The sudden drop in our daytime temperatures, to say nothing of near-freezing overnight lows, has most of the flowers in my garden in bud — still waiting for a bit of warmth of open. Thus I offer these two plants that were willing to open despite the chilly weather.
Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)
Primula juliae 'Springtime'
Our unseasonably warm weather and a bit of rain have the species Peonies bulking up quickly. These Peonies are very early in any year, but they are making quite a statement for mid-April. I have a number of different varieties, including a few that I thought disappeared and then showed up again; as a result I am definitely confused about names.
This is a seedling I moved that turned out quite differently from what I was expecting. Or was it a plant resurfacing that I put in this new spot. Just ordered a Peony book from the library to help me make sense of all my varieties.
This is P. mairei, a Chinese Peony and the first to bloom in my garden every year.
A few warm sunny days and these buds will be open.
P. japonica is hot on the heels of P. mairei.
I am assuming the tiny clump on the left is the same as the big Peony obvata willmottiae on the right. But given my propensity for moving things, I am not positive.
We are supposed to get down to 32°F tonight and low 30s for the next few nights. Very unnerving. I will be covering these and lots of other plants whose buds might freeze with such a low temp. Don't want to take any chances.
I love watching the foliage emerge on our small trees, like this Acer tschonoskii aka Korean butterfly maple.
I was clipping a few crossing branches and decided to bring them indoors to enjoy, along with my first daffodil of the season.
A simple celebration of spring.
But nothing ever seems to bring a smile to this guy's face.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We got .96" of rain overnight Tuesday. The garden needed it and looked better for it in the morning, despite some downed branches landing on plants in bloom. After it stopped raining again yesterday afternoon, I checked the rain gauge to discover 1.18" had come down in about half an hour. Our gutters were overflowing as they were stuffed with Maple tree seedlings and debris. Then it started to rain again. This morning we had another inch in the gauge. So we got a little over 3 inches of rain in not much more than 24 hours. This seems to be one of the aspects of climate change that we've been experiencing for the last few years. Not a change for the better.
When you put a plant in the ground, you hope you've given it what it needs to survive and thrive. What a thrill when it grows and turns out to be more wonderful than you ever imagined.