Spring Garden Flowers

 

Pale Dutch Iris

As April turns into May, the progression of spring flowers in my garden begins to peak. Right now the pale Dutch iris are coming into bloom, their perky blossoms brightening the front garden. The bearded irises in this bed (mostly yellow) are ready to burst into bloom, along with the flowering onions (Alliums)

 

Dutch and bearded iris with giant alliums.

Bearded iris 'Blatant' with Dutch iris.

 

My azalea 'General Semmes' is blooming profusely in the shade of the cherry tree in front of the house. The native flame azalea, in an identical pot just a few feet away, had all its flower buds eaten by deer during the winter, but they never touched 'General Semmes.' Why, I can only guess--one is a native and the other a hybrid, perhaps this influences the way it tastes to deer? The Lewisia "Little Peach" growing in a pot in front is lovely too.

Azalea 'General Semmes'

Lewisia 'Little Peach'

Going along the west of the house, I found a few sprays of lilies of the valley under the maple tree. Although they're supposed to be poisonous, deer do eat these, so only the flowers under a wire cloche survive. 

The circle of Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides) under the Zelkova is blooming, but as usual, the deer eat the foliage before the flowers emerge, and often dig up the bulbs as well, making for a less than stellar display. I wish I could find a physical barrier to keep the deer away from this bed... all of my beds!--spraying with deer repellent works only for a very short time.

 

Lilies of the valley (Convallaria majalis)

Spanish Bluebells under the Zelkova tree (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

 The Clematis vine climbing up to the deck is offering its dainty pink flowers. It looks wonderful from the deck, draping itself over the railing.

 

Clematis montana 'Appleblossom'

 

My lilac 'Purple Bloomerang' is in full bloom, but the other lilac (behind the purple) has only a few panicles of white flowers.

Lilac 'Bloomerang'

More 'Blatant' irises are blooming in the long bed in back--they seem to have recovered from the attack of two years ago. The two prune-leaf Viburnums way in the back near the woods are covered with flowers.

Iris 'Blatant'

Pruneleaf Viburnum in bloom.

A happy surprise in that part of the yard: the buckeye tree that I grew from seed collected from a hybrid at Blandy is offering its first spike of flowers. From the looks of these, this is likely the Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) rather than the red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) parent. My tree is still quite small--under three feet tall, and must be protected from the deer until it reaches sufficient height to be out of their browsing level.

Flowering spike of buckeye tree.

Ambling back towards the house, my Rhododendron 'Southgate Brandi' is blooming nicely under the Japanese maple 'Bloodgood.'  I love the pink-tinted new foliage of the full-moon Japanese maple (Acer 'Shirawasanum') and its curious flowers. My Japanese maples suffered a lot of die-back with last year's drought, and I'm hoping they will recover some during this growing season.

Rhododendron 'Southgate Brandi'

Japanese maples and fringe tree.

Soon the 'Blue Barlow' Columbines and the Virginia fringe tree (Chionanthus virginica) in the east bed will be bursting into bloom. This is always a stunning combination, along with the maples and the pagoda dogwood. This spring I joined the two strips of flowerbed into one, but I haven't had a chance to improve the soil and plant some new spring ephemerals yet. I hope to eventually turn this bed into a small wooded area with shade-loving plants underneath. It's evolved so much from its first year, when all I had planted were the full moon maple and the Carolina Silverbell tree.

 

East bed expansion with pagoda dogwood on the left.

Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) under the maples.

There's so much work to do at this time of the year for gardeners! Trying to re-plant all the plants that had to be dug up for the veggie garden enclosure, re-edge some beds and get some vegetables in the raised beds is probably more than I can manage in the next week or so. Happy spring!

The Merry Month Of May

The garden east of the house.

A closer look.

 

The merry month of May launched with some much-needed rain in the last two days of April, but the following cloudy, drizzly days have brought very little additional rain thus far. Still, the rain was enough to help the emerging foliage--my Japanese maples in particular appreciated it.

The flower beds to the east of the house are really starting to shape up into a lovely display with the pink-tinged foliage of the full moon maple 'Shirawasanum' on the right, the deep red of 'Bloodgood' beyond, the pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) in bud, the dwarf  Virginia fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicum) and Rhododendron  'Southgate Brandi' in the background. The dark purple flowers of the columbines 'Blue Barlow' growing underneath are starting to open.

