Spring is still pretty chilly here in Central Ohio. The whole month of March has come and gone, with very little improvement in weather. Temperatures are ever so slowly creeping up, but not nearly fast enough for us to enjoy any soft, spring sunshine. And yet, my spring flowers are blooming. It's as if they've thrown up their petals in frustration and said "Okay, I give up on this chilly weather. I'm blooming anyway!"
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| Iris reticulate with sedum Angelina |
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| Pickwick crocus with bee visitor |
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| Jetfire daffodils greeting crocus and sedum |
While it hasn't been warm enough to get any serious garden cleanup going, it's still nice to see each one of these beauties popping up. Maybe I'm just wimpy when it comes to the cold, but you won't see me working out in the yard when it's this chilly. Brrrrrr, no way! I think my lower limit is about 60 degrees.
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| Crocus and sedum Angelina |
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| Crocus, perhaps "Tommies" |
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| Dandelions count as flowers this early on |
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| Loving this color combo! |
One good thing about this cooler spring weather is that the flowers stay in bloom much longer this way. My daffodils have been slowly peeking out since the beginning of the month, and here it is the end of the month and they still aren't all the way open. I hope that I still see this type of slow blooming once the tulips come out.
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| Unknown hellebore |
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| Lenten rose hellebore |
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| Yellow crocus |
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| Another unknown crocus |
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| Crocus and iris combo |
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| Viola basket |
We did slip away to Florida for a spring vacation, and the cool weather even followed us there. Okay, so it wasn't even close to being as cold as it was in Ohio, but it was still pretty chilly. Thank goodness the weather there is still warm enough for flowers. To me, flowers are one of the main attractions to a Florida vacation. And I saw many of them there. First we enjoyed a beach walk on Siesta Key, where we saw all of these beauties.
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| Dune sunflowers |
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| Bougainvillea |
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| Trumpet tree |
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| Queen's Wreath |
Then we went to visit Selby Botanical Gardens, and saw many more flowers. My winter weary eyes were grateful for it all.
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| Air plant garden art |
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| Monarch on pentas |
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| Butterfly garden at Selby |
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| Selby garden art in Sarasota |
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| Vinca garden art at Selby Gardens |
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| Blue Sky flowers trying to match their namesake |
But my favorite spot to see Florida flowers is at Epcot Center during their Flower and Garden Festival. Honestly, we didn't go on a single ride, although it wasn't for lack of trying. I just couldn't be bothered to wait in endless lines when there were flowers to see instead.
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| Wow spot at Epcot |
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| Butterfly topiary at Epcot |
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| Figment topiary with lovely flowers |
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| Impatiens tower |
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| Monarch in butterfly house at Epcot |
When we returned from our trip, we found snow on the ground. My own flowers had basically remained in suspended animation the whole time, which wasn't all bad. Before we left, my daffodils were just about to burst forth, and it was somewhat warm, so I figured I'd miss them completely. Instead, they just stayed tightly closed until now. We're barely hitting 50 degrees lately, but we've had so much sunshine that they bloomed anyway.
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| First Jetfire daffodils |
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| Jetfire daffodils |
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| Jetfire daffodils |
I'm hoping that April will finally warm up here. I'm grateful that we've avoided the endless snowstorms that are plaguing the east coast. But I'm ready for spring to feel like spring! Let's get this garden season in gear around here.
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| JB Boondocks in Howey-in-the-Hills FL |
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| Sunset at The Plantation in Leesburg FL |
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| Ohio sunset |
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| Siesta Key sunset |
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| Leesburg FL sunset |
