What’s in bloom in March

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What’s in bloom in March? Well the garden is slowly springing into colour and it’s wonderful to enjoy daylight a little longer as each week goes by. The weather hasn’t made it easy to do much gardening as we’ve had freezing temperatures and snow. But it certainly is a joy to look out through the windows and see life returning to the flower borders again.  Last March you would’ve got a suntan here in Perthshire and for a few days we were warmer than California and Cyprus. The plants hadn’t a clue what had happened and neither did the wildlife.
Fast forward to March 2013 and it’s much more the seasonal norm. At least the fruit buds won’t be fooled into opening too early and we might even get some plums this year. Looking back at the March Spring blooms in 2011 is a much better comparison rather than March 2012 as the weather and temperatures are very similar. Though we do have an exceptional arctic windchill at the moment with more snow forecast.

The first three photographs were taken earlier in the week:

 

Cyclamen coum macro in the snow
Cyclamen coum in the snow – in bloom in March

You can read the technical details behind the cyclamen macro on this Google + post.

The Daphne mezereum ‘Rubra’ grows beside the Hammelis ‘Pallida’ and a white Hellebore niger. In fact it’s in a windswept area hence it never grows with vertical straight stems.

Daphne mezereum 'rubra'
Daphne mezereum ‘rubra’ – in bloom in March

 

These little Seiber crocus bulbs could do with being moved in the autumn and planted next to the Tete a Tete daffodils.
Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis 'Tricolor' | Seiber's Crocus / Cretan Crocus / Snow Crocus
Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis ‘Tricolor’  | Seiber’s Crocus / Cretan Crocus / Snow Crocus

 

This flower border is under the Weeping Silver pear tree and you can see the buds forming on the Fothergilla shrub to the right in the photo.  Lots of different colours of crocus grow here along with many clumps of early flowering ‘Tête-à-tête’ daffodils. Hellebore orientalis ‘Tutu’ was planted here two years ago and it’s quite unusual as it has pink double pleated centres.

More of what’s in bloom in March

Tete a tete daffodils in flower in March
Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’  – in bloom in March

Hellebores

Helleborus orientalis ‘Tutu’ – in bloom in March

Primroses

These are reliable little hardy perennial primulas. They are planted all over the garden and flower intermittently throughout the year.  Primrose Heritage has pale lemon petals and an orange centre.

Primrose Emily and Primrose Heritage flowers

While Primrose Emily has pale yellow petals with a darker yellow centre.

Witch hazels

Other shrubs still in flower are Witch hazel ‘Pallida’ and ‘Orange Beauty’. Witchhazel ‘Diane’ has turned more orangey shades as the flowers age and Witch hazel ‘Jelena’ has now finished flowering.

witch hazels in bloom in March
Top: Reddish orange Hammelis x intermedia ‘Diane’
Bottom left: Pale lemon Hammelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’ with the Daphne shrub at its base
Bottom right: Deep yellow Hammelis x intermedia ‘Orange Beauty’

Snowdrops

Galanthus nivalis | native snowdrops growing alongside the red foliage from  Euphorbia amygdaloidesRubra

Snowdrops are popping up all over the place along with lots of hellebore seedlings.

Heather

There are also many clumps of Erica heather in flower.

Pink and White Erica carnea
Pink and White Erica carnea – in bloom in March


Iris

My favourite little iris bulbs Iris reticulata ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ are back in flower again. Though the clumps are getting a bit overcrowded and need thinned out.

Iris reticulata 'Katharine Hodgkin'
Iris reticulata ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ – in bloom in March

Spring Snowflakes

The spring snowflakes are slow to establish.

Leucojum vernum var. carpathicum
Leucojum vernum | Spring snowflakes – in bloom in March


Finally I’ll leave you with the Hellebore orientalis ‘Picotee’ basking in the evening golden light with the purple and yellow crocus in the background.

Hellebore orientalis 'Picotee'

 

Hellebore orientalis 'Picotee'
Hellebore orientalis ‘Picotee’ – in bloom in March

 

All of these plants are H4 | H5  – click here to read more about Scottish Hardiness Ratings.

