Each Little World

Getting a little tired of the rain

GBBD 5.15. 2019: A day late

I spent GBBD in the garden: planting the things that have been sitting in their pots waiting for the rain to stop. I also managed to plant almost everything that arrived yesterday. We had a few gorgeous days at the beginning of this week; so everything flew out of my head except playing in the garden.

Imagine my surprise when I caught up with your blogs last night and discovered what I'd missed. I snapped these photos under a very gray sky early this morning before the next round of rainy weather began.

TRILLIUMS

If a plant does well in my garden, I tend to plant all its variations. This is the mother Trillium grandiflorum that was here when we arrived. I'm guessing it was a gift to the original home owners from their neighbors who often brought back native plants when they went to their cabin up north. I've taken clumps from the edges of this plant to start two others in the garden that are doing well. 

This Trillium is so happy in my garden that it planted itself in the dry clay where the trackhoe drove to create our pond. 

Trillium grandiflorum 'Flore Plenum' is such a slow grower that I may splurge and add a second plant to this little clump. 

Trillium luteum

Trillium sessile with a nameless Primula sieboldii and emerging foliage of Cimicifuga racemosa 'Brunette'.

EPIMEDIUMS

The Epimdiums that have been in my garden since the 1990s are now big swaths which I think I love even more than the pricey specials that I've bought over the years. 

E. rubrum grows along both sides of the driveway.

The flowers tend to appear barely ahead of the leaves but they still make a statement.

This group is mostly yellow and white varieties that have been divided over the years to create this large mass. 

There is quite a variation in leaf size and coloration as well.

E. grandiflorum ssp. koreana 'La Rocaille' from Harold Epstein's garden of the same name is planted with an unknown orange-flowered variety as you go around the corner in the above photo.

E. 'Domino' has barely started to bloom while others are almost finished flowering. 

E. x youngianum 'Pink Star' is a smaller variety which makes it perfect for the front of the border. 

E. grandiflorum 'Lilac Fairy' is a fast grower that I have divided many times over the years. 

PRIMULA

Primroses are one of the plants that I started growing before I kept track of the names of everything in the garden. I have drumsticks and candelabras and the lovely P. veris. This group  includes P. kisoana on the left and P. sieboldii 'Drag Queen' on the right.

A nameless pass-along P. kisoana from a gardening friend. 

P. juliae 'Wanda' which I bought last weekend at the plant sale of Rita Thomas, whose beautiful garden is a local treasure. 

Since Rita's plant had a name tag, I was able to identify this one already growing in my garden as another variety of P. juliae. That's Epimedium 'Crime Scene' in the background. 

On vacation

One of my sisters is in town this week, so we've been running hither and yon. I've barely opened any devices which is why I haven't blogged or answered your comments. Life will be back to my usual pace next week.

We continue to have an abundance of cool and rainy weather. But the rain has been the old-fashioned kind: long drizzly days instead of deadly rain "events." 

The weather is bringing the species Peonies along nicely. Now I need a few dry days so I can get out in the garden and enjoy them. 

Weekend work

What caught my eye as I weeded and worked on my knees in the garden yesterday: Syneilesis palmata 'Kikko', stem bottoms on Paeonia japonica, fading flowers and emerging leaves on Helleborus niger and Geranium phaeum 'Samobor'.

What I learned from this week's weather

Ignore the calendar. 

I have decided that it is no longer possible to judge what the garden or weather should be doing based on past experience. From here on out I need to simply pay attention to current weather reports and hope for the best. April is always a changeable month here in southern Wisconsin. But late snows and frosts may be our new normal, given the big snow storm we had last year on April 18th.

If frost is predicted, I always cover a few plants. But with Saturday's heavy wet snow and possible frost, I covered many more things knowing the weight of the snow could break stems and flatten a lot of tender plants. It was a one-two weather punch, but everything seems to have come through OK. 

The following photos show what I mean about April being a changeable month. 

April 26, 2019

April 26, 2018: The pink Peony and Hellebore from above looked quite different last year on the same date (two photos below).

Stay calm and let the plants carry on. 

I covered a ridiculous amount of plants last Saturday working a couple of hours outdoors while it was snowing. I used 19 containers including a cardboard box to put over plants. I threw two bedsheets and four huge contractor bags over a series of 25 bamboo stakes, mostly covering my tree peony and species peonies. A few kitchen garbage-size bags went over wire cages that were in place to protect plants from the rabbits. And I piled shredded leaves on a few emerging plants.

