Leap Year Stirrings

White crocus.

 

We have an extra day in February this year to enjoy, and it seems the first signs of spring are stirring--I wanted to write this special post to commemorate the Leap Year. So many varieties of crocuses are blooming in both front and back yards! Last fall I planted some species crocuses along the back bed; the one above is a lovely snow-white.

 

Front yard with crocuses.

Deep purple 'Tommies" (Crocus thommasinianus)

Yellow species crocus

Feathered species crocus.

The pale lilac "Tommies" in the front garden are looking blowsy, as the deep purple ones begin their show. Odd, how some varieties prefer to bloom a bit later, even with the same exposure--this happens every year! My Winter Aconite has yet to sprout, I hope the voles didn't eat them all.

The deer (or maybe rabbits?) chomped off most of the snow drops, but I did get to enjoy them for a few days at the beginning of their bloom cycle. I hope they'll multiply to eventually become nice clumps.

The February Gold daffodils have started to open, and the other narcissi are popping up. The hyacinths are starting to break ground too.

 

'February Gold' daffodils

Hyacinth buds

I even found one tiny Siberian Squill blooming in the east bed.

 

Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica)

 

I'd been hoping my Hellebores would be starting to bloom soon, but the buds are still closed up tight. Yesterday's rain will help.

 

Hellebore ' Flower Girl'

 

My 'Queen Charlotte' violet is reviving and has some flowers. It's been trying to spread, but the deer eat most of the plantlets that grow outside of its protective wire cloche.

 

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

Last weekend I entered my painting of the native Pink Lady Slippers in the Virginia Orchid Society's show at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and received the third prize in the professional category--a number of my fellow artists from the Central Virginia Botanical Artists Circle also received awards. 

I couldn't resist buying this miniature orchid from one of the vendors there, the tiniest Encyclia I've ever seen--the pseudobulbs are about 3/4" and so is the tiny fading flower. The grower had labeled this as Epidendrum polybulbon, but when I looked it up, the genus has been changed to Encyclia.

The miniature Encyclia requires a lot of moisture, so I've put it in the master bath with my other orchids, next to a couple of bromeliads. I hope I can keep it alive long enough to paint it, perhaps even get it to re-bloom!

Encyclia polybulbon orchid.

 

I can't wait to see what the month of March will bring--will it come in as a lion or as a lamb?

Gardener's Bloom Day February 2024

'Tommy' Crocuses (Crocus 'Thomasinianus')

Tommies under the cherry tree in front.

It's the fifthteenth of the month again! Garden Blogger's Bloom Day--hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog is here. As expected, after the recent warm weekend there are plenty of spring crocuses popping up in my garden. Showiest are the 'Tommies' I planted years ago that have been multiplying to form these lovely clumps. Yes, I know I should dig up that dandelion there next to the Tommies, shame on me!

 

White crocus

More species crocuses

My snowdrops have finally started to come up! I planted these Galanthus elwesii ' Mount Everest' last fall, inspired by Carol's photos of her beautiful snowdrops--it was one spring bulb that my garden lacked completely. Eventually I hope these will form clumps like hers.

 

My snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii 'Mount Everest')

I also planted some winter aconite, but those have yet to come up. There is a wonderful spot at Blandy Farm Virginia State Arboretum that has a broad expanse of these lovely early flowers that I'm hoping to eventually re-create here in my garden. Here is a shot of some of the ones at Blandy.

 

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

My Hellebore 'Flower Girl' is sporting its first buds. The buds of my other Hellebore, 'True Love' are barely perceptible, but you can see them just emerging.

Hellebore 'Flower Girl'

Hellebore 'True Love'

 

My hybrid witchhazel 'Diane' is showing its reddish blossoms, and the native witchhazel too. Both of these were planted as very small saplings; I hope to be able to get rid of the deer barrier later on this year as "Diane' gets taller.

Witchhazel 'Diane'

Native witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

Hard to believe that this is what my back yard looked like just two days ago on Tuesday morning after the overnight rain turned to snow!

