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!

Iris and the Spring Garden

Bicolor iris in colored pencil and watercolor, stage two.

How time flies when it's spring! My garden has grown so much since my last posting, that the particular bearded iris I was in the process of painting from photos came into bloom once again, and is now fading. And I'm only halfway into the painting... Here is a shot of it in my garden this year.

Bicolor iris in my garden

It's always great to be able to work from a live subject--you see so much more detail than in a photo, even a good one. The subtle changes in color of the falls and the striation near the beard, the veining... all so beautiful! Here's a recent progress shot of my painting.

Bicolor iris painting, stage three.

So much has already bloomed and leafed out, where to begin? Here are some photos of the seasonal progression, arranged more or less in sequence, to show how the plantings are developing.

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia caroliniana)

Close-up of the Silverbell flowers

It was exciting to see the small Carolina Silverbell (Halesia caroliniana) sapling I planted four years ago bloom for the first time in early May. Such a delightful sight--I hope to illustrate this beautiful native plant soon. It's only about four feet high right now, but should eventually reach 15 to 20 feet in height.

Front garden with iris and White Dogwood

With every passing year there is more in my garden to admire, it's hard to decide what to feature. What follows is just a sampling.

Pink Dogwood

West garden seen from the deck

The beds under and around the trees on west side of the garden continue to expand. Last fall I connected the small Witchazel and pink Dogwood trees to form a new triangular bed and have planted it with daylilies (just emerging). The Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) and the Spanish Hyacinths (Hyacinthoides) at the base of the Zelkova made a nice showing this year. You can see a few pink and white bells that I added the previous year, gaining ground.

Blue, pink and white Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

Front bed by the garage

The creeping Phlox in the bed by the garage is spreading, and the purple heads of the Globemaster Alliums by the roses make for some nice color combinations. The 'Coral Charm' Peony produced more blooms this year than last, but as we got hit with a few 90-degree days, they were so short-lived, I hardly had a chance to photograph them.

'Coral Charm' Peony

During the past week the weather changed dramatically--very stormy, with close to six inches of rain--I've never seen my garden as soggy as this, the soil is positively boggy in places. Hopefully, the welcomed rains will bring on a great burst of bloom shortly. Here's what other parts of the garden look like at the moment.

Irises in the Little Indians bed.

Japanese maples in the east garden.

Coreopsis with Blue Salvia and Catmint on the west side.

The backyard island beds continue to expand. The addition of a birdbath motivated me to add some new perennials, and some annuals will be interspersed soon. The red Honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler' is climbing up the trellis and its blooms should attract some hummingbirds.

Backyard island bed.

Backyard from the deck.

Clematis and Sweet William in island bed.

The strange hangings on the Kousa Dogwood 'Rosy Teacups' beyond, are garden pots hung to weigh down its branches--a strange trick to re-shape the tree, I admit, but the branches need to be opened up for a better display. I'll end with this shot of the salad bowl growing on the deck.