March Madness

I see another month has slipped past and with spring officially upon us, it seems our green friends are all waking up at once! The frantic rush to get all re-potted begins as we duck in and out of rain showers, blustery wind and chilly nights. The weather seems to be all over the map and I always wonder how the delicate flowers of spring manage to make it. We had a sunny day this week, so I got the camera out and took some shots of some spring bling…

 

A wildflower in the Iris family, Grass Widow, is late to bloom this year. It usually flowers a month or more earlier here in Portland. My Calypso orchid is right on time, faithfully opening March fifteenth, just like last year:

 

Closer:

 

They are tiny just now, just under three inches tall but will get twice that tall during their month long bloom. Something less showy is the Western saxifrage in a kokodama style planting:

 

Closer:

 

The  flowers are so delicate and airy, this accent plant would put some spring zing into a bonsai display 😉

Closer:

 

Can you believe I’ve had this plant for twenty five years this spring? Makes one stop and think about just how old some things really are…How about some trees? This little Horse chestnut I grew from seed is looking good:

 

My dwarf ginkgo, “Chris’s Dwarf” got a new pot this spring, one bought at the Green Club sales area in Japan last month from Minoru Akiyama:

 

I think the gold leaves in the fall will really look nice with the colorful pot. Next, an Arizona alder cutting from a tree I collected nine years ago:

 

And here’s the mother of the cutting above:

 

Both trees are under six inches in height. And a privet clump given to me by Michael Hagedorn in one of his pots…starting to become one of my favorites:

 

A Japanese maple, Acer palmatum, turning twelve under my watch:

 

A forsythia from Anne Spencer:

 

Another ginkgo, “Chi Chi” from Anne Spencer in a new pot from Marius Folda:

 

Another purple pot intended to show off the ginkgo’s brilliant yellow fall leaves…will have to keep you posted on that. And another shot taken a few days later:

 

Interesting to see the difference the exposure of the photo makes on the pot color. A tiny Arctic willow cutting in a Jim Barrett pot:

 

My red-flowering currant is starting to bloom; large tree, nearly three feet high:

 

Close-up of flowers not quite open yet:

 

A shohin-size version of the same species:

 

I’ll leave it there for now. I hope you are staying on top of the ‘spring frenzy’ enough to smell the flowers 😉