Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - March 2022

It's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and it's nearly "official" spring (we've had meteorological spring since the beginning of March.) That's cause for a double helping of flowers and buds around my Zone 8b (almost 9a) inner-city Portland garden. Let's take a look.

Okay, this IS Portland, so I'm starting with camellias. This is Camellia japonica 'April Kiss' and her perfect blossoms endear her to me every spring. She is almost never damaged by spring rains, the way many japonicas can be, nor even the hail that's falling as I type this post! I also appreciate the way 'April Kiss' functions as part of a screen between us and the big AirBnb house right next door. She earns her keep.

Camellia transnokoensis has had a lovely, long season of bloom. It's been going strong since this time last month.

Loropetalum chinense var rubrum 'Fire Dance' responded to the increased light from some tree removal last year by putting on growth, and now a nice display of blooms. Unlike L. chinense var. rubrum 'Sizzling Pink', which lost its purple color and has been evicted from the garden, the foliage on 'Fire Dance' has deepened over time.

Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea' has great year-round, yellow-green foliage. Look again this month and you'll see little flowerheads topping its grassy leaves.

For some reason, I have had a tough time growing Pulmonaria in the past. I'm thrilled that this one from Skyler at Tangly Cottage Gardening has survived summer and winter to flower for Bloom Day.

Although it's not quite in bloom yet, I couldn't overlook Ribes sanguineum as it prepares to burst forth. With the warmer, wetter weather we are having, I think it will only be a matter of days before some of the flowers open.

The primulas are slowly waking up. This is P. denticulata and it's the first of the drumstick primulas to flower.

Since Mahonia aquifolium is the Oregon state flower, how could we not have several of the genus to bloom in the Northwest Territory this month? The top picture is M. repens, just beginning to open. At the bottom is M. aquifolium in full bloom. It makes me and the bumblebees happy.

Ribes davidii is a great, low-growing ground cover. Its tiny, hard-to-spot blossoms are almost gone already.

More in-your-face is this bright combo of Erysimum 'Winter Orchid' and a prostrate rosemary.

Also not shy, Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete', from a birthday potful years back, blooms reliably every March.

 An unknown Epimedium from a swap years ago is in full bloom near my hose bib.

The unknown Hellebores I showed last month are still happy in the sunny back garden. I love the way the sun looks shining through their petals.

 

Now for a couple of budding oddities: This is Mukdenia rossii 'Karasuba". I never realized that it has these weird flower heads that emerge before the foliage starts to unfurl. You can see the olive-green young leaves in the background.

And lastly, this is not a flower, I know. But the fuzzy, alien sprouts of Syneilesis aconitifolia, or Shredded Umbrella plant, never fail to amuse me, so I thought I'd share them here.

And that's it for March's Bloom Day. Check out Carol's post, at May Dreams Gardens, to see what else is blooming this March 15th.

Happy Bloom Day, all!