Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)

It’s lily of the valley time, which is certainly a pretty time of year. Buying this pretty little plant can be quite expensive, and while a little will spread and go a long way, it takes a while to get established. We were fortunate in two ways. First, we knew of a house that had been condemned and was to be torn down for a road widening project. We got permission from the owner to take whatever we wanted from her garden, before it was gone. That included a huge amount of lily of the valley. Then, when we moved to our new house a few years later, we found a reasonably large patch already established in one area of the back yard.

One difficulty in taking pictures of lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is getting them from a different angle. Most of you know that getting down on the ground doesn’t bother me in the least. But I wanted to get lower still, down far enough that I could look up at the blooms of this little beauty. With a macro lens on the camera, getting down far enough to still have room to focus was the real trick, but I think I’ve accomplished it here. So, an mole’s eye view of lily of the valley flowers.

Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)

In the area that used to be under the big tree in our back yard there are a few things growing. The tree is gone and we’ll probably change some of the plants, moving them to shadier spots if necessary. I also plan to put a few roses there, now that it’s got a good bit of sun. One of the more successful plants there is yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon), a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae). It is considered by some to be an invasive species, although we haven’t found it nearly so problematic as a few other things in our yard. It makes a nice ground cover, although it isn’t evergreen, so it doesn’t do the job year round. It is under a foot tall and, as you can see, has yellow flowers right about now.

White Flowering Dogwood

This is a white flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) that’s growing in the northeast corner of our yard. I’m pretty sure it just happened to grow there rather than having been planted. While the one up against the house is eventually going to go, I don’t see any reason not to keep this one. It’s well sited, not in the way of anything else, and of course, it’s lovely when in bloom.

Pawpaw Flowers

We went for a hike on Billy Goat Trail C today, after a walk out to the overlook at Great Falls (and because Trail A was closed because of flooding). It was a lovely day, not too hot but warm enough. There are a lot of pawpaws along this trail and I was able to get one decent picture that shows their flowers as flowers. They are quite dark and almost brown, but have a little bit of red in them, which you can see in the right light, as in this picture.

The pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is an native tree with a very interesting fruit which, according to Wikipedia, is the largest indigenous to the United States. The fruit has yellow, custard-like flesh that is quite sweet and luscious and I’m a big fan. Dad planted quite a few in Pennsylvania and a couple in the yard. One drawback is that the flowers smell a bit like rotting meat. Dad would actually hang small bags of meat scraps to attract blowflies or carrion beetles for pollination. Yes, it’s as gross as it sounds. But the fruit is worth it.

Bleeding Heart

The flowers are coming fast and furiously now, so we’ll be seeing a few more of them before the summer heat sends them all away and we move on to different subjects (like bees and wasps). The bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis, formerly Dicentra spectabilis) is a pretty thing and a nice addition to a shady, woodland garden like we have at the north end of our front yard. Like many of the early bloomers, it will die back to the ground when it gets hot.

Fireflame Tulip

Tulips are beautiful but of all the bulbs, they are probably my least favorite. I’m not entirely sure why but I think it’s because they don’t live forever, like so many others seem to do. Daffodils seem to have more flowers each year and grow into massive clumps over time. Tulips dwindle. Actually, I had some species tulips at our last house that did really well, and perhaps I should get some of those. They are actually pretty hardy and quite beautiful, although not as showy as the large, hybrid tulips we usually see. This is a fireflame tulip (Tulipa acuminata), and I like that it’s different to the standard, simple tulip.

Redbud (Cercis)

I assume this is an eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) rather than a Chinese or European redbud (C. chinensis or C. siliquastrum) but I don’t actually know the differences between them, so I won’t say for certain. They certainly do make a fine show this time of year, adding a bit of pale purple to the beautiful tapestry of greens that the woods become in spring. The flowers are mostly seen from a distance and their best effect is as a mass of color, but they are interesting little things individually, as well.

Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis)

I’m always forgetting what these are called.

Well, not really. They are members of the genus Myosotis and are very pretty little flowers, most effective in large drifts. I don’t know which species these are (there are about 300) but I believe they may be Myosotis sylvatica, a European variety commonly known as the wood forget-me-not. They are short-lived herbaceous perennials and where they are growing in our garden sort of shifts from year to year, as new seedlings grow and old plants die, but we still have a little area where they seem to be happy.

Epimedium rubrum

It’s epimedium time again. This is a plant that should see much wider use in small gardens. It has pretty leaves, sometimes with red tints in spring. It has lovely little flowers, produced in great abundance. It’s easy to grow, not being very picky about being fed or watered, and doesn’t spread so fast that you’ll need to be constantly cutting it back. At least for us, the deer don’t seem to bother with it, although it’s possible that’s because there are so many other things for them to eat in our yard. There are varieties with red, white, and yellow flowers. The one disadvantage it has, in my mind, is that it isn’t as evergreen as it is often advertised. The leaves don’t fall off in the autumn but are usually gone by spring, so a large area covered with this as a ground cover might look bare in the winter. Still, I recommend it, especially for small areas that need a good, sturdy ground cover in shade or sun.

Pink Flowering Dogwood

I am of two minds when it comes to flowering dogwoods. They are not a no-care tree anymore, what with the dogwood borer (Synanthedon scitula, see Tuesday, August 21, 2012) and dogwood anthracnose (Discula destructiva). They are, however, quite worthwhile when in bloom, with their bright red fruit, and again in fall color. This one happens to be standing a little too close to our house for me to leave it alone much longer (it’s about a foot from the front wall). I planted a camellia under it last year (Camellia japonica ‘Mrs. Lyman Clarke’) but it didn’t make it through our colder than average winter and I’m going to have to try again. I was hoping that whatever I planted would have a chance to get well established before I took out the dogwood, but now I may not wait so long.