Spring has Sprung in South Carolina

Last week I returned home from a week-long trip, and my garden has exploded with spring blooms and fresh green foliage on the trees. My trip was to the beach and a visit to Brookgreen Garden, more about that in another post. First let's see my favorite views in my garden.

As you come down my driveway you will see six Spirea x vanhoutei in bloom. Beyond is a mature dogwood, Cornus florida. Closer to the house is a fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus. White flowers in many forms dot the driveway.

The view from the front door might be my favorite. The weeping redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls' is just starting to leaf out with its burgundy leaves. A little closer to the door is a Loropetalum chinese 'Purple Pixie' (I got it when I went to my first Fling in Asheville!!). Planted around the loropetalum are Bletilla striata 'Big Bob' and Dianthus- maybe Firewitch?.  From left to right beyond the redbud is an unamed Japanese maple, a very large tea olive, Osmanthus fragrans, on the corner of the shed, an unknown Viburnum, a pink dogwood, a burgundy redbud, and another Japanese maple, Acer palmatum 'Butterfly'.

I was happy we got a little bit of rain, love the raindrops on the Dianthus. Their clove fragrance is wonderful!

In the lot where our bee hives are placed are a handful of Paw paws. This is not the Asimina triloba but Asimina parviflora, a small fruited Paw paw. See the tiny flowers?

In the backyard one of the native azaleas is blooming, this one is 'Admiral Semmes'. The deer have not totally eaten this one, thank goodness. 

I think this is the first time this Barrenwort has bloomed. Epimedium x rubrum. The Epimedium x vericolor 'Sulphureum' bloomed earlier in March. There is a third one in the woodland garden, somewhere, but it may not be with us any longer.

The Solomon's Seal is up and blooming. I have some native ones that appear every so often, these are not native. Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum 'Variegatum'

The Pieris japonica 'Cavatine' is doing well, at least two of the three. One had a limb fall on it, breaking a third of the shrub apart. The bumble bees love this shrub!

There are three different Serissa foetida in my garden, a double, a single, and a single with variegated leaves.  Here are two of them. It is a nice small shrub, semi-evergreen. The blooms are about the size of my thumbnail. 

Another Epimedium, Epimedium wushanense 'Caramel' is thriving in my side yard. Love those spidery blooms.

The Red Buckeye, Aesculus pavia, is blooming, making the hummingbirds happy as well as the Hummingbird moths. I brought two seedlings with me from Seaford when we moved here. One is doing better than the other, though both are about ten feet tall. 

Finally, Amsonia x 'Seaford Skies' is blooming and it is before I was able to cut back last year's stems, so it will be a little messy this year. Oh well. 

This is just a portion of what was open in my garden when I came home. It has been an explosion of spring. I am enjoying every corner of the garden as more and more plants come alive. How's your garden? Are you under snow or well into spring?

©Copyright 2026 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.