Each Little World

In and out of vases on Monday

There are certain flowers in my garden that I prefer to showcase all on their on. This unknown Heuchera is one of them. It is one of the few that has done so well for me that I now have about a dozen big clumps of it; all the result of dividing it over the years. 

After I cut a nice bunch of the flowers, I clipped a few more pink blooms from another nearby Heuchera and added them. It was only then that I realized why I  am so enamored of these particular Heuchera flowers: The stems are a deep rosy purple instead of the more typical green.  

A recent windy, rainy night broke a couple of stems of my lovely tall Veronicastrum 'Fascination' flowers. Again, I let it shine on its own. 

Yesterday I did a little pruning on one of my Acer pseudosieboldianum trees. I decided I should enjoy the foliage and put a few stems in a big vase on the deck. They looked a little blah on their own, so I grabbed the fading Veronicastrum stem from inside the house and added it to the mix.

I bought this gorgeous fennel bulb at the West Side Farmers Market on Saturday. It is so dramatic that I felt like I should figure out how to display it. All I managed to do was have Mark photograph it so I can remember how big and beautiful it was. 

IVOM: Spring bounty

Frost was forecast for Friday night, though it only got down to 37°F, so the garden came through in fine fettle. Saturday the low was expected to be 39°F. but Weather Bug said it was 34°F. when I checked at 5 a.m. Sunday morning. Come on; we are at Memorial Day weekend. By the end of this week we will be in the mid-80°F. when it is not yet summer. The weird weather continues.

A couple of rainy days mid-week sent me to cut flowers before the frost arrived. Aquilegia 'Black Barlow' has seeded in so many places I no long remember where it was first planted. I also grow A. 'Nora Barlow' but she always looks a little fussy compared to this member of the Barlow family.

I cut a few broken fronds of Maidenhair fern and the native Thalictrum dioucum to see how they would work as foliage in a vase. After a few days the ferns were starting to fade and curl but the Thalictrum is perfect. This is a plant that seeded in the garden and I am going to start spreading it around as it is a great filler. 

'Bowles Golden' millet, a yellow Yew, a pale Heuchera leaf and two kinds of Euphorbia fill this little teacup. 

You really can't tell the flowers are from two different Euphorbias; but the difference in the garden in color and size is striking. One is Euphorbia 'Bonfire' which is about 10" tall and the other is Euphorbia palustris which is about 3'. I was totally surprised at the similarity when I put them together. 

Peony 'Burnished Bronze' is a real drama queen compared to all the soft colors in the garden at the moment. 

She looked lovely for a few days before she decided she was done. I love watching a Peony go to seed. 

I planted these Alliums at least 20 years ago and they got shaded out. But they have started to re-appear where I don't want them: at the base of special trees where it will be dangerous to dig deep enough to find the bulbs. I cut them all for a bouquet so they can't go to seed and make the problem a bigger one. I do love their ghostly beauty along with a shadow of the big Lohan sculpture. 

I have a serious amount of planting to catch up with after a couple of weeks of too hot and too cold temps, rain and very high winds. Hoping for a few days of rational weather to get some work done in the garden. 

IVOM: Before the next freeze

We got down to 31°F on Friday and tonight's low is forecast to be 33°F, so I cut flowers for indoors all weekend. 

White daffodils are my personal favorites rather than the bright yellow ones. This is Narcissus 'Dreamlight' with the peach ruffle and N. 'Stainless' below it.

I trimmed our 'Tina' crabapple and decided to add my prunings to the arrangement. 

I bring many of these daffs indoors for bouquets since they are in the bed by the street where I barely see them. Thus I never feel bad cutting them. 

This is a mix of early Iris, Muscari and Epimedium 'Lilac Fairy' with Heuchera foliage. 

IVOM: Before the frosty weather

Last week we had four nights where the overnight low was below freezing, which meant I spent an hour covering plants to protect them. It seems to have worked.

Before I started that process, I cut bouquets for the house and two for friends who I visited. All were variations on the one I kept for my self. Interestingly enough, the star of this display, Fritallaria thunbergii, sailed right through temps down to 23°F with no damage to the flowers. 

The Chinese gentleman got to enjoy the display closeup. I cut a stem from one of my Helleborus foetidus to get something that would hold everything in place. It's the greenery in the center and its flowers are not particularly obvious here. 

Unknown daffodils and yellow Epimedium flowers add a note of color contrast.  

I really put this vase together, however, to showcase the Frits. They are a pleasure from any direction.

In a Vase on Monday

I love watching the foliage emerge on our small trees, like this Acer tschonoskii aka Korean butterfly maple. 

I was clipping a few crossing branches and decided to bring them indoors to enjoy, along with my first daffodil of the season. 

A simple celebration of spring.

But nothing ever seems to bring a smile to this guy's face. 

Early birds

It has been warm enough that the early spring plants are popping up quickly. The only problem is that this coming week has overnight lows going down to 20°F.

Since they are early bloomers they may be fine with a big chill, but I don't want to take that chance. I'm covering them today with evergreen branches — just in case I am being too optimistic. The branches will be easy to remove and light enough not to harm anything. 

Iris reticulata

 One of the first Hellebores I ever bought, Royal Heritage Strain. I moved it a few years ago and it has settled in with no problems

Another old clump of Royal Heritage Strain Hellebores.

Helleborus niger 'Sunset Group' has large flowers that face outward and foliage that lies flat, making a very nice display. 

Helleborus foetidus 'Red Silver,' aka Bear Claw Hellebore, is looking gorgeous. It's come through two winters very nicely.

The flowers are usually less dramatic on mine than in warmer climates.

