Flowers and Plants

Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone)

Photograph taken on Sunday, April 15, 2018 by Henry
Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone)

Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone)

After church Cathy said I should go into the woods because there were some wildflowers that I might like to photograph. There were, indeed. They are rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides), a native