Each Little World

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. 

End of the month views

I used to publish end of the month views of specific areas of the garden as I was designing and planting them. They were an effective record of what I had done and how well it was working. I've gotten out of the habit of taking garden photos with these kind of broad views and they are really important documentation. They help me remember in the dead of winter if I need to add or subtract anything when I am making plans and ordering plants.  

Obviously I missed the end of the month, so perhaps I will start an "almost mid-month" posting. This post includes photos taken from May 22 to June 6. They are all of the Tea House garden which has had a lot of attention in the last few years. I am standing on the west edge of our deck looking at the bottom edges of the Tea House garden.

Essentially the same view as above just closer in and taken two weeks later. The empty spot at the edge of the little stone border is where one of the dwarf Ginkgoes is growing. Its branches touch the ground so I don't let anything grow under it to obscure it.

I've just moved a few feet and am standing against the back of the house with the Tsukubai in front of me. I am standing behind the ferns and Hostas on the right side of the path in the first photo. The Hellebores in this area performed very poorly, leaving a number of holes that I expected to be filled with luscious big clumps of deep green Hellebore leaves. 

The big brown area below is where our bamboo died back. We are digging that out since it takes about 3 years to completely recover. In a spot that visible we need something more reliable which is why I'm replacing it with an evergreen ground cover: Juniperus 'Blueberry Delight'. There's a non-performing Hellebore in front of the blue Hosta which will fill that space eventually.

The area in front of the mica rock and the Cornus alternifolia 'Golden Shadows' is where the ivy I brought from my grandmother's garden died. I'm going to dig this out one of these days. I'm still deciding what to put in there. Maybe a Hosta with some yellow patterning. And I'd like a few Geums at the right front and side of the rock. More thinking needed here before plants are purchased or moved.

Even though I feel like some serious attention needs to be paid to this area where the ivy died and the dwarf Solomon's Seal is encroaching, I must admit this area has come a long way from this view of the same location in May, 2015 when the dominant plants were Sweet Woodruff, the dwarf Solomon's Seal and ivy.

What I think of as the back edge of this garden is the area that runs along the fence path. But as one walks there and looks back down at the Tea House slope it is a lovely view — if I do say so myself. This photo was taken on May 25th this year.

Here's what it looks like this week. 

And here's the view from 2015.

The Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse' will be opening any day now. They are a peachy pink that echoes the color of the Tea House's stucco walls. 

I'm standing on the steps that go up to the Tea House and looking back toward our house with the dead bamboo making that nice brown spot on the right. Hostas and Hellebores should fill the other open areas if they ever recover from the winter. 

This is a view toward the Tea House across the length of the pond. This is the area where we moved the bench that used to be on the deck. Now we can sit here and enjoy a different view of the pond than the one we see from the house and the deck. 

In a vase on Monday and everyday

Spring is the season when there are more flowers than I can enjoy if I don't bring them inside. Especially this year with the crazy hot weather we had in May, blooms were opening and dying in a matter of a few days. So the house has seen vases coming and going as quickly as something new came into bloom. Here's a sampling of what I've brought indoors from mid-to-late May. 

These little jester's caps are the first stage of the seedheads from Paeonia japonica. 

Love this image where you can see all the details on the ceramics as well as the polychromed Thai "cave monk" figure in the corner and the dark silhouette of the metal advertising figure leaning against the fireplace.

I almost always let my bouquets keep going well after they've lost their good looks. It's Mark's favorite stage!

Now that it's June, one of these days there should be lilies to put in a vase. To see what other gardeners have created in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this magical Monday meme. 

New growth on evergreens

Despite having a lot of dieback and even losing some evergreens this spring, the ones that made it though the winter are growing gorgeously. There is nothing quite as lovely as the new growth on evergreens. This beauty is a weeping Norway spruce (Picea babies 'Pendula').

Just across the driveway from the recently planted spruce is this 'Golden Splendor' Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis 'Golden Splendor'). Got this gem from Heronswood for $6.00 in 2002 and it clearly suffered no damage from the winter. It's growth habit is quite airy and it's about 10 feet tall or so. Those are yews in front of it and just to the right of the Hemlock is a golden Dawn Redwood that is out of view. 

Virtually all of the Hemlocks came through the winter with no problems as you can see from this 'Ashfied Weeper'. This one drapes over the waterfalls between the upper and lower ponds. More yews on the right and some glorious marsh ferns (Thelypterus palustris).

I have three of these lovely dwarf Japanese Hemlocks (Tsuga diversifolia 'Loowit') planted in varying amounts of sun and shade; all happy and healthy. Theses have an irregular shape and will be about 18 inches tall x 2 feet wide in ten years. 

Don't blink or you'll miss it

The extremely hot and sunny weather we've been having has pushed flowers into — and quickly out of — their bloom cycle. From hour to hour I keep discovering something has suddenly opened. So here's a look at what I've been enjoying in the garden recently. 

. . .

This spring I cut Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' way back as I wanted to add a cylinder of chicken wire around the upper part of the wooden post that supports the climber. It doesn't have as many blossoms as in past years, but it has many more on the back side that I can see from inside the house. So I am happy with my handiwork.

The view west over the upper pool with lots of lovely new growth on the Serbian spruce and a clump of pale yellow iris that blossomed for the first time this year. The tiny green plant in the bare space by the iris is a baby species peony. In a few years it will entirely fill that area. 

The iris and spruce tree from the above view are in the back right of this image with an old Rodgersia enveloping its rocky neighbors. 

