We decided to take a break from dealing with things and drove to the National Arboretum today. There were a few early roses that were still blooming but this is pretty close to the same date we’ve gone the last two years. Nevertheless, it was a really nice visit and we enjoyed the flowers very much. It wasn’t nearly so crowded as it was earlier in the year when we went on Sunday and the cherry blossoms were in bloom. We had come for the camellias rather than the cherries.
Flowers and Plants
National Arboretum Rose Garden
Akebia quinata
Years ago my dad planted both three- and five-leaved akebia at the land in Pennsylvania. I haven’t found any of the three-leaved type but there is some five-leaved Akebia quinata, also known as chocolate vine. Although it is listed as a noxious weed in some states, and while it’s managed to survive without any care here, it hasn’t spread in a way that’s concerning, especially when compared to the hardy kiwi that’s nearby. I love the leaves, as shown here. It has interesting, purple flowers and one of the more unique fruits I’ve seen. From the Missouri Botanic Garden’s Plant Finder, “Flowers give way to sausage-shaped, violet fruit pods (to 4” long) which split open in fall to reveal small black seeds imbedded in a whitish pulp. The whitish pulp is edible.”
Marsh Grass, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
We returned home from Delaware today. We decided that we’d stop at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, going first to the visitor center and then went to the short boardwalk at the end of Observation Access Road. The Marsh Edge Trail was closed because there is an active bald eagle’s nest near that trail. We could see the nest from the boardwalk but didn’t see any activity. We did see ospreys on their nests in a few different places and another eagle nest at the western end of the drive. This photo was taken from the boardwalk and I like the patterns of grass and water.
Cathy with ‘Red Candles’ Camellia
For the last few years we’ve gone to the U. S. National Arboretum during rose season, trying to catch some of the earlier, species roses. This year we decided to try our luck at getting there during the Camellia season, which for spring blooming Camellia japonica is early spring. Because that coincides with cherry blossoms, the Arboretum was quite busy. We drove past the cherry blossoms, though, and started in Fern Valley. There used to be a huge variety of daffodils planted there, but those are almost entirely gone now. It’s a little early for most things in Fern Valley but we did see some spreading Jacob’s-ladder (or Greek Valerian, Polemonium reptans), golden ragwort (or golden groundsel, Packera aurea), cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata), spring beauties (Claytonia virginica), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), and quite a few trout lilies (Erythronium americanum).
From there we moved on to the Asian collection, which is where the Camellias are grown. I did a pretty good job of recording the names of the flowers I photographed and picked a few that I might consider adding to our garden. The photo here is the only one I took of Cathy with the Camellias and it’s called ‘Red Candles’, a very nice, vigorously flowering C. japonica.
Camellia japonica ‘Hokkaido Red’
Of the camellias in our yard, this one is among the most successful. It’s a fairly slow growing shrub, so it will be a while before it’s really visible in it’s location behind the azaleas in front of our house. Nevertheless, from our front porch it’s quite visible and has a lot of flowers on it. Another called ‘April Rose’ that I planted at the same time, however, is barely holding on to life. I haven’t given up on it yet, but it isn’t encouraging. The oldest camellia I have, called ‘Pink Perfection’, is finally to the point where I’m not worried about it surviving. It’s almost five feet tall and doing well.
Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot)
We had a load of things in the van to go to the dump today and thought we might also make a quick stop at the thrift store to drop some things off there. We decided, though, that we didn’t really have enough for the thrift store but we had left too early to go straight to church. So, we stopped for short visit to the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park. There were things in bloom in the shade garden, which we always enjoy. These are bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) buds and leaves coming up. It’s one of my favorite native plants and a wonderful sign of spring.
Other things blooming included the Pieris japonica (Japanese andromeda) and of course there were daffodils. The Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconite) was done blooming. In the larger demonstration garden there was a little activity but nothing anywhere near blooming yet. Once we have a few warm days, though, that will change.
Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)
Cathy and I took a walk at lunch time today, going about half way around the block that our office is on. There’s a cut through to the parking lot of my building from the back, which is how we got back. We walked through some of the empty lot next to my building but didn’t see much in the way of bird life. That building lot has been empty and waiting to be built on since before Dorothy was born (and before I worked there), so, a long time. In the current market, I don’t see that changing any time soon. On a lighter note, the snow drops (Galanthus nivalis) are blooming.
