Bloom Day - The Cruelest Month

The Wasteland is perhaps T.S. Eliot's most famous poem and it begins with the line "April is the cruelest month,...". While it is probably a crime to even mention his masterwork with the dribble produced here, it is clear that Mr. Eliot lived in another climate and did not work at a garden center. For me, March is the cruelest month. Even though we are only two weeks into it, we have already had school closing snow, gale force winds, temperatures in the teens within days of temperatures above 70, sunny skies, thick overcast, sleet and now it has been raining since last Thursday and it is not forcasted to end until early this week. At work we must make sure we have enough plant material for the warm sunny days when customers come out of the woodwork, but we can't get too much in case the weather changes. We are constantly in an epic struggle to pull plants out of their protected winter homes into the warm sunshine, only to have to move them back in again or cover them with blankets when it all changes, not to mention what to do with the truckloads coming from California, Alabama or Texas. Whether we have good weather or bad, many sales or few, we still must pay for what we bring in.

At least at home, the garden seems to be on a more normal, if not slightly delayed schedule. The cooler temperatures that we have had this winter have kept blooms more in line with what is typical then what they have been in recently previous winters. Certainly the star of the early March garden are the Narcissus - please don't ask me which ones they are, the nurseryman does not keep track, but he loves them nonetheless.


Another signature plant of early March would have to be Forsythia. I do not know exactly which cultivar this is, but it has variegated gold and green foliage and blooms about a week after the others start.

The Lilac Daphne (Daphne genkwa) is one more warm day from being in full bloom. This a much more vigorous Daphne than D. odora, but alas is neither evergreen nor fragrant.

Behind the Daphne in the picture above you can see another vigorous plant, Camellia japonica 'Crimson Candles'. This variety is more cold tolerant, blooms as prolifically C. sasanqua and the new foliage is red.

Camellia japonica 'Les Marbury'

Camellia japonica 'Nuccio's Gem'

I like the blue green foliage and shrub-like form of this Corydalis more than I like the flowers. I do not know with certainty what the species is, but most likely it is C. lutea. Each plant seems to be an annual or maybe a biennial, but I think every single seed is fertile and it comes up everywhere, but is easy enough to pull out.

The last shot is Vinca minor that came with the house (I would not have planted it) next to my favorite groundcover Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Ang Yo'.

Please visit Carol at May Dreams Garden to see what other gardeners are posting for March's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, and while you are there be sure to say thanks for her herculean effort.

Sandy's Plants

Yesterday I was able to attend an open house at Sandy's Plants in Mechanicsville, Va. which is northwest of here just outside of Richmond. While it was cold, rainy, overcast and downright miserable in Tidewater, it was all that plus snowing and sleeting there, not the best day for touring Sandy's. We get a portion of the perennials we sell at work from Sandy's, and though that is not my area of responsibility, I thought it would be fun to go anyway. Friday's are normally a day off for me, and it was probably as good a day to go as any, if the weather had been nice I would have wanted to stay home in the garden.

Sandy's Plants Inc. was founded by a former school teacher oddly enough named Sandy. She had a knack for growing and dividing Creeping Phlox and Candytuft and started selling them. Now they offer close to 2800 different plants which are found in garden centers all over the mid-Atlantic. Most of the plants are grown uncovered outside in the elements perhaps giving them a little extra sturdiness. When you visit they have golf carts available for you use as you search the fields and tour the display gardens, which are not just filled with plants, but with fun sculptures too.

For the open house we were shown a Power Point display of the new plants they are offering for 2009, quite a few of which did not make it into the catalog. We also got to see many of the plants they are growing as part of the Stepable program. These are plants that you can put between stepping stones or in other crevices that can take varying degrees of foot traffic. We have sold these types of plants longer than there has been any kind of special program, and I like our name for them better - Crack Plants, but I am sure with its drug connotations that name would not be as marketable. In addition to being fed well, we each got to take home a couple of plants gratis. I snagged a Rudbekia maximus and a Sedum 'White Diamonds'.

Behind the building where we met was a wooded display garden, and of course at this time of year Hellebores were well represented, but there were other things to enjoy as well.

Below are some of the growing beds.

Here are some of the plants being grown for the Stepable program.

Finally, some of the sculpture.