Happy Friday! For those of you in a deep freeze or still covered in snow, I sharing some spring flowers!
Our March was warm and mild but with April’s arrival has been blustery and cold. Another freeze is in the forecast this weekend with temperatures dipping down in the 20s.
Azaleas are in bloom. . .
Dear Mother Nature:
It’s cruel to send a frost with long-awaited buds and blooms on the shrubs and trees.
Our Chinese Snowball Viburnum is starting to fill out with giant snowballs. . .
The only snowballs you want to see in April!
The hydrangea-like blooms start out green, changing over to cream and then white. It’s also ideal to enjoy as a cut flower.
You can see her in full bloom last year for nesting season, here.
We’re going to try to drape her with some sheets to keep her buds and blooms from being frost nipped. . .wish us luck.
And Bridalwreath Spirea is blooming. . .
A low-maintenance shrub with arching branches of double white blooms!
If you have place to plant Bridalwreath Spirea, you won’t be disappointed.
Hope you’re enjoying some sunshine and warming up soon!
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You’re so right – we’ve waited for these buds (our region, still) and blooms (yours), and now Mother Nature is being so cruel. Ugh! This weather is wreaking havoc on not only the garden, but my home improvement repairs to my balcony! And these brutal winds seem to be non-stop for weeks past and to come!
Spring flower envy here for sure!….yes, I have to get the sheets out again and cover the hydrangeas…crossing my fingers that the other flowers survive…however, the deer beat the mother nature to it the other night when they ate my camellias…it is a losing battle here!…Have a great weekend….I must go to the Farmers Market to get a snowball viburnum!!…Yours are spectacular!
Oh WOW!! Yours are so beautiful but alas, my lilac bush doesn’t have blooms yet but does have leaves..freezing today and tonight with snow showers!! WILL IT EVER END??? Thank you for showing us something we can look forward to..(hopefully)!!!! 😍❤️🌺🌼🌷💐
Thank you for the glimpse of Spring. It has been slow to warm up here in Kansas. We have 80 degree days then 40….it confuses and stunts the flowers and shrubs. I love your white hydrangea bush. It has more blooms than any I’ve seen before…what’s your secret? Do you have it planted in an east location? I have some success with them but nothing like yours. Thanks again for sharing all of your beautiful flowers…I love them all.
Hi Kathy, The blooms look like hydrangeas but it’s a Chinese Snowball Virburnum. It’s a low maintenance shrub and I don’t do anything besides prune after it finishes blooming and fertilize it. Southern Living has an article on it here if you want to read about the soil and sun requirements, etc. If you have room to plant one in your garden you’ll be rewarded by beautiful white snowballs!
Thanks for the warmth Mary; your Spring blossoms are just what we all needed to keep us positive for a warmer season! Can’t wait for the blossoms to start here! Have a wonderful weekend ♡
The azaleas and the snowballs are such a beautiful sight, Mary! My daugher gave me a red azalea last year and it’s blooming. I cut a small branch to put in the top of my lady vase that sits by my kitchen sink good luck with covering your shrubs to protect them against Mother Nature!
Happy weekend!
Mother Nature seems to be extra cranky this year Mary, I hope you can protect all those gorgeous blooms! The snowballs are one of my favorite Spring blooms, and yours are stunning. Stay cozy, and hopefully the flowers can with stand this last winter blast.
Jenna
Your gorgeous photos of such lovely blooms stir hope, as I’m watching huge snowflakes floating down outside my french doors. Nature’s irony in full display as I unveiled the snowy-white clusters of delicate cherry blossoms, so lovingly tucked under sheets for the THIRD night in a row. I’m amazed that even as far south as you are, that you are expecting such cold…..here in Chicagoland we are accustomed to donning blizzard gear for our Cubs home opener, and endlessly hauling all but the hardy, little pansies in & out of protection from the roller coaster of warm & freezing cold temps each Spring. My gardener’s heart feels your angst, Mary–I would go to great lengths to protect your precious blooms, so eagerly awaited! Thank you for sharing such beauty.
Mary, where did you find the large bird houses you have on your white posts. I just love them but am unable to find any like yours. Carolyn
Hi Carolyn, The large dovecote is from Lazy Hill Farm, I’ve had it for 15+ years. You can find one similar here. The other came from a local garden center but I don’t remember the manufacturer’s name. If you have a Wild Birds Unlimited store near you, you might find some there or an Ace Hardware store that has an expanded garden and bird section in the spring. :)
Just gorgeous, blooms and water, all you need is chocolate and life can’t get any sweeter :-)
Thank you for sharing your beautiful spring blooms. I hope they survive the frost warning. Your Bridalwreath spireas remind me of my Mom <3. Growing up, our house was surrounded by lilacs and Bridalwreath spirea…..sweet memories.
