Blooms Are Marching In

Grecian Windflowers (Anemone blanda)

 

I can hardly believe it's already the 15th--the fateful Ides of March! That means it's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Blog. Here in my zone 6b Virginia garden spring is coming in early, with the past week of unseasonable temperatures in the upper 60's, hitting almost 80 in the past few days!

The warmth has triggered blooms that wouldn't be open until April, like the Grecian windflowers above. The violets usually don't bloom fully this early either, but it's wonderful to see them anyway. I planted 'Queen Charlotte' several years ago, but the local deer find this plant extra-tasty, so it must be protected with a wire cage. The Sweet white violets were volunteers that somehow came into my garden and have spread nicely--the deer leave those alone--go figure.

 

Violet 'Queen Charlotte' (Viola odorata)

Sweet white violets (Viola blanda)

In the front yard the February Gold daffodils have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. The last of the purple Tommies (Crocus Thomasinianus) are still blooming too, while the other Narcissi develop foliage. The hyacinths are making an entrance with their pervasive perfume.

'February Gold' daffodils

Front yard two days ago.

'Delft Blue' hyacinth.

Blue and white Hyacinths in the front yard.

These Grape Hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) were actually planted here by the squirrels--dug up from my other beds. They have some charm next to the Creeping Speedwell (Veronica filiformis) weed that grows so profusely in everyone's garden.

 

Muscari armeniacum and slender speedwell by the front walk.

 

My Hellebore 'True Love' is full of blooms, but 'Flower Girl', which had buds develop earlier, is still not opening--it's a mystery to me, as these seem to have identical growing conditions. The only difference is the plant below is about two years older than the other Hellebore.

Hellebore 'True Love'

The Forsythia in the back yard is starting to open, and clumps of February Gold daffodils are up too. The Winter Aconite that I planted last fall finally came up, a little late in the game. I don't know if this was due to how dry last fall was, or if the species I bought, which is Eranthis cilicica rather than the more common E. hyemalis, was a factor.  With the recent warm temperatures these are already starting to fade--I hope for a better show next spring.

Forsythia bush starting to show color.

Winter aconite (Eranthis cilicica)

My Seven Son Flower tree (Heptacodium miconoides) is among the earliest of my trees to leaf out. I love its peeling bark, which gives the tree three-season interest: small fragrant flowers in summer, pink bracts in the fall and peeling bark in the winter. The Viburnum prunifolium has buds that will soon to open.

 

Seven Son Flower Tree leafing out.

Black haw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) buds.

The Glory-of-the-snow are up around the base of my red maple. Last year the deer ate them all before I even took photos, but this year I sprayed them with repellent as soon as they started coming up.

Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa luciliae)

Glory-of-the-snow.

 

I'd forgotten to check on my Magnolia 'Butterflies' in the front yard--the buds are shedding their winter coats and starting to open! I hope we won't have a frost now just as they are starting to open--it's about time for my garden to have one good year when the blossoms aren't burned to a crisp by frost!

 

Magnolia 'Butteflies'

Yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies'

 

More blooms to come in the coming months--I live for this time of the year!

March Bloom Day

Delft Blue hyacinths with strawberries as ground cover.

 

The unseasonably warm days of last week have brought forth new flowering bulbs in my zone 6b garden in Virginia. The hyacinth bulbs along my front walk have opened: 'Delft Blue' and a white variety the name of which I forget. The sedum 'Angelina' and the ground covers are still sporting their rusty winter colors but they'll soon be greening up. We need a lot of rain!

 

Hyacinths along my front walk.

The February Gold daffodils have lasted longer than usual with the cooler temperatures this week, along with a little surprise snow on Sunday. 

 

February Gold daffodils in the back bed.

 

Hyacinths and February Gold daffodils along the front walk in the snow.

 The Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae) flowers are starting to pop up at the base of the red maple.

Glory-of-the-Snow flowers at the base of the red maple.

Close-up of Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae)

The Siberian squills (Scilla siberica) on the east bed are also popping up along with the Hellebore 'True Love' and the Japanese Pieris.

Scillas with Hellebore Wedding Party 'True Love'

Pieris japonica on the right, with Scillas.

Hellebore 'True Love'

 

Despite the cold and blustery day, today I found a few tiny purple anemone buds peeking out from the mulch--the flowers are closed, but they will open on a warmer day.

 

Greecian windflowers (Anemone blanda)

 

Though not a flower, I see that the leaves of my autumn flowering Colchicum 'Waterlily' are coming up too. The scented violets (Viola odorata) died back a lot this winter, but tiny new plants are emerging.

 

Colchicum 'Waterlily' foliage emerging.

Viola odorata.

Indoors on the windowsill, the Streptocarpus 'Wow' has colorful, exclamation-worthy flowers!

 

Streptocarpus 'Wow'

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'

On Reddish Knob

Looking towards West Virginia from Reddish Knob.

