Maybe I was too hard on March. Last week, like a miracle, a light switched on during my morning dog-walk. And today dawned with blue skies and sunshine. Maybe March isn’t going to be as dreary as I thought?

Then again, day-light savings is coming up (March 14) and will throw my morning back into the night and there’s snow in the forecast for later today and through most of the rest of the week. I guess the deal with March is that it forces us to not take any of the good stuff for granted and to appreciate every single sunny moment to the fullest. And at least the sun, when it’s out, is starting to feel warmish.

Gail and I took advantage of today’s sunny moment (which lasted pretty much the whole day after all) to search for signs of spring – it’s evident in the 4” high daffodils, emerging tulips (- got to get the deer-off on!), the red buds on maples and yellow haze of willows, and a rumor spread by a favorite visitor about a crocus blooming somewhere on the grounds. Gail cut some more forsythia – it shouldn’t take long to force, maybe a week. And we spent most of the day organizing the greenhouse and making space for seeds, which we’ll start sowing in earnest this week. (Starting with perennials, biennials like foxglove, some cabbages and kale, calendula, snapdragons… Dick’s onions, leeks, and artichokes are already coming up.)

Meanwhile, Fred and Dan have been diligently pruning trees and shrubs all over the property. The best time for dormant pruning is any above-freezing day before the buds break. They are not ones to wait for sweater weather, like me…

All in all, there’s plenty to work on, lots to look forward to and I appreciate a slow start to spring – and I really shouldn’t knock March (- it might knock back). Have you started sowing seeds? Are you bad-mouthing March or getting busy with the pruning instead?

We scheme and we plan and we cross our fingers and we hope for a succession of blooms and then when everything blooms at once we say “Oh — Wow.”  There’s a brilliant carpet of daffodils still – if you squint a little it’s possible to imagine that some haven’t started to go by – and the tulips have started blooming in earnest – more abundantly than we thought after the deer graze and a little earlier than we intended. The tulips and daffs are beautiful together.

Late last July, Gail and Lilah made the final tulip order decisions – without me – and I have to say, they done good. For the Rose Garden, they chose Apricot Giant and Big Chief which I, without knowing what they intended, planted as a mix. It’s gorgeous! They did clash a little last week with the Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’ but then they weren’t really supposed to bloom together…

The North Garden tulips aren’t all open yet but the ones that are, are a bit of a mixed bag. Apricot Beauty is a standby favorite and it didn’t disappoint. We mixed Amazone with it which is just starting to open and promises to be a deeper orange/green apricot that I think is destined to become one of my new faves. Cistula is supposed to be a pale yellow and it’s blazing hot (could it have reverted?) – but thankfully, it works anyway because of the daffodil echo. Dreaming Maid is more pink than the catalog pictures let on – we wanted it to be lavender and we’re still waiting on Formosa and Black Hero (which we know we love).

The tulip trials in the Cutting Garden are tu gorgeous. We wondered what color(s) Gudoshnik would be…

I’ve picked my winners in the lavender contest – Jackpot hits it and so does Violet Beauty so far – not all of the contestants have opened yet. Fringed Family (in the middle of the family portrait) is decidedly, definitely pink.

I have a winner for the yellows too:  I can see using Yellow Mountain in the North Garden next year…

And my choices for the North Garden, which were overruled and relegated to a Cutting Garden plot, are quite a nice combo so far too, if I may say, and definitely contenders for next year’s North Garden display.  Pimpernel is the red, Annie Schilder is the orange, and of course Spring Green is the excellent green.  Bleu Aimable – supposed to be lavender – is still biding its time. Perhaps this year, before they all go by, we’ll make a few combination bouquets and take pictures so that we’ll (with Lilah’s help again, of course) agonize less over the order come July.

Are your tulips blooming? Any surprises? Any favorites?

Hey, what’s that thing up there that’s all bright and making me feel kind of warmish? Could it be…? No… I don’t believe it. Yes – it’s true – the sun’s out! Yesterday’s gale dried off the daffodils and blew away the rain clouds and left us today with a bright blazing blue, a whole bunch of bliss, a new round of blooms and a heap of must-dos.

