Each Little World

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. 

Looking for Spring!

I was trying to figure out if the little bit of green I saw out the window was a snowdrop emerging.

But I didn't feel like clomping through the snow to get up close and personal, so I grabbed the binoculars. 

No; the green I saw was just the tag identifying the snowdrop's location. But while my attention was focused out of doors, Mark used me as a guinea pig while he played with his new camera. He was quite amused when I discovered these photos in my email!

Atlantic blues

We had such a gloriously warm day mid-month that my local grocer put a display of potted bulbs right outside the store's front doors. It was the first time that live plants had been for sale outside since the autumn. I bought two plastic containers of Hyacinth 'Atlantic' bulbs and repotted them all together in a big terra-cotta container. They've been sitting on the shelf under the big Boston fern until late last week when I realized they were about to begin their show. 

I moved the pot to the top shelf and took a couple of photos on Saturday afternoon when I got home from the daylong Resilient Landscape Symposium hosted by Allen Centennial Gardens. When Mark came home and saw me, he announced that he'd taken a photo earlier in the day (above). But in just a few hours the stems were pushing each other out of the way as their flowers opened and the plant looked quite different.

It's a glorious sight and the fragrance is as intense as the color. It borders on overpowering. 

It's provided a much more cheerful spring view than the scene out the windows which still shows a fair amount of snow. Since these bulbs were labelled by name, I went on line and discovered they are hardy to Zone 4 which means I can plant them outside when their indoor moment is over.

First snowdrops for real

When a friend posted last week that snowdrops had made an appearance in her garden across town, I thought I better start watching the location where mine appear first: right outside the library window on the south side of the house. And sure enough Friday morning, there they were. Just one clump was visible (in the lower left) pushing through the ice-crusted snow and the detritus from the Chamaecyparis that the rabbits munched on all winter under that thick white blanket. I took this shot through the window from indoors. 

I ventured outside a bit later in the day to look at the snowdrops' progress from the other direction. Despite the chilly temperature — 35° at noon — they are valiantly trying to open their flowers. Alas, they are not quite up enough to cut for a vase. With unseasonably warm weather forecast for this week, it is possible I will be able to have a vase next Monday.

If you look closely you can see all the branches bitten off with the tell-tale rabbit sign— an angled cut. And there's that pile of rabbit pellets in case anyone was unsure of the cause of the damage. 

Having watched Carol Klein tour Bressingham Gardens on the BBC recently, I noted how many of their conifers are pruned up to reveal bark and allow underplanting of bulbs and perennials. I guess my pruning has been done for me. I just need to do a little neatening up and spread out my snowdrops a la Bressingham and this bed is good to go! To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this marvelous Monday meme!

Snowdrops make an appearance

Ha! Don't be silly. We still have deep snow cover though the temperatures are finally rising up to normal for this time of year, so perhaps Spring will make an appearance. Despite the weather I do have snowdrops, courtesy of Carolyn's Shade Garden in Bryn Mawr, PA.

I have ordered snowdrops "in the green" from Carolyn Walker a few times over the years. Buying them this way — in growth — is the best way to guarantee snowdrop success according to the experts. Though it will be a while before they can go outdoors, they should manage quite well potted up by a sunny, cool window. 

I've found ordering snowdrops "in the green" has advantages that I had not realized when I first ordered some:

1. First, I get something green and growing at the moment when I am most desperate to get out into the garden, but can't yet do so.
2. Unlike a bouquet of Tulips from the grocery store, these plants will go into my garden and not onto the compost heap.
3. And most important, when I plant them out, all the spring bulbs — including other snowdrops — will be emerging. I will be able to easily add these newly-arrived snowdrops to groups of the same already in place in the garden. And I can see where there are holes at this season where I can easily slip in a few new snowdrops. Something that is very hard to do in the autumn when I could plant them as dry bulbs. By that time of the year I can't remember the spring garden at all, nor can I work well from photographs. So snowdrops "in the green" are a win-win purchase for me. 

Carolyn mailed them last Monday and they were at  my door Wednesday morning. You can see how they were packed in shredded paper that cushioned them from the slightest bump or jarring. I slowly let the shredded paper slide into a plastic bin until I could see the ziplock bag holding the plants. 

I double-checked Carolyn's receipt against my original email order to her and then got to work potting the snowdrops up. I'd brought a bag of potting soil and a group of pots from the cold garage into the house a few days earlier in preparation. I knew I would not want to work with such cold material, nor would I want to subject the plants to yet another shock.

I bought some very typical varieties like G. elwesii ex Carolyn’s Shade Gardens (a species snowdrop from Carolyn's own naturalized plantings) and G. nivalis ex Carolyn’s Shade Gardens (another species snowdrop which Carolyn described as the "progeny of the vigorous strain that has thrived on her property for over 100 years".) The pots are on a shelf under my big Boston fern. 

I also opted for two snowdrop varieties that are new to me: G. 'White Dream' (syn. G. nivalis ‘White Dream’) which have a pronounced white stripe on the leaves and according to Carolyn are a vigorous strain and should multiply rapidly. The stripe is visible on the few larger leaves but not from the angle I took the photo.

The other new variety for me is G. ‘Jonathan’ (unique single snowdrop, G. elwesii) with extra large, globular flowers and broad blue leaves. It was found in 2000 in a North Yorkshire garden by snowdrop author Michael Myers. The picture below is from Carolyn's website, but you can easily pick this one out in the photo of my group of potted snowdrops. It reminds me somewhat of G. 'Diggory,' which has large flowers but is much more expensive. 