One of the Hepaticas finally showing some color. This one can be seen across the garden once it's in bloom.

Two clumps of Crocus tommasinianus 'Lavender Striped' emerging through the old foliage of Japanese Blood Grass. 

Erythronium 'Pagoda' are up before any of my other Erythroniums have made made an appearance. 

Luzula 'Solar Flare' interplanted with snowdrops; an idea I adopted from Adrain Bloom's garden in the U.K. The big rock has lichens all over it that are the same color as the Luzula.

Before the cold weather hits us, I made a dwarf display of these early season favorites. 

I couldn't resist placing it near this painting as the colors seemed to echo each other to me. 

In a tiny vase on Monday

For the first time in months, I was able to pick a few flowers in the garden to bring indoors. 

The first Hellebore I ever bought: Royal Heritage strain developed by John Elsley at Wayside Gardens.

A mix of nicely scented Snowdrops.

The coming week offers rain and warm daytime temps, but chilly nights in the low thirties and possibly the twenties. Still very much March weather.

Tuesday trivia

For the first time in many years, I've managed to get an Orchid to re-bloom. I bought this pair in December 2019 for holiday decor; put them out in the garden last summer until the danger of frost was imminent and then they came indoors. I followed a philosophy of benign neglect and it seems to have worked. The two plants, however, are blooming about three weeks apart so I am glad I was not wedded to them flowering as a pair again. 

I was hoping I might have Snowdrops to bring indoors this week. The ones next to the house on the south side are up, but want more heat and rain to make a show. I keep looking at them out the window but the changes are imperceptible to my eye. The weather is nice enough, however, that my gal pals and I are going to meet in the driveway this afternoon for the first time since last fall. 

The best news is that I got my second COVID vaccine yesterday and Mark got his last week. What a relief and what a thrill to know we can spend time with our vaccinated friends and family in just a few more weeks. 

In a vase any day

Just to remind you of my holiday treatment of the fireplace mantle: A beaded Christmas tree and a pair of votive lights and i called it done.

The flowers that were on the dining table during the holidays took a long time to fade.

I decided to enjoy their slow demise by moving them to the mantle and adding a dried fern leaf that nicely matched the browning flowers.

Mark enjoyed the Foo dogs so much that I added them to the opposite end of the mantle. There were just enough bits of teal in his painting that the dogs and the vase seemed appropriate partners for the painting.

I replaced the flowers went I went grocery shopping recently to complement my new painting, which we'd swapped for the little girl's portrait.

Mark decided that the new painting perfectly melded his painting with the textile filling the wall space next to the fireplace.

This is a closeup of the top of the beautiful Miao baby carrier. The Miao people are one of many different Chinese ethnic groups.

Miserable weather, miserable news. Thus I am sitting opposite the fireplace to enjoy the view before I lose myself in a book. Hope you are all managing to survive this scary end of Trump's administration. Definitely sending thoughts and prayers to Joe and Kamala.

Looking back at the garden year

I usually do a January post about the highs and lows of the prior year in my garden. I started to write one weeks ago, but could not really bear to think that much about the last year. But Kris Peterson, who gardens in southern California and blogs at Late to the Garden Party, inspired me with her recent post highlighting lovely moments in her garden each month. As she pointed out, our gardens were our refuge this past year. I don't think I've spent more time or enjoyed myself more in my garden than in 2020. Here are some of my favorite moments.

JANUARY: This month is almost always cold and snowy in Wisconsin, so my gardening is virtual. Most mornings I've started the day with dreamy stories and photos of houses and gardens via emails from the UK version of House and Garden magazine. Below: The Jinny Blom designed garden at Chalkland Farm in winter via HG magazine.

FEBRURARY: I began gardening in order to have flowers and herbs to put in a vase. I am especially drawn to containers, like this one, that look equally good with or without flowers. This was one of the last purchases I made before lockdown. 

MARCH: Our delightful pair of ducks flew in right on schedule; a moment of normalcy in this very unusual year. 

APRIL: I was delirious as each new plant pushed up in the spring and spent a good chunk of the month on my stomach attempting to capture all of it with a camera. Erythronium 'White Splendor'

MAY: I spent much of this last gardening year pulling out weeds that had become "groundcvoers" and replacing them with an assortment of native Carex species. Flowers of Halesia tetraptera (Carolina Silverbell) have fallen on the Carex in this photo. That tree came out late in the summer but I'll always remember this moment. 

JUNE: It was a glorious year for Peonies of every type. 

JULY: One of my favorite views is this foliage grouping on the slope below the Tea House. Clockwise from left front: Hosta 'Spritzer,' Cornus 'Golden Shadows,' Adiantum pedatum,  Tiarella 'Running Tapestry,' Carex Divulsa, Brunnera macrophylla 'Alexander's Great,' Deinanthe caerula and Heuchera 'Autumn Haze'  

AUGUST: My last haul from the late, and very great local nursery, Flower Factory. I can barely imagine where i will find such big beautiful plants, both the every day and the unusual, in the future. We have many good local nurseries but nothing quite like David and Nancy Nedvek's Flower Factory.

SEPTEMBER: At last my hardy Begonia is finally big enough to make a stunning statement. 

OCTOBER: Our gorgeous new deck, made of Ipe wood, was finished in time for us to sit outdoors and enjoy it until the snow arrived. 

NOVEMBER: An autumn filled with intense fall color on perennials, shrubs, trees and grasses. 

DECEMBER: This was the scene in the garden in early December and it looked the same after a late December storm. Very likely it will continue to look this way until March or April. But I am not going to think about that.