 

 

But today it's a different story--the green shoots of  Daffodils and Narcissi are popping up--the February Gold' Daffodils will be opening soon! With the weather so changeable at this time of the year, I leave you with this sign filled with hope for the spring blossoms to come.

Green shoots of Daffodils.

Skunk Cabbage Flowers

Skunk Cabbage flowers (Symplocarpus foetida)

Skunk Cabbage flowers.

 

Yesterday I went out with the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) to a site new to me: the Cool Spring River Campus of Shenandoah University. Cool Spring was the site of a famous battle during the Civil War that took place in 1864, and was acquired by Shenandoah University in 2013 as a way to preserve the historic battlefield. The 195-acre parcel lies along the eastern shore of the Shenandoah River and contains many lovely old trees and fields.

Our excursion focused mainly on the Skunk Cabbage that is currently flowering. The Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetida), a member of the Arum family, produces a curious flower consisting of a spathe that contains a spadix, which has numerous small flowers along its surface.

This plant exhibits one botanical oddity: it is thermogenic--it can generate heat from cellular respiration alone. The flowers, which emerge in early spring, can melt snow on the ground. This allows the spadix inside the ovoid-shaped spathe to maintain a constant temperature up to 20 degrees higher than the ambient air, for optimal development of the flowers. The female flowers in each spadix mature first, then the stamens emerge, thus preventing self-pollination.

 

Skunk Cabbage Spathes emerging from the muddy ground.

The morning started out with a bit of rain, but by afternoon, when we assembled, the rain had stopped and it was unseasonably warm--about 64 degrees. Gradually the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful afternoon. 

There wasn't much to see here--botanically speaking--except for the Skunk Cabbage, so after a while I peeled off from the group and got my sketching gear from the car while the rest went on to explore the trail along the river. 

 

Field sketch of Skunk Cabbage flowers, watercolor, 6" x 9".

 

I set up right by the first couple of flowers--the stinky scent was perceptible, particularly the pollen when touched, but it was not overwhelming, thank heaven. Bees were buzzing around the flowers, despite the fact that they smell like carrion and are supposed to be pollinated by beetles or other ground insects. The colors, particularly the mottling, were challenging, and the shapes too. I spent about an hour creating my small sketch. By then the sun was coming out, but it was a bit late to rejoin the VNPS group, they were just returning from the river trail.

 

The river bank

I continued on the trail along the river on my own. There were many lovely old trees here, many of them Sycamore maples of noble proportions, and many people were about, enjoying the first stirrings of spring. It hadn't rained for a couple of weeks, and the water was crystal-clear.

 

Old Sycamore maples along the river.

Trail along the Shenandoah River.

I got back to the parking lot a little after four, as the clouds were starting to move in again, and headed home. This is a promising new area for botanical sketching, I hope to return when the spring ephemerals begin to emerge.

The First Snowdrop

 

Giant Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii 'Mount Everest')

 

Giant Snowdrop 'Mount Everest'

 An extraordinary break in the weather sent the thermometer up to a delightful 72 degrees today! I took the opportunity to look around my yard to see what, if anything, might be sprouting, and found the first blooms of the Snowdrops I'd planted last fall.

Nearby was one small species crocus flower--yellow with purple feathering on the outer petals.

 

Yellow Crocus

Along the bed on the east side of the house I saw that my Hellebore 'Flower Girl' was displaying its first bud! I planted this one the fall before last, but it didn't bloom at all last spring, so this will be its first flower! Let's hope my plant will bloom profusely later on.

 

Bud of Hellebore 'Flower Girl'

My other Hellebore, 'True Love' is well-established now, and bloomed well last year; I hope it will do as well this spring, but I've yet to see any buds on that one. The buds of the witch hazels are still tightly closed, but the early daffodils are starting to nose up through the mulch. I hope the coming weather won't be so inclement as to blast all these buds. After all, we still have two more months of winter to get through... somehow it seems harder to accept that after getting a taste of spring with a beautiful day like today!

Gardener's Bloom Day, January 2024

Dried Hydrangea blossoms with snow

 

It's Gardener's Bloom Day once again, sponsored by Carol Michel's Blog "May Dreams Garden." What a lovely surprise to wake up to see about an inch of snow on the ground this morning! It's been two years since we had any significant snow here in my USDA Zone 6b garden. I believe we're supposed to get another 1-3 inches tomorrow, let's hope. I love having a bit of snow cover at this time of the year, it seems fitting and proper.

