It’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day and there could be few days that would seem to be less promising for flowers.  The temperature topped out at 19º today and is headed for 3º tonight.  There was no real full-throated flowering outside in Maryland today, at least not on our hillside.  I did manage a few spots of interest as I took a short, well-wrapped walk around the yard.  It’s not surprising that the Adonis is fully ready to flower if we ever get a break from this weather.

Despite the picture we don’t have much more than a smattering of snow.  Mostly it’s just cold.  I guess the good part for the plants is that it hasn’t been the same cycle of warm then cold that we had last year.  Any plant with good sense is staying well curled up right now.  The first snowdrops were out a few weeks ago and they were knocked down by wind and the tiny bit of snow we had last night.

The other hint of spring that I saw outside was the first coloring up of the red witch hazel.

Every little bit of color gets bonus points right now.

Most of the flowering that I have to offer is in the greenhouse.  The greenhouse got down to 31º last night with all the heating I normally use.  And that was on a 9º night.  So I’ve added another temporary heater to the 110v circuit in hopes that I can cope with the 3º in the forecast.  There are a lot of plants out there worth protecting.  We have enjoyed a lot of oxalis.  Some even go through a second flowering.

The oxalis are particularly interesting from side and back views as well.

Since December we’ve been enjoying a sequence of hoop Narcissus as well.

These frost-tender narcissus all come from Spain or North Africa and I don’t find they have the distinctive fragrance that I associate with Narcissus.  Nonetheless they are easy to grow from seed and make nice companions to the oxalis to brighten up a winter day.

One of the things that leads me out to the greenhouse every day is checking on the new seedlings from the seed exchange plantings.  I never fail to be amazed at the rapid development of the plants that come in those little tiny seeds.

These plants are all tickets to adventure.  Researching these plants often leads me to reading the history of the species or the journals of the expeditions the plant explorers still take in the search for new plants.  Google the names of the seedlings above and see what you discover…

There was another sign of spring in the greenhouse today.  I saw the first growth on the pomegranate.  After last year I am looking forward to harvesting our own pomegranates again.