Hamamelis (Witch Hazel)
After a fairly long visit with Cathy’s mom today, we went to the Agricultural Farm Park. Gardens in winter are not always great destinations but if you know where to look you can sometimes find something worth seeing. I’m a big fan of witch hazel, including any of the five Hamamelis species, as well as the hybrid Hamamelis × intermedia, a cross between H. japonica and H. mollis. H. virginiana blooms in the fall while the others all bloom in the late winter and early spring, which is particularly nice. The flowers aren’t large but they are often very abundant and their colors range from yellow, through orange to a rusty red. This one, growing in the park’s demonstration garden, doesn’t lose its leaves in the fall, which turn brown but hang on until spring, so the flowers are even less conspicuous.
U.S. Botanic Garden
Cathy suggested we go to the U.S. Botanic Garden today after church. It’s a place I enjoy and I thought it was a really good idea, so, we went. The last time we were there was in July of 2016. In the summer, of course, the outside garden is nice, too, but today it was all about being indoors. The large, central portion of the garden is great, with room for very large plants and trees, but I think the orchid and fern rooms are especially nice. There were only a few orchids in bloom but the maidenhair (Adiantum) and bird’s next (Asplenium) ferns as well as other moisture loving plants made that room nice. The fern room with it’s tree ferns and a few large tassel-ferns (which are actually clubmosses), is also very pretty.
I brought a sketch pad with me, along with a few pencils, thinking I might sit and sketch a little, but in the end, we didn’t sit much and I didn’t do anything but take photos. I think I’m intimidated by a blank page at this point, but at least I carried the sketch book with me. Maybe on the next outing I’ll actually sit and open it up.
Brookside Gardens
After driving down to Kensington to visit a friend briefly and drop off a couple Christmas presents we went to Brookside Gardens, a 50-acre public display garden within Wheaton Regional Park. It’s wonderful all year, of course, but we particularly like going there in the winter, because they have a greenhouse (or conservatory) that’s lush and green all year. One part of that has always been dedicated to flowering plants that are rotated throughout the year, although sadly they are no longer going to be doing that (because ‘sustainability’ which I suspect really means ‘budget cuts’). The permanent installation is nice, of course, but it was always a treat to see what was different, as well. There are two connected greenhouses and the second one had two very large model railroad displays set up (which will be there until January 6, I believe).
After spending time in both greenhouses the rain had stopped so we walked around the grounds as well, walking around the pond and onto the island with the Japanese pavilion, shown in the second photograph.
Phalaenopsis Orchids
In the 21⁄2 years Cathy’s mom has been in assisted living, she’s been given quite a few flowers including two small, Phalaenopsis orchid plants which were in bloom when she got them. She was able to enjoy them and when they stopped blooming we brought them home and I’ve been keeping them on our kitchen windowsill. Recently both of them came back into bloom at the same time (the second time for one of them and the first for the other). I took the first to start blooming to her but then she was in the hospital for a little while and I brought it back home. They are now gracing our kitchen window with lovely blooms. I don’t remember who gave them to Margaret but I’m thankful for them every time I’m at the kitchen sink.
Dendrolycopodium dendroideum (Tree Groundpine)
We drove out to Annapolis Rock Road today and walked on a series of trails there, part of the Patuxent River State Park. We thought that the trails would overlook the Patuxent River and according to some maps I’ve found, some of them do, but not those that we walked. It’s quite a maze of trails, actually, and since it’s almost all in the woods, it’s not easy to keep a sense of direction.
A few times we came across patches of tree groundpine, (Dendrolycopodium dendroideum), a native clubmoss. It’s a surprisingly green sight this time of year, and very pretty. Other than that, there wasn’t really all that much to photograph. Although we got to these trails on Annapolis Rock Road, this is not the Annapolis Rock off of the Appalachian Trail near Interstate 70 and US 40 about halfway between Frederick and Hagerstown. That’s a place we really should go at some point, but today was not that day.
Beech Leaves
After visiting Cathy’s mom this afternoon we drove to Woodlawn Manor and walked to Sandy Spring and back. I carried my camera, as I nearly always do, but only took a few photos. It was late in the day, overcast, and fairly dark. Even if I had seen birds, I don’t think there would have been enough light to get a good photo in the woods. I took a few pitures of horses before we went into the woods but they aren’t very good. I considered not posing any picture from today. I’m not bound to post a picture for every day as I was from 2011 through 2020, but I still try to post a picture from the days where I take any. I do make exceptions when the only pictures I take are not for sharing for some reason. But in general, if I took one or more pictures, I’ll post one.
