Bloom Day - March 2023

Despite the persistence of colder-than-usual temperatures, my garden is working hard to get a head start on spring.  Some plants, like the Leucospermums, are noticeably absent on this March Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, but there's still a lot of color to be found.  This month I'm going to start off with the most photogenic subjects in my garden.

Grevillea 'Superb' literally blooms year-round and it routinely appears in my Bloom Day posts but I'm not sure it's ever received the head-line attention it deserves.  As even I gasped when I turned a the corner and saw it this month, I decided it was time.

Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt' was blooming last month but this shot, backed by the blue sky between rainstorms, is particularly striking

Abelia floribunda 'Chiapas', another plant like the Ceanothus that occupies my neglected back slope, is also still blooming this month, and I'm still working at trying to propagate it.  Its scent is stronger than that of my Freesias!

Salvia lutea (aka known as S. africana-lutea) is an attention-grabber.  I picked up the plant at my local botanic garden in 2016 at a spring garden sale (in the days the garden sold plants propagated onsite).  I've never seen it anywhere else.

 

There was one especially big surprise.

I have a LOT of Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' in my garden.  It's a splashy plant, even without flowers.  I've periodically seen tiny buds on it but it's never produced many flowers at one time.  I'm crediting the heavy rain we've had since January with making a difference this year.  The yellow puff-balls are small but profuse.

 

The bulk of my usual cool-season bloomers have arrived right on schedule.  I published a post on the Osteospermums earlier this week but here's a line-up of the rest.

Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' (top) and A. 'Large Marge' are flashing their colors.  A. 'Opera Pink' is playing shy but I expect it'll show up sometime this spring.

The Argyranthemum frutescens are in hyperdrive.  Clockwise from the upper left are: 'Aramis Bicolor', 'Comet Pink'. 'Grandaisy Red', 'Grandaisy Yellow', and 'White Butterfly'.

I inherited the Auranticarpa rhombifolium shown here.  One of our former neighbors told me that the shrubs were originally used all along the front of the the property as a hedge but she indicated that the majority of them were replaced by our current Xylosma congestum hedge when the Auranticarpa began to die off.  A half dozen remain in various corners of the garden.

Two of my Cistus have started blooming in earnest, C. 'Grayswood Pink' on the left and C. x skanbergii on the right

Coleonema album (left) and C. pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' (right) are quickly covering themselves with tiny flowers

I've discovered that Felicia aethiopica 'Tight & Tidy' will bloom year-round if sheared regularly to remove the spent blooms

Grevillea 'Superb' isn't the only member of the genus in bloom at the moment.  Clockwise from the upper left are: G. alpina x rosmarinifolia, G. 'Peaches & Cream', G. sericea, G. lavandulacea 'Penola', and G. 'Scarlet Sprite'.  Only 'Peaches & Cream' blooms year-round like 'Superb'.

Limonium perezii (aka sea lavender) is a dependable perennial that blooms for months.  Its flowers are great in dry arrangements.

Salvia 'Pozo Blue' is a relatively low-growing hybrid of S. clevelandii and S. leucophylla but it's spreading further than I expected - and it roots as the stems extend themselves, which means I may have chosen its placement poorly

 

With the exception of the Dutch Iris and Anemone coronaria, the spring-flowering bulbs are off and running too.

Freesias galore!  The flowers tend to flop if not well-supported and one rainstorm after another isn't helping keep them upright.

I've had spotty luck this year with Hippeastrums (commonly call Amaryllis but actually part of a separate genus).  Clockwise from the left are: H. 'Apple Blossom' (although it's a lot more coral than it should be), H. 'La Paz', and H. Saffron'.

Ipheion uniflorum (aka spring starflower) has spread throughout my garden

The paperwhites are mostly bloomed out but the larger-flowered Narcissi are rolling out, albeit rather slowly.  Clockwise from the left: a noID variety, N. 'Katie Heath', and N. 'Sunny Girlfriend'. 

The bulk of my Sparaxis tricolor (aka harlequin flower) are orange but a few other colors show up here and there

 

A number of succulents are blooming as well.

Succulents in bloom include, clockwise from the upper left: Aloe deltoideodonta, A. striata, Bryophyllum fedtschenkoi, Crassula multicava 'Red', Echeveria agavoides, E. 'Mira', E. 'Lola', and Crassula orbicularis var rosularis

 

I'll close as usual with the best of the rest, organized into color-related collages.

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Lucky', Calliandra haematocephala, Erysimum 'Winter Orchid', Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Lobelia laxiflora, Primula vulgaris, and Ribes viburnifolium

Clockwise from the upper left: Aeonium arboreum, noID yellow and orange Calendula, Euphorbia rigida, Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschein', Gaillardia 'Spintop Copper Sun', Laurus nobilis, and Senna artemisioides

Clockwise from the upper left: Daphne odora, Isopogon anemonifolius, Primula vulgaris, and Pyrethropsis hosmariense.  Many flowers of the latter are being consumed by rabbits even before the buds open.

Clockwise from the left: Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Persicaria capitata

Clockwise from the upper left: Aristea inaequalis, Echium handiense, Lavandula multifida, L. dentata, Polygala fruticosa, Scabiosa columbaria, Viola 'Penny Peach', and Pericallis 'Senetti Violet Bicolor'

 

For more GBBD posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party