First on my list is get outside and stay there.  Indoor chores can wait because there are sights to be seen – like the daffodils hanging on to peak here and all of the spring ephemerals that are opening now and may blow out after a dose of nearly summer-like warmth. Next on my list are the garden tasks that don’t feel at all like chores to me when the weather is so dreamy.  We spent today moving perennials around, planting more roses, deadheading the earliest tulips, and hooping some of the peonies that have already set buds. I can hardly wait to get home and do all of that in my own garden…  But first, one more circuit of the property to entice a visit:

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Is it forecast to be nearly summer-like where you live too? What are your plants – I mean plans - for such a stellar weekend?

Last night’s rain may have made a few of the daffodils face-plant but it brought out that delicious fragrance of spring that put the visual beauty almost in the background.  Almost.  I would have closed my eyes – I did for a minute maybe – but there’s still so much coming out that I couldn’t help but do my usual mad circuit of the property sticking my face and then my camera up close to every bud. I’m not sure I’ve noticed anything more adorable than the Horsechestnuts emerging. Except maybe the Trillium, Mayapples and Epimediums. (If you’d like to know the name of the epimedium pictured below, please let me know – I did mean to write it down…)  And we’re taking bets on when the Agave ‘Spot’ will bloom.  Will it open before it reaches the ceiling?  And what color will it be?

And not only is spring still getting better but we’re well on our way in the gardens too.  Happiness is a shipment of plants and we’ve had a couple of exciting deliveries in the last few days.  First our dahlia cuttings arrived from Corralitos Gardens in CA – neatly packaged and perfect.  And today not even pouring rain could dampen our enthusiasm as we checked in our order from Sunny Border.

There’s just so much to look forward to… What’s next in your garden?

Whether you just filed last night or spent your refund check on groceries weeks ago, you deserve to treat yourself to another thing in life (besides death, heaven forbid!) that’s certain:  Thousands of daffodils blooming in concert at Blithewold.  I think I pretty much called it when I said they’d peak around the end of the week.  It’s that magical moment before the early daffs fade and the late daffs are fully out – it’s a moment that should last a few days.  And if you can see past the daffodils there are plenty of other things blooming too.  In honor of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens the 15th of every month (I’m so often fashionably late to the party), here are a few of the other blooms coming and going on the grounds:

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Did you think I would forget to show the daffodils? (I took these pictures yesterday – just imagine how much more outstanding it is today…)

What’s at its peak in your garden?

The past couple of days have been on the brutally chilly side but I’ve seen quite a few bundled up people lingering on the grounds anyway.  The reward is that spring is dallying while it opens, taking its cue from the sun.  The daffodils are out more and more – I’d say they’ll be about halfway to peak in the next day or two.  – I still think the big peak will be by the end of the week/weekend.  You know how I love the unfold though, so this is actually just about my favorite moment – when so many are still just on the edge of opening.  I love the potential.

Speaking of potential, any guesses about who this Dr. Seuss character is going to grow up to be?  (Hover over for the answer – but no cheating!)

Last weekend it seemed like a switch had been flipped and the dinge of winter was replaced by bright emerald – at least underfoot.  And the dimmer-switch of daffodils, forsythia and other harbingers of spring is all of a sudden being turned up and up and up. Those of you who received the Blithewold spring newsletter have already heard my spiel about spring and those of you who read the blog regularly know that I’m all for taking a break to walk around and take it all in.  This is exactly the moment in spring that I’d hate to miss – I want to catch every unfurl and you know if I could just sit and watch something open, I would.  — But what to choose?!

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The season is en route to summer and picking up the pace – but even though we’re ready to be warm, cool temperatures will keep spring in our step maybe a little longer.  Blithewold opens officially tomorrow!  And remember, even if the house is closed (like it is this Easter Sunday, and every Monday, Tuesday) the grounds are open.

Are you taking time out to catch the unfurl?  Is there anything you’d want to watch open if you could?

Nearly everyone is badmouthing the weather.  We are all, universally it seems, ready for spring by which we might all mean summer.  We want to be warm now and surrounded by green growth and flowers now.  We’re ready!  Even Gail and I, enveloped as we are in the greenhouse by warmth and growing plants, need a little hort therapy to hold the crankies at bay.  So off we went today to Roseland Nursery in Acushnet, MA and since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped in at Allen Haskell’s in New Bedford, MA too.

