My Yard in Bloom

 It has been beautiful here this week! Saturday trips to the local nursery meant I have some new plants.

March is the New April

Since early March, it has seemed like April around here.  We hardly had Winter!  The spring flowering is at least three weeks early, and the deciduous trees are leafing out much earlier than usual.  But, hey, I'm not complaining, unless of course that means we are going to have an earlier and a longer summer.  Our pink azalea out front has been in full bloom for over two weeks now.

The snowball bush began flowering in January.  It is full of blossoms now.  Some of them are still immature (greenish), but it won't be long until it will be completely full of white blossoms.

The dogwoods are almost in full bloom, and the redbuds are past their peak of flowering and are beginning to form fruit.  See the little green pod (legume) of the redbud on the left in the photo below.

Flowers and fruit (on left) of redbud tree.

And notice the leaves of the tulip poplar. So big already.

Leaves of the tulip poplar.

Our Japanese maple tree leaves are almost fully formed.

Japanese maple tree.

I am truly enjoying this early Spring here in North Carolina.

Our Chinese Snowball Bush & Global Warming

Snowball bush, Viburnum macrocephalum. (Photo by brighterblooms.com)

The Chinese snowball bush has huge rounded white hydrangea-like blooms and usually blooms in the spring although the flowers last for months.  Two years ago we planted one, and the first spring it was full of blossoms.  This past spring it did not bloom at all.  In late summer and early fall it produced lots of buds.

Buds of Chinese snowball bush.

I noticed the last few weeks these buds are opening and producing blossoms here in the middle of fall.  It has been unusually warm this fall and that probably explains why this plant is confused.  Although I did read that if a plant is in full sun it may bloom throughout the year.  Our plant gets plenty of sun.

Yesterday they were calling for possible freezing temperature during the night, so I brought in a couple of the most developed flowering heads.  In the warm temperature of the house, the remaining buds will likely open. 

Snowball bush producing flowers in the fall.

Flowers in a vase, forcing buds to open in house.

This is truly a spectacular bush in the spring, and I hope the remaining buds won't get nipped during the winter.  This screwy weather is confusing my plants.