March Blooms at Tryon Palace

What a wild way to enter March! After a freakishly warm February we’re playing Southern winter hopscotch over the next few weeks between 80 and 32 degrees. Nothing to make a gardener panic like watching so many little tulips start to raise their heads and flowers bloom early right before the typical time of blitz freezes and super warm days. I have to admit — there is just something about March that makes you smile! We all delightedly gushed about the first tulips blooming in the Dixon front yard and the little crepe paper anemones flashing their pops of color in the Disosway and Stoney gardens. What a welcome change from the somewhat bland colors of winter blooms, but it does make you wonder if the tulips are prettier just because of our winter bloom “cabin fever.”

A purple anemone in the Kitchen Garden

We at Tryon Palace are especially looking forward to this spring, as we start with a new and (almost) complete staff for the first time in 2 years. The plants that arrived in mid-February are growing at rapid pace and our Spring Plant Sale is just around the corner! If you’d like to come and work in the gardens with us, please contact Hadley.cheris@ncdcr.gov or 252-639-3560.

Join us for this month’s installment of our 2017 Garden Lecture Series on Saturday, March 11, at 10 a.m. inside the North Carolina History Center for a talk on vegetable gardening with Craven County Master Gardener Sheila Weibert! This lecture is free and begins at 10 a.m. in Cullman Performance Hall at the North Carolina History Center. Get some ideas for your spring and summer garden from a local Master Gardener!

Also coming this month, we’ll have two Behind the Scenes Tours in the garden, where you can join one of our gardeners for a walk around the Palace blooms! The tours are March 14 and March 21, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Waystation. And don’t forget the star of the event calendar for us—Spring Plant Sale is April 7-8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Daves House Lawn just inside the main gate. It is free to attend and we will have a great selection of plants for sale!

Happy Gardening,

Hadley Cheris,

Tryon Palace Gardens and Greenhouse Manager

Annual phlox near the Dove Cote

Annuals

  • Annual Phlox (Phlox drummondii), mix
  • Dusty Miller “Silver Dust,” gray
  • English Daisy “Habanera Mix” (Bellis)
  • Forget Me Nots “Mon Amie Blue” (Myosotis)
  • Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) Sonnet Mix, Montego Sunset, Candy Showers Mix
  • Stock Harmony Mix
  • Sweet William (Dianthus) Telstar Mix
  • Ornamental Kale: Bor Scarlet, Kamome White
  • Violas: Sorbet XP Mix, Admire Mix Maxi, Penny Peach Jump Up
  • Pansies: Sunrise, Solar Flare, Red Blotch, Cool Wave Spreading Mix, Frizzle Sizzle Mix
Tulips and Irises springing up throughout the gardens

Bulbs, Corms and Rhizomes

  • Algerian Iris (Iris ungularia), blue
  • Cemetery Iris (Iris schreekuppe), white
  • Crocus (Crocus vernus), various
  • Daffodils, Jonquils and Paperwhites (Narcissus sp), yellows, white
  • Daffodil Poeticus Actaea, Double Flower Drift, Double Sir Winston Churchill
  • Gladiolus specie byzantinus
  • Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), blue
  • Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), pink, white, purple
  • Lady Jane Tulip (Tulipa clusiana), white and pink
  • Marjoletti Tulip, yellow and orange
  • Poppy Anemone (Anemone coronaria De Caen), various
  • Ranunculus Tecelote, orange, yellow, red, white
  • Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), white, green
  • Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum), white
  • Starflower (Ipheion uniflorum), blue-white (Stinky)
  • Tulips: Maureen, Kingsblood, Big Smile, Double Peony Mix, Fosteriana Emperor Mixture, Darwin Hybrid Mix
  • Wood Hyacinth (Scilla campanulata), blue, white
  • Windflower (Anemone coronaria), blue, magenta, white
Wood hyacinth in the Kellenberger Garden

Perennials

  • Bath’s Pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus), pink
  • Barrenwort (Epimedium grandiflorum), yellow
  • Bears foot Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus), yellowish
  • Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans), blue
  • Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), white
  • Cape Leadwort (Plumbago capensis), blue
  • Carnation (Dianthus sp.), various
  • Creeping Veronica (Veronica umbrosa), blue
  • English daisy “Bellissiama Mix,” pink, white (Bellis)
  • Lenten Rose (Helleborus X orientalis), pink, white
  • Mazus (Mazus reptans ‘alba’), white
  • Mountain pinks (Phlox subulata), pink, lavender, white
  • Pinks (Dianthus chinensis), pink
  • Poet’s Laurel (Danae racemes), orange berries
  • Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi), pink
  • Wallflowers (Cheiranthus allionii), orange
  • Wild Geranium (Geranium pratense), magenta
  • Vinca (Vinca minor), blue
A Lady Banks Rose blooms on the brick wall outside the Carraway Garden

Flowering Trees and Shrubs

  • Akebia vine (Akebia quinata), cream color blooms, smells like chocolate
  • Azaleas (Rhododendron sp.), Variety sizes and colors
  • Bridal Wreath (Spirea prunifolia), white
  • Camellia (Camellia japonica) cultivars: “Pink Perfection,” pink, double, “Prof. Sargent,” deep rose, double, “Debutante,” clear, light pink, “Lady Clare,” carmine rose, semi-double, “Alba plena,” white with pink cast, “Lovely Surprise,” pink, “Dr. Tinsley,” pink, semi-double
  • Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens), yellow
  • Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas), yellow
  • Crabapple (Malus sieboldii), pink
  • Dogwood (Cornus florida), white
  • First Breath of Spring or Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), white
  • Flowering Almond (Prunus glandulosa), pink, fuzzy
  • Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles speciosa), apricot pink, red, white
  • Fragrant Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), yellow
  • Himalayan Sweetbox (Sarcococca hookerana), white, black drupe
  • Kerria (Kerria japonica pleniflora), Double yellow
  • Kerria (Kerria japonica), single yellow
  • Lady Banks Rose (Rosa banksia), yellow
  • Leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum rhytophyllum), white
  • Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus), pink to white
  • Chinese Snowball (Viburnum macrocephalum “Sterile”), greenish white
  • Blackhaw or Walter Viburnum (Viburum obovatum)
  • Judd’s Viburnum (Viburnum judii), pink, fragrant
  • Lantaphyllum (Viburnum X rhytidophylloides “Alleghany”), white
  • Pearlbush (Exochorda racemosa), white
  • Redbud (Cercis canadensis), fuchsia
  • Sassafras (Sassafras officinale), chartreuse
  • Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), small white
  • Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorium), yellow
  • Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), yellow to reddish brown
Roses blooming next to the Waystation

Kitchen Garden

Apple, Pear & Peach Trees: pink to white; asparagus, onions, collards; cover crops (Clover, white and crimson; oats, rye)

Wildflowers: Bee Food

  • Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), lavender
  • Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), yellow

Berries & seeds: Bird Food

  • Hollies (Ilex sp.):
  • Yaupon (I. vomitoria), red, yellow
  • Winterberry (I. verticillata), red
  • Dahoon (I. cassine), red
  • Dwarf Burford Holly (Ilex cornuta), red berries
  • Nandina (Nandina domestica), red, yellow
  • Japanese Fatsia (Fatsia japonica), green to black
  • Poet’s Laurel (Danae racemosa), orange-red
A Cedar Waxwing rests on a magnolia tree branch in the Wilderness Garden
Created By
Cole Dittmer
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