Happy Thursday!
Spring is 32 days away and I’m counting down the days, ready to step into spring!
I’m dreaming of an early spring and gardening season so I’m reaching
into the archives to pick some garden blooms and flowers to share today!
Click on the highlighted links if you’d like to revisit a post or more flower therapy.
Flower Market Buckets and Blooms Around the Potting Shed
Spring snowballs are a good thing if you’re talking flowers!
If you have room in your landscape for a viburnum shrub I highly recommended planting one!
The flowers start out green and turn a snowy white and make beautiful cut flowers.
Snowball Viburnum tolerates a range of soils, but performs best in moist, well-drained, acidic soil.
Plant in full sun to partial shade in USDA zones 6-9.
You can read more: Fast Growing and Low Maintenance White Spring Blooms Your Garden Needs
Spring Snowballs and Bird Chirping Table
Spring in Bloom
Azaleas, Spirea, Viburnum and Lady Banks Roses in bloom
Fresh Flower Market: Spring Blooms in the Potting Shed
Ball jar bouquets of hyacinths, tulips and iris provide spring blooms
along with vintage transferware for tabletop gardening in the Potting Shed.
Create a Wildlife Habitat in Your Backyard
Certify your garden as a Wildlife Habitat to attract birds, butterflies, and other neighborhood wildlife.
It’s fun, makes a positive difference and easier than you might think!
Limelight Hydrangeas bloom around mid July in our zone 7b garden,
when everything else is in the garden is tired and spent.
Plant a Limelight Hydrangea. . .or Five
I highly recommend planting this easy-to-grow, low maintenance shrub in your garden
this spring. It will provide you with both beautiful fresh-cut and dried flowers too!
Peonies like the cold winters in USDA zones 3 through 7.
‘Sarah Bernhardt’ Peony is a favorite variety with big,
pink fragrant double blooms that resemble old-fashioned roses.
Pretty in Pink Peonies and Ball Jar Bouquets
Peony blooms are so fleeting, you have to enjoy the beauty and sweet fragrance while you can!
For new gardeners, a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers
can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location.
If you don’t know your zone, you can look it up by zipcode, HERE.
May to June is when our Endless Summer Hydrangeas, Buddleia (butterfly bush),
clematis and roses are flush with blooms in our zone 7b garden.
Spring Flowers Around the Potting Shed
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the most common butterfly we see fluttering around the garden.
This is a female swallowtail, denoted by the large area of blue area on the hind wings,
alight on a Soda Pop Butterfly Bush, a dwarf variety Buddleia.
Clematis ‘Bernadine’ is a rebloomer variety with lavender-blue petals and magenta stamens.
It’s happy with 4 – 6 hours of sun and hardy in zones 4 – 9 and is bee and butterfly friendly!
Earth Angel Rose is a fragrant old-fashioned rose and with blooms varying in color from white to soft pink.
It’s hardy in zones 5 – 9 and takes several bloom cycles to produce peony-shaped flowers.
If you want a plant that attracts pollinators, self-sows and that tolerates the heat,
plant Verbena Lollipop! It grows in zones 6 – 10 and prefers full sun in well-drained soil.
We had several new clumps of Lollipop that volunteered last spring,
seeded from the previous year’s plants.
I’m a firm *bee*liever in not being too hasty when it comes to pulling your ‘weeds’
in case you can identify them after a little growth as a flower. . .
or that’s my excuse anyway. ‘-) 🌱🌸
We’ve had a mild winter overall, albeit a very wet and dreary one.
Trees and shrubs are budding with temperatures in the 50s and 60s.
Our frost date is April 15th and I’m keeping my fingers crossed
everything doesn’t get frost-nipped between now and then!
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.”
– Luther Burbank
“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
– Hal Borland
🐝🌷🌼🦋🏡
Thank you for your visit!
Sharing with: Metamorphosis Monday
I too am wishing away my winter! I do have crocuses & daffodils up but not blooming yet! Getting close!! 🌻🌺🌸🌼🌹💐🌷
You are talking straight to my soul, every pic and idea magically enchanting! I have snowballs and every year a huge disappointment, same with hydrangeas, our heat and drought for years destroyed their will to thrive, I so love looking at your lush success! Gearing up for spring too, roses pruned and weeding iris beds, counting down myself!
You’ve created such a fantastic gardening journal over the years through your hard work, Mary, and it’s beautiful. I have my work cut out for me again this year with challenges remaining from the overhaul of when we moved here in late 2021. These spring days are so teasing, and I do think it’s going to be an early spring. Signs are all around. I’m belaboring a choice for a specimen tree to replace my dead Hinoki cypress.😭I don’t know what I want and I can’t can’t find anything that really makes my heart jump. All I know is I don’t want to rakes leaves (must be evergreen), and I’m not even sure if that will be a tree, or perhaps a small cluster of tall shrubbery. Your garden provides lots of inspiration once I get the underpinning decided!
Thank you Rita! I had to google ‘Hinoki Cypress’. It’s so disheartening when you lose a shrub or tree, especially one that’s a focal point in your landscape. I feel certain you’ll find just the right replacement though. :) I know what you mean about leaves. It takes us months to get them up at the stages they fall and then others blow over from a natural wooded area nearby. Happy Weekend to you. ♥
Needed this…and, reassurance…hope…franki
Beautiful landscaping Mary! Your hard work creates a gorgeous array of color that we all enjoy. I love seeing the birds, bees, and butterflies flitting about. Your landscaping should win awards as it’s magnificent! We’re getting some early buds and the daffodils are blooming as are the forsythia bushes. We’ve been under a tornado watch all night since the temps are in the 70’s! Enjoy your day. Clara ❤️
Thank you Clara, you’re too kind… {*blush*} I hope you’re safe and sound from the storms that blew through. The line of storms was west of us so we just had some blustery winds. Thank you for you visits and comments, Happy Weekend. ♥
Mary, this is just what I needed on this cold and dreary day. Each photograph was a feast for the eyes. You have created such a beautiful outdoor space with so many breathtaking blooms. I have been trying to do the same thing since we moved into our home 3 years ago. However, the resident deer have different ideas. Also, we had an early cold snap, and I’m worried that I may have lost many of my plants. I will just have to wait and see. Thanks so much for sharing your garden journal with us! Happy Thursday!
