We got back from the cabin today and I can’t believe how fast things are growing!  Spring is bursting forward and I feel like I’m behind already!

Here are some pictures from the garden and greenhouse today:

The big Pelargoniums are starting to bloom.  The flowers are intricate and quirky, and a welcome change from the heavier flowers in the greenhouse.

This is a first-time blooming Clivia that appears to be pure yellow.  I can’t get at it through the jungle, but I plan to pull it out this weekend and label it, along with labels of the others that are blooming.

I can take no credit for this, but I think this is the most full, gorgeous Clivia umbel I’ve ever grown!  It is fantastic!  I didn’t do anything different–it just happened to turn out this way.    Flowers like these remind me why Clivias are my favorites–well, that and the fact that I have 100+ of them!

This Clivia has the largest flowers of all of my seedlings.  It is the same one I photographed earlier with more pastel-looking flowers.  They are less pastel now, but the light colored centers are more cream than yellow, and their size and substance are unsurpassed.

More Pelargonium papillonaceum flowers.

These are offsets from Miss Clivia, brother Tim’s first plant that introduced us to this genus.  I’m not sure when he got that plant–I think it was from Park’s, maybe 40 years ago!

Above are the Pleione formosana flowers I’ve been waiting for.  Five of them opened while we were away and two additional buds are nearly opened.

The Masdevallias continue to shine in the greenhouse–lots of big, loud flowers!

The biggest surprise in the greenhouse this week–just when I had given up on the Coelogyne cristata, here it is with flowers for the first time in maybe four or five years!  It seems much happier where it is currently in the greenhouse, and there look to be maybe 20 or more flowers coming on!  I can’t wait to see and smell them!

The Camellia bloomed a bit while we were gone, too.  The show is less than spectacular, but the individual buds and blooms make up for it.

Another fuzzy photo, but this is a tree peony bud on the plant that Tim and Cate gave me for my birthday about 20 years ago.

Another bloom.

Another bud and bloom.

Too much sun on this giant flower, but you get the idea how full and huge it is–the leaves below it are Daphne laureola.

The Corylopsis is in full bloom–I think this is Corylopsis spicata.  This large shrub is having to pull the weight for the Forsythia that got cut back hard last year and is barely blooming.

Another view.

Very first Beauty plum flower opening.  I hope there are some pollinators about!

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Sister Cate’s Hellebore, sparkling in the spring sunlight.

Wallflowers planted out last year are budding up again.  I love that you can tell the darker reddish-orange ones from the yellow ones.

Here you can clearly see the yellow–should be open in a week or so, with a little sun on our side.

I keep adding to the front patio “show” with forced bulbs.  The little Narcissus are blooming and I added some Hyacinths that had been in the cold frame way too long today.

Just a few sweet flowers of this Primula poking through the Lamium.  I didn’t realize it was even still there!

These surprise Chionodoxa popped up in the Doug fir bed.  They are gorgeous–I should order more of them.  I suspect they were free with another bulb order.

My Frittialria imperialis lutea is going to bloom again this year–it seems to be getting bigger/stronger over time.

Closer up view of this interesting bulb’s flowers.

Lone Trillium left in the Doug fir bed–going to bloom.  I think these woodland plants prefer moister soil than what this giant conifer allows, but it has hung on for probably ten years.

The Hyacinths pulled from the cold frame a few weeks ago are starting to open.

 

The golden hop in the woodland garden is erupting from the ground!  It is gorgeous and if provided with a bit of guidance, it stays in line.

Epimediums starting to bud up–they’ll be bright yellow flowers in another week or ten days.

Leon bought this grouping at the Flower and Garden show this year–we haven’t decided on a final placement, but he may install them in the pond.

This qualifies as the largest Hyacinth I have ever seen!!!  It was forced in the cold frame and set in the kitchen window while we were away–and here it is!  I had to move it outside–the fragrance was overpowering!