Each Little World

A break in the weather

The forecast for today's high temperature has dropped to only 92°F instead of 94°F, but it's not enough to draw me outdoors. We're supposed to go back down into the 80s and even a few days in the 70s next week. We'll see if that really happens, but I'm hopeful.

I spent Tuesday evening sweating my way through beautiful local gardens of members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society that were open to visit. The next morning I was up early to make a 7 a.m. bus departure for a day-long WHPS trip to Chicago-area private gardens and the wonderful Chicago Botanic Garden. Too hot and sunny to get many good photos but I managed to snap a few to share at some future date. For now, here's Hemerocallis 'Little Grapette' and Lilium landini in my garden after the rain. We've had a little over two inches in the last two days with more forecast for the weekend. 

June rain

Yesterday's late afternoon storm was nasty enough to keep us home from the WHPS garden tour but only dropped .23" rain. It was raining heavily when I woke up at 7 a.m. this morning. It was so dark outside I slept an hour later than usual. We're not sure when this latest rain started but the gauge held exactly an inch when I went out at 10:30 a.m. to check it. If it had kept on raining before I emptied the central receptacle, the water overflows into the big container which can hold quite a lot. Looking at the average June rainfall total (4.53" / 11.50 cm.) we're right on the money with 4.55" ( 11.55 cm.).

Lots to see as I walked to the back of the garden to check the rain gauge, including the fungi on our Macintosh apple tree planted by the original homeowners in the mid-1950s. Alas, the tree does not have many years left.

Those white blobs on the ground are Stewartia flowers. The tree begins to bloom on the highest branches and it is these fallen flowers that alert me to pay attention.

This big clump of Tricyrtis latifolia is an early bloomer. I caged it when the bunnies started nibbling earlier in the spring. Don't like the look of this elegant, arching plant constrained by wire. 

My big clump of Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R.O. Backhouse' got splayed out from the wind and the heavy rain. All the stems are leaning on other plants. They were rather top-heavy as our temperatures in the 80s this week opened all the flowers very quickly; much faster than I'd been hoping. 

The groups of the same plant on the sloping hillside by the Tea House did not suffer the same fate. Maybe the building protected them from the wind. 

We're supposed to have perfect summer weather this weekend followed by four days of potential rainstorms. I've got a little over a month to get ready for this year's big garden tour and there are still some places looking more than a little sad from two bad winters. So I won't complain about more rain as it will give everything a better chance of surviving July's hot weather.

Martagon season

I am guessing that — like me — many members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society fell in love with Martagon lilies when our former president, Frank Greer, talked about them at one of the many wonderful WHPS presentations he gave over the years. Recently someone wondered what Martagon lilies look like in bloom after I posted a photo of them in bud on the WHPS FB page. That sent me into the garden to capture them as they began to open. The buds are a clue to the color of the flower, becoming more pronounced as they get closer to opening. 

I originally planted eight bulbs to see if they liked my garden and now must have more than thirty flower stems. 

This peachy-pink variety is Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse' 

The coloration is quite different on the front and back of the petals which adds to their visual interest. 

The original group has increased enough that I have been spreading the bulbs around for the past few years. I thought that orangey color would look well against the warm stucco of the Tea House. I've planted them all down the slope.

This group is Lilium martagon 'Claude Shride'; again you can see the buds announcing the flower color. 

I planted five bulbs originally and haven't a clue to how many plants are now blooming in my long border. 

The color of this variety is a deep, intense red that looks lacquered it is so shiny. These lilies do not have the strong fragrance of Oriental lilies. But on a warm day, a gentle breeze definitely wafts a delicate fragrance. 

 This pale-colored variety suddenly appeared among the red flowers last year. I marked their location so I would know where to look for them this year. I think they may be L. martagon 'Guinea Gold'; perhaps a random bulb that has been buried for years and finally made an appearance when it got to bloom size. Who knows. But I plan to move it to an area where it can shine on its own. 

In almost twenty years of growing these lilies, I've never had to cage them as the rabbits ignore them. I recently read that your should add lime to the soil when you plant them but I've never done that.

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.