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!

April 2024 Bloom Day

Front yard in the morning.

 

Welcome to my garden on this April Bloom Day, a day late! The 15th of each month is the day we share photos from our gardens and link our posts to Carol Michel's May Dreams blog, and April is certainly the month when the flowers in my garden are at their most beautiful! But it's been such a busy time for me that I'm a day late in posting this.

This year, my Kwanzan cherry tree didn't have its usual profuse display of blossoms... perhaps last year's severe drought didn't promote enough bud formation, and the extraordinarily windy days just before Bloom Day blew down some of the buds that were about to open. This year's display is less spectacular than usual, though the Poet's Narcissi and creeping phlox are holding up well.

 

Cherry Laurel 'Otto Luykens'

 

The Cherry Laurel provides greenery to the left front of the house, and the scent of the flowers permeates the area. 

 

Lewisia 'Little Peach'

 

Also in front, my Lewisia 'Little Peach' is offering its first flower of the season. I really like this little alpine native of the California Sierras. It survives easily in this climate but my soil is so clayey, it's safer growing in a pot where drainage is not a problem.

Going around to the east side of the house, the Hellebores are still in flower, but the star of the show is my Carolina Silverbell tree. Each year as it gains height, it gets better and better.

Carolina Silverbell tree close up.

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia tetraptera)

In the photo above you can see my new spring project in the background--a permanent enclosure for my vegetable garden. From now on, the rabbits and deer won't be getting in. The contractor is almost finished, but I haven't had a chance to plant anything in there yet. I may have the opportunity to do some of that this week but I'm rushing to complete a couple of paintings for art shows that I have to deliver soon, so my studio time will have to take priority over the garden.

We had to dig up all of the herbs and decorative plants I'd put in around the original veggie patch so that the foundations for the posts could be dug and poured; I'll have to gradually repopulate those areas, but there's plenty of time for that after I get some peas and chard in the raised bed inside.

 

Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

My Foam Flower is blooming and spreading in the east bed (I've forgotten the name of this variety).  Moving along to the back yard, the redbud tree is in bloom, with an assortment of narcissi and daffodils around its base in the back most bed. In front of that, the double-flowering Quince has a lovely display.

 

The back yard seen from the deck.

From the ground level, with the new enclosure.

Double-flowering Quince.

Dwarf iris 'Blue Beard'

Close up of 'Blue Beard'

My dwarf irises were out in force a few days ago, but by yesterday, only three flowers were left, so I snapped this photo a bit earlier than on Bloom Day.

I seldom get to see the blooms of my Fothergilla--alas, the deer love to eat them!--but last winter I put up a barrier around this bed to keep the deer from decimating the arbor vitae right behind it, and closed off their access to the Fothergilla, so for the first time since I planted it, I'm enjoying the flowers and their marvelous scent!

 

Fothergilla gardenii

Our weather has been so warm here in zone 6b that the Thalia Narcissi faded rather quickly, but there are still some left in one of the beds on the west of the house.

Thalia narcissi.

 

All of the trees and shrubs around here are budding out--I love the look of those tiny buds unfurling! Can't wait for more flowers as the season progresses. Happy Bloom Day to all of us gardeners!

After the Rain

Back yard beds.

After a good rainstorm night before last, I got up this morning to see everything in my garden glistening with dew. My backyard beds are getting ready to put on their annual display of flowers. The Asian lilies are in bud, and way in the back, a native common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) with silvery leaves is sending up a flowering spike. I have another mullein growing in the front yard--these biennials are volunteers that seeded themselves and since the flowers are attractive, I left them alone. Later on, the Cone flowers and Phlox will fill the rear bed with color.

Bed with blue starflower (Amsonia tabernaemontana) and white salvia behind.

Close-up of Amsonia

My veggie raised bed

I like to have lots of plant variety in my garden so that there will always be something to enjoy--flowers or seed pods, or foliage of different colors, in every season. Even in winter, plants can display something of beauty and interest, though spring is, of course, the most spectacular.

Looking down from the deck, catmint and Coreopsis.

Ninebark tree (Physocarpus opulifolium)

It took several years before this Ninebark tree offered its first blooms, and the dark foliage makes a lovely backdrop for them. I liked this genus so much I planted another ninebark last fall, a different variety with lovely red-gold leaves called 'Coppertina.' It will take another few years for this new one to bloom.

Foxglove beardtongue (Pentstemon digitalis)

Next to the Ninebark I planted some native flower seeds which have yielded a curious plant I'm unfamiliar with--I think it may be a Foxglove Beardtongue, but I'm not 100% certain. I'll have to check with my friends at VNPS. The plant has attractive pale lilac flowers that pollinators seem to like.

Manna Ash tree (Ptelea trifoliata) in bud.

The Manna Ash tree planted a few years ago is going to bloom soon for the first time! Above are the flower buds. This native under-story tree had a rocky start (pardon the pun) in my garden since the deer kept eating it back every winter, until I put up a barrier last winter. I think this year it will finally grow tall enough to be out of their reach. It will be fascinating to see the flowers and seeds as they develop.

The east bed.

The three Japanese maples and the fringe tree (Chionanthus virginianum) in the bed on the east side were damaged by a hard frost in mid-April, along with many of my other trees. It was heart-breaking to see this happen just as the young leaves were emerging; they are now recovering slowly, but this year's growth will likely be much less than normal.

Pink foamflower (Tiarella hybrid)

I bought the pink foam flower above last year on a whim (it was on sale), not having any idea of where to put it--this woodland native plant prefers shade. I tried it out in one spot, but it didn't do well there, so I dug it up and tried it under the fringe tree on the east side of the house, and with much watering (last summer was a dry one) it managed to survive. It seems to be flourishing now, so I hope it will prosper and begin to spread.

Plants and weather vary so much from year to year, season to season... you win some and you lose some, that's the gardeners lot!

Chilling in the Bruce, Part 3

Red elderberry blooms in the woods.

Driving up a steep curve, we explored the Edmonston Side Trail. The variety of plants made this wet wood a most beautiful wild garden: long spurred violets (Viola rostrata), possibly white trout lilies (the flowers were long-gone), foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia), wild ginger (Asarum canadense), and miterwort (Mitella diphylla) carpeted lush woods with red elderberry and alternate-leaved dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) in the understory.

Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata)

White Trout lilies seeding? (Erythronium americanum)

Edmonston Side Trail

Violets and ferns

Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

Maidenhair ferns, ostrich and sensitive ferns, the rare hart's tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrum), northern holly fern (Polystichum lonchitis) and ebony spleenworts (Asplenium platyneuron) hid in crevices among the mossy rocks.

Holly fern (Polystichum lonchitis)

Alternate-leaved dogwood

Hart's tongue fern

Northern maidenhair ferns (Adiantum pedatum)

Ebony spleenwort

A gorgeous clump of yellow lady slipper orchids decorated one place on the trail! 

At some point along the way it began to drizzle, but I was so absorbed in taking in the wealth of flora surrounding us that I didn't notice it until we were about to return to our cars. I quickly drew out my raincoat from my pack and put it on. 

Morels

As we were walking along the road back to our cars, one young lady in our group came across a huge morel (Morchella esculenta) by the side of the road and gathered it--they are fair game to pick though this is a nature preserve. I figured where there was one, there might be more and began looking closely at the ground. About twenty feet farther along the road ditch, I came across three more, a bit smaller, and gathered them. I'd never tasted one, and was curious to know if they were as delicious as their reputation has it. It kept in the refrigerator of our cottage for a few days until I was able to get our chef to cook them for me with my breakfast--they were well worth the wait!