 

Virginia fringe tree and Rhododendron in flower.

 

Earlier in the spring I re-edged all of the flower beds to the east of the house, and re-planted the Hakonechloa grass (Hakonechloa macra) closer to the front of the bed, in hopes that it will spread and make a better show.

 

Hakonechloa grass with hydrangeas.

Moving on to the back yard, the iris bed I dug up last fall is showing some blooms, though it will take a couple of years for the rhizomes to re-grow and bloom as profusely as before. These are the most perfumed of the irises that I grow.

Old-fashioned iris from my mom's garden.

My iris 'Blatant' had not bloomed for a couple years after being attacked by a beastie who ate some of the rhizomes, but it's blooming again this year. My other irises in the front garden are also blooming, just starting their seasonal display. I bought two new varieties last year, but thus far, neither is showing any buds--perhaps they are later blooming varieties, or just haven't grown long enough, who knows?

 

Iris 'Blatant'

Irises along the front walk.

White iris.

 The clematis that my sister Bea gave me is blooming beautifully. The two lilacs near the clematis haven't bloomed very much this year--too dry or too early for them, perhaps?

Clematis

The pale lilac Dutch iris have opened up, as has the red honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler.' Our first humming bird sighting took place on April 25--the earliest date since we've been here--feeding on the honeysuckle! The males are the first to begin their migration north in the spring, and it was surprising to see two or three males buzzing the flowers together--normally they are solitary birds. These little hummers were probably heading to Canada and parts far, far, north; they travel amazing distances alone rather than in flocks, unlike most other birds.

Dutch iris.

 

A new acquisition, a red carnation, went into the expanded bed on the west--the plant looks a little beat up at the moment, hopefully it will settle in soon. I haven't finished planting this bed yet, I plan to put in the anise hyssop I'm growing from seed there along with some bee balm.

 

Red carnation.

Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

After digging up the Spanish bluebells under the Zelkova tree last fall, separating and re-planting them, I 'd hoped for a better display, but the deer attacked the foliage and buds earlier in the spring, so I didn't get as much bloom as hoped for. Next year I must cover this bed with some sort of netting--the Muscari on the perimeter was also chomped down--such a shame!

 

New natural garden decoration.

Above is a new garden decoration--I found this weird-looking twisted juniper wood stump in the back woods a couple of years ago and wanted it for my garden, but wasn't able to detach it from the ground then. Last winter during one of my forays, I tried prying it again and it came out easily. Perfect to decorate the Herb bed! I planted some sedum and moss in it, and still have one pocket left for a succulent, maybe some hens-and-chicks or Crassulas?

 

Red Columbines

One columbine I planted in the back bed survived and is flourishing--I think it may be a dwarf variant of our native columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). But I also planted seeds of the native variety here a few years ago, and this could be one of them, it's hard to tell. I have another set of seeds of the native variety sprouting this year. Hummingbirds love this plant.

Yesterday my husband asked me how many trees I'd planted since we bought this property, and after counting, I was surprised to realize that we've planted thirty-six trees in our less than half-acre plot! That count doesn't include the shrubs like Viburnums, beautyberries, hollies and hydrangeas, or the cherry tree and arborvitae that were already here when we bought the house. Some of my trees will stay small in scale, but some will get much larger eventually--I'll post something about my trees soon: quite a few are exotic, and some of my natives are unusual, you don't see them planted in gardens very often.

More flowers to come on May 15's "Bloom Day," the peonies and roses are starting to bud.

Late Fall Color

Viburnum 'Cardinal Candy'

 

This year we've had a very colorful fall and the show isn't over yet. There's still color in them there leaves! 

Fothergilla with aromatic asters.

Some plants are just beginning to reach their peak of color now in early November, like the Fothergilla in the photo above. I wish the asters next to it were a bit bloomier, but the color combination never fails to amaze me. 

 

Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

My original aromatic aster continues to produce prodigious blooms--the pollinators love it, it's about the only flower that lasts this late into the fall.

