First blooms of 2011

Hi, it was such a beautiful morning I had to go outside and look at my gardens. My Hellebores are blooming! Look at this pic!

Here is a closeup of that flower.

The pink bloomers seem to be running behind the whites, here is on still in bud.

Wow, it's so exciting to see spring gearing up!
Unfortunately, we're digging out from snow and ice, so I'm even more jealous!
Thanks for showing us that spring is coming, regardless of the current blizzard nonsense!

It will be awhile before we see anything here. Galanthus were starting before we got 16 inches of snow

Ah - it's spring somewhere if not here. Light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel for you! I grew up in Kansas City, MO. In 1979, I remember 2 blizzards, within weeks of each other. I helped shovel and push a lot of cars in the snow that year. It looks like this next batch may go to the south of us. Last Tuesday went to the north. I did get stuck in Atlanta in January visiting my mother. I was helping out at my cousin by shoveling the ice and snow off of her driveway, when I slipped and fell on my keester. It still hurts after 4 weeks!

Must be nice!!! Still snow covered here

We, the denizens of zone 6 and above, are now officially jealous. It'll be a couple of months before I see a hellebore bloom. :)

As I am writing this I am watching our latest round of snow melt. Last night it was 12 degrees here. Next week we are supposed to hit high 60's. I hope when this happens the pink hellebores will finally open.

We're also in zone 7a and my hellebores don't bloom until April.

I think I'll be satisfied (for now) if the snow all melted next week. Close to 40 by Sunday!

I will probably have daffodils in bloom by the end of this month. Next week I have to start planting peas and other cold hardy veggies.

Hellebores everywhere...

Nice hellebores, Reminds me to look for my snow drops..

Mine are getting there...not open yet

Grrrr. Zone envy! My hellebores would have to fight out from under several inches of snow first. *sigh*

Pretty bloom, Weerobin...and a teaser of a bud, flowAjen. :)

I saw my Snowdrops yesterday. Barely above the snow.

Too dark for photos now but the snow is gone and the snowdrops are pretty. If it stops raining I'll get a pix.

Even though highs are in the 40's, spring is definitely on the way!
I took a stroll through my yard to see what is happening. And a lot is happening!
Here is trillium underwood.

This is adonis amurensis. Early spring bloomer.

Snowdrops all over the place.

Cornus mas just getting ready to pop.

One lonely forsythia flower...

Finally, a double-flowering hepatica is about to open.
Any minute now!

Helleborus only thing in bloom here but Trillium are close

wonder where the images went ?

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 6:00 PM

don't know what happened to image ?

Stever love the one, top right, do you know which variety?

Finally snowdrops opened

it is Splashdown
don't remember where i got it

thanks

Just Snow dropa here. The latest 6 inches of snow will be going soon.
March "in like a lion out like a lamb" I hope.

Weerobin- I thought we were friends and then you post photos of all those spring beauties!

Robin
how old is your T.underwoodii ?
here are some of my Tkurabayashii & ovatum

and just for you Robin
this is an image this morning of Podophyllum delavayi coming up

Thanks, Strever.
My podophyllum verspeille is coming up, but no sign of Kaleidoscope yet.
My trillium underwood is at least 3yrs old, but still just a single stem.
It has looked healthy each year, but I'd feel better if it showed some sign of forming a colony.

And Pirl, take a look at this! A stone with what looks like a healthy colonization of moss.
Maybe my blender/yogurt experiment wasn't a bust after all!

Hurray! It looks great - nice and fluffy!

Robin
you can propagate trillium by a process called rhizome wounding.
i think it was Tony Advent who described this on one of the Trillium forums
it is a fast and reliable way to propagate trillium,
it involves cutting a shallow V-shaped groove in the upper length of the trillium rhizome
(the thick root-like structure growing below the soil).
gently remove the soil from the top of the rhizome, then the groove can be cut without disturbing the rest of the plant.
use a VERY sharp knife/razor etc.
Dust the groove with a fungicide, and cover back up with the removed soil.
A full year later, uncover the rhizome again and you should see bulblets have formed along the wound/wounds.
Carefully remove the bulblets, replant and water thoroughly, and you should have blooming-size plants in one to two years.

What time of year - I presume when dormant?
I've got a million volunteer trillium erectum...
- maybe I'll try it with a few of them before risking it with one of my more exotic species.
I can just picture myself decapitating a treasure!

late Summer early fall after the bloom is gone and the seed has been dispersed
the plant is getting ready to go into what we think of as dormancy, because the plant looses it's leaves
BUT it is only above ground
underground Trillium continue to grow thru out the winter
and we are forcing it to build the bulblets to heal the cuts