I need to run out right this minute and buy a viburnum. I had one at my last house and forgot how beautiful they are!!! Hope the cold misses you this weekend!
All of your shrubs are so beautiful. I hope you can protect them from the frost. It would be a shame to lose so much beauty!
GOOD LUCK!! (We’re doing the same…gaaa!) franki
Absolutely gorgeous. It wants to be spring up here in NJ. Flowers are blooming. But we are getting snow tomorrow!
Mary, I feel your pain about this crazy and cold spring we are having. This past Sunday night we knew it was going to get cold but had no idea the temperature was going to get to 18 degrees with a wind chill of 11. My daffodils were laying on the ground (I knew they could stand temps in the 20’s ) so I knew it had got much colder. I checked my Korean Spice Viburnum which was full of buds, they are brown so I know that got hurt. Call for lake effect snow today, had total white outs yesterday. Yes my daffodils did survive the extreme cold.
Oh, I hate that you might lose your azalea blooms! In central Alabama ours are just winding down their blooming season. The cooler spring has extended the season for a full month or more! Here, we can plant the Encore azaleas which bloom 3 times a year. We have horrible clay soil, but I’ve not lost a single Encore that I’ve planted over the last 10 years. I’ve lost several of the regular azaleas, though. Hoping the cold bypasses your beautiful home!
Blessings…
Oh, your flowers are gorgeous! I pray you’re able to cover some and will be without a frost. We’re dipping down to very cold temps tonight. Our weather has been terrible this year, leaving trees and bushes “un-bloomed”. So very sad…
Thanks for sharing Mary! They’re throwing that four letter word around again… snow. Ugh. Enjoy your beautiful blooms, I hope they stay nice for you:@)
Your place is beautiful! We pass that way on our travels between FL and NC – heading up in a few weeks. Hope the cold doesn’t do to much damage this weekend!
Everything is Just Beautiful…I hope you don’t lose those beautiful blooms! We are suppose to have two more nights of this mid 20’s and then I hope we are Springing for warmth from here on out. Just thankful we are not having snow!
Keeping my fingers crossed that the tender buds and shoots are protected under your covers. A late freeze like this is frustrating, but often happens when spring arrives early.
Everything looks so pretty. I want to try a Snowball Viburnum. I’m off to research to see if it will grow here in Austin. It’s lovely!
Happy Weekend!
I always wanted a snowball bush. Our neighbors have a huge one, and it has so many blooms on it right now. Our azaleas are the prettiest this year they’ve ever been. I will be posting a few of ours next week. I love that one you posted covered with smaller hot pink blossoms. LOVE that one!
Gorgeous post. I hope the sheets protect the viburnums. They are so beautiful. I love them. Thanks for the tips on pruning and fertilizing. I shopped for one this week but they were not blooming and didn’t look healthy. They were saved from last year so I’m going to continue to look.
Hope your azaleas won’t be hurt either. A large tarp would work too.I cover my potted plants with a sheet and put a tarp over that under a large tree like bush in my natural area all winter and they stay alive. I have to fertilize and be patient but they come out.
Thank you for sharing Mary ~ they are all so beautiful. March was such a tease, so warm and wonderful and now April is cold, snowy and blustery. Not fun and not nice. In MI we expect March to still be cold, but this one was wonderful and now we are going backwards with April being colder. Ugh! We look forward to our wonderful spring plants and I HATE it when they are in full bloom or almost there and a hard frost comes. It makes me so mad. My garage corner has a stack of sheets just for that purpose! Hope all of your beautiful plants make it. Love the
Dove Cote and bird house as well. I think you do have a little piece of heaven with the water so close by!
We spent a LOT of our day wrapping fig trees in comforters, Putting straw over blooming strawberries & trying to save our blueberry blooms from being frozen! I’m SO ready for true spring!
Beautiful! Love all the color!
Thank you, thank you! I loved seeing all these pictures, I have flower envy! Your viburnum is spectacular! I have always loved bridalwreath too.
Thank you for sharing your lovely blooms. Hope this past weekend didn’t ruin them. I think March and April got mixed up weatherwise.