Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day—March
On Bloom Day March, the garden is showing its spring colors—purples, a few yellows and pinks—but mostly it’s leafing out, plumping up. The explosion of spring flowers is yet to come. Here are pictures from this morning. Aside from these, hymenoxys is still flowering, rosemary is hanging on, and bulbine is just starting. The daffodils are spent.
Texas mountain laurel, the belle of the garden at the moment. The clustered purple flowers hang from twisted, dark branches sporting glossy, evergreen leaves, and they smell like grape Kool-Aid.
My tree is only six years old, and still gangly. The older ones have a gorgeous, full form and absolutely drip with flowers in spring.
Misnamed Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ) is just starting to bloom.
Grape hyacinth still looks fresh
‘Amethyst’ irises
Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens ) drapes a fence in the front garden
Spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis )—a volunteer in the front garden
Fragrant Carolina jessamine in the back garden
Texas redbud
Weedy little golden groundsel blooms in the shade of the cedar elm, a burst of yellow among the purple spiderwort.
Agarita branches are studded with small golden flowers, easily unnoticed near the ground.
The potted ‘Blue Elf’ aloe is just starting to flower. The tubular, orangey-red blossoms will be fully open soon.
Delicate, pale pink buds on the ‘Marie Pavie’ rosebush promise a fragrant display to come.
Visit Carol at May Dreams to see what’s blooming in other people’s gardens on Bloom Day.
This is exactly the kind of information I wanted to know when I first started blogging (and still!) I wanted to peek inside other Austinites’ gardens to see what was blooming at the same time as in mine so that I could say, “Hey, that coral honeysuckle would look really nice as a backdrop to the bluebonnets in my yard this week.” Books and even local nurseries can’t provide the extremely specific information of what is in bloom this moment. And the newspaper lacks the immediacy of your photo journal.
This is what I expected from blogging. So, thanks, Carol, for rounding everyone up, and thanks, Pam, for sharing your photos.
As for my yard, the Texas mountain laurels and the tradescantia dominate. A very purple week now that the plum trees are finished.
Yes, you’re right. I enjoyed reading what was blooming in your garden too, MSS. It sounds like this is a better bloom month for you than for me. I expect to have more in bloom next month. —Pam
Hi Pam,
It looks very lovely, all those blooms in your garden. That Texas mountain laurel: wow! Such beautiful flowers. Have you seen my list yet? Got a weed in it as well but I like them. 😉
I look forward to the Texas mountain laurel’s bloom all year, but it looks lovely in all seasons.
Your garden looks gorgeous—so lush and full! —Pam
Beautiful – just beautiful, Pam! Thank you for the inspiration you’ve given other Austin gardeners.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Likewise, Annie, I am inspired by you and the other Austin garden bloggers. I’m always wanting whatever you guys are growing. —Pam
I’m envious of your coral honeysuckle (and all the other cool plants). Mine must be too much in the shade, but any flowers it does produce are still several weeks away here.
Thanks for visiting, Entangled. I’ll look for coral honeysuckle on your blog next Bloom Day. —Pam
That Mountain Laurel brings me back home. I can smell it. Springtime.
Thank you.
I love the Texas mountain laurel. Never heard of it up here! Your garden looks just great, it must be wonderful to be out there in it with all the flowers.
Thanks for participating in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.
That Texas mountain laurel looks amazing! I’ve never seen that before. (Sounds like it smells wonderful, too.) Thank you for sharing all your beautiful photos — everything is so colorful there. It is still very early for flowers here in D.C.
Carol and Christa, I wish you and all the other non-Texas bloggers could see the Texas mountain laurel in person and smell it. There’s nothing like it. When I first came to Austin from North Carolina, I saw it growing wild up on Mt. Bonnell (a scenic point in west Austin) and was bowled over by it. “What IS that?” I asked my Dallas-born husband, but he didn’t know because it isn’t reliably winter-hardy much north of Austin, I believe. Anyway, Austin’s spring, including the mountain laurel, was one of the things that sold me on living in Texas.
County Clerk, since you once lived here, I’m sure you do remember that fragrance. It’s unforgettable. But I suppose you have lilacs where you live now, and I understand they are unforgettable too. —Pam
Pam, I have to echo the amazement of the other northern garden bloggers about your Texas mountain laurel. It is drop-dead gorgeous! And I’m quickly discovering that I have a weakness for purple flowers.
The agarita is beautiful, too. Those flowers look so delicate in the photo, and I like that, as you say, you might not even notice them unless you were really looking. I love those little “secrets” the garden holds 🙂
I love that Aloe! My bearded irises aren’t blooming yet, but I can finally see that their flowers are forming.
I’ll look forward to pics of your irises as they start to bloom, R. —Pam
Yes… Lilacs are nice. And they are here. And they may actually come out sometime in the next 60 days. Funny you mentioned this. While married, I bought a home on “Lilac Lane” in San Antonio (it had two ENORMOUS mountain laurels (like 25′ to 30′ high – I’d never seen such giants) out front). Anyway, between the time we closed and moved in I tried like crazy to get some Lilac trees to make a present for my East Coast Yankee bride. The idea wasn’t particulary inspired… rather obvious really… Lilac plants on Lilac lane. But it was a no go. No Lilacs. No can do.
You are right though: there is beauty everywhere.
Ha! “In the next 60 days.” Well, hang in there.
There’s a shrubby tree that grows well here (not native though) called chaste lilac, or chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus). I have one in my front garden that should be flowering in about a month. It once fooled a northern-born friend into thinking it was a lilac, but although the flowers are apparently similar, it lacks the lilac’s fragrance. —Pam
Your Texas mountain laurel is spectacular. The leaves and flowers look like it belongs to the pea family Leguminosae or Fabaceae. I did a Wiki search and apparently the beans were used by ‘some native American tribes as a hallucinogen, before being supplanted by peyote.’ So be careful not to chew on the beans…unless you want a deeply profound experience.
Hi, Ki. Yep, this beauty is in the pea family, and yes, the seeds are very toxic, even lethal. (See my post on March 6.) I don’t think I’ll be chewing them any time soon. —Pam
Pam, I’m oohing and ahhing over all your blooms, but especially the redbud, Salvia Greggii and Texas Mountain Laurel. The close-ups of the redbud blossoms below are simply gorgeous! With fresh snow on the ground and a cold wind blowing here, these photos are so very welcome! Before snow covered them again yesterday, our snowdrops had little white buds showing. They always seem to survive and bloom in spite of having snow dumped on them, so we’ll just wait a little longer….
Very nice. Love all your photo’s. Love the lilac’s too got a big shrub in my yard.
Thanks for stopping by, Curtis. —Pam
Your garden looks beautiful! I love the texas mountain laurel – I have one over on the south carolina coast (that I brought back on my lap on the plane after a trip to Texas A&M a number of years ago now) – and it’s just beginning to bloom. Your garden is much further along than mine is – my S. greggii is just starting to get buds. Aren’t you glad that spring is here?
Thanks, Pam. Am I glad that spring is here? Yes and no. I dread the impending heat of summer, but I do love the beauty of spring’s flowers. My favorite season is fall, which provides a second flush of flowers and a return to cool temperatures. I would think it would be the same in coastal South Carolina, but I hear that some people love hot weather. You must be one of them. 😉 —Pam