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One should really think March would generate some more flower pictures...

Anyway, let's compensate with diversity:

I'll open up with the freshly opened Fritillaria sewerzowii

, which is something different than the happily bubbly spring colors we can see everywhere. And staying in that color family, let's add Gethyum atropurpureum

.

Hepatica always had a slug problem for me, so investing in Japanese doubles may have been a sub-optimal idea. it seems I have to place another lure like this Vinca minor to finally see a flower after 3 years.

Talking about lures, the last one should lure Gastil in here - it's small, it's blue, what else could she want. I bought this as Hyacinthella lazulina

, but comparing it with Rimmer's picture, I'm not all that sure - even though we have the same source

Oh, and if all my plants look somewhat dirty: we were bathed in Sahara dust for the last few days - makes for a spectacular sky color, but a lot of dirt on practically everything.

If I was taking up gardening I would definitely grow more hepatica. I only got into them at the end, and they're still flowering.

Some photos from Sunday 20th March

Maybe this is why they call it the blues... I mentioned in the Fall that I had bought some blue tulips and that I thought they were probably a vendor's scheme to separate fools and their money. Turns out I was right, see the photo below of "Blue Parrot" with a Muscari for reference.

Finally, tapping in to the theory that if you have a forum with lots of pictures of blue plants you will get forum users who like blue plants, a couple of primroses.

One of my thousand gardening books is A Book of Blue Flowers by Robert Geneve.

Here is the same Nerine undulata posted in early January.  It is an incredibly long-lasting flower, and is finally setting seeds which will sow themselves into nearby pots if I don't remove them.

The length of bloomtime is very unusual as many South African flowers last for only a few hours.Nerine_undulata.jpg

Hi Diane, thanks for the pointer to the blue plant book, I feel I should buy a copy for someone. Good photo of the Nerine. The big ones last quite a while here, but all over by Christmas.

For me it's Nerine masoniorum

that lasts  ages, though also in late fall/early winter - still spring is far more of a fun time for me, with daily changes in the garden. and David: beautiful Pleiones - Pleione 'Tongariro'

Height:	0-10 cm (0-3.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	pink, red
Flower Season:	mid spring

, I'd guess? Mine are starting to  grow buds, too - I'd guess I overwinter them far colder than you do.

Romuleas are borderline working for me - Romulea tempskyana

does not really seem to open up completely, even though it's warm, bright sunshine all week. Tulipa turkestanica

is a lot more reliable, likely because it is out in the garden, not in a pot.

I guess the wiki is behind with Pseudomuscari azureum

, PotW has them back as Muscari azureum

though the open bells really look different from classical Muscari. My real blue star is of course the Scilla formerly known as Chionodoxa, seeding around like mad. I love it that way.

Martin - I killed all my named pleiones. A friend gardened in the Midlands (it is colder away from the coast) and had this strain growing outside in clay. I've done my best to kill them, I've not looked after them at all well. It makes me think how could anyone buy such a hardy strain. Bulb suppliers will just want to sell varieties that are delicate.

As someone said "little blue jobs" the names are too confusing.

So parrot like they had to use the word twice. Are there parrot tulips - so parrot tulip "blue parrot".

I spotted this daffodil today, it is going to make me rich - and I will not have to work here anymore.

Parrot is OK.  They got the colour wrong, though.

Nice daffodil but it would only make you rich if it were a snowdrop.

Diane - am I to think they put the wrong bulbs in the packet, or someone Photoshop-ed the image on it.

It says online "The Blue Parrot starts as a green bud tipped with purple and blooms into long flowering, bright violet extravaganza. Added to these many virtues, it is also (unusually for a tulip) fragrant."

Got to get out there and sniff it.

Definitely a photoshop job - as far as i know the only true blue in the whole genus is Tulipa humilis

'Alba Coerulea Oculata'. Black parrot does live up to its name, but is among the very last tulips to flower for me. And I'm still in for Tongariro on the Pleione - some call it "beginner friendly", others call it borderline weedy. I'm really thinking of trying it outdoors, I have enough to spare.

That said I have to repeat: I love this time of the year, something happens almost every day. Ladies, Gentlemen and NBs please put on your earmuffs for Mandragora - really not sure what species or if there truly  are different species, even though this looks vastly different to @Uli 's Algarve pictures. Fully hardy in Germany for at least 4 years now.

Last year I wasn't sure of the ID, and maybe it was a different plant alltogether as they crowd a pot, but this definitely is Tropaeolum tricolor

. One of the pots I only pull in when frosts get serious (e.g. below -3°C)

First spring Orchid to flower for me is always Himantoglossum robertianum

Height:	45-80 cm (1.5-2.6 ft)
Flower Colors:	pink, purple, white, patterned
Flower Season:	mid spring
Special:	fragrant
Life form:	tuber

which wasn't upset because of the minimal morning frosts but of course also stays frost free under lights for the more serious part of winter. Luckily, we're on the summer side of the planet now, so that problem shrinks away.

Talking about weather problems, it's already extremely dry here, which may explain the (too) compact growth of Corydalis nudicaulis

Height:	20-30 cm (0.7-1 ft)
Flower Colors:	white, brown, purple
Flower Season:	mid spring

and Anemone nemorosa

Height:	10-20 cm (3.9-7.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	white, pink, blue
Flower Season:	mid spring
Life form:	rhizome

in the last pic.

