Pretty Aconites, Rouge! I'm afraid I may not have any March highlights to share. We're late this year, and it might have to wait for April. :-)

Wow! Its hard to belive that you are behind us right now. But dont worry there will be a "Your April 2026 Highlights" thread :).

That really is crazy weather. The kind that I really dread. Ours is a little bit like that so far not to your extreme....we're not getting any 70s or 80F temps which in past years, we usually have a few of the 70s between Jan and April. It's 60s today but no sun and that is as warm as it's gotten. This weekend, the forecast is for 26F overnight both Sat/Sun. I'll have to cover emerging daff foliage and hellebores etc. And only high 40s in the day. But next week looks like mid 50s and overnight no lower then 32F. That is seasonal.

Hope your weather levels out a little Indianagardengirl!

The allotments last week.

Great pictures @indianagardengirl. I can now tell reasonably accurately how far you are ahead of me re. plant bloom chronology by looking at your beautiful spread of "Bloodroot". Historically our bunch is in full bloom right around the middle of April each year. And so you are about 3 weeks ahead.

Love that colour @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK. I have so few tulips anymore as animals have invariably "removed" them over the years.

Beautiful color tulips, Floral! They seem to have a lot of allotments in England, yes? I wish we had more in my area. I could use a sunny one for veggies. Do you find it easy to garden off property?

Indianagirl, we don't have blood root yet either. Our hellebores are just showing a couple of inches of new stems and buds. You have some nice large patches of Hellebores!

These spring flower threads are always so cheerful!

Nothing notable here yet other than the hellebore that is just barely starting to show its blooms. Things typically don't get going here until mid-April or so outside of the hellebore and the crocus. Speaking of crocus, they're always blooming last week of March, but IDK where they are this year. Saw one in the lawn and then another one by the house, but that's it. Maybe the squirrels made a meal out of the corms, who knows.

Porkchop, I planted a ton of different varieties of crocus years ago and the next year they bloomed and that was it. We have both squirrels and chipmunks and someone had a feast! The only place I still have crocus is in a bed of Vinca under a Maple Tree. I don't think they like to walk or dig in that bed. The roots and stems are vigorously intertwined. So I stopped planting crocus. I still get some reseeding here and there, but I plant more daffs which seem to be untouched by any critter or problem.

I've never had much of a problem with crocus MIA before this year. Maybe they finally just happened to discover them. I am going to have to get out there and spray my tulip foliage -- the deer will take those down if they're not sprayed, one clump in particular is right on the side of "their" path, I have to spray everything on that perimeter.

porkchop - Deer or rabbits....they thrive through winter feasting on gardens!

I took a few photos but it's a grey day out there. And I only have the one daffodil that is right up against the foundation, that is blooming and snow drops....

This is an established bed of snowdrops

This one I just planted last fall.

A few snowdrops in a planting of daffodils with a new small crabapple tree in the hardware cloth cage...

Have not cleaned up the dead foliage yet....but here's the Hellebore just showing up in time for 26F temps tonight...

Nothing blooming yet. just perrennials emerging (like 3-4 weeks early which is concerning). Perennials coming up include, purple clematis, hagley hybrid clematis ( new last year), bee balm, all my peonies, tall phlox, all delphi ium including two I planted last year, asiatic lily, salvia, hostas, rhubarb, two mums, veronica, bergenia, brunera, lamium, sedums, shasta daisy, black eye susan, dalily, iris, bleeding heart (however one died???!) lupine..sort of, coral bells sort of.

no sign of liatris or ostrich fern (planted last year), Japanese painted fern (planted last year). i will be sad if those don’t come back

"Do you find it easy to garden off property?"

My home garden is really tiny so the allotment gives me a lot more space. It's only a few minutes walk from home and I have a storage box there for all my tools. Most allotment sites allow sheds but mine doesn't. I've had it for over thirty years. As long as I keep paying the rent and keep it cultivated it's mine.

LClark....photos? You are zone 4 and those perennials are already starting? Wow, I'm z 6 and all I've seen so far is a cranebill and a Chrysanthemum starting. Have you been having a lot of heat?

Floral, see...that's the thing, you can WALK to your allotment! I LOVE that. I would do that if I could. We have a space in the town I live in. I tried out an allotment there and it was a short drive from home, but manageable, but....I couldn't garden there at all. It was right up to the base of evergreen trees, and it was so compacted, I just couldn't accept the amount of work it would be to try to improve it. I could barely get a pitch fork in it. And I wasn't about to build raised beds. Other towns offer much better spaces but you have to live in the town and they would be more than a half hour drive away. So I ditched that idea.

I'm happy for you that you have had it all those years and are able to supplement your small property. It really worked out for you!

Yes. Record warm amd dry, in fact. I’ll snap some pics

Record warm amd dry,

Doesnt bode well for mid west farmers this growing season :(

Our anyone in the west. It’s dire

I’m really sad to read about the extreme weather conditions. My BF is a weather-watcher and recently told me to be prepared for a really hot summer. sigh.

