Monday, March 8, 2010

The Magical Mystery Tour Is Coming To Take You Away...

Ok. It's not really mysterious.

But to me it's magical! My early March tour of the garden stirrings. It's the time of year I scrutinize every inch of the soil and plants for new growth.

I look like a crazy person squatting every two seconds with my camera. If the camera weighed 50 pounds, I'd be really fit!



I was very excited to see all of the budding, and in some cases blooming, activity going on.

I know that violas can be ho-hum to some people, but I can't help but love their little faces. These ones have been growing since the fall, and they're starting to look bushy again.


The 'Stairway to Heaven' rose is starting to shoot some new leaves out. As you can probably guess, I bought this rose for the name lol. It's a climber/rambler, and it has the most beautiful clusters of red blooms. They smell delicious. It was doing very well until it got the inevitable black spot disease. Damn you black spot!

I also had it growing through that wire garden fence, which is now no longer there. I'm going to either move it while I still can, or try and rig it up anew. Or scrap it. I don't know if I can bear to do that though! I've only had it since last spring. :(



My 'Ann' magnolia is setting it's flower buds right now. They'll probably pop out in a couple of weeks. I planted this for my mum. Her middle name is 'Ann'. :) It's more of a pretty shrub, than a tree. I wish I had planted it in a different spot though. Oh well :)



My daffodils take after me. They're a bit flamboyant...:D



My reblooming azalea. I can't remember what the name is...'Autumn' something. It's one of the Monrovia repeat bloomers. It looks even better blooming in the fall than it does in the spring. I love it!



And I noticed it has squeezed out an early bloom. Let's see how long that lasts before we have another frost lol.



'D.D. Blanchard' Southern Magnolia. I'm waiting for it to take off growing! It won't flower till May, but I love the leaves on it so that doesn't bother me. Each branch grows a 1-2 feet per year (so far).



I'm calling these 'Zombie Mums'. Because even after spending this very cold NC winter in flimsy pots, they've risen from the dead. To eat your face.

Hey, better your face than your children!



'Endless Summer' hydrangea. If you can grow hydrangea, grow this one. it's awesome. I've never had trouble with it, it's probably one of the healthiest plants I have. My little lizard buddies love living in it lol :)




As I said before, frost season isn't over. So we'll probably get another one or two that will kill off this growth. Sorry to get all Debbie Downer on ya ;)



Even ol' Rosemary decided to put on a nice dress for the dance! ;)



I had the whole weekend off (rare occurence when you work at Barnes & Noble), and it was beautiful! I stopped at a couple of garden centers to pass some time. I mostly am doing this for planning/dreaming purposes, since most of the trees and shrubs are bare. I found something that caught my eye, a tree I've wanted since I moved here and started gardening. Mr. A said he'd buy it for me! I love that man.

Don't like to eat, er, count my chickens before they've hatched though. So I'll leave the reveal for another day! :)

14 comments:

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

Your daffodils may be flamboyant, but they're wonderful heralds of spring. Looks like your whole garden is stirring, can't wait to see the mystery tree Mr. A. so kindly offered to buy for you!

Shyrlene said...

Kyna - I envy your growing zone! I'll have to live vicariously through you for a few more weeks!!

I was walking around the yard, looking for signs of life this weekend (other than the bunny teeth marks on my Golden Pivet!). The only brave souls were the Orange Tiger Lilies, but then our 'highs' just hit 40 this past week! (Their buds are only inch high or so!) :o(

Jayne said...

It's good to see signs of life in your garden Kyna. Still giggling at Debbie Downer, lol.

Carol said...

It is such an exciting time of year... here there is still much snow but the light and warmth of the sun is uplifting! I particularly love your violas and your mag. photos! Lovely! Happy Gardening to you! ;>)

Susan (aka Sunny) said...

Love the daffodils...they will brighten the downest of moods :) I forgot about Debbie Downer....she cracks me up...

Kimberly said...

Woo Hoo...beautiful babies poking out their little heads in your garden! Lovely! I hope another frost does not nip them. Love the squat photo (my hubby is a body builder, and we used to own a Powerhouse Gym...know the gym scene well!).

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

March is magical, and I know how you feel about all that squatting down. For the first time in months I was able to work in the garden yesterday, doing spring garden cleanup. Man, are my butt muscles sore (but it's a good burn). Violas are fantastic and anybody who looks down on them must live in the tropics.
You have a very fun blog, thanks for welcoming my 2d blog to Blotanical.

Noelle Johnson said...

Isn't it so fun to look for new growth in the spring? At a cursory glance, you see brown until you look closely and see how much growth there really is.

Darla said...

Whole lot of spring showing here...

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

A great idea for a fifty pound camera to be used in the Spring. I'd be in good shape already doing the same thing as you.
I love Violas too, yours are really pretty. It's looking great there!

Meredith said...

You're so funny. ;) It may be Debbie Downerish of you, but at least you're prepared for frosts ahead. I go into denial around this time of year; surely the weather will cooperate with *my* plans for the spring garden this year! (Right.)

Beautiful tour of the stirrings.

Kyna said...

CVF: Hehe, it's coming. I went and paid for the tree (on Mr. A's behalf) today, and we're going to go pick it up tomorrow morning. I'm so excited! :)

Shyrlene: You have buds coming up on your Tiger Lilies? I think you should be less envious, because mine aren't coming up lol. I do love everything I can grow here, but you'd be surprised at how many things grow in cooler temps, that I miss ;)

Jayne: Glad you liked Debbie! I have a soft spot for that sourpuss :D

Carol: I eagerly await the activity from my magnolias every year. They're so special to me....and they're something I couldn't grow before I moved to this climate. :)

Sunny: There was this chick at my work who was exactly like Debbie. I can laugh at it now, but at the time it was tough! Glad you liked my cheery daffodils, wish you could smell em!

Kimberly: You would never know it, but I used to consider myself an athlete. When I played sports, I was quite fit. I used to visit the weight room frequently, squats were my favourite lol. I really need to get back into that. I'm starting to look like a barrel!

Mr. MacG's D: I know what you mean about the sore gluts. It's going to do a number on me when i really get into it. But that's a good thing, I need more of that! I admire your ability to branch out and create more cool blogs. I'm too much of a scatterbrain to handle more than this one! LOL

Noelle: I felt like that with a couple of my plants. I was looking disapprovingly at the dry tangle of old columbine foliage, until I noticed some greenery peeking out at me from the very roots. And I expressed some surprise at buds forming on an azalea (not pictured) that I thought would take some more time to set buds :)

Darla: You bet! I'm so excited :D

Catherine: I think i'm going to go 80's and strap on the ankle weights. Go Jane Fonda style! lol

Meredith: I have this habit of expecting the worst, so that I don't feel such a heavy thud of disappointment later on lol. It's always been that way...gardening, taking tests, etc. That way, if I actually do succeed, than it's even more exciting! lol. I know, that's screwed up ;)

MB said...

I know exactly what your talking about, I've been on the "hunt" as well, looking for anything that's not brown! I'm always wonder what people think when they see me pointing my camera at the ground or when I'm lying on the ground taking the shot or taking photos of the same witch hazel plant for the last month.....

Jan said...

Wonderful signs of spring, Kyna;-) We will probably get some frost again, too. I'm enjoying the lovely weather we've had lately, as well. It's a real treat!