March in the Garden

The garden really began unfurling last month and I was rewarded with some wonderful blooms, especially in my native bed in the edible garden, such as this columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).

I’m really enjoying this Helenium brevifolium in the bog garden!

Adding in coastal germander (Teucrium cubense) several years ago has been great and it has reseeded itself in several areas in the garden.

We think this is a hitchhiker Spiranthes vernalis in the bog garden.

The fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) was magnificent for several weeks up near the street and I wish I could bottle up its blooms to drag out in August!

I almost missed all of the irises down on the pond because I had been focused on other areas in the yard but I made the trip down there to see the Iris virginica blooming. We have several other Louisiana iris cultivars down there as well that I should share.

The maligned but very pollinator friendly bristle thistle (Cirsium horridulum). We have a steadfast plant up under the fence near our right of way!

A very interesting pitcher plant hybrid flower, Sarracenia x [Savannah Fire x Cinnamon Tube]. Chris has been the one to buy and make trades with other bog garden enthusiasts and he’s got some interesting cultivars of our native pitcher plant species in the garden.

I have no idea how this will end up doing but someone sent me seeds of Nyssa ogeche, a tupleo species native to north Florida and southeast Georgia, and one of them finally germinated! We’ll see if I can keep it alive! I need to repot it when it gets a little larger but I’m also waiting for the other seeds to hopefully germinate. We have two kiddie pools in the garden that Chris is primarily using to grow out bog plants but I threw these pots in there with the rest to see if I could get them to germinate.

And finally, the glorious Texas ragwort (Senecio ampullaceus), which we have a large patch of in our front yard at the moment. It’s a highlight of every spring now!