My Early Spring Garden

Hyacinth 'Delft Blue'

 

With the Spring Equinox past, early spring manifests itself in my garden. 'Delft Blue' hyacinths bloom along the front walk, as the carpet of several varieties of sedum begins to revive from its winter slumber. 

 

Blue Siberian squill, Pieris, and young rosettes of great blue lobelia.

"Queen Charlotte' violet (Viola odorata)

Along the east side of the house, the tiny blue flowers of Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) carpet the ground near a Pieris in bloom, among the sprouting young rosettes of the Great Blue Lobelia that is spreading here. My 'Queen Charlotte' violet is reviving and spreading nicely, but so far I detect no scent--perhaps it's still too chilly for the violet to emit its lovely perfume?

Hellebore Wedding Party 'True Love'

Hellebore 'True Love'

Close-up of 'True Love'

At the foot of the 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple, the hellebore Wedding Party 'True Love' is flourishing now that it's protected from the browsing deer. As soon as the critters have enough to eat in the woods, I'll remove the barrier so I can admire it without obstructions. I'd love to grow another hellebore near this one, perhaps one with white flowers with a touch of pink on the edges. There are so many beautiful varieties to choose from in my gardening catalogs, but all are so expensive, I may have to wait until I find some on sale.

Blue grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) with 'Mount Hood' daffodils

In the back yard some grape hyacinths that haven't been browsed too much by the deer are emerging among the 'Mount Hood' daffodils, while the Forsythia's yellow announces the official start of spring. A few of the 'February Gold' daffodils in the back bed are in bloom, but most of the others won't open until a week or two later.

The back yard this week.

The Little Indians bed.

Lots of new shoots are coming up in all my flower beds--above are 'Autumn Joy' sedum with muscari and daffodil bulbs, and daylilies. I'd forgotten about the anemones I planted last year, and was surprised to find this tiny one coming up near my roses. Such a delicate little thing!

Anemones.

Bergenia buds

Front yard this week

In the front yard, the seasonal progression continues: the February Gold daffodils are finished, now the Thalia and Tazetta narcissus are just about to pop open. And, I have great hopes of seeing a few camellia blossoms for the first time--the buds are just beginning to unfold.

 

Camellia 'Kumasaka'

Spring Surprises

White wood violets (Viola sororia albiflora).

 

The last day of March brought over an inch of much-needed rain to our area. I went out to the garden during a brief pause in the rain to find this lovely surprise--the white wood violets that have gradually been colonizing the shady places underneath my deck were covered with flowers! Soon the emerging ferns will overtake them, but by that time their flowering season will be over.

White wood violets

Scented Violet 'Queen Charlotte' (Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte')

The 'Queen Charlotte' violet (Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte') has been slowly recovering from being munched by deer, and is blooming. I hope she'll multiply and start spreading soon.

Many other surprises awaited me in the garden. One of the Imperial Fritillary bulbs I planted last fall has come up, a handsome plant that promises new and unusual flowers--I've never grown Fritillaries before. The second bulb planted in another bed has not sprouted, I have no idea if it's simply tardy or if something untoward has happened to it, time will tell.

Imperial Fritillary (Fritillaria imperialis rubra)

Daffodil 'Pink Charm''

Other bulbs I planted last fall are also coming up. The daffodil above, called 'Pink Charm' turns out to not be very pink after all, more of an apricot cup I'd say, although still very beautiful. But who knows? The cups may yet fade to a color closer to pink. Overall, my display of spring flowering bulbs continues to improve every year.

 

'Mount Hood' daffodils

Yellow daffodils and Forsythia in the back yard.

Front yard before the rain.

Red cottage tulips with thalia and tazetta Narcissus

My front yard is becoming more colorful with masses of narcissus in yellow and white, and a carpet of creeping phlox in two hues is starting to fill in. The white and blue florist Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis hybrids) were up earlier, as were the charming Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii), but they are now almost done flowering for the year. The blue Siberian Squills (Scilla siberica) on the east bed bloom a little later, and are still looking good. Both of these are spreading and forming nice colonies.

 

Delft Blue hyacinth

Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

Blue Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)

It's so exciting to find these surprises every day as I go out to my garden! The Hellebore that the deer ate back the previous winter has finally produced a couple of flowers. I'd expected the emerging leaves of the Colchicum I planted last fall to be similar to the linear grassy foliage of other crocuses, but instead they are quite large and wide, more like those from a tropical plant.

Hellebore 'Flower Girl'

Colchicum 'Waterfall' leaves

 

From the seeds I collected at the Virginia Arboretum last fall and planted in pots, two seedlings have sprouted thus far. The buckeye tree from which I collected these seeds was a hybrid called Aesculus x mutabilis, and the parents were the native Aesculus pavia and A. georgiana (sylvatica) so my seedlings could be either of the parent trees.  I'm presuming, from the look of this seedling, that it's the red buckeye (A. pavia). I wonder if some of the Franklinia and Stewartia seeds will eventually sprout too? That would really be fantastic!

Red buckeye seedling (Aesculus pavia)

Camellia ' Kumasaka' flower

The one disappointment so far has been the lovely Camellia 'Kumasaka' I bought last year--covered with large flower buds last fall, it appeared to be doing well throughout the winter. But just as the flower buds were starting to open, they became blighted and began to fall off! Either severe frost burned them or they became desiccated by the recent high winds. All I managed to salvage was this one open flower that dropped off. Such a shame, the color and form are gorgeous! I'll have to wait until next year and hope for a milder spring.