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.
I did not publish this yesterday on June Bloom Day as I took these photos a week ago. Hot weather, wind and rain has brought an end to most of what you see here. Our late frosts seem to have put an end to the buds of many of my lilies, so the garden is not as floriferous as I was expecting it to be.
Roses and no bugs so far. I grow this mainly for the foliage, but it will be fun to have rose hips come autumn.
A once in a life time event: Flowers on my Helleborus foetidus. Not as dramatic as the photos I always see; but I'm not complaining.
Alliums under a golden Dawn Redwood. These have unexpectedly reappeared after an absence of many years.
This Iris was planted by the family that built our house in the 1950s.
An Iris that doesn't mind its feet getting wet.
Clelmatis 'Guernsey Cream'
Peony 'Golden Angel' has golden early foliage and pale yellow flowers but these have faded to white.
Peony 'Burnished Bronze' had a record number of buds which opened in 24 very hot hours. And then were dispatched by heavy rains.
We had a bout of cooler weather so I have been digging up, moving, adding and rearranging in the garden. Lots of fun and a great way to take a break from the world.
Yes, I really did plant this daylily to echo the gold lichens on this rock.
But the chives and Thalictrum color theme is a happy accident.
Euphorbia wulfenii is a mediterranean plant for Zone 7. No way it will grow in my Z. 4-5 garden. But I have been crazy for it since the first time I ever saw a picture of it in an English garden.
It's only a couple of years after planting Euphorbia palustris at the edge of the upper pool that I realized how similar the effect is to that of E wulfenii.
An unexpected but very pleasant surprise.
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.
The temperature on both Saturday and Sunday hit the 70s, making it feel very summery. With nothing on my schedule either day — or any day in the foreseeable future — I spent more time enjoying the garden than working in it. Mark and I sipped tea in the Tea House mid-afternoon and returned to quaff gin and tonics at the cocktail hour. The days were filled with golden sunshine while the garden at the moment is full of every tone of gold.
The Beersheba daffodils have outperformed themselves this year. I love that little spot of yellow on the back of the flowers, a clue to their creamy yellow trumpets. Eventually the entire flower is white.
Fritillaria pallidiflora
Fritillaria thunbergii. This bulb was described as "a good increaser" when I bought five of them in 2015. Today they are large clumps of naturalizing flowers rising in front of Martagon lilies.
I caged them to protect them from the rabbits, not realizing the flower buds had already been bitten off most of the stems. But even a few of these beauties were worth the effort. The interior is the star of these delicate flowers.
Erythronium 'Pagoda'
An unknown Primula kisoana with Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold'
Hosta 'Fire Island'
This marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) was so sad looking last spring that I bought another, assuming this one would need replacing. I guess a miracle recovery occurred over the winter.
Peony 'Golden Angel' would never have to flower as its foliage is striking from the minute it emerges. It changes constantly, having gone from red-orange to this blazing coral gold.
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.
I remember the very first time I was able to identify an emerging plant by its barely visible foliage. It was a big leap forward in my gardening confidence. These days I have a bad habit of moving plants around at the end of the summer. I am glad, therefore, that some plants are so identifiable from the get-go that I don't have to waste any time or energy wondering what's what at this time of year.
. . .
Hepaticas tend to look like a pile of dryer lint caught in garden debris as they emerge.
Every Primula has foliage that is distinct as it emerges. This is P. kisoana which functions as a ground cover in my garden.
Primula japonica gets long leaves and pretty much works as a foliage plant most of the year for me.
It was a thrill to find the Digitalis/foxgove seedlings that I transplanted last autumn.
First up and last down are the Geranium macrorrhizum.
Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's breeches) looks delicate but is a tough plant that spreads where it wants to; as an ephemeral that's not really a problem. One plant, purchased 20 years ago, is all over my garden in sweet swaths.
Iris cristata snakes around to create a problem-free ground cover. I love the way it looks now, giving no clue to its appearance at bloom time.
Lilium martagon zooms up early and doesn't let cold or snow slow it down.
Luckily this one still had its tag. I knew what I had planted here in 2018, even if I could not remember its name or recall seeing it come up in this dramatic fashion last spring. Euphorbia paulustris, a plant that can have its roots in water, which is exactly what this is doing adjacent to the upper pool.
Being able to go out in the garden to see what has appeared or changed overnight, makes it much easier to be excited about getting up in the morning these days.
I am considering using Hellebores to replace some of my Hostas, as they need a fraction of the maintenance the Hostas require. Hellebore and Hosta foliage are rather different from each other, so replacing one plant with another is not an even matchup. They are both drama queens, however, and that's close enough for me.
My notes say this is Helleborus foetidus, but the dark slate-color foliage suggests it is the named variety, H. foetidus 'Piccadilly'.
I interspersed two Helleborus foetidus 'Red Silver' (Plant Delights Nursery photo below) amidst three plants of H. 'Jade Tiger.' It's unlikely that H. foetidus will ever flower for me; I am really growing it for the foliage with those red stems.
Helleborus x sternii 'Hot Flashes' is another Hellebore whose foliage is the reason to grow it. Terra Nova sent this to me with a number of plants to trial years ago. It has never flowered and is listed as a Zone 7 plant. But it has come through some dreadful winters with no problems. Who needs flowers when you have that kind of foliage!
Helleborus niger sent up some quirky looking foliage early in the season in 2019. Not its usual look, but it caught my eye and I'm hoping for a repeat performance this spring.
I saved a photo Helleborus niger 'Tabby' (below) the last time I saw it offered anywhere and have been waiting for it to reappear in the retail trade. I finally was able to purchase it this year at long last. It is a pricey little number but a Zone 3 plant, so it should be able to withstand winter in my garden.
This magazine illustration shows the differences among various Hellebore leaves: H. argutifolius, H. orientalis and H. foetidus (top row, left to right). H. niger (bottom row left) and foliage from a mixed Hellebore cross on the lower right.
The moment I saw this vase at Anthropologie I knew it was coming home with me. Though it has held flowers on many occasions, it really looks its best just being itself. That huge red flower exploding from the teal vase needs no competition to create a floral statement.
The red bag held a holiday treat. It was such a lovely size and color that I decided to display it rather than stashing it to hold a gift for someone else. After I added the red bag, I needed one more item to fill that empty space on the red tray.
I found the wire full of coral at the local antiques mall; buying it with the intent of using it in some kind of jewelry project. At the moment, I like the way it looks as an object in its own right.
I pulled the vase out into daylight for a moment so you could see its true tone. Taking a photo in the red room is always a color challenge.