Thursday, March 11, 2010

At last, spring!

It's finally warming up and greening up. Better late than never! And just in time for the time change this weekend.
Fuzzy baby lambs ears are proliferating:
Crocosmia and daylilies are racing for the sky:

I was delighted to find, under the deceased foliage of last year's sedum, a healthy lil' one!
(Thanks again to KMG of Garden Tips for the sedum, a family heirloom.)


I'm pleased to report butterfly ginger survived the cold winter:

Our wedding mums are coming up between the pansies:

This was a real shock: pineapple sage, which is only marginally hardy here, survived the cold winter! I had to rub these tiny leaves and take a whiff of the tropical scent to believe it.


Black-eyed susans started in the fall from seed are looking good, though none of my established black-eyed susans are showing signs of life yet.


Veronica bought last fall on sale is back. We bought this because bees were swarming it at the nursery!

Butterfly bush, cut to the ground this winter, is rebounding with gusto:


My unknown clematis bought at a plant sale for $1 last year - can't wait to see this bloom!

Oregano has always been evergreen for me, so I was sure my mass of it was dead, and started oh, about 50 new plants! Anyone around here need any?!

Daylily foliage is significantly lusher and fuller than in the past. Maybe it's just age, or maybe they enjoyed the cold?


And finally, asters are popping up everywhere. In the early fall, these will be three feet tall and covered with lavender flowers.


TGIF! Have a great weekend!

8 comments:

Randy Emmitt said...

Ginger,

I'm sure your butterfly ginger did just fine over the winter. Ours always did good for about 10 years and it vanished because the old root growth crowded it out. The clematis there is moving quickly, our armandii is nearly growing as much as your mystery clematis.

Dave said...

I think you may be right that the daylilies enjoyed the cold - ours are coming up emphatically! It's exciting to start seeing these plants emerging this time of year.

Susie said...

I've been out in the yard looking for any signs of green. So far, I haven't seen any sign of my crocosmia.

Hope you too have a great weekend!

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

I'm planning on doing a similar post - if I can ever get myself out of the garden! Ha! (I've been taking photos but the weather's been too nice to stay indoors and write a post.) My plants are at about the same stage as yours (although your clematis looks farther along than mine). No thanks on the oregano; I noticed mine is coming back gangbusters as well. Don't know if the cold helped the daylilies but a daffodil expert told me it helped the daffs. Hope you have a great weekend too!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

It's great finding plants you thought were dead or marginally hardy are still alive. Don't you love finding all this green this time of year?!

Shady Gardener said...

Happy Early Spring, Ginger. :-) We'll be right behind you... in a couple of weeks or so! Thanks for sharing!

Jim Groble said...

Happy spring to you> The snow will all be gone by tomorrow. I am certain or close to certain or maybe just hopeful. But none the less, since our son came home, we are going to do yard work this weekend. jim

Meredith said...

So nice to see all those signs of spring. Congrats on the pineapple sage making it through -- and this was a pretty bad winter in the South, too! Can't wait to see your landscape in full bloom. :)