Each Little World

In a Vase on Monday: The last Peony

I knew our weekend of heat and wind, followed by rain and cold was likely to put an end to the flowers on my remaining Peony. When I brought P. 'Soft Salmon Joy' indoors, it was loosely closed and covered in raindrops. I'd barely got it into this blue gray tea bowl before it opened so wide I thought it might lose its petals. 

It didn't, which gave me time to add Heuchera foliage and Tulip stems to the Tea bowl. It has been sitting on the mantle partnered with this vase by the same artist, so I thought I should fill the vase to let them remain a pair. 

I used more of these Tulip stems which I discovered by accident out in the Traffic Island garden, where I'd forgotten to cut the dead flowers off. I love their curves and the green color fading into cream and pink. 

The vase includes Peony foliage and two stems of Heuchera 'Blackberry Crisp'.

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what other gardeners from here, there and everywhere have put into a vase today. 

The last Tulips

I planted a mix of Tulips under our weeping Beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountain') to complement its emerging spring foliage.

They are planted among Astilbes whose early foliage is bronze-purple. I hoped that might confuse the rabbits, but the Tulips came up much faster than the Astilbes. Thus I caged the flowers as they came up to protect them from our marauding rabbits.

The Tulips are 'James Wild', 'Madras' (below), and 'Prinses Irene' (bottom).

I decided it would be too hard to fit the cages back over the Tulips and into the Astilbe foliage if I took them off for the pictures. Wrong decision. New rule: Always remove cages before snapping a photo.

Sugar shock

Yikes! What gardener planted those sweet Muscari 'Valerie Finis' all around that clump of dwarf Bergenia 'Pink Dragonfly'? Makes my teeth ache every time I walk by.

Clearly I'd forgotten the bloom color of the Bergenia when it came time to plant the Muscari in the autumn. 

IVOM: Color

We've had so much cool, gray and wet weather that spring ephemerals and bulbs have lasted a long time. In the case of many of my Tulips, it's more accurate to say that it has taken them a long time to come into full bloom. Now it feels like overnight they've exploded into bright bursts of color.

These are 'Prinses Irene' with a single red one that may be 'Rococo'.

T. 'Purperkroon' is joined by a slightly shorter black parrot type Tulip while the redder T. 'Rococo' continues to hold the bottom line. 

To see what others have plucked from their gardens to put into a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this addictive Monday meme. 

The best of the rest

My day-late posting for GBBD was so long that I cut it in two. Here are some of the other things having their moment in the May garden. 

. . .

None of my other Brunnera varieties put on a display like B. macrophylla 'Alexander's Great'. This year it is living up to its name.

Iris cristata is just beginning to put on its show. The sun needs to come back for the blue river to start flowering. The weather forecast is rain for the next few days.

A successful experiment: Euphorbia palustris will grow in up to 2" of water. Last summer I planted this one at the edge of the upper pool and it made it through the winter and is about to bloom.

Neither of my Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' are as big as they usually are at this point in May, nor are they putting out many flowers. That leaf color still adds a big jolt of drama.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Valentine' has suddenly grown into an impressive specimen. Up until this year, I've always found it to be a disappointment. 

Viola labradorica looking lovely. 

The last flower on Glaucidium palmatum. As the petals fall and age, they turn almost blue. 

My neighbor's Pulmonaria is invading the street side bed where I have Narcissus 'Dreamlight,' a very late blooming Daffodil. Though I am not crazy about Pulmonaria's invasive tendencies, it does go well with this daff. 

Just planted this foxglove, Digitalis x 'Goldcrest', a couple of weeks ago and it has settled in nicely. Since it is a sterile hybrid, I am hoping it will grow big enough to divide. I'd love to have a group without having to buy multiple plants. 

IVOM: Tulips at last

Peony japonica, Tulip 'Schoonoord' and the last Hellebore 'Sparkling Diamond' all blooming at once. More signs of a quirky Spring. 

P. japonica has flowers all open about this far. The cool weather is keeping them from exploding which is nice; but I am ready for some warmer days. 

The lovely yellow dangling bells (above) are Fritillaria pallidiflora. This stem grew in a marvelously twisted direction so it hung down when put in the vase. 

Hellebore 'Sparkling Diamond' looks as good going to seed as it does when it first blooms. 

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, stop by Rambling in the Garden where Cathy hosts all of us who don't mind clipping a few blooms from our gardens to put in a vase indoors. 