I’m glad I made out a wish list for shopping at Roseland (more on that later).  I knew it would be acres of naked canes but it was truly acres of naked canes!  There were more roses than I have ever seen in one place and  I can only imagine what the nursery looks like – and smells like – in June.  I plan on going back no matter how crazy busy I am then – I’m sure a break and some aroma therapy will be more than necessary.

Same thing for Haskell’s – I will make every effort to get back there because it was certainly worth the trip even to walk through the greenhouses. And seeing the bones and early blooms in their display gardens has me anxious to see it again in full summer dress.  Plus we enjoyed a little ornithological therapy too – I didn’t know about their gorgeous collection of multicolored Asian pheasants. (Gail actually bonded with one of them.)

Of course it’s also therapeutic to walk through Blithewold – even for us and even in the rain.  Daffodil Days begins this weekend and there are already a lot of blooms on the property.  If you’re waiting for the daffodils to peak before you visit, stay tuned!  I’ll put up a “daff cam” picture on each of my posts through Daffodil Days and try to make a prediction or two to help you plan.

Are you planning a trip out for rough-weather hort therapy?  Will you come here?

It was an Out Like a Lamb kind of day yesterday and we spent a portion of it in the mansion’s dining room with as many of the garden volunteers as we could coax into a sit-back-and-relax luncheon.  I can’t possibly convey how tough it is to get this group to not work!  Even though many of them have already started working in the greenhouse and gardens, Gail and Julie and I wanted to kick off the season with a slightly ceremonious (and savory) Welcome Back and a Thank You for their dedication, hard work and good humor.  As Gail told them, they fulfill Blithewold’s mission by inspiring us and we absolutely couldn’t do what we do without them – plus they make  our jobs much more fun.  And even though the mansion is a little dark and a little chilly on a warm and sunny spring day, I thought the atmosphere in the dining room was totally cozy.

As we head into April, it feels like the gardens are welcoming us all back too.  The Trout lilies (Erythronium) are emerging, the Iris reticulata are blooming away, the Red maples are just bursting flowers out of bud, and many of the daffodils are even starting to show a little leg.  It won’t be long now.  The daffodils typically peak at Blithewold during the 3rd week in April but I wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s show was a titch earlier.  Warm days and cool nights keeps them in a one foot forward two back kind of dance.  More shall be revealed and you can count on me for updates if not accurate forecasting.

Speaking of updates, tomorrow is our blogiversary!  I’d like to thank everyone who clicks into the blog and I’d like to send a special Thank You out to all of you who have ever chimed in on the conversation, whether in the comments box, via email, or in actual person.  I feel like I’ve made some amazing friends – that’s a bonus I certainly didn’t foresee when I started.  And I’d like to welcome you all back for a third blog year, and another Blithewold growing season.  Garden on!

Many thanks as always to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for thinking up and hosting a monthly blooming show and tell.  I’m a little late to the Ides of March party but it’s a blow-out.  There are well over a hundred posts already and this month in particular is truly fascinating to compare notes on the start of spring.

Spring is just-just getting going here – the crocuses have opened in the last couple of days; the skunk cabbage are taking their time; the pussy willows are out; and I even spotted the very first and very most tiny daffodils (could it be ‘Bartley’?).  The adorable snow drops have been blooming for a little while now but we have such a pathetic display of them that I’m making some notes to remember to remedy that on the July bulb orders.  The hellebores didn’t fare too well this winter – we lost a couple of pretty ones.  The H. foetidus survived but the last snow beat them up a bit.  The Heaths made it through the snow and are still looking lovely – remember, if you plant some, their Barbara Streisand “best side” faces the sunny south.

(I want you to appreciate that for some of these pictures I had to actually lie down on the ground.  It may be one of Mother Nature’s best jokes that to get a good look at the rainy season’s first flowers, one must get down and dirty. Hover over for titles and click on for a larger image.)

The greenhouse is heating up and full of spring too.  Here are some of the blooming beauties indoors:

I’m not sure of which rosemary that is – it truly is a remarkably deep blue – can anyone provide an i.d.?  And we know that the Eomecon (a member of the poppy family) is “perfectly hardy” here (so says Ed from Opus Topiarium) but we have been torturing it in pots for a couple of years now.  Maybe this year we’ll get it in the ground.

Are you taking notes now for things to do (and buy) later?  — Did you lose anything this winter?