My two G. 'Jonathan' bulbs!

Everyone is potted up with their id tags, ready and waiting for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw so they can be planted in the garden. Exactly how long a wait that proves to be is anyone's guess!

The lame duck made me do it!

Last week's lame duck debacle in Wisconsin had me in need of serious distraction! Luckily, it arrived in the form of an e-mail from Carolyn's Shade Gardens in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Her message stood out like a beacon in a sea of breaking news updates that were too depressing to keep reading. Carolyn, on the other hand, was announcing the arrival of her 2019 Snowdrop Catalog.

 

Of course, I immediately clicked on it and placed an order! I would not call myself a "galanthophile," the name given to those who obsess and obsessively collect different varieties of snowdrops aka Galantus. But I am willing to admit that I love the lore and lure around plants like snowdrops and species Peonies that have a long history replete with fascinating stories.

 

You can buy easily buy the most common varieties of snowdrops out of season as bulbs like Tulips or Daffs. But they are one plant whose success is touted to buying them "in the green," meaning right after they've finished flowering. To do that, you need to live in the UK where this is a common practice or live near a grower in the States. OR find someone like Carolyn's Shade Gardens who sells snowdrops in the green at her nursery in the spring as well as on-line.

 

The plants I just ordered will come next spring after they've flowered in her nursery. Hopefully, it will be only a brief span between their arrival in the mail and when I can plant them out in my own garden. The timing is always a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition but so far it's worked for me, having placed my first order with Carolyn in 2014.

 

 

I have had good luck with the more reasonably-priced snowdrops like G. nivalis 'Viridapice,' G. woronoii and G. 'Magnet' (both photos above are my clumps of 'Magnet') but not much luck with any of the expensive yellow ones. This time I splurged on only one variety that should make a statement ('Johnathan' below), along with some guaranteed performers from Carolyn's stock (G. elwesii and G. nivalis).

 

I will plant them in my main flower bed that gets lots of early sun and has good soil and drainage. The only drawback is that it is the farthest from the house so I will definitely have to walk up to watch for them blooming. But they will be growing near my species Peonies which are equally early and always draw me out multiple times per day.

 

CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS PHOTO

 

"The Plant Lover's Guide to Snowdrops" by Naomi Slade is one of the plant-specific titles in the excellent Kew guide series. It is a good place to get information on these bulbs and how easy or difficult specific varieties are to grow, along with any quirky cultivation information. Carolyn Walker is one of the snowdrop lovers profiled in the book. 

Wednesday vignette

This may be my favorite color moment of the entire autumn display: Crocus pulchellus amid leaves from Acer pseudosieboldianum. The flowers are much more delicately colored and more fragile looking than they appear in the photo. They would look like they were done when it got cloudy and cold and then stand upright and open again in the warm sun. A pricey bulb but worth every penny. 

Bulbs begin to arrive

. . . in the mail, not blooming in the garden. Yesterday I got a little box from Brent and Becky's which had three bags of snowdrop bulbs: G. nivalis 'Viridapice', G. woronowii and G. Sam Arnott. I have small clumps of the first two that I planted "in the green" from Carolyn's Shade Garden out east. This time I decided to add more typical fall planted bulbs. Last spring I actually marked where my other snowdrop clumps are planted so I will be easily able to know where to put these additions.

Sam is one of the largest in bloom size and height, so he's going under my dad's memorial Ginkgo tree where I should be able to see him from in the house when he arrives above ground next spring.

G. 'Magnet' (above) is coming from Old House Gardens which last offered it in 2014. It's a strong grower and holds its flowers on unusually long pedicels making for a particularly striking floral display. I've always regretted I did not order more at the time, so I was thrilled to see it available again. Here it is in my garden in 2015.

At this time of year when I am adding new plants, dividing and moving old stalwarts and putting in bulbs, all I can think about is next spring. Here we are on the cusp of autumn and all I want is to jump ahead two seasons. It is a crazy way to be thinking and yet it is that desire to see what comes next that keeps me going from year to year into — hopefully — a ripe old gardening age.

In a vase: Summer beauties

"Summer Beauty" is the name of the Allium that is happily growing here in the traffic island bed in the street in front of our house. 

A few years ago I planted a Calmintha nepeta ssp. nepeta in the four corners of this bed and put a triangle of 'Summer Beauty' Alliums on each side. The center was supposed to be filled with Geranium 'Rozanne' but a wild Geranium has been trying to take over and needs my attention. 

The only maintenance required for this bed is cutting back the early spring bulbs after they're done blooming. This floral combo does well with no attention from me. Plus the whole group is a bee magnet. They were everywhere as I snapped this photo in the early morning breeze.

Though I did not take advantage of it in this little bouquet, these Alliums are tall with very sturdy stems. That makes them useful in a variety of arrangements. 

 

The bouquet is on my bathroom vanity where the lighting for photos is not the best. That tall stem is the Calamintha. 

 Mark keeps pointing out that I'm always putting a vase here and there but I keep ignoring the Japanese bamboo container that hangs on the wall. I think I just enjoy it as an art object and forget it has another purpose. This is a clipping from my neighbor's Kiwi vine which grows on our shared fence. 

Curious about what other gardeners have put in a vase today? Then visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this most enjoyable and addictive meme.