What a difference a day makes

I was out in the garden at 10 a.m yesterday as the snow fell trying to cover any plant that I consider too valuable, too new or too much a favorite to take a chance on losing it to a late spring frost. The snow was heavy enough that I went out again a couple of hours later to clear it off of the Peonies and Martagon lily foliage. 

I used plastic buckets from the big box store to cover a number of plants. This one is over a Glaucidium palmatum that was just beginning to flower. It looked lovely next to the clump of Trillium and the little species Tulip. 

The Martagon lilies are too high and wide for me to find a good cover for them. They've come through some cold spring weather when they've been up like this before, so I am hoping they can do it one more time.

Plastic garbage bags are draped over wire cages that were already in place protecting Tulips that were just beginning to bloom. I surrounded my tree Peony with bamboo stakes and then carefully slipped a big contractor's garbage bag over it. 

Paeonia japonica waiting to be covered with a sheet. 

Paeonia mairei's flowers were all open on Friday. I'm hoping a big sheet draped over the plant will let them live a few more days. It will be soooo frustrating to have waited a year to only be able to enjoy them one day. 

Erythronium 'Pagoda'.

The snow was about an inch deep at 6:30 p.m. when I took this photo. 

The sun was shining and the snow was slipping off the trees when we got up this morning not long after 6 a.m. Mark checked Weatherbug and said it appeared the overnight low only dropped down to 31 degrees. I don't know where he's set his reading, but my West High School location said 28 degrees. I'm waiting until it warms up a bit more before I go out and uncover anything. Time will tell who made it through what is hopefully our last snow and frost.  

Just the right amount

We've haven't had our typical April showers, so last night's .78" (1.98 cm.) of rain arrived at the perfect moment. Every time I stroll through the garden there is something new to see and this rain is just what they need. 

Plus the temperatures are going back down from the crazy highs we had the last two days. Of course, they're going lower than normal for this time of year but not low enough to cause problems. That should help my spring ephemerals stay around long enough for me to enjoy them. The first Erythronium albidum opened yesterday. 

Early bloomers

Warmer weather has sparked blooms on a number of early risers throughout the garden. Despite Monday's high, this is April in Wisconsin which means wildly fluctuating temps. Lots of plants are poking out a toe to check the temperatures but only a few have made a splashy appearance. 

The flowers above and below are both Crocus tommasinianus, growing in the same border but looking surprisingly different from each other. 

Galanthus nivalis flore pleno starting to fade. 

A lone Galanthus 'Magnet'

The real surprise in the garden over the weekend was the explosion of Hepaticas. Most are still tightly closed but I counted buds on eight plants. This beauty is H. maxima which has fuzzy new leaves that can get as large as 4" wide. If the plant is left in one location to establish it supposedly can produce a clump 18" wide. This variety is native to Ullung Island off Korea. 

Helleborus niger, my Thanksgiving bloomer whose buds have been buried under the snow all winter. 

Helleborus no i.d. I know I moved this from elsewhere in the garden and it has done well in its new location. I believe it is a 'Royal Heritage' strain but who knows for sure. 

The end of March and hopefully, winter as well

If you don't live where it snows all winter long, you probably don't realize what it looks like at this time of the year. Anywhere that does not get direct sun means the snow melts very slowly. 

The stone steps up into the garden are still deeply covered in snow and may take another week to be clear enough to use. The last picture I took of these steps was March 19 and the snow was still up to the top of the rock walls, so progress has been made.

Down at the street end of the driveway, Mark piled a lot of snow from our driveway each time he cleared it after a storm. But the city plows really load up my garden that runs along our street. We don't have sidewalks so I garden right down to the curb. 

That metal post is a sign limiting on-street parking by our house because of the traffic island in the center of the street. Take a look at the area to the right of the post where the snow has melted. Matted down leaves topped with sand, salt and general street debris.

It's like that the length of our property. That snow is dirty, crusty and hard as a rock. Look at all that debris at the edge of it.

The same crud is all over my beds. Many years I would come out here and literally roll up these matted leaves in a big spring cleanup. Then I would put down lovely leaf mulch from the botanical gardens here. But the advent of jumping worms in our area put a stop the the garden selling mulch. It took away much needed income for the public gardens and a wonderful source of mulch for local residents. 

I am hoping I have enough of my own unused chopped leaves from last fall, that I can try to clean out the mess and replace this layer with a clean one. The Geranium macrorrhizums planted here tend to fill in pretty solidly so mulch is not really a big issue. But last summer I pulled out some old Hostas and put Geraniums in their place and those spots are definitely going to need mulch. You'd think nothing could make it through this mess, but some plants are indomitable.