Each Little World

Spring perfection

We're in a stretch of unseasonably warm weather. That means it's great weather for working in the garden, but the spring ephemerals are bursting into bloom and won't last long at all. After waiting so many snowy months for this moment to arrive, I hate to have it pass so quickly. That said, there are treasures everywhere I look in the garden.

I discovered this Hellebore buried under fern fronds. It's a Pine Knot Farms hybrid selected for foliage. 

When I bought this, I noted their website said that the flowers were larger and more colorful than the usual species crosses. I find it hard to even notice the foliage when the flower is this beautiful. 

I love Hepaticas but have completely lost track of who's who. 

Erythroniums are another plant I love but I have not had a lot of success with them so far. That means I am confused more often than not when they appear. My best guess is that this is E. dens-canis 'White Splendor.'

Foxgloves are popping up everywhere. I've planted them a few years in a row and let them seed. I'm hoping that means I will have flowers every year from now on. 

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.

March in black and white

Late last week the weather was so beautiful I began a little light cleanup in the garden. Hellebores, like H. 'New York Night, were sending up big fat buds, snowdrops were blooming in white clumps and it seemed like spring might really have arrived.

But it is March in the Midwest, so snow immediately followed the first flowers on Monday.

It came down wet and heavy, but there's not enough of it to last. The roads were clear by mid-morning Tuesday, so we drove out to our favorite gallery to look at a group of new tea bowls by one of our favorite potters, Bill Farrell. 

We have serving dishes, large containers and many tea bowls by Bill. We have enough of his work that we really didn't need any more. But these are raku, unlike all of our other pieces by him which are wood-fired stoneware. They were too lovely to resist; a fact we were fairly sure of before we even left the house. 

By the time we got home from the gallery in mid-afternoon the view out the window showed the snow was melting on all the stonework in the garden, nicely re-iterating the tones and marks of Bill's bowls inside the house. 

Rain is predicted for much of next week, which will get rid of the snow and send the spring bloomers above ground for sure.

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. 

Good news for gardeners from Great Dixter

Readers of this blog likely know that many of the elements of our garden design were influenced by Japanese gardens. Thus, for the last twenty years, I've planted many treasures from Asia. But climate change and habitat loss have all gardeners looking at their garden with new eyes.

I'm happy to be able to say that I've composted kitchen and garden debris, mulched with chopped leaves and haven't sprayed or used many chemicals over the years. I have an old Bur Oak tree and a crop of seedlings that I'm nurturing (below), along with every fern native to Wisconsin happily romping around my garden.

But I am not a native plant aficionado nor do I want to give up all the lovely non-natives I've planted over the years. That's why I was thrilled with the information that Fergus Garrett, head gardener at the famed Great Dixter estate in the UK, shared with those of us who signed up for his webinar as part of Olbrich Botanical Gardens spring lecture series, "A Gardener's Call."

The "call" refers to the idea that gardeners need to "recognize and respect all beings’ contributions to healthy garden ecosystems." If we do that, then we will be able to support all life in the garden. I totally agree with that concept which is why I sat up and took notice when Garrett showed us that ornamental horticulture does that very well. 

Photo by Andrew Montgomery/Gardens Illustrated magazine

Garrett decided that Great Dixter needed a comprehensive biodiversity audit that would then provide the knowledge that he felt was critical to managing Dixter in the best way. It wasn't really news, he noted, when the survey showed the meadows, ponds, pastures and woodlands on this old estate were extremely rich. 

Photo by Andrew Montgomery/Gardens Illustrated magazine

The big surprise — and what excited me — was the fact that the survey found the richest part of all was the ornamental garden (above). The survey clearly showed the garden, even with its fancy floral displays, supported an extraordinary amount of wildlife. Though Garrett hadn't specifically gardened with biodiversity at the forefront, it was there as a by-product.

That means I don't have to tear up my garden and start over. I can leave my non-natives in place and add more if I want. The big lesson is having as much diversity as possible. The things I've ordered online, or plan to buy locally, range from grasses to shrubs to bulbs and perennial plants; all of which means I am moving in the right direction for diversity. Add in the fact that almost half of them are native and I no longer have to feel guilty for wanting a garden that showcases non-native plants.

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.