Each Little World

Bulbs put to bed

I ordered a limited number of fall-planted bulbs this year. Just enough to let me experiment and have that sense of surprise next year when things appear. The lily bulbs, in particular, were expensive enough that I did not want to take any chances of them being dug up and eaten by garden critters. So I put milk cartons over the spots where I planted important bulbs. Looks awful but no one has gone near them as far as I can tell — other than me checking on them multiple times. 

I still have a few of these plastic cartons that are so old I don't remember how or where I got them. Mark is always after me to get rid of them because they take up space in the garage, even though they stack. But I am always finding a new use for them, so I continue to politely ignore him. 

Cherry bombs

Sunny, temps in the 90F°+ range and dry as a bone. Though I have a stash of plants that need to get into the ground, I am doing nothing but watering; trying to keep old and new alive and well.

I planted Allium 'Millenium' late last year and this is it's first season of bloom. Dense flower heads of a most attractive cheery, cherryish pink.

Angelica gigas was just put in last week. The bees have been all over it. 

IVOM: Hostas star

I am not a big fan of Hosta flowers but sometimes they call out to be used in an arrangement. 

The bowl is bored by Allium 'Summer Beauty' which grows in abundance in my garden. 

The central display are flowers from smaller Hostas like 'Golden Tiara' and 'Feather Boa.'

Front garden vignettes

This lovely Lilium (probably L. mackliniae) would not show her face to me.  

Geranium wlassovianum is just starting to creep down the wall. I am curious to see if it will make to the Japanese painted fern and Allium 'Summer Beauty' that is just peeking in. The Alliums in this shady location are just starting to bloom. 

IVOM: Before the next rain storm

Suddenly the house was empty of flowers and yet another rain storm was on the way. So I went out to see what I could find. 

The Martagon lilies were on the downside but I brought a few indoors anyway. The Alliums were also past their peak. I don't have many, but as they no longer provided a worthy note to the garden scene, I clipped them as well.

The Heuchera flowers were just starting. I love this unknown variety with long stems and lots of flowers. They made the bouquet for me.

The fact that the lilies started dropping petals almost immediately proved their sad condition. 

Win some, lose some

The early warmth followed by frosty nights put paid to the flower buds on my lovely swath of Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse.' Only two stems are blooming out of that big patch in the garden on the south side.

The same patch last year. 

But L. martagon 'Claude Shride', along the driveway on the north side, are looking as good as ever.

In a vase on Friday

A thunderstorm with possible tornados was forecast for Saturday for our area. So I cut a lot of flowers for the house, knowing they would be a mess if we did get a big storm. We got .57" (1.44 cm.) of rain and the next day the temperature shot up to 83°F. (28.33°C.), so I was glad I grabbed some blooms at the optimum moment. 

Muscari pardoxum, an 1880 heirloom variety in the rear vase; Muscari ''Valerie Finnis; in the foreground with Brunnera.

Muscari pardoxum flowers are a very dark blue with pale yellow interiors visible as they open. 

This rogue Muscari, colored bright purple, is most likely M. botryoides.

This vase is fun to use because you can put a different flower in each opening and it has different illustrations on the front and back. 

Tulips demand to be brought indoors where they can be enjoyed up close. 

Tulip 'Rococo' has petals highlighted with purple, yellow and green. 

I bought this vase when Madison's Studio Paran closed. I knew those red lines would be perfect with Tulips. 

In southern Wisconsin, Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalus) typically bloom for Mother's Day. This year they missed that date by a week. 

They deserve a special vase like this old Mercury glass container and just the right foliage accompaniment. 

Despite their later appearance, I opted to display them with a photo of my mother, myself and two of my sisters. I believe my mom may be pregnant with my youngest sister in this photo. 

IVOM: Rescued from the weather

Our dangerously low overnight temperatures mean that all my special plants are being protected with bins and boxes. Tonight looks like our last day with a freezing overnight low temp, 32°F.

I have been holding all the plants that have arrived by mail or curbside pickup at local nurseries in a wheelbarrow and boxes so they can be quickly brought indoors at night and returned outside during the day time hours. But yesterday, I gave up and brought everyone inside mid-afternoon when it started to snow. It came down heavily enough that it began to stick to the deck and covered the roof of the fence across the back garden.

The living room is the holding spot for herbs and a few perennials.

The wheelbarrow in the garage has Epimediums, Tricyrtis and Veronicastrums.

The front hall is packed with everything else . . .

including this Rhodie atlanticum that has started to bloom.

Luckily I took advantage of more pleasant weather Saturday afternoon and clipped enough flowers to put together an assortment of vases. 

This Tulip and the Muscari grow in full sun in gravelly soil in the traffic island bed in the street. I plant and maintain this little bed which is directly in front of my house.

I have a trio of white pitchers that Ipurchased because I loved their shapes and thought they would be perfect as vases. But photographing them as a group is always difficult, between finding the room to pose all three together and enough light to show their contents in their true colors.

They are filled with Daffodils, Tulip sylvestnis, Epimedium, Fritillaria, Lamium and a Peony.

I opened the window shutters to increase the light! 

A pair of Tulip 'Schoonoord' circle Paeonia japonica with Hyacinth 'City of Haarlem' in the rear. 

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this lively and lovely Monday meme. 

IVOM: Clippings

The Hellebore leaves are full up and covering the fading flowers. But I can never just cut those stems and toss the flowers onto the compost pile; thus this vase. Most of these blossoms are H. 'New York Night'. I always thought the color and the name were the essence of big city sophistication. These days it just sounds doleful.  

The tall greenish flower with red edges is H. "Jade Tiger' and the shorter green blooms are H. niger.

But it is the two-toned grape hyacinths (Muscari latifolium) that bring it all to life. 

We have a rabbit family living under our deck and my attempts to trap them have not yielded anything. So I cut these tulips as soon as I saw them to save them from the bunnies. I don't know when I've brought tulips into the house that they did not suddenly open widely. So this vase this morning is much more restrained than I expected it to be. 

Linking to Rambling in the Garden, who hosts this most enjoyable Monday meme where you can see all sorts of spring garden flowers in vases. 

IVOM: A slow-growing season

This is only my third vase this month. Gray days and a week of overnight freezing temps have kept my garden in stasis. Last year we had snow during the last week in April so I shouldn't complain. Yet, looking back, I see a greater variety of flowers in my vases than are blooming this year at the same time.

Our neighbors have a huge old Forsythia 'Beatrix Farrand' growing next to our fence. We convinced them to prune it rather than cut it back as we love it coming through the fence into our garden. Along with the Forsythia twiglet, I clipped some Euonymous and stems of Spirea 'Golden Thumbellina'.

But the stars of this display are the daffodils, N. 'Beersheba'. This daff was introduced by Rev George H Engleheart in 1923 when he was in his 70s. It became popular, as the first all-white trumpet daffodil of its size, according to John Grimshaw. In fact, the flower emerges with a creamy yellow trumpet that fades to white. According to Old House Gardens, where I bought my bulbs, this variety "won high praise from Guy Wilson, the century’s greatest daffodil breeder, as 'a flower of arresting beauty and outstanding purity.' " I totally agree. 

Linking to Rambling in the Garden, who hosts this most enjoyable Monday meme where you can see all sorts of spring garden flowers in vases.