 

Japanese maples on east side

Japanese maples l. to r.: Bloodgood, no Id, Full Moon

Much of my labors in the garden each fall consists of expanding and consilidating my flower beds. This year it was time to dig up the Mount Hood daffodils under the Japanese maple 'Amber Ghost' that were over-crowded. I extended the bed out and joined the 'Texas White' redbud tree to make it part of the same bed before replanting the daffodils and grape hyacinths beneath the trees.

 

Reworked bed with 'Amber Ghost' and 'Texas White' redbud.

Next spring I'll consolidate this enlarged bed with the one behind it, for one much larger island bed. The Shasta daisies in the Badlands bed didn't bloom much this year, despite the generous summer rains, so I'll probably transplant those and put them in the grassy strip that will unite those two beds on the west side of the back yard.

 

The "Badlands' in late October.

Other spring-flowering bulbs also need to be dug up, thinned and re-planted. I hope the glorious weather will hold out long enough for me to get this done before the ground freezes hard. I wonder what sort of winter is in store for us?

 

The front yard in late October.

October Tints

Muhly grass and flowers in Herb's bed.

 

 Our first frost came two days ago, several weeks earlier than last year. October was already showing its colorful tints in the woods behind our house--the trees started to turn at the beginning of the month, much earlier than last year. The dramatic progression can be seen in these two photos taken less than ten days apart.

The woods in back on Oct. 9

The woods on Oct. 17

The swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolium) usually start to bloom around my birthday at the end of September. This year the pineapple sage I planted next to them began to bloom at the same time. The two together make a nice display of bright colors. One of these days I'll find a perennial red sage that blooms at a time the hummingbirds can make use of it!

 

Swamp sunflowers and pineapple sage.

 

Over the  years, the swamp sunflowers have been spreading all over my garden. I've dug up some of them to replant in other beds, others are volunteers that have sprouted where the seeds were blown by the wind. I love their bright color and the way they complement the other plants in my garden beds!

 

Swamp sunflowers and grasses in Herb's bed on Oct. 9

Similar view on Oct. 19

Sunflowers in back yard.

Now the late asters are starting to open, lending another touch of color. The native aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) don't seem to spread as easily as the sunflowers, but the Aster laevis, which the deer like to munch a lot, may have spread to areas where the deer can't reach, to yield these very tall flowering stalks by the arbor vitae--I sure didn't plant those! It's possible the Aster laevis has hybridized with our native wild asters to produce these lovely high-rise flowers.

 

Asters with yellowing foliage of Amsonia hubrichtii.

Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

 

I divided the huge clump of asters next to the deck to add to other beds, and although they are growing well, they have not reached the magnificent proportions of the original plant you see here.

West side from the deck on Oct. 11.

West side on Oct. 17.

 The Mount Hood daffodils under the Japanese maple were getting much too overcrowded, so I started digging them up, along with the grape hyacinths around them. It seemed like a good time to expand this bed and consolidate it with the base of the 'Texas White' redbud tree I planted last spring, and join the two large island beds on this side of the yard together.

 

Expanding and reworking two island beds on the west side.

It's going to take a bit more time--it's back-breaking work to dig up the clayey sod and incorporate a load of clay-breaker material and compost. I'm only half-way to my goal at the moment. Naturally, there are other flower beds I'd like to remodel too. As my shrubs and plantings have grown over the years, the spring-flowering bulbs multiply and become overcrowded, while shrubs and perennials outgrow their allotted spaces and begin to crowd out other less vigorous plants. Some plants succumb to the usual garden pests or get eaten by deer, moles, or voles, and need to be replaced. It's a constant chore to keep a garden in balance and growing well.

 

Japanese maples on the east side (Full Moon and Bloodgood)

My Chrysanthemums didn't do well this year, they have very few blossoms. Only the deep purple-red in the front yard looks like much. I need to refresh the plants--buy some new ones or move them to other locations in the garden. Mums don't like to be in the same spot year after year, and need to be re-planted in a different location to prosper.

 

Frosty Chrysanthemums

There's still time before the leaves all come down, we're sure to see more autumn color as the season progresses.

Back yard from the deck at sunset.

Dogwood in front yard on Sept. 22, starting to turn.

Dogwood in front yard on Oct. 4, turning red.