Each Little World

Big guys getting bigger

A big garden needs some big foliage plants for contrast with delicate ferns and ground covers. A number of the ones I've planted are finally making their statement.

Rodgersia 'Rotlaub' emerges a rich chocolate brown but quickly turns green. This plant is in its third location in my garden and is finally happy. It has quickly tripled in size in the last year or two and has its first flower stem this year. 

Rodgersia pinnate is the first one in this family that I planted a number of years ago. I put it front of this big rock to make an equally big statment.

It continues to do just that, despite the fact that the rock has been slowly falling on top of it for a number of years. Hasn't slowed it down at all. 

I've had Rodgersia 'Bronze Peacock' for five years and moved it twice trying to find its sweet spot. It sent up four stems this spring instead of the usual one. I expect they will get a little larger this year. Can't wait until next year. 

I've tried growing American umbrella leaf (Diphylleia cymosa) a couple of times with no luck. After seeing a photo of it in Bill Noble's book about his Vermont garden, I decided to ry again. It emerges looking like a Podophyllum to my eye. 

The leaves quickly turn solid bright green. If you're lucky you get these little white flowers that will turn into blue berries in the fall. 

This year I have three clumps instead of two like last year and all the plants are taller. We're finally on our way!

New kids in the garden

I planted my first Auricula-type Primula last year in the rock garden. P. auricula 'Argus' is a delicate bit of drama in the front garden that thrilled me when it sent out flowers this spring. I planted four different ones and nothing has touched them in a year. Fingers crossed.

At the far end of the garden — almost to the back lot line — is the polar opposite flower and plant. I have one Itoh intersectional hybrid Peony and I've always wanted another. This year I found it at K and A Greenhouse in Madison.

I was lucky to find a three year old plant with one bud on it. P. 'Creme a la Orange' is already a winner in my book. A pricey plant and worth every penny.

Vases and vases

This spring seems to be rushing by faster than in recent years. Every time I look around something has burst into bloom and something else has disappeared. I've been cutting flowers and plopping them into vases like mad. The best way for me to enjoy the bounty of my garden at the moment is indoors. I have enough daffodils that I can pick a lot of them without it being obvious. The Tulips grow in the Traffic Island bed in the street. Since it will disappear when the street is redone, it made sense to bring them indoors while I still can. 

No ids on these images. Just pretty flowers to enjoy.

Variation on the above theme.

A small offering in the Tea House.

Pleasing placement

Some times I put a lot of thought into which plants are next to each other and other times I look at pleasing combinations and wonder if I did that or it's a lucky accident. Here are a few current favorites. 

Bloodroot seeded in a patch of Vancouveria hexandra. Bloodroot is a spring ephemeral whose flowers are here for a brief time. The foliage continues to make its presence known. 

Enimion biternantum is a spring ephemeral that leaves a big bare spot when it disappears. I planted some Syneilesis there last summer thinking what a great plant that would be to fill the space in the summer. I pictured how lovely it would look coming up through the false rue anemone. I did not think about the fact that the density of the anemone in the spring might keep the Syneilesis from ever appearing. Only two little plants have managed to break through. 

Pinus 'Louie' with European ginger. 

Pennsylvania sedge with self-seeded Trillium. 

Primula kisoana with Trillium grandiflora. The Primula is a pretty little thug. 

Adiantum venustrum (Himalayan maidenhair fern) is trying to eat this Epimedium. The gardener needs to get in there and do a rescue operation. 

Epimedium 'Domino', Japanese painted fern, Tiarella ''Timbuktu', Helleborus hybridus 'Pine Knot Selected Foliage Forms' and more Himalayan maidenhair fern. 

Heuchera 'Green Spice' with Tiarella 'Elizabeth Oliver'

Helleborus 'New York Night', Tiarella 'Spring Symphony', Primula kisoana and more Himalayan maidenhair fern. 

Hakonechloa macra and dwarf Iris, a gift from an artist friend/former co-worker and garden mentor who just died at age 93. Since I no longer remember the name of the Iris, I will re-christen it after my friend: Iris 'Doris Lang.'

Heuchera 'Palace Purple' and Geranium phaeum. 

Shakkei

Shakkei is a Japanese term that refers to incorporating views of a neighboring landscape into one's garden. We've enjoyed our neighbors' huge old Forsythia 'Beatrix Farrand' for as long as we've lived in this house.. Some years the branches have come right through the fence and we've told our neighbors not to prune them on our account. This is the view along the fence path approaching our hoses and faucet  — and the gate into their garden so we can enjoy their plants up close.

Their Magnolia stellata is always a wonderful sight. Usually our trees are more leafed out and the line between the properties is not so obvious. 

