Inspired by our discussion of the daft review of Enchanted April's 'unrealistic' gardens in Italy, and knowing what you sistren in the snowy, cold north are going through now, I thought I'd do a quick synopsis of the Late Winter-Spring blooming season here in the sunny South/Southwest.
Here's a synopsis of the bloom-cycle. Basically, here in Central Texas, the chief gardening months are Spring and Fall (in spring earlier than you might be used to, and in fall later than you might be used to). Summer to early Fall (I'd say July through the end of September) are the dead zone---it's too hot, and often too dry for plants to really thrive, and some kinda go dormant; that's also the time in which one must battle locusts and things). This year, due to the heavy rains this Spring, and a relatively mild summer (ie. only a couple weeks of 100 degree temps), we had a really good bloom-year, and my efforts to cultivate bird and insect-friendly gardening were coming to fruition. The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds were out in force, and the locusts were either minimal, or kept happy by grass that didn't die back completely this summer, leaving only the watered beds for them to devour! We actually only had a hard freeze this last week, when it went into the mid 20's. A couple of my tropical plants, like Esperanza were a little singed by some 30's earlier in December, but then we had a warm interval. Now that plant, and a couple others like Gerbera daisies, Mexican heather, and mini zinnias have completely died back, but from my experience they will come back in the Spring. Everything in my greenhouse, including a few hibiscus seem to have survived our cold snap (helped along by the Christmas lights I strung around in there to contribute a little more heat), and I may not even have to bring them in after I put away the Christmas tree and make more space. We'll see. It's supposed to be in the 70's during the day and 50's at night by the weekend, and while we are likely to have more freezing temps in January and February, the cold is generally not monolithic. Hell, typically I'll have buds and even blooms in my garden beds in late January if it's been mild, and certainly February (I'll probably even get a chance to plant some spring bulbs that I ran out of time to plant before the holidays). Based on the last two seasons, here's an example of what is blooming month to month in Spring:
February--reliably early spring blooms:
daffodils, crocus, quince, the plum tree, even things you might expect later like dianthus & amaryllis ( pic from Feb. '06):
March--more good stuff! Hyacinths, Irises and Columbines, species tulips and anemones;
daffodils and amarylli continue. Roses will even start going gang-busters this month as well as the Salvia Greggii, clematis and
crossvine. I KNOW!!!! daffodils and roses,
tulips and salvia AT THE SAME TIME!!! Omigod--it must be an alternate universe!!!
April--This is the peak of wildflower season--it starts with bluebonnets and ends with Indian
Blankets and Coreopsis. I was so busy running around taking pictures of these, that I find I did not do a big blog post on them, so here's a sampling. In a small town not far from here we pulled over to take pictures in an old graveyard that had been transformed into a field of bluebonnets. Joining these were yellow primroses and Indian Paintbrush
Later that month we ventured to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower center for their Spring plant sale and added wine-cups, phlox, fleabane and lots of others to the mix. Feast on this wildflower meadow:
Oh, and the wisteria was also in bloom--check out this Tuscany-esque pergola:
In my own garden, the abundance continued apace, really just more of the same, but lots more of it:
Amarylli peaked (which if I recall would only be getting started in late May to June Up North), and just the sort of inter-seasonal inter-mingling that that daft reviewer thought so unlikely--like
Irises and Roses. I also took pictures of
cacti blooming in a town a few hours west of here, and my succulent kalanchoe, which was on the porch at this time was in full bloom. I'm sure that would blow her little mind and start a new chorus of "Garden fraud!"
By
May we were in the full flush of what Northern gardeners would only experience in high summer--alliums, daylilies, coneflowers, gerberas, gailliardia, zinnias, lantana, yucca; mums were starting their first bloom cycle (to be repeated later in the fall). And of course--that fabulous cactus I inherited from my mother-in-law:
So there you go--Spring gardening in Zone 8, which includes things that would not get going until June, July, even August in my Zone 6 garden--and many things blooming all at once in a hedonistic rush of fecundity (see, P'nut--I'm borrowing your vocabulary). If it's like this in Zone 8--imagine what it's like in Zone 9??!!
I'll post later about what was happening in my garden right up to the current freeze...
I was surprised to see this azalea blooming! I think it's a "Hinode Giri". If it continues to burst into bloom I might have to bring it inside to enjoy. That's the drawback of having things in a greenhouse in the back corner of your yard--you can miss something or not see much of it---and if they are not dormant now, but blooming, they probably won't be blooming later in the spring---at least the azaleas...
Enjoy!!!