 

Princess holly, lavender and barberry shrubs.

It was about 23 degrees outside when I took these shots with my phone--why won't these phones work when you are using gloves? My hand was an icicle by the time I got back inside!

 

My cut-leaf Japanese maple 'Viridium'

Muhly grass with dried perennials.

The Little Indians bed.

The west bed with sedge and grasses.

I love the way some plants look when they're dusted with a bit of snow, but there are definitely no blooms here to be seen, unless you consider these "snow blossoms." Indoors, however, I always have a few flowers to console myself with. My collection of indoor plants is a weird mix of exotics and very eclectic, so here we are.

My Gardenia Tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata 'Flore Pleno') likes to bloom at this time of the year--I suspect this may be its blooming season in its native habitat in southeast Asia. The flowers have the most marvelous perfume for the first 6-8 hours after opening--after that the perfume fades.

 

Gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata)

 

My home-grown orchids continue to bloom: the oddly colored hybrid I bought at a roadside stand in Florida is probably a hybrid of Oncidium and another species. I brought it into the master bath after the flowers opened to enjoy its blossoms. The other orchids have been blooming for a couple of months now. The plant stand in the family room below is where most of my orchids live--as you can see I have collected quite a few over the years, mostly as presents, and a few from my botanical art classes. My students love to paint orchids, even though they're really difficult flowers to render.

 

Mystery orchid in the master bath.

Miltassia orchid flower spike.

Phalaenopsis on plant stand in family room.

Here are a few other blossoms: an Anthurium one of my sisters gave me, and a Brazilian begonia. I bought the latter because it was touted to have perfume, and I'm a sucker for perfumed flowers, but it has disappointed. This specimen, at least, has no scent that I can detect, but likes to bloom during the winter, which few begonias do.

Pink Anthurium

Brazilian begonia.

 

Someone gave me a waxed Amaryllis for Christmas but the downstairs of my house is so chilly it's taking its time to open. I thought it would be interesting to document the process of the buds opening in a painting, so that's what this last photo is about.

 

Waxed Amaryllis and painting.

I'm saving the center of the painting for the fully open flower, which will probably happen later this week. I'd love to save the bulb to grow, but have no idea if these bulbs will survive if potted once the blooms have faded. I have about four pots full of red Amaryllis bulbs that re-bloom every spring, but I don't know if these waxed ones will grow if freed from their wax covering. Have any other gardeners reading this tried it? If so, I'd appreciate any advice!

Not A Snowy Day

 

Bits of ice and snow on ground.

I had really been looking forward to seeing a nice picture-postcard snow yesterday, on January 6--it would be the first snowfall of the year. We've hardly had any snow in the past couple of years. But mother nature did not grace us with the lovely snow I'd hoped for. It started to come down as sleet--tiny BB-sized pellets, which adhered only our deck and the mulch on the flower beds. After a few hours of that, some actual snow descended, but the big, wet flakes lasted only for about fifteen minutes and then turned to rain--a slow drizzle.

With the temperature hovering around 32 degrees, the rain froze slowly, leaving droplets on the branches, and tapered off in the evening. When I got up this morning, the ice crystals shimmered on the trees, making the foggy morning seem even colder than it was. I didn't get out to take photos until the ice had melted quite a bit. What there was, was interesting, but hardly spectacular.

 

The cherry tree in the front yard.

The yard on the west.

The back yard this morning.

 

Hard to make photos of some remnants of ice and snow look interesting. But, taking a closer look at some of the frosty vegetation, one could find some pleasing sights, like the icing on the pavement and ground cover.

 

Ice crystals on the front walk.

 

Some of the small evergreens looked particularly lovely with their icy decoration. The red leaves of the dwarf Nandina are gorgeous at this time of the year! I guess we'll have to hope for a better snowfall the next time around.

 

Dwarf cypress

Frozen blue rug juniper

Dwarf Nandina.