Each Little World

Wordless Wednesday

June is busting' out all over

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. 

More than a little wet

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. 

 

 

Perfection

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. 

In a vase on Tuesday

I quickly put these vases together Sunday afternoon as rain was forecast for Monday and a high of 90°F on Tuesday. I knew that one/two punch might easily end both of these blooms. 

Raining crabapple petals

Hot weather and wind had our old crabapple tree in the front garden raining petals all week. Carolina Silverbell and a Mac apple tree in the back garden have everything coated in white. 

This is one of Mark's favorite moments in the garden each spring: When the fallen Silverbell blossoms make it look like the evergreens are flowering. 

Our 65-year-old Macintosh apple still hanging in there. 

May foliage

The garden is absolutely bursting with floral fabulousness at the moment. But there are still a few foliage plants that demand to be noticed.

Late last summer I started transitioning our garden slopes from dying, weedy lawn grass to Carexes. They way they are filling in tells me I made the right decision.

Syneilesis palmata 'Kikko' has stained glass patterning when it first emerges. It doesn't last, but what a dazzling sight for a while.

Trycirtis hirta 'Lemon Twist' is one of the shorter toad lilies. It has large yellow flowers but they tend to pull the stems over with their weight. This is the moment i like it best.

I am growing Lily of the Valley in a spot where I have managed to contain it. I do usually have to cut back the edges but no dramatic escape has happened so far. I think it's worth the effort for foliage this attractive, Convallaria majalus 'Hardwick Hall'.

For the second year in a row, I've had two plants come up with solid-colored acid yellow leaves. I'd love to move them elsewhere, but I am afraid of letting a monster loose. Plus it will be impossible to dig this one out from under a rock!

I have had wonderful success (luck!) with Maidenhair ferns (Adiantum pedatum). So much so that I am using them more and more. I've decided that there's no reason not to repeat a garden success. 

Thus I've started a patch to echo the one above on the opposite side of the garden. 

Epimediums

I am currently growing twenty different Epimediums with a few new ones waiting to be planted. Some are small clumps and a few are dramatic swaths. One can never grow too many Epimediums. They may take a while to get established, but then they are workhorses whose delicate appearance belies their hardiness

My red Epimediums (E. rubrum, directly below) and those in varying shades of yellow all seem to bloom first in my garden. It may be because they are the oldest and most established plants. 

Epimedium versicolor 'Sulphureum'

Epimedium pubigerum

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Dark Beauty'

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Waterfall'

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilac Fairy' 

May in the Midwest

A week ago our overnight low temperatures were bordering on freezing. As a result I was hauling my new plants in and out of the garage every night. Then the weather turned beautiful and I spent two glorious days planting.

Now we are back to days where the high temp is barely making it to the mid-50s. Two inches in the last two days and four inches total rainfall since Thursday. The garden is on steroids with all that moisture, but it is too wet to do anything — even weed. 

I would not really care except that I have a lot of plants that need to get put into the ground. Even in their pots, they are putting on a lot of new growth. Last Friday morning two flats (64 plants) of Carex pennsylvanica from the UW-Madison Arboretum were delivered to my front door. 

I am one of the lucky ones, as the Arboretum sale was cancelled due to COVID-19. Those of us who preordered received our plants directly from the grower. The Carexes that I planted last autumn are looking gorgeous. Can't wait to add these to the mix.

Foliage report

I spent Friday and Saturday in the garden. Beautiful weather both days, but a very rainy Sunday meant no blooms to put in a vase this morning. This is what caught my eye between bouts of planting and weeding over the weekend. 

Acer pennsylvanicaum aka Moosewood

Rodgersia podophylla 'Rotlaub' (Red Leaf) with Bloodroot peeking out below.

Heucherella  'Hopscotch'

Epimedium 'Crime Scene'

Epimedium rubrum is the first one I ever planted and still a beautiful workhorse.

Athyrium niponicum aka Japanese painted fern. I can no longer tell which one is which as they have spread and mated all over my garden. 

A short, delicate looking fern that romps around. No idea what it is. If you know, please id it in the comments.