What would you say is in "full bloom" in your yard right now

Pixy, no, the violets do not have a fragrance. Julie and I checked after your first post about yours. Are yours as prolific as the two varieties we have? Maybe we could beg a start, if so.

I'm thinking that the F are much more attractive to us all if they are left to keep their own form. Any that I have seen that have been pruned to a shape or a hedge also look awful to me.

Pixy, don't know what I did right about the cymbidiums. They had been in the same pot for a lot of years. Last year I let them sit outside of my greenhouses in a fairly sunny spot and this winter (or was it fall?) I repotted them. Lets see if I can kind of remember. I put that kind of grass on the bottom (dry brown, for orchids. (I'm having a senior moment)) then my own compost mixed with sand and added a dose of Osomocote in the middle somewhere. Don't know what did the trick, but two out of the three rewarded me with flowers. I have yet to see the other one open, maybe in a week or two..

Had to protect my Mexican Orange shrubs last night with the frost we expected. Hope it worked since they all have buds on them and I really want their flowers this year. Last year I lost their blooms and missed their fragrance.
Sharon, I will gladly share violets with you and Julie. No need to go begging! I have plenty to share.

I keep waiting for someone to claim and/or identify the salmony flowered bush in full bloom all around me (but not in my garden). No clue what it is, but it looks very nice next to forsythia (kind of balances the colors). Seems to be another one people tend to prune into submission, although the ones left on their own look best to me.

Is it a flowering quince?

Maury - I don't think so, although I've not gotten close to one. My quince has much more of an orangy hue to it -- could well be a different cultivar though. I've also never seen a quince so tortured, but again, that could just be how folks decide to try to contain a plant. Mine is spread all over a hillside...but indeed is in bloom now, so perhaps that's it. I'll have to stop and give one a closer look I guess.

Julie, thanks for the tip about Gossler. I just missed a lecture by him about magnolias this Sunday, too, darn it! (I thought it was next week.)

Love that pink double hellebore!

BH, did you post a picture of it? Quince would have been my first guess for a "salmony bush", but if you have another then that seems to be out. I'm curious.

ACKKK!!! I hate to see clipped F in hedges. They hardly have any color, just branches and jsut look awful!!! Let them get to their natural shape.

I'll have to see if my Bleeding H are peeking through. I broke down and ordered some tulips last fall and will try to protect them from marauding critters.

Jack Frost is blooming. I tried to post a photo but it is taking so long that I gave up. Something is amiss.

Jan, I love to see the tips of Bleeding Heart and Solomon Seal when they first come out. Hope you find those tulips.

My Brunnera's have been blooming as well. Thanks for mentioning that, Judi - I keep forgetting to post. Now if I can just keep the dogs from eating them.

I think they're still tweaking the server. If you go to the Dave's Garden forum, there's at least one thread tracking the server conversion issues.

Well I'm glad it isn't my computer!

I have a tiny little bleeding heart that my daughter gave me last year. It is so little and it has a few little blossoms. So cute - I hope it gets bigger soon!

I have trouble remembering the proper plant names - so now I won't forget Jack Frost = Brunnera. So many things to remember!

LOL, Judi. I think it's really just a matter of how your brain works. Long terms (like Leycesteria formosa or Hamamelis virginiana) kind of echo in my head like song lyrics (which also echo in my head constantly).

If you like Daphnes, 'Eternal Fragrance' smells wonderful. I bought it last week & kept it inside because of the low temps - didn't want to lose buds. Now blooming like crazy & the smell is intoxicating. Hardy to -15° F, and semi-evergreen. My Odoras have taken a beating the past few winters, so I'm looking for some replacements in case they pass.

I'm so tired of some of my shrubs looking like something the cat dragged in. The Daphne odoras, the Edworthia chrysantha, the Mexican Orange (like how I mix up those names just to keep you on your toes?). They all look like they have been rode hard and put away wet. AND if I lose my yellow magnolia this year, I am finished trying with these.

My yellow magnolia looks to be in good shape - this will be it's 2nd year.
I lost my other one - I think its roots were in the path of an undergound spring. My Oxydendron croaked too - same pathway.
Edgeworthia will get moved. I don't think it's sheltered enough where it is now. Must move the Evergreen Clematis too. Come to think of it, I've seen many things that need to change residence.

I have so many things that just don't see the light of day until late in the spring, and then they get blasted with sun. So they live in shade and cold, then they get almost full sun. I guess it's hard to withstand that. I'm considering moving the edgeworthia. It's on the north side of the house, by the front door. But I think I'm going to leave it another year. It is growing and as it gets taller it gets a bit more light. I know it can grow in the shade, but my shade is generally a little darker than most plants like. It would likely do better out back where it gets more light in the winter. I did get two blooms from it this year. One more year...
I had two golden Mexican oranges out front. I found last night that the dogs have broken off one of them. Now I have one.

