when I can fully enjoy the garden in spring, not only the few evening and weekend hours. Today, many have been forced…

I see no reason the gardener should desire an area of boggy ground, but here there is a rather large area that borders the garden that is constantly damp. I presume the source of the moisture is a spring that is in close proximity or perhaps beneath the garden shed. The spring dampens the forested…

Every day in the garden is splendid, though some more than others, and a few where dark clouds must be brushed aside for the barest glimpse of sunshine. I’ve been happily spoiled by mild temperatures in early March, so when a single night drops below freezing I am greatly disappointed. Much fussing ensues, but such…

I am slightly curious why there are so few bees. When flowering in early March, a large ‘Dorothy Wycoff’ Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica ‘Dorothy Wycoff’) by the corner of the garage attracts a multitude of bees that are often quite aggressive in early spring. I usually take an alternate route to the rear garden so…

There’s no particular hurry, but I am somewhat mystified that two early flowering magnolias ‘Merrill’ and ‘Royal Star’ have not flowered yet in this very mild early March. On occasion, both have bloomed in late February when the flowers are prone to damage from frosts and freezes that are common into the early weeks of…

Spring has started, at least the laboring part of it, though the weather also is cooperating most days with mild temperatures and no extreme cold in the forecast. An odd few days of cold are common through March, and even into April, but now we’re calling a daily high of fifty-three chilly, so that’s making…

Unlike in many area gardens, no daffodils are flowering here, not even the early ‘February Gold’ that typically flowers the tenth day of March, but should be earlier in this very mild late winter. Several times in two decades it has flowered in February as its name suggests, but ‘February Gold’ is now shaded and…