patching...
Update: Want to be a blogger for Wauwatosa Patch? Email james.price@patch.com
Welcome back, Patch Blogger!

What's Opening Up in Your Yard?

Spring has sprung super-early this year, and flowers and leaves are opening long before most us expect them to. We'd like to see what's surprising you in your garden.

 
0 of 0
This bloodroot has been open so long it's already been pollinated and has lost its yellow centers.
Photos (14)

Photos

Bloodroot has been blooming for a week. It's an early riser in spring, but this is... unusual.
This bloodroot has been open so long it's already been pollinated and has lost its yellow centers.
Jefferson's twinleaf typically is the first to open, sometime in mid-April. This year, it's flower buds opened Thursday morning, March 22 – early but lagging behind others it usually beats.
Rue anemone has been showing its blossoms for a week now.
Leaves of a hybrid tea rose are fully spread, long before it usually would show any more than a swelling bud.
Two days ago, the buds of our magnolia were still tight. Now, they're poised to open.

Just two days into spring according to the calendar, we're already a month or more ahead of time according to the flowers, shrubs and trees.

I was astonished to see bloodroot blooming in my yard a week ago, and some of the plants are almost done and are starting to drop petals.

Jefferson twinleaf opened this morning – late, I thought, since it's usually the first.

Most surprising is that my wife's fussy hybrid tea roses have already spread their leaves when most years they would still be dormant.

The buds on our magnolia are showing deep pink, but that's nothing – the one in a neighbor's yard up the hill is in full bloom.

We live at the bottom of a cool north slope, and most things in my yard lag a week or two behind those with sunnier exposures.

So, what's budding and blooming in your yard? I have to believe there are some avid gardeners among Patch readers who have amazing tales of super-early activity outside, and can back it up with photographic proof.

You can upload your own photos to add to this gallery and write photo captions to go with them. Just click on the "Upload Photos and Videos" tab below the lead photo above.

You'll have to sign up on Patch and be logged on to do this, but that's a very simple process. If you aren't signed up, go ahead and click the upload button anyway, and you'll go right to a sign-up window.

And, if you have a longer early gardening story to tell than will fit in a photo caption, write it in the comments.

Related Topics: Flowers, Shrubs, and Wildflowers

Leave a comment