I love beech trees this time of year. Our woods have quite a few American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and of course we also see the European or common beech (Fagus sylvatica) especially in yards, parks, and gardens. Most of the varieties available in nurseries are F. sylvatica. One that I love in the spring is the tri-colour beech, F. sylvatica ‘Roseomarginata’. There is one at Asbury Methodist Village and in the spring it’s a vivid scarlet. Its leaves can’t really take our summer sun, though, so it’s not really an ideal tree for our climate.
Japanese Forest Grass, &tc.

Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra), Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla), and Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)
At the north end of our yard there is a relatively shady area, partially under a cherry tree. Cathy planted the two Japanese forest grass plants (Hakonechloa macra) you can see here. They are the chartreuse tufts in the center and lower left of the photo. The silvery, heart-shaped leaves are Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla), also known as great forget-me-not (but not the same as Myosotis species). In the upper right of the photo is a northern maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) that originally came from my father’s garden and which I divided a couple years ago and planted in various places around the yard. The base of the small tree in the top center of the photo is one of two fastigiate English oaks (Quercus robur) I planted about ten years ago.
Catalpa ovata at Sunfish Pond
We took a walk in Flower Valley Park this evening. I took my camera but for the most part it was too dark in the woods to get any pictures. I took some at Sunfish Pond and this is one of those, with a catalpa (Catalpa ovata) in bloom. It’s a nice tree for a large scale landscape, probably too big for many smaller yards but at maturity it can be quite impressive. In the early 19990s we were looking at houses and saw one north of Boyds with a very large catalpa tree. It was an interesting property with an outbuilding built as an observatory. The roof slid on tracks to open up to the sky for the previous owner’s telescope.
Echinacea ‘Marmalade’
We made our annual pilgrimage to Fehr’s Nursery this afternoon. Cathy buys her Mother’s Day present on this trip and while I often pick out one or two things, it’s mostly for her. I do enjoy the flowers and bring my camera to take some pictures. I really like this coneflower, even though it’s not in perfect shape. We didn’t buy this one but got a pretty good collection of plants, both annuals and a few more perennials.
Tradescantia virginiana (Spiderwort)
This is one of my favorite perennials. It’s commonly known as spiderwort and we have quite a few of them growing around the garden. There are varieties with lighter, more yellow leaves. There are varieties with pinker (less purple) flowers. I’ve even seen one with white flowers but so far haven’t found that one for sale anywhere. I’d definitely get one if I did. Each individual flower lasts only a short time but there are so many of them, the plant is constantly in bloom for a good while. This one is growing on our back patio and I’m not sure it’s even in a container. I think it was in a plastic grocery bag and got left there and now you’d think it was in the ground, it’s so happy. It probably should be moved into the ground, but I hat to mess with a good thing.
Peony ‘Coral Sunset’
Our peonies are in bloom and once again, I couldn’t be happier with these amazing flowers. They don’t have a particularly long blooming period and in general, they take longer to become really well established than some other plants but it’s hard to argue with even a few flowers like this. When I first planted them they sent up leaves and then a single bud on each of the three plants. Now I’m getting multiple flowers per plant and it should only get better as the years go by. These are especially wonderful in the morning when they are in full sun. What’s not to like?
Dogwood Blossoms
This is the third year I’ve taken basically this same picture. This circular window is in the front of our church and for a week or two each year the dogwoods on the hill outside give us a show. They bloomed earlier last year and my picture was from April 16. In 2022 it was on April 24. So although the blooms this year seem earlier than previous years, the dogwoods, at least, are not. It reminded me that last year (on May 7) we went to the National Arboretum and really enjoyed their dogwood collection. I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it there in the next week or two, but that would be nice.
Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily)
After the sunrise and morning worship service, we stopped at home and then took brunch to Cathy’s mom. By ‘we’ I mean Cathy and Dorothy. Dorothy came down for the weekend and we were glad to have her here. Brunch was relatively simple, with quiche Lorraine, fruit salad, Kings Hawaiian rolls, orange juice, and sparkling cider. We also brought a lamb cake that Cathy made yesterday and Dorothy decorated this morning.
From there we went to Berryville Road where it touches Seneca Creek. We walked upstream along the creek and enjoyed the Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and yellow trout-lilies (Erythronium americanum). It was perhaps a week or two before the real peak but it was still pretty amazing.