 

Follow Rosie Nixon:

Photography Tutor and Gardener

Rosie is a garden photographer, writer and nature lover. She enjoys soaking up nature and is easily distracted from doing the weeding by anything that flutters, flies, buzzes, creeps or crawls! She enjoys sharing the beauty of creation through her photography. Rosie has been featured on TV on BBC2's The Beechgrove Garden and she uses the outdoors as her natural light studio. Her work can be seen at one of Scotland's only photography galleries - Close Gallery, 4b Howe Street, Edinburgh.

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28 Responses

  1. Landscape Design By Lee

    You have so much going on in your garden and your spring blooms are lovely. This year is definitely more in line with 2011 and spring is taking its time with anticipation of blooms ahead. We are just getting some signs of spring now with hyacinth and crocus awakening in the garden. Happy GBBD!

  2. Carolyn ♥

    Oh, so many sweet blooms, Rosie! We have one tiny bloom in all of our acreage… but then snow has been a constant blanket since mid-December.

  3. Janet/Plantaliscious

    Really beautiful Rosie, I am a fan of 'Tutu', didn't expect to be but I had one in my old garden, and I am now missing her. That daphne is an amazing colour, and I have never seen crocuses like those 'Tricolor' before. Lovely dose of Spring.

  4. Alistair

    Rosie, perhaps the more normal March weather will give us a better Summer this year. I am really interested in your Katharine Hodgkin naturalising so well. At the moment I am banging on as to how I have to treat them as an annual. Perhaps KH is stronger than some of the other Reticulatas.

  5. Rosie Nixon

    @Alistair

    It must be stronger – I have only two blue reticulata's showing this year. Just like you they are not long lived here. I didn't even bother to photograph the one that's in flower!

  6. Rose

    Your photos are simply beautiful, Rosie! You've really put me into a spring mood, although it's gray and cloudy here, with more snow in the forecast. Love your hellebores!

  7. Jessica

    Rosie, your garden is gorgeous! I can't believe that even with the snow and cold you have so many things in bloom. I can't wait to see what April and May look like!

  8. Linda Claxson

    Wow Rosie your blooms are looking amazing. I'm astounded that a garden can look so much like a paint palette at this time of year – in Scotland.
    I need to do some serious planning now and get some spring plants into my own garden. Other than Daffs, I'll have no colour until the Aquilegia that has self seeded the entire garden comes to life in a month or so.
    Thank you for sharing your lovely images.

    Linda

  9. Rosie Nixon

    @Rose

    That weather forecast of yours is just what I'm looking out on though our snow turned to sleet quickly yesterday. It's wonderful what a little bit of colour can do for our moods!

  10. Rosie Nixon

    @Jessica Thank you Jessica – it gets to be a problem later on in the year as I just can't fit everything that's in flower in one blog post 🙂

  11. Rosie Nixon

    @elaine rickett Elaine look out for them this autumn as I see them for sale every year. I'll post a few photos soon on facebook……just patiently waiting for some sun to appear so that they even open those buds! wet, cold and dull here today.

  12. Rosie Nixon

    @Linda Claxson Thanks Linda – it's very much a clash of colours in the spring! I had to dig out loads of those columbines last year as the seedling were all a similar dusky pink colour. You should be able to pick up some bargain spring bulbs soon as many have been grown under cover and GC's/shops/nurseries will be reducing them once the flowers start to die away.

  13. A Garden of Threads

    I am envious. You live so far north compared to me and your spring garden is looking wonderful, while I still have brown garden and bare twigs, sigh. Hope your week is great. Jen

  14. Richard Havenga

    Rosie:

    I so love your pink Erica Heather, and the tri-colored Crocus.

    Your macro shot of the Cyclamen is both exquisite and sensuous. Whew!

    Richard

  15. Melanie J Watts

    Such lovely signs of spring Rosie. I used to grow Iris reticulata but it is not reliable hardy here. Spring is such a marvelous time of year. Love the fourth photo.

  16. nelsontheadventurer

    Lovely flowers, no doubt about that. Such a wonderful Sieber crocus, as the corms of Sieber’s crocus are edible, apparently tasting of hazelnuts, and are eaten raw by mountain shepherds in Greece.

  17. Kalantikan

    Hi Rosie, Happy Easter, at last what you've been waiting for already arrived producing a lot of shots for the soul. That snowflakes, i thought before is also a snowdrop, wonder about the differences. Thanks also for the photo information in G+