Lilies and Astrantia awaiting their moment to shine in the Sacred Grove. The old trees that inspired the name for this area of the garden, alas, are almost all gone now; victims of age.

Directly across the pine-needle path is Cyprepedium 'Aki Pastel.' This lady slipper orchid is finally settling in and giving me more than one flower. Quite exciting. 

Still trying to decide exactly which Trillium this is. Anyone know? Looks very nice with Hosta 'El Nino'.

Trillum luteum is always the last one to bloom for me. It held up to the intense heat amazingly well. You can tell how late this blooms because that is an Autumn fern coming up behind it. That fern is so late I mark it so I don't think something has died and left a hole to fill.

Nectaroscordum tripedale aka honey garlic! Absolutely adore these beauties. The only ones that have succeeded out of the 5 I've planted so far are these two. This is their 3rd year so maybe I should stop looking for the others. 

Lilium mackliniae, pink form, just planted this spring. It arrived from Far Reaches Farm in full bud.

I caged Geranium phaeum var. lividum 'Joan Baker' after I discovered the first flush of buds had been nibbled away. Geranium phaeum varieties seed a lot if you don't cut them back after flowering. But they are among my favorite plants, so I let 'em rip and pull out unwanted seedlings later. 

When I went out in the early morning last Thursday (5/24) the huge flowers on my rockii-type Peony had closed overnight. 

This is what they looked like later in the morning once the heat and light increased.

The last flower bloomed Sunday (5/27).

Lots of lilies are reaching skyward and should soon present a completely different scene in this area of the garden.

Calm, cool and collected

The Maidenhair fern, that is. Definitely not this gardener. I'm hot and bothered and trying to prepare myself for whatever unusual weather hits us next. 

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Madison hit 90 degrees F. (32.22 C.) or above on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Four straight May days have not reached the 90-degree mark since record-keeping began in 1869, according to the weather service.

Two of those four days surpassed the previous highs for the dates and one tied the record:

• Madison recorded 90 degrees on Saturday, short of the date’s record 91 degrees set in 1978
• 95 degrees on Sunday, beating the date’s record 94 degrees set in 2012
• 93 on Monday, beating the date’s record 92 degrees set in 1991
• 91 on Tuesday, tying the date’s record set in 1991

It's supposed to rain today and temps are expected to drop down closer to normal for the next ten day, which will be a relief. I know I'm not the only one experiencing weird weather but it is getting more than a bit demoralizing. 

One lilac is all you need

Lilacs take up a lot of space and they don't look that special once they've stopped flowering. But the color and fragrance can't be beat, so it's worth finding space for one in your garden. The easiest way to do this is with the dwarf Korean lilac (Syringa meyeri 'Palabin') that are sold as shrubs or lollipops grafted onto a single stem. I went with the later style because the flowers are right at eye-and-nose-level where you can enjoy them the most.

Mine is growing in the driveway border on the north side of the house surrounded by large trees, including evergreens. But you can see that I still get lots of flowers and I've never had mildew or any other problems. I do, however, remove all the spent flowers and cut the entire canopy back each spring. It's a time consuming job but this tree is 17 years old and continues to respond well to this treatment. Our miserable winter and cold, wet spring had no negative effect on this baby.

The tree is planted in the corner of a zig zag wall. You can see I was attempting to use two ground covers under the tree, each filling in a triangular shape. I haven't had much luck finding a second plant that is as happy as the old green Heucheras that have been here for a long time. 

A rainy Sunday

I went out to check the rain gauge this morning around 11 a.m. to find we'd received 1.87" (4.62 cm.) of rain in the last twelve hours. It knocked the flowers off the Carolina Silverbell tree to create one of my favorite moments in Spring when these little silvery-white bells carpet the area under the tree. 

They fall onto everything making for some lovely, if fleeting, moments.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 5.15.2018

It continues to be a rather strange spring season with wildly fluctuating temperatures and above normal rainfall. Only a few Hellebores have flowered and achieved their normal size. A great many are just barely showing above ground and I am not sure what they are going to do. Early bloomers like Hepaticas are flowering alongside plants that normally appear two or three weeks later such as Hostas and Tulips. Despite the confusing weather pattern, the garden is coming to life at a rapid rate. 

Helleborus 'Sparkling Diamond' has bright white double flowers but I rather like the wash of green on the petals when you look at it from the top. 

The delicate pink color of Helleborus 'Sympathy' was a bit washed out this year but otherwise the plant performed as per usual. That is Epimedium 'Lilafee' aka 'Lilac Fairy' next to it. This Epimedium bulks up quite quickly and I've divided it dozens of times.

This is Helleborus 'Royal Heritage Strain' and is my oldest and most reliable Hellebore. But take a look at how it performed this year. Notice the brown buds at the top of the photo and the unopened short flower stems that go all the way to the bottom of the photo. A number of my Hellebores are still only an inch or two tall. In other years these three Hellebores have distinctly different flower colors. Not this year.

I grow a number of Epimediums and the purple-flowered varieties are among my favorites. This is E. 'Crime Scene.'

A few sunny days with above normal temperatures made Paeonia Mairei explode open. Now we're just coming out of more than 4 inches of rain in the last week. The combination has made this beauty's blooms short-lived.

Paeonia japonica

Epimedium pubigerum has tall stems loaded with tiny flowers that make an airy cloud above the leaves.

To see what other gardeners have blooming in their gardens today, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this montly meme.

Wordless Wednesday