For this mid-May Garden Bloggers Bloom Day hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, I’m going to postpone the usual list of all of the amazing things that are blooming suddenly all at once and go into euphoric raptures about a single fantastic genus that has been blooming for a while now. One of them even kept last year’s blooms all winter.

Of all 2000 odd species of euphorbia in the world, we only have a half-dozen or so on the property. In a way that’s plenty because the ones we have are pretty great, and on the other hand it’s not nearly enough because who wouldn’t want more?

At the top of my favorite spurges list is Euphorbia x martinii ‘Ascot Rainbow’. Not only does it have stunning multi-colored foliage and fabulously intricate flying-saucer blooms but it looked fabulous through the winter. In fact, it still looked so good this spring that we weren’t sure if we should cut it back. We decided to cut a few plants here and there to within a couple inches of the ground, and we left a few standing, and are planning on using their older stems for arrangements. That’s one of the greatest things about euphorbia: they make really great nearly ever-lasting cut flowers.

Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ (below left) spreads generously (rhizomatously) in shade but we have it in full sun too in the Rose Garden. We transplanted bunches of it around from underneath the chestnut rose and it pouted for a good year (or was it two?) before finally looking stunningly settled. Never give up on a euphorbia. Last year we also planted ‘Craigieburn’ (below right) in the cutting garden I think I like that one even better for the subtle range of colors in its foliage and the extra acid in the green of its flowers.

E. longifolia (below left) has been seeding itself around the North Garden and Display Garden for years, which is great because we always have the option of using it where it lands or hoiking it out to make room for something else. After it blooms (it stands about 2′ tall) we cut it back hard to encourage a new flush later in the summer. That’s a dangerous job because the sap of this one seems particularly caustic. Anyone who has ever gotten a bright red burning and wicked-itchy rash from spurge learns pretty quickly to wear body armor to work with it.

The cushion spurge (E. polychroma – above right) in the Rock Garden hasn’t self-sowed although it’s supposed to and I wish it would. It’s too cute. We also have ‘Bonfire’, which has bright orange blooms and red foliage, up in the Display Garden but we don’t have it in enough sun to show itself off properly.

I could go on because we also grow sticks-on-fire pencil cactus and crown-of-thorns in the greenhouse and those go to show how varied the genus can be. But I’m stuck on spurges. Which ones do you grow – or wish you did? For a look at what else is bloom (besides euphorbia) all over the country and the world, click on the links listed here.

… but most spring flowers don’t. It hasn’t yet reached the temperature that was forecast for today (82!) but it’s definitely warmer than most things want to be so early in spring. As much as I hate to have to say it, the daffodils are now officially past their peak. Not to worry though because the tulips have taken over the show. Of course, warm temperatures this week might make some of them a passing  fancy too. But then, that’s what spring is all about. This is definitely the week to take a day off to sit under the cherry trees as they snow, breathe in the heavy scent of winter hazel, listen to the frogs sing, take a photo essay of faded flowers, and celebrate the preciousness of life. Since every day is bloom day from now on, here’s a small sample of passing fancies for a hot and sunny Monday.

To see what else is blooming (and passing by) all over the country and the world, visit May Dreams Gardens.

As we get closer to Daffodil Days here at Blithewold I keep expecting to be asked for a tally of how many are in bloom. I’m ready for it. Today there are 3 daffodils in full bloom in the Bosquet (out of an estimated 50,000). So we’re still a-ways away from peak. But stay tuned.

Two Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas) are open (out of 2 on the property – so we’re talking 100%). They’re lovely.There’s also a fabulous black pussy willow in bloom in one of the nursery beds. My guess is that it’s Salix gracilistyla ‘Melanostachys’ and I’ll do my best to catch it when the anthers appear because I think it will be even more spectacularly weird then.

Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) are starting to show true blue as is this sweet patch of Scilla mischtschenkoana ‘Tubergeniana’ in the Rock Garden.

Also in the Rock Garden one rock cress (Arabis caucasica ‘Variegata’), which is mostly reverted back to plain green from variegation — oops, is starting to bloom. And there are boat loads of skunk cabbage blooming just as they should. As warm as it’s been we’re only left to wonder what the forsythia is waiting for. All in good time I guess. I shouldn’t want to rush it. It’s only mid-March, after all.

What’s blooming in your garden? A lot of early birds? Head over to May Dreams Gardens to see what’s blooming elsewhere — it looks like spring is early all over.

It’s hard not to want pretty things on Valentine’s Day. Or any day for that matter. Especially any day in February. But the sun is climbing higher, the plants in the greenhouse are perking up, and lucky for me, there are blooms and buds galore just in time – and just in time for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens tomorrow.

We are also finalizing our plant orders and that definitely satisfies my deep desire for pretty right now too. I went back through Annie’s Annuals yesterday and couldn’t stop clicking “add to wishlist” just to see all the plants I covet on one page. (Two pages actually. – I’ve been very restrained.)

Speaking of everything on one page, Blithewold has joined Pinterest! I have to admit to being suddenly a little bit obsessed with that site and elected to direct my addiction towards “pinning” pictures of the plants in our gardens. The North, Rock, and Rose Gardens are filling up and I’m going to start a greenhouse board too. I have been dragging my feet about producing spreadsheet plant lists for each garden – now I know why: this is prettier. And more helpful for anyone who doesn’t know plants from their names alone. (I’m still planning to make spreadsheets available for visitors.) You don’t have to be a member of Pinterest to cruise our boards but if you are a member, I’d love to see you on our list of followers.

Are you surrounding yourself with pretty things today too – virtually or for real?

Gardeners are reputed to be an optimistic group but I think we might just be stubborn. Most of us at least are prone to occasional – usually weather related – bouts of pessimism, gloom-and-doom opinion competitions, and worry. But no matter how dire we guess things will be, giving up is never an option. (And doesn’t the garden always surprise us by being beautiful beyond our wildest dreams?)

Never mind that wild temperature swings have caused the marginally hardy trumpet spur flower’s (Rabdosia longituba) pipes to burst. We should have left the stalks standing as protection… and I’m mentally preparing myself to replace the plants if they die. An unusually warm December caused the quince’s (Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Contorta’) flower buds to swell and open just in time to be blasted by an arctic freeze. The buds on Cornus mas are perilously fat too and it looks like the acorn-deprived squirrels have eaten most of the tulips. Will spring still be lovely? (After Tropical Storm Irene blew the color out of the leaves last August, I worried that we’d have a lousy fall. It wasn’t lousy by a long shot.)

In any case there’s absolutely nothing we can do but wait and see and enjoy what we have in the meantime. In honor of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (yesterday) hosted as always by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, here are a few indoor distractions. Who cares what it’s doing outside when the sweet olive is scenting the whole house? Our Brugmansia should have gone into dormancy down cellar ages ago but I won’t deny it or myself one last bloom. If we can’t grow Camellias outside, might as well have them in. And the razzleberry has just pulled ahead of its witch hazel cousin (running fast this year – what if they’ve finished before Valentine’s Day?!) in the race to bloom.

Are you worried about spring or are you distracting yourself with an abundance of blooms inside?