I've decided it was worth it to cover the Peonies given the number of big heavy buds and the height of the plants. The only Peony I did not touch was still less than a foot high and has already recovered from being flattened by the snow. I covered emerging plants that were new last autumn and not totally acclimated to their new climate having come from nurseries in the Pacific Northwest. But all my native Trilliums, the Epimediums, the Hepaticas, Hellebores and Martagon lilies did not need any special care. I covered the Trilliums because I did not want them flattened by the snow, but the ones that were not covered are just about back to where they were. 

In retrospect, I'm sure that part of the reason I crazily covered so many plants is that our garden is part of a big tour this year. I did not want to start the season with the potential loss or damage to major plants. Now I have to clean up all these containers and get the mud off the bamboo stakes — once the rain stops. Somehow I always forget about all the cleanup from covering plants!

In a Vase on Monday: Snatched out of the snow!

It started snowing fairly heavily about 10 a.m. on Saturday. It let up a few hours later and what was on the trees and the ground almost completely disappeared — until it started again! I wasn't too worried about the snow since I could go out and shake it off the plants where its weight was bending them down. The real problem was the frost warning overnight.

I spent a good two hours covering anything that I was not sure could make it through this radical temperature change. The garden was a mess of plastic pails, pots, cardboard boxes and garbage bags and old sheets draped over a network of bamboo poles on all the species Peonies and my tree Peony. Since I really did not know what would survive, I cut a random group of blooms for the house. 

. . . 

Trillium erectum in a vase by Richard Jones of Studio Paran. Note the red band around the opening of container. This one has a built-in metal frog. 

Another Trillium and another Richard Jones vase.

Trillium sessile with Fritillaria ruthenica. Note the red dot on the front of the vase, which I decided meant it had to have red(ish) flowers. The Frit is quite a bit darker than it appears here. 

Helleborus 'Sympathy' and Paeonia mairei in a vase that belonged to my late mother-in-law. That red tray was just too strong a color contrast for this delicate vase, so I changed locations. When Mark saw where I'd put his mother's vase, he snapped this photo. He liked the fact that my bouquet reflected the floral theme of my collage hanging on the wall above it. 

Helleborus 'Sympathy' is my most impressive and longest-flowering variety while P. mairei is the first of my species Peonies to flower. 

To see what other gardeners have put into a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this addictive Monday meme. 

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.  

Say it ain't so!

Another box of mail-order plants will be delivered to my house this afternoon. Got a lovely group from PDN yesterday along with bulbs from Brent and Becky. Since it is supposed to rain this afternoon I thought it would be a perfect morning to get them all in the ground. 

The overnight lows have been in the 40s so I figured I was safe to go ahead. Until I checked the weather again. Apparently it may snow 3-5 inches on Saturday and go down to 28°! Usually a late spring snow is wet and heavy but the temps stay above freezing. 

The garden is in full spring mode with Trilliums, Primula, Epimediums and species Peonies all starting to bloom. Ferns are emerging all over and lilies are up a good 4 inches or more. Protecting things by covering them is going to be just about impossible. I'm trying not to get frantic as the weather is always this changeable in April. So I am hoping this will pass us by as most of the predicted rainstorms have done all month. 

I put all my new plants inside these low ceramic pots on the side of the house where I've decided to leave them. That way I will be able to get them into the garage if the bad weather really hits here. The haul includes three kinds of Hellebores, a mini Hosta, and two kinds of ferns.

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. 

Spring foliage

After a long, snowy winter nothing is more exciting than the first foliage of the season. Whether subtle or splashy, it is a welcome sight. Things are starting to speed up in the garden so I took a little time to capture these early arrivals. 

This Polemonium reptans (Jacob's ladder) has been in the garden so long that I no longer know where or when I got it. 

I have had good luck with Erythonium albidum and E. 'Pagoda' and so have been trying a few others like this E. dens-canes 'White Splendor.' Though I will only be able to identify it for certain if it flowers!

The leaves of this variety are so subtle that they are very difficult to see when they first start to emerge through the leaf mulch. Every time I see a leaf, I stick a twig in the ground next to it so I can find it again. You can just see the twig to the left of the plant.

The candelabra Primroses always emerge bright green. The swath of baby Trillium sessile next to the Primrose are at different stages and often not variegated at this stage. It took me a couple of seasons before I realized what these little beauties were. 

Note the difference in color among these Trillium sessile. 

Erythroniums, Trilliums and Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's Breeches, below) all prefer a woodsy location. 

But all three plants have also self-seeded into the gravel paths around the garden; a location that I would have thought quite inhospitable. 

Isopyrum biternatum (False Rue Anemone) is ephemeral but makes another appearance in the autumn. 

Millium effusum 'Aureum' is a golden millet. It has emerged earlier, more colorful and happier looking than Carex elata 'Bowles Golden' which is more narrow. It took me years to find this plant and was well worth the search. It is even brighter and more glowing than this photo indicates.