Thank you Shannon! We’re fortunate not to have to deal with the deer, they can wreak havoc on your landscape and they are especially fond of hydrangeas. I always hold my breath when we have warm weather this early. Last year the Lady Banks and Spirea were all frost-nipped. Happy Weekend ♥
So much beauty in one post! Oh to be able to grow those gorgeous hydrangeas, I’m blue with envy! :) Thank you for sharing your garden love and blooms this morning.
🌸💐🌺🐝🦋❤️
Thank you for your sweet comment and visit Allison, Happy Weekend ♥
Mary, I too am dreaming of an early spring, so much is already budding and blooming here. I needed your beautiful images because our weather is gloomy with predicted tornadoes later today. Your garden is always amazing. I am going to try to find a Verbena Lollipop since I have been admiring yours for a few years. Thanks for sharing your gorgeous blooms and love of gardening! Happy Thursday ♥️
Thank you Pam, I hope you were unscathed by the storms that blew through. We’re dipping down in the 20’s tonight like you are. I think you’ll like Verbena Lollipop if you plant in a naturalized area where it can do its thing as the stems can be unwieldy. The butterflies, bees and birds love it when it goes to seed. Happy Weekend. ♥
I have Spring Fever too Mary, it has been such a wet, cold and dreary winter mostly. Your flower therapy did wonders for my hopes and wishes! You and Pam have the greenest thumbs! Things are budding around here too, and daffodils and forsythia are blooming. I too always cross my fingers that a late freeze won’t interfere! I’m not excited about the temps dropping this weekend, stay cozy!
Hi Jenna, I hope you’re enjoying some beach time and warmer temps there this weekend. Happy Weekend ♥
SO gorgeous! You have a green thumb and I always sigh over your beautiful hydrangeas!
Thank you Kathy! They look their best in May and June and complain about our summer heat come July and August. Thank you for your visit and comment. ♥
Mary, Flower therapy was exactly what I needed today! Thank you for all the beauty and flower love you share. 💕
Thank you Teresa, Happy Weekend ♥
Thank you for the magnificent thinking-of-Spring therapy, Mary! My little backyard looks so pitiful right now since we had those below freezing temperatures. I need lots of help!
Mother Nature has not been kind to you the past two winters Kitty. I hope everything rallies after your freezing temps. Happy Weekend ♥
My daffodils are blooming about 2 weeks early here in central VA. I’m looking forward to peonies, sage, etc in just about 6-8 weeks. Thanks for sharing all your blooms
Our daffies are in bloom too Gail, along with neighboring Redbud trees and Tulip Magnolias… way earlier than last year. Thank you for your visit and comment. ♥
It was a brisk 32 degrees this morning when I ventured out into the garden, brrr! My time at the nursery last weekend was brief as we were a bit early in the season to do any real damage to our wallet. Your photos are certainly inspiring as I look for places to squeeze in new plantings each year. As much as I enjoy flowers in a vase from the market throughout winter, I’m ready for spring flowers in my yard!
That sounds extremely chilly for your neck of the woods Betsy! I’m counting down the days to hit the nursery too. Happy Weekend. ♥
So much floral beauty!! Thanks for sharing your gardening expertise and such beautiful photos of your hard work! You inspire us all!
Thank you Ellen, Happy Weekend ♥
Mary, I’m in floral heaven with with all these images! Spring colors have me dreaming of color in the garden. About all I have in bloom are my pansies and the pots of muscari, tulips, and hyacinth that I bought to place in containers. I’ve much cleanup to tend to, but the recent cold, bitter winds have me hibernating by the fire. I do have a single iris in bloom, and yesterday picked up some mini iris plants in bloom. I’d never seen mini iris before, and they are charming! I’ll use them inside on the sunporch for a few days till they bloom out, then plant them in the garden.
Hi Sarah, I bet your spring bulbs are beautiful on your porch! I can’t resist picking up pots of hyacinths to enjoy and then planting them when their spent…their fragrance says ‘spring’ like nothing else. Hope you and Sadie are warm and toasty by the fireplace. Happy Weekend. ♥
We are hoping for a Super Bloom out here in the desert! We have had a fair amount of rain… and the desert loves rain!
Your spring garden shares are stunning. Such hard work!
Thank you.. we all needed this!
I had to google ‘superbloom’ Nancy, what a wonderful sight that must be. I hope you get to experience it! Thank you for your visit and sweet comment. Happy Weekend. ♥
Happy weekend to you as well!
Such a lovely balm for our souls! Like taking a peak at the Garden of Eden! Our frost day is all the way out to May 31st! So hard to wait that long. There is always the concern of an early warm up that confuses our precious spring flowers so they start to bud and then old mean Jack Frost comes and scorches them and we are slighted our beautiful show of spring flowers. So I will enjoy your garden for now Mary. Wind advisory yesterday and icy conditions so hunkered down again today. Thank you for blessing us with these beautiful pictures! Happy Friday!
Gosh Cyndi, May 31st is a long time to wait for spring planting! You get to enjoy fall (my favorite season) much earlier than us though. We’re still sweltering in October with the possibility of our pumpkins perishing. :) Hope you’re warm and toasty and safe from ice and power outages.♥