In the interest of collecting empirical data to document local changes in climate and bloom periods, I would like to begin posting information on what is blooming where and when. Over the years, I’d like to make the data available to anyone who wishes to compare and contrast when things are leafing out, flowering, or fruiting. Bear with me as I work to find the best way to do this. For now, I’ll keep my own spreadsheet and share what I see periodically. Feel free to share your observations here as well.
March 28, 2014 
My beautiful witch hazel ‘Arnold’s Promise’ from Vibrant nursery started off the season in February with sweet-scented yellow flowers that could be smelled 50 feet away. The flowers are now gone and it is working on developing leaves.
The daffodils are past peak and crocus nearly gone. My snowdrops never emerged, despite my transplanting and splitting groups of bulbs all over the place. Why?
Tulips are emerging but not yet blooming
Forsythia are in full bloom
Native Osoberry (aka Indian plum), red-flowering currant, and salmon berry are in bloom.
December 24, 2012
We’ve had only a few days of freezing weather this winter, and I am surprised to find most plants still alive and well and in some cases in bloom.
Still in bloom:
Calendula
Purple penstemon
Soon to bloom – Witch Hazel (Hammelis x intermedia)
May 6, 2011
In Western Washington, spring has been slow in coming. We’ve had plenty of rain, but daytime temperatures remain in the 50′s and the lows in the 40′s. Peas that I bravely planted two weeks before in the garden have yet to emerge, and after four weeks the lettuce remains stubbornly dormant despite the emergence of radishes planted at the same time. Five varieties of potatoes planted in March are doing well, and the sour cherry trees have turned into a foamy fountain of white.
With my new 7 foot garden fence to baffle the deer, I hope to be able to harvest from seven bushes of white and red currants, now laden with blooms. Cold-tolerant Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lingon berries) show lots of growth, and the seaberries are looking lush. My cruciform crops, carefully grown inside from seed and put out into the garden and under my lean to are making slow progress. However, last year’s collards made it through several heavy frosts this winter and bolted early, producing a surprisingly tasty crop of slender flower stalks that taste better than the leaves!
February 15, 2011
Somewhere in Edmonds, WA: In pruning class today, I observed a small red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) putting forth a few tentative red buds.
The evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) here on the island have begun to flower, even as I begin to belatedly prune them back, mourning the loss of the berries this summer in order to have neat shrubs along the drive. Of course, I’ve many acres left to pick
November 18, 2010
Marie’s double-file viburnum (Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum ‘Mariesii’) – a few blooms
Fatsia (Fatsia japonica) – full bloom