I had a well-shaped 2.5' high variegated Diervilla that has been reduced to a single trunk dwarf, courtesy of Lab-that-knows-no-barriers-exist-in-life.

Isn't it fun to garden with critters. Tame and wild. My garden is over 20 years now and has some empty spaces I'm reluctant to fill. What is there comes through every year now. The changes I'm going to make are....taking the hostas into the courtyard, and moving some coneflowers into a sunnier place or giving up on those too.

Rarejem: Just a thought -- it may make sense to start this thread anew each week titled, for example, "Second week in March." Seems it would make your job a bit easier, and keep the threads shorter. I don't know how Pony does it when she starts a new "Apropos" thread and redirects from the previous one. Seems to be a handy thing.

Meanwhile, I've got Indian plum, pussywillow, vinca minor, 'King Alfred' daffs, 'December Red' heather (obviously not living up to its name) all going strong. Forsythia and lungwort still in full bloom as well. In the wild, there are smallish white flowered trees here and there - perhaps serviceberry or wild cherry? None are on my property, mostly tucked back from the road shoulders.

It's Indian plum that is blooming white along the roadsides here. Has little orange fruits later. I have Skimma japonica in full bloom, vinca, Pieris japonica. Pictures will have to wait until later.

BH, I'm guessing that you're seeing serviceberry (Amelanchier). Pacific crabapple (Malus) bloom later in the spring.

And the crazy thing is that it's not even spring yet!

It's not a bloom, but take a gander at the huge leaves on my Himalayan lilies! (Cardiocrinum giganteum)

And this Hellebore did not bloom last year. It's part of the Allegra's rainbow series that I got from Heidi when she was giving away a ton of plants that were almost dead.

I love the angle on that Hellebore picture - looks like plants from the Little Shop of Horrors might just eat your house! Enjoying all the pictures, so nice to look at on these gray rainy days. My first tulip bloomed this morning - Purissima, a lovely white.

Katye, I bought "Eternal Fragrance" last year bare root, and it is going to bloom like crazy for a little kid this year. After reading your post, I can't wait to sniff it! Don't you hate the "pruning by canine"? I have been going through it a bit this year myself....

Pixy, your hellebore is very nice! I really love the burgandy/greenish combos. Is the little yellow next to it a primula?

Bonehead, Your idea of a new thread is a good one. We are making a trip to our EWA house tonight where we have no puter access, and today is going to be a zoo at work, so it will have to wait until I get home, but I will start a new thread to encompass the second half of March. I think that I will keep it to 1st half/2nd half of the month intervals so that people can catch up if they want to. I know how easy it is to fall a week behind!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Yes, It's P. florindae, otherwise known as Cowslips.

Here a picture of the skimmia female

Her mate.

And a close-up.

Willow, those are lovely pics. Do you get a strong fragrance? I initially planted mine for that reason, but have never noticed any particularly strong smell.

Those Skimmia look really healthy, not a spot on the leaves. I've never seen a close up of the flower. It is quite lovely.

OMG, I didn't even notice P. florindae in your picture, Melissa. Mine is still just leaves - maybe I'll move it to a sunnier spot for a bit. This is it's second year here - I'm so looking forward to the scent.

Is Skimmia fragrant? I have one of each gender and just love it. My neighbor has a stand under a cedar tree. It gets absolutely no attention and it always looks great.

When I initially bought my skimmia, the nursery man recommended it as a nice evergreen fragrant shrub. I got a male and female and planted them next to my front porch steps. They are a nice evergreen shrub, but I've never noticed an overwhelming fragrance, which has been mildly disappointing. I wonder if perhaps I just don't detect certain scents, though, as I have a couple other plants (sarcococca and asphodeline) which are supposed to be fragrant and I just can't smell them. I've tried morning, evening, high noon, sunny, overcast, after rain...nothing.

LOL, BH. That's how I feel about my Hamamelis. No scent. I buy a new one every year in the hopes that this next one will have a fragrance (well, not really, I just get new ones because I have an addiction problem).

In full bloom:
Mahonia aquifolium, the taller native variety.
Ribes sanguineum, also native, I'll try to get a picture this afternoon

No scent that I've noticed. The scent of flowers make my head spin so I dont stick my face in them.
A picture of my tall mahonia.

Bleeding heart is showing a lot of color.

These pretty little bulbs are all over the place. Never know where they will come up

The white camelia alway opens up facing the warmer wall.

A clump of hyacinth