 

Last Sunday I joined the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) group on an excursion to Reddish Knob, VA. This is a part of Virginia that I'd never seen before and at 4,101 ft. one of the highest elevation points in the state; the flora in this area and the views promised to be outstanding. 

 

The view south, Shenandoah Mountain.

 

The day was cloudy and cool, and the moment I got on I-81 it started to rain lightly. I had my three-season jacket with me but had opted to leave my rain jacket at home, in order to lighten my backpack--I hoped I wouldn't regret my decision later on. Thankfully the rain stopped by the time I reached the exit at Harrisonburg.

Driving on the back roads through the small towns in this area before finding Briery Branch Road, I skirted around at least a dozen horse and buggy carriages--this is the heart of Mennonite country in Virginia--they were probably heading home from Sunday services. 

 

Old sugar maple (Acer saccharum) trunk

 

Our meeting spot at the Hone Quarry picnic area was by a stream in a rich wood, and we did a bit of botanizing here before driving up to Reddish Knob. Under very large sugar maples, beech, birch and hemlock we found spurred violets (Viola rostata), miterwort (Mitella diphylla) and one very dense growth of one-flowered cancer root (Orobanche uniflora).

Spurred violet (Viola rostata)

Miterwort (Mitella diphylla) among ferns

Cluster of one-flowered cancer root flowers (Orobanche uniflora)

As the name of this species implies, there is only one flower per plant, so this cluster represents many plants growing very close together. The only part of this parasitic plant that grows above ground is the flowering stem. The forest floor elsewhere was thick with sweet white violets, Solomon's seal, Geum, sweet Cicely, Hepatica, ferns, bluets, sedums, wild yam and ebony spleenwort.

 

Wild yams (Dioscoria villosa) in rich woods

 

After we had surveyed this area, we set out as a car caravan to drive up the mountain, pulling out by the side of the fairly narrow road to look at the confabulation of flora on the banks. At our first stop a most remarkable display of Lyre-leaved sage in bloom greeted us, growing among bowman's root, whorled loosestrife, yellow-eyed grass, bracken ferns, mountain laurel and enormously tall plantain-leaved pussytoes.

 

Walk leader Sally Anderson ID's plants on the bank.

Lyre-leaved sage (Salvia lyrata) with plantain-leaved pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia)

Bowmans root (Gilleniua trifoliata) with lyre-leaved sage

Whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia)

Eastern yellow-eyed grass (Hypoxis hirsuta)

There wasn't much space for road traffic to pass by us, and as the last car in line, I could see several cars and trucks piling up on our tail, growing impatient with our pace. We finally reached a place where these could pass us so we could continue at our leisurely pace--I couldn't believe how fast the locals barrel around these curves!

At our next few stops we encountered a number of different arrays of flora on the steep road banks as we climbed: tree-sized pinxter azaleas and lovely dogwoods on the down-sloping bank to our left; starry campion, mountain laurel, wood vetch, violets, Carolina pinks, blueberries and iris on the upward slope to our right.

 

Pinxter azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides)

Bird's foot violet (Viola pedata)

Bank filled with Carolina pinks (Silene carolinana)

Close-up of Carolina pink

Dwarf iris (Iris verna)

 

As we rose, the clouds began to clear, and at times patches of sunlight illuminated the banks. Bird's foot violets, mountain bellwort, blueberries, and deerberries appeared.

 

The higher slopes.

Mountain bellwort (Uvularia puberula)

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum)

 

At another curve with wider pull-off we walked around a bit and found blueberries and huckleberries, mountain fetterbush, some gaywings, trillium and quite a number of pink lady slipper orchids. These were much smaller than the ones I've seen in Fort Valley but every bit as lovely.

 

Gaywings (Polygala pauciflora)

Mountain fetterbush (Pieris floribunda)

Pink lady slipper orchids (Cypripedium acaule)

Huckleberries (Gaylusia sp.)

As we ascended, it was as if spring were unwinding backwards--the foliage was just emerging at these heights. We stopped briefly at a bend, the intersection with FR 85, and saw a hillside carpeted with interrupted fern just at the stage when the spore-bearing fronds (sporangia) were maturing. I climbed down the steep bank for a closer look.

 

Hillside with interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana)

Interrupted fern with sporangia

Close-up of spore-bearing fronds

 

These curious spore-bearing fronds occur not on the underside or edges of the leaves as in many ferns, but in the middle of the fronds, and fall off after they ripen, thence interrupting the frond. After this last stop, it was time to move toward Reddish Knob--it was almost five o'clock. We drove past a couple of lovely stands of wild lupines without stopping.

The last part of the road leading to the knob was very narrow and steep, and began to reveal the incredible views all around. The small parking area at the top was covered in graffitti--college kids from Harrisonburg like to drive up here to party.

 

VNPS group at Reddish Knob

On the way back down, I had to maneuver to allow another car coming up the narrow road to pass--there was no way for either of us to turn around. Then I stopped to photograph the lupines before heading home.

Sundial lupines (Lupinus perennis)