What is in full bloom in your yard now? From 3-15 to 3-31-10

Nice. You go girl! And now to find homes for the remaining 3/4 pieces, right?

Wow Laurie. That's a huge job. I always emerge scratched to pieces after tangling with my one overgrown pampas clump - eight would have me whimpering in the corner. I bet they're going to be so much happier now though.

Kymmco - shussssshhhh, don't tell - I cut them all down first.

Laurie, Wow, what a job! It doesn't matter if you cut them first...that part is the most hazardous! I agree with Kymmco.... if I had 10 pampas division's on my chore list, I would find some reason to go in another direction. Good Job!

It was a lovely day yesterday, and I got quite a bit of additional garden cleanup done, as well as taking time to walk around and look at everything with Mom. I just love this time of year! A few more things can be added to my "full bloom" list this week. My two decorative flowering cherries are at full glory... I will have to see if I can find tags for them today. My pieris japonica "Valley Valentine" is also at it's peak. This is a short pieris, and I really like the size of the plant and color of the blooms, but for some reason I don't think that the flowers are as pretty as the white variety.

As pathetic as it is, I would say that my Edgeworthia (the one blossom that sort of survived) is in full bloom now.

An my forsythia (sorry Laurie) is finally in full bloom. I really do like the color with the green backdrop of my woods. A note on the F_______ though.... when we were driving to EWA last weekend, Mom and I decided that WAY too many people plant them right next to their pink flowering plums and cherries.... Ick....

My wild vellow violets

Anenome Blanda

Pulsatilla 'Papageno' (pasque flower) just popped open.

A young kerria.

And a close-up of the kerria blooms.

Clematis 'Apple Blossom' -- another young plant, just starting to climb.

Thermopsis started a few days ago
Pulsatillas
Centaurea 'Amethyst Dream' - only one of the Centaureas that is blooming...
Scilla
Tulipa tarda

See, now there are two really good yellows: Edgeworthia (love it) and Kerria, excellent. Thank you. (I'm ignoring the Forsthyia).

Bonehead, That pasque flower is glorious! I have one that will be opening in the next couple of weeks, but it is nowhere near as vibrant as yours.

My one very healthy Winter Daphne (Daphne odora 'Marginata' ) is in full bloom right now and it is just fabulous. You can smell it from quite a distance, and it wafts into my bedroom window at night. I have been pruning it a bit and bringing the blooms inside, and it will easily scent an entire room with a tiny boquet. I wish it was easier to get a picture of....

The Muscari is great this year.

My bleading hearts have lots of blooms and very little foliage this year. Strange.

Hi Bea, I think mine have been retarded by the icy freeze we had weeks ago.

My bleeding hearts have started as well, but still have a long way to go to qualify as blooming. They are all very sparce in terms of foilage as well.... I wonder if they need a longer period of cold dormancy earlier in the winter to develop good foilage.

It was still very "brown" in the EWA landscape around the 12th, but something that I HAD to take a picture of was our bleeding heart in the yard. Not blooming by a long shot, but look at that foilage! Boy do I wish ours looked like that!

My bleeding hearts are also in full bloom, and seem to be fully leafed out, although the parent plant to this one is less full (same basic exposure, must have not as good soil or something).

And I can safely claim that the Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) is coming up robustly in all the fields around me. Laurie, is this a good or bad yellow? I think it is quite jolly, pesk that it is.

Hey, I have lots of varieties of Taraxicum - definitely NOT my favorite yellow.

And while the catnip is not in full bloom yet, I'm fairly certain the cat is...

I think the good/bad yellow question is entirely personal. If you like it, then it is a good yellow for you, and conversely. After complaining about the yellow of my Quail daffodils, I am actually enjoying them this year. This could be because I know what to expect this time around and am not disappointed by the surprise of something a bit different than expected. Or it could be because I planted some deep blue Anemone coronaria near them and I like that combination.

I agree. Whenever I find a flower that jars me one way or the other, it usually needs a buddy to offset it or even tone it down a bit. Oriental poppies and crocosmia come to mind, although I also have problems working in some of the softer pinks.

Kinnikinnik in bloom - in my winter planter. I lift out the tubs and replace with annuals during the summer and set the evergreens out on my front porch so they don't get scorched in the sun.

There's some happy Kinnikinnick! My SIL inverts a wire waste paper basket over her catnip and anchors it in the ground. Otherwise the plants are usually gone after a couple of days, squished and eaten.

Hollly - I agree with you completely. Context makes a huge difference.

I quite like the dandelion - and, stamped, agreed about personal choice (except for Forsythia! and grudgingly admit I like Julie's photo, but I am not going to go visit it!) We are so far behind you this year - we are snow drops, no daffodils yet, crocus hasn't even put up leaves, and bleeding heart? well, I'm sure its still there, but goodness knows when it will surface! Weather is warming now, so we should end up with some very interesting combinations which usually only happen at Chelsea flower show (and greeting cards)! Oh, ewwww, allium purple sensation with daffodill and crocus? NoooooooooOOOO.

Deb, I think that you borrowed my cat! My Target looks exactly like your kitty.

Laurie, it's too bad your spring is so late this year. That was ours last year.... combinations that were never intended came to pass, and some of them were not "optimum" to say the least. At least most of the more garish ones in my yard could be attributed to Mother Nature's odd sense of humor and not my planning.....

True, Julie. I will keep telling everyone that - all year, "oh, no, I didn't plan that - its mother nature that did it!"

Full blooming since yesterday.

Weeping cherry popped yesterday also.

The red camellia with the red and white skimmia looks good.

And the white one on the other side.

Bleeding heart is looking better.

and this poor baby is buried in the snowdrop leaves.

Wow - I came back after 10 days and Portland is abloom (is that a word?). Trees are that lovely tender green of new leaves. I have no blooms to report that have not already been documented. I have three Escallonia (sp?) that are not looking very good - I think they got frozen.

Very pretty Willow! I really like the nice green backdrop the golf course gives your garden. It shows off the color and the form of the plants so well.

I have a serious case of magnolia envy for some reason this year. I notice them everywhere, and have been racking my brain in an attempt to figure out a place that I could manage to fit a large tree in my landscape without shading anything.

Did I tell you, Julie, that McLendon's had 4' M. stellata for $39.99 last weekend?

Now you have a better deal at your store than we did at ours! They had a couple of stunning ones at our store (full bloom), but they were in the neighborhood of $70 (of course I looked at the price!).