Leucocoryne purpurea

Martin - power of the new feature I was able to visit the blue tulip on the wiki, something I would not have bothered with. Can you now do the reverse, link the wiki automatically to photos posted on the forum.

I have watched the Harry Potter clip on Mandragora for wiki work purposes. Yeah whatever.

Spring is definitely the best time of year for flowers.

Currently in a dry spell here - decent weather - I went outside in my shirt sleeves yesterday.

I like Anemone nemorosa - but I suspect mine are lost.

Arnold - nice photo - I see the wiki got there first (several photos by you already).

It would be amusing if the forum did image recognition on posted photos and gave its best guess for the species.

This WYSIWYG editor is a thing of wonder - just as long as posts don't end up looking like ransom notes.

Quote from: David Pilling on March 24, 2022, 07:56:17 PMMartin - power of the new feature I was able to visit the blue tulip on the wiki, something I would not have bothered with. Can you now do the reverse, link the wiki automatically to photos posted on the forum.

Wouldn't go further than an auto-generated search link to the forum

Quote from: David Pilling on March 24, 2022, 07:56:17 PMIt would be amusing if the forum did image recognition on posted photos and gave its best guess for the species.

we won't rival Inaturalist, I'd guess.

Quote from: David Pilling on March 24, 2022, 07:56:17 PMThis WYSIWYG editor is a thing of wonder - just as long as posts don't end up looking like ransom notes.

not a fan, I turn it off for most of my posts - takes controll away

Quote from: David Pilling on March 24, 2022, 07:56:17 PMI like Anemone nemorosa - but I suspect mine are lost.

How could one ever lose it?  I have many forms, but one is so vigorous I am trying to lose it. Every year I dig out a bucketful. Its stick-like rhizomes had covered the ground so thoroughly that Erythronium revolutum couldn't emerge.  

Diane - due to your comment, I sought out Anemone nemorosa in the big garden this afternoon, and I was very happy to find it flowering. Just the one flower, which looked nibbled, but quite a patch of leaves.

"But David", I hear you say, "You squandered your money on two packets of blue tulips", "How blue are the other ones, as blue as the ocean, as blue as the sky", "lay those blues on us". See below "double late blue spectacle".

[nonsense]ah, there is the problem - it says "flowers April&May", so they can't be blue in March [/nonsense]

looks like they used the same amount of color correction...maybe you should try different times of the day? I have some Phlox which are almost blue in the morning but bright magenta in full sunlight - up to this day I haven't figured out if it's a temperature effect or just depends on the exact spectral range of the daylight.

Did I mention I love the "pop up" attitude of flowers on warm spring days (cold front is approaching.  I need the rain, so it's OK.) Ficaria verna

Height:	0-10 cm (0-3.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	yellow
Flower Season:	early spring to mid spring
Life form:	tuber
Climate:	USDA Zone 5-8

'copper knob' starts to spread like the wild yellows I have all around - no idea if it seeds around or if I've just spread the corms involuntarely. Pulsatilla is far more well behaved - the surrounding Muscari latifolium

not so much. Talking about Muscari, I adore the heavy, spicey fragrance of Muscari muscarimi

.
Last one is Rheum palmatum, third year from seed - let's see if that's big enough to flower this year. Already interesting when just starting out with the first leaf - I'd better not show my Veratrum nigrum. So people grow it for foliage? people without slugs may, I'd guess...

Looking at the photos I was going to say now is the time of "celandine" which grows wild here. Having looked it up, that is what photo #1 is of (lesser celandine). I like pulsatilla, grown that from seed, but lost it. Yours is a nice colour.

Below Tuesday 29th March, little blue jobs collection. These are all volunteers. Probably descended from bulbs once intentionally planted.

One last set of the march flowers, and maybe the last set before disaster strikes - after nearly two weeks with 15-21°C in the afternoon we're heading towards snowfall and frosty nights - wet -1° could be OK, but some models predict down to -7°C by Monday, so kiss the cherries, plums and part of the apples goodbye for 2022 and hope for second shoots on the kiwis.

on the list we have another one of the special "lesser chelandine" Ficaria verna

Height:	0-10 cm (0-3.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	yellow
Flower Season:	early spring to mid spring
Life form:	tuber
Climate:	USDA Zone 5-8

- funny that the greater one isn't all that related. Both in order Ranunculales, that's all. No connection between those in German, by the way. Bellevalia cyanopoda

Height:	0-20 cm (0-7.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	blue, pink, white
Flower Season:	mid spring
Life form:	deciduous bulb

is more of a pink job than a blue job, while Corydalis fumariifolia

is an almost supernatural sky blue that photos hardly can transport - I don't get the name, by the way, as my annual Fumaria officinalis has completely different foliage. last one obviously shows the orange end of my Narcissus range.

Martin - interesting plants.
Cellandine can look effective when it grows in a mass, but does not beat eranthis hyemalis (Winter aconite), the latter is really good if it is established under stone chippings.
Your blue coyrdalis reminds me of one that Ian Young has.
It has been warm here, but has turned cold now, seems to have stayed just above 0C here on the coast. Sorry to hear about the blossom. Hope the damsons do OK - probably don't flower for a few weeks (damsons (plums) are a somewhat commercial crop here).