Next up will be their hot pink and orange Rhododendron shrubs. A perfect pairing of colors from the 1960s.

That was then. This is now.

Our weather continues to be frustrating. One nice sunny day and then it's back to cool, windy and gray. I looked at images from last spring after a stroll through the garden yesterday afternoon. It's not my imagination that the garden is behind last spring in bloom dates. 

'Valentine' Bleeding Heart: May 3, 2021

May 8, 2022

Cinnamon fern: April 16, 2021

May 8, 2022

Fritillaria thunbergii: April 19, 2021

May 5, 2022

Today's high is supposed to be 76°F, a prelude to the following four days whose temps are forecast from the mid-80°s to likely hitting 90°. It pretty much feels like we've been stuck in late March/early April for weeks and now we're barreling into August. Luckily I found enough flowers to manage a small bouquet to brighten my mood.

This and that in the garden

Our weather has been so up and down that I've got more and more plants waiting to get put into the ground. In the meantime, I've done a lot of waiting, walking around with a notepad, changing my mind about what goes where and waiting some more. Things are so behind in making their appearance that I can't be sure where the empty spots are that I have plants ready to plug into. So I've been noticing quirky things that might not have caught my eye if I'd been busy planting. 

Iris lacustris 'Alba' is a lake Iris that typically grows in "slightly acidic, shallow, moist, sandy, or rocky soils." This area of the garden near the edge of the pond was very pebbly once upon a time, but has slowly accumulated enough soil to become mossy. Apparently the Iris don't really mind.

One of my Dryopteris crassirhizoma ferns has developed three separate crowns. That means I can divide it and have three of this gorgeous plant. Doesn't always happen, but what a thrill when it does. 

Last summer I kept noticing a clump of foliage on this woodland Peony that looked different. I kept thinking I was imagining it. This spring, there's no question that a potentially different Peony has moved in. I'm hoping once they both bloom I will know if my eyes are playing tricks or if the Peony is. 

Adiantum venustum is so assertive in my garden that I thought it had fatally consumed this little gem: Pteridophyllum racemosum. It looks like a fern but has delicate white flowers. I will move this to a safer spot tomorrow. 

IOVM: Hellebores

I read a long article from the U.K. about how to use blooming Hellebores as cut flowers. After trying the tips, I decided that if I want a fresh Hellebore flower in a spring bouquet the best idea is to float it. The flower is facing up so you can see it and they last for days this way. 

I love these little 19th C. teacups with no handles and deep saucers. They're perfect for floating a flower — or two.

H. 'Kingston Cardinal'

A pair of H. 'Royal Heritage Strain'

I always buy a few pomegranates in December for holiday decorations. I continue to use them as they slowly dry and are preserved.

Since rain was forecast for the weekend, I decided to do a bowl of Hellebores. I concentrated on pinks and pinky reds with a few whites. Love the bit of carpet that's visible at the edge of the coffee table where I set the bowl. 

The coffee table is always covered in books and magazines. I had to move them to take the photo above and decided it made more sense to move the bowl and keep are piles of reading material in place. 

I was shocked as soon as I set the bowl down in its new location to see that the blossoms were all red-violet and the pomegranates definitely were not. How did I not realize that before?

Crossing my fingers

Last weekend temps got up into the 80s followed by overnight lows hovering at frost levels. Day time temps have been chilly with mostly gray skies. We're supposed to hit 60°F. today and tomorrow and then drop back into the 50s for the next ten days.

The good news is that the overnight lows are all expected to be in the 40s, so I can plant the four mail-order shipments of perennials that are sitting in the living room, front hall and basement sink. 

A friend and I went window shopping for trees and shrubs at our fave nursery, K & A, on Tuesday. We bundled up, but we were still freezing. Here's the reality of our weather: All the perennials at the nursery were under covers and many had to be moved back into the greenhouse as we all wait for Spring to decide to stick around.

Two pots of tender bulbs on the left. First time I've tried to grow these and I'm nervous about how long it's taking for them to appear; as well as how long they've been stuck in the house. On the right are Orchids and Cyclamen: house plants waiting to go outdoors for the summer. In the middle are a mix of plants ready to go in the ground today.

I was expecting this small package of Cyclamen and Primula from Edelweiss Perennials but had not noticed the alert that I was also getting a package from Broken Arrow Nursery. Actually two big packages from them filled with evergreen and deciduous shrubs. Both nurseries sent beautiful plants wonderfully packaged. Can't wait for it to warm up a couple more degrees and then I'm off to plant and play in the garden. 

Hot pink

A gorgeous weekend has the garden suddenly bursting into bloom. 

Acer tschonoskii ssp. koreanum

Paeonia mairei