Buds and Offsets-5

I could show a few every day at this time of the year.

Androsace carnea brigantiaca – grown from seed

Emerging Hepatica nobilis leaves

Saxifraga 'Leonardo da Vinci'

This lives where I put the yellow arrow on the following picture:

And a day later:

Saxifraga 'Leonardo da Vinci'

Anemone sp.

Cortusa matthioli 'Alba' – grown from seed, I hope for flowers this year

Buds and Offsets-4

Draba parnassica

Ginkgo biloba – it lives in a pot

The cicatrices of last years' leaves (many years) make it look like a cone.

Saxifraga 'Leonardo da Vinci'

It will flower the first time for us, I even don't know how its flowers look. There are pictures of this plant neither on the net, nor in my Saxifraga books.

Tulipa dasystemon

I got 5 bulbs about 3 years ago. Two died last winter, but three are thriving in a miniature rock garden with Androsace sarmentosa, Sedum sieboldii and Lewisia cotyledon. I have never repotted these bulbs, but every year give them a fertilizer with NPK: 14-7-21 after flowernig. Last year I showed them when flowering.

Bloom Day

I always forgot the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (the 15th of every month). I simply don't use to think about the date when gardening, although all my (our) pictures are saved with the date of the shot.

Here, better late than never, I show some pictures – this time of my husband – made on 15th March.

Hepatica nobilis growing in a large crock pot

Crocus angustifolius in a window box

Crocus sp. in the same window box

And here together

And finally the promise:

Primula marginata in a trough

It's Simply Spring

And I have a lot to write and show here, but –"So many species, so little time", as Kristl Walek says. I spend most of my free time between our beautiful plants, instead of the ugly computer. I make many pictures but they must be selected and resized to put here.

Now I have a little time to show you how our balcony looked yesterday in sunshine. On 6th March we put all the pots and boxes back to their places – winter is over now.

Now it's raining, but I tell myself that spring rain is good for plants, and try to make some pics with drips.

Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' in rain

Saxifraga x elisabethae cv. in rain

Buds and offsets-3

Cyclamen coum & Eranthis hyemalis

Draba parnassica

Gentiana clusii

Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin'

Tulipa tarda

Saxifraga x elisabethae cv.

Tulipa sp.

Hepatica nobilis

Déjà vu

I had a similar picture in my blog last year in March. Maybe it is a little boring already... :)

Bulbs

Slowly (really slowly!) begins the time of early bulbs. I already put some bulbs to work, though I did not want to. But they had their shoots above the ground so I watered them a week ago, and then came the frost. I was afraid to loose the bulbs so I put the pot inside a cool room as I mentioned in my last post. Consequently the flowers began to develop. It was delightful to see these miniature, scented flowers in today's sunshine.

There are: 3 Crocus angustifolius, 5 Iris danfordiae, 2 Crocus sp. (maybe chrysanthus? – I will see later) and two Tulipa sp. The Irises are sweetly scented, a smell that simply reminds me of SPRING.

I will write about these and other bulbous species in next posts.

Now I would like to mention one of my bad experiences with bulbs, maybe it could be useful for somebody.

I find growing bulbs in pots without a greenhouse very difficult. Especially our Hungarian winters make the gardener's life hard, but also the watering has to be learned through many losses... One must to be extremely careful with the watering can. Overwatering is fatal, but if the plants don't get enough water during spring, the result is like this:

This Crocus has dried out, the roots died, the flowers did not open and the leaves also remained undeveloped. The bulb itself is not dead, but if it gets water continuously, it rots rapidly. Ian Young has many interesting and instructive posts about this.

You must make a very well drained, sandy potting compost, and then water absolutely regularly, with much water. If the excess water can go out, then nothing is too much for these little bulbs in spring.

My problem is also our hot springs, when the pots must be protected from the heat, and feeding the bulbs is another task which I have yet to learn to obtain better results.

Winter is Lasting Forever...

Frost is persisting, the temperature does not increase above zero even at midday. It has been very cold for some days, just after I watered the alpines and early bulbs. I used to water them firstly around 17th February every year and this has been a good method until now. There used to be many buds and offsets by this time of year and they cry for water. But now this persisting frost is awful, I wonder whether my "good method" will prove a fiasco this time... We will see.

The beautiful buds of Hepatica nobilis look quite sad, the soil is frozen.

I took one pot with bulbs and one with Cyclamen coum and Eranthis inside in a cool room because I don't want to loose them.

According to the forecast, weather will not change next two weeks, only the day temperatures will be above zero to a hair.

Oh, Spring, where are you???

Buds and offsets-2

Because it's winter again, here are some " indoor plants' " buds.

Veltheimia bracteata

I will write about it when in flower.

Cyclamen pseudibericum (the same as last time, more colourful clothed) 

However, I think it will not too long remain a bud:

Note:

These pictures were made in rather dark room (cloudy outside), without flash, with large aperture, sorry for the quality. It is fascinating for me how the flower opens, so I thought I must show it to the "whole world" anyway.

Here is the plant:

Buds and offsets-1

The watering had a fantastic effect, a lot of beautiful buds appeared. And hopefully more and more will come from now on, so I start a topic with this subject. It's a real joy to photograph them.
Here are a few:

Crocuses

I have shown the flowers of this Colchicum in autumn. Now the leaves are coming:

Colchicum arenarium

Eranthis hyemalis

The same, two days later:

Eranthis with Cyclamen coum

The same, two days later:

Hepatica nobilis

The same, from the back:

Hepatica nobilis

and from close (yes, it fascinates me):

Hepatica nobilis from close

Saxifraga x elisabethae '(had no label)'

and from close:

Daphne sericea

And finally a not hardy Cyclamen:

Cyclamen pseudibericum