Everyone’s photos are gorgeous! I can’t wait for some warm weather here. We’re way behind on temps and the robins haven’t even shown up here yet!

My March highlights were the snowdrops I posted elsewhere, and the snow crocus coming up! Notice the bee! Plus, I have the cutest garden helper in the world. :0)

@party_music50, I always view our felines as the prettiest anywhere but I reluctantly admit that your "garden helper" is indeed the "cutest :).

I just have a few things poking up:

Hellebores

Allium

Whoops a Dasiey

Dicentra Spectabilis

debra

Rouge21, she follows me everywhere outdoors and helps with everything I’m trying to do. :)

PartyMusic - Your cat has beautiful coloring! We had a dog that followed me around while I was gardening and when I moved she would come over and plant herself right next to me. Our current dog that is about the size of your cat [g], would rather wander around exploring and sniffing everything and looking into the neighbor’s yard. I’m just grateful that she is not a digger. Her breed usually is.

Debra, you seem to be about in line with our garden development right now. I haven’t seen Dicentra but there is a lot of leaf cover so it’s probably there. Yours are red, does that mean it’s the pink variety? I have one that comes up green and that is a white. My aquilegia is at the same level of growth of yours…and the Hellebore, which I need to get out and take off the dead foliage.

Garden headliners so far are Veronica 'Georgia Blue' and hellebores.

https://open.substack.com/pub/rustyblackhaw/p/and-so-it-begins?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Azalea

Sedum emerging

Daffs brought indoors (from February)

Azaleas in the back

Narcissus Falconet, Anemone blanda & Rhododendron Gletschernacht. I tried to render the color of Gletschernacht accurately but my phone camera refused - it's less red and more blue, in reality....sigh.

Wow, zones 7 and 8 are looking great! Nice to finally be entering the growing season!

Art, is that 'Falconet' multiple flowers on that one erect stem? Nice full bloom in your Azaleas.

Rusty, I have that GB Veronica...I do enjoy that shade of blue. Mine seems to be petering out. I'm thinking of replanting in another location. How are yours doing?

Immorality iris

Unknown purple clematis

hagley hybrid clem. need to get a trellis

Over wintered snap dragons. wtf?!

Mum

Asiatic lily

Skylark (or something) delphinium. double light blue/white blossoms

Autumn fire sedum

Tall purple phlox

Bee balm

Old fashioned dicentra. I have a few of these

Jack frost brunerra. i have a few of these

Lamium.. is that what this is called? Forgot

Bergenia patch. I need to eradivate the ugly tulips

Black knight delphinium. it lived LFG!

It lives!

Lupine. Why does it look terribly! I can’t get these to thrive

Very Van Gogh Veronica

Rhubarb

Hosta blue angel.

I am starting to love hosta soooooo much. I have six or seven and if anything dies it‘s getting replaced by a hosta.

Liatris also lives

Photos from yesterday when I spent hours outdoors in the gardens and it felt so good! I started pruning the apple trees, cleaned up most of the tall phlox, cut back some of the grapevines and native clematis, etc. etc. More crocus and snowdrops are appearing. Today we got thunderstorms and lots of rain. More rain coming…. and I saw my first robins this morning!

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA

Yes Falconet has clustered flowers. brentanbeckysbulbs.com says 3-5 per stem, but one of my stems has six, and this only is the first year.

Almost all other Narcissus are finished or way past peak here in Portland. I have one more that has not yet bloomed and will be my last - it is called 'Hillstar' https://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/product/hillstar/

Camellias have been going nuts here for many weeks but I don't have any spring blooming types in my garden. The early cherries have been spectacular, and are now giving way to the later ones, which have bronze new foliage mixed with pink or white flowers....not a fan. And the magnolias!

Hellebore The Joker is amazing in the number of blooms and for the upward facing blooms

A couple other hellebores… I don’t remember their names.

Virginia Bluebells and Epimedium

Azaleas and viburnum

Art, I love Camellias and tried to grow one of the April series that’s supposed to be hardy to z6 where I am, but, it didn’t make it through the first season and that was the end of that.

I am going to have to try Falconet. Looks like a good one!

Markay - Hellebores are one of my favorites! Very pretty patches you have. And I had a lot of Epimedium until a few years back the rabbits decided they liked them. *sigh* I still have a few. Another of my favorites. Virginia Bluebells - I planted those about 20 years ago and I still have the original and it never spread at all.

Artist - Very full bloom you have on your azaleas. I did not realize that is what it was, I was looking at….lol. I see the Viburnum in the background, which variety is that? I love it!

Prairiemoon,

The Viburnum is my neighbors' so I'm not sure about the variety but it is always an explosive bloomer. :)

I love that Viburnum and I'll have to look for it locally. I'm thinking it might be a snowball one.

Prairiemoon, my dicentra has a pink and white flower, heart shaped of course.

debra

We had a big freeze (18f) and the big loser was bleeding heart. Everything else came through well. Thought bleeding heart would fare better. disappointing.