MARCH UN-MADNESS

It is Friday. What's more, it is Friday in mid-March. If March is a time of madness, we should all take a break and return to sanity by soaking up the beauty of a garden, any garden. It is good for our mental health. It is good for our souls. Let us stroll around my modest garden as it appears this week.

This winter has been relatively mild and wet across the mid-south where I live. This has resulted in a glorious spring for the late winter/early spring plants. They are in their full bloom, some flourishing as they have never before. We are having a brilliant springtime. Click on the image for enlargement.

 Japanese flowering cherry, or Yoshino flowering cherry (Prunus x yodensis). I planted this as a twig 10 years ago. It is almost full grown. This is the first time it has come out in full bloom all at once. The most famous grouping of Japanese flowering cherry trees is at the tidal basin in Washington DC near the Jefferson memorial.

A trellis entrance to one of the walkways. I know I will have to fight this Carolina Jasmine vine to keep it from taking over the whole place, but that is alright. It is a well-suited native plant that thrives with neglect. Some people regard this plant as a weed. I do not.

 Flowering quince (Chaenomeles). This is the first time this bush has burst into bloom all at once. Flowering quince comes in numerous colors. This one is unusual with its coral/peach color.

 There is an oval of yaupon holly around a dwarf palmetto as the center piece of the larger part of the garden. The holly is Ilex vomitoria 'Nana'. The palmetto is Sabal minor 'Birmingham'. The tall evergreens on the right are Spartan Junipers. They flank the entrance to a seating area. There is a redbud tree barely visible on the left. The budding small tree in the middle is a crabapple. In the foreground is knock out roses and the quince.

 Dwarf peach tree (Prunus persica 'Bonanza').

 Pearl Bush 'The Bride' (Exochorda x macrantha). One of the most beautiful of the early spring flowering shrubs, majestically flowing with branches of pure white flowers.

 Camellia 'Kramer's Supreme'. Most winter camellias have past their primes and are beginning to fade out. Kramer's Supreme is one of the best. It is a medium bush profuse with big red flowers, easy to grow. If you have room for just one camellia, try this one.

Viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet'. Evergreen bush that blooms in winter and early spring. Viburnum is one of the best families of shrubs for southern gardens. Some are evergreen, some deciduous. 

So, the world may seem mad this March, and in some ways it is. However, the universe is not mad. It has rhyme and reason. Here is the rhyme, the beauty of God's infinitely great creation. It has an order beyond human comprehension but not beyond human appreciation. The wonders of God's work are all around us, at least those of us lucky enough to live in the south at this time of the year.