Waiting for Spring: GBBD, March 2017
In many parts of the United States, March is a spring month. In Maine, although we may enjoy occasional spring-like days, March is still winter and a time of not-so-patiently waiting for spring.
This week’s blizzard provided a sharp reminder that March is a winter month and forced us all to put dreams of an early spring on hold. The mountain of shoveled snow by my front porch, which under a regime of warmer than average temperatures and the strong March sun, had dwindled from this in mid-February
| to this in early March, |  |
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got a new lease on life with almost two feet of new snow. |
When my potted amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bulbs finished blooming at the end of February, I found myself bereft of flowers for March. Outdoor blooms are still weeks away, and my normally faithful potted cyclamen have gone on strike. In the first week of March, I stopped by a local nursery looking for an indoor flower fix. I brought home some potted hyacinth bulbs whose heady fragrance has been gracing my life for the past two weeks. I was also smitten by a large, intensely purple, potted Pericallis and brought it home, too. (The photo below does not do justice to the color of the flowers.) The hyacinths are almost finished and will be planted in the garden after the snow melts. I’m counting on the Pericallis to get me through until spring arrives in Maine next month.
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Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Visit her blog to see what is blooming in gardens where spring has already arrived.
Jean's Garden 
Hi Jean! Those hyacinth bulbs are lovely. We are covered in snow here in Massachusetts as well. Hoping that spring comes sooner than later for both of us!
Angie, Looks as though it is going to be later here. Freezing rain this morning and more snow is forecast for the first weekend in April. Winter just doesn’t want to let go this year. I do have some buds on crocuses by the south-facing foundation of the house, and they should open as soon as it warms up a bit. I hope you are seeing some signs of spring there.
Looks the same in Pennsylvania over 400 miles south. I wouldn’t be surprised if the average temperature here in March turns out to be lower than February.
Carolyn, I don’t know if March has been colder than February in Maine, but it has been colder than average for March. Fortunately, even on cold days, the warm March sun has been slowly melting the snow. If only Mother Nature would stop sending us more of the white stuff! I hope you are seeing some signs of spring there.
oh girl, I think you should march right back tot he florist and get you some more blooms. You deserve them putting up with all that snow. Happy GBBD.
Lisa, I still have a few flowers on my Pericallis, and I have crocuses up with flower buds on them where the snow has melted away from the foundation of the house.
Beautiful!
Lea, Thank goodness for some indoor blooms to keep me sane until spring comes.
I’m glad you’re able to see the new crop of snow in perspective, Jean. I’d be fuming and fussing. I have a soft spot for Pericallis myself. Those “new” Senetti hybrids do offer eye-popping color.
I hope your melt starts soon!
Kris, I had never even heard of Pericallis before I fell under the spell of this plant in the garden shop. I’ve been doing a bit of fuming and fussing, but the winter-into-spring season here is a kind of “two steps forward, one step back” affair. We get melting, followed by more snowfall, followed by more melting.
Jean your GBBD images are so different than mine! Snow makes me envy, although I guess you would want to welcome spring weather already. I would gladly try to send you some in exchange for some rain!
Lula, I am definitely ready to welcome the spring weather! Soon, I hope.
Wow, that’s a lot of snow! Our Bloom Day looked like yours, but with only about 6″ of snow.
Jason, One nice thing about late winter snow is that it tends to melt quickly. Ten days after our mid-March blizzard, that snow had melted and we were back to the state of melting we were at before it fell. Bare spots under the trees and around the foundation are growing, but there are also still snowbanks that are 6 feet high.
Your snow pile is impressive! I’m so sick of being cold all the time. I can’t wait for spring to come to Michigan.
Jean, I’ve been photographing the big snow pile once a week to document its melting. It’s almost down to the halfway mark on the porch screens. I hope you are getting more spring-like weather there.
Hi Jean, hopefully that pile of snow is melting in earnest now! We had a blast of winter in mid-March but temps rapidly bounced back from 20s into the 70s and even into the 80’s. I really hope we have seen the last of sub-freezing temps, as my poor plants don’t know what to do.
Deb, We’re in a two-steps-forward, one-step-back phase of winter-into-spring. There has been quite a bit of melting in recent days and that big pile of snow by the front porch is a bit smaller than it was before our mid-March blizzard — but another snow storm is forecast for this weekend. It takes a long time for spring to get to Maine.
Hi Jean,
Don’t worry,Spring will reach you soon. Your amaryllis looks lovely.:)
Chel, I’m confident spring will reach me, but I’m not sure how soon. Two snow storms in the first week of April (10″ on April 1 and another 6-8″ predicted for April 4) are a bit discouraging.
Wow Jean, those are some massive piles of snow, meanwhile, we have the delphiniums already passing a foot in height. I hope you get some mild weather soon to melt the snow away to release the spring bulbs and get the season started.
Sunil, We typically get a lot of snow here in the winter, and this year’s snowfall has been above average. Happily, at this time of year, melting starts to happen fast. Today’s forecast snow has turned out to be mostly rain, and we are promised several warm days at the beginning of next week that should speed up the snowmelt. I think it’s possible that by mid-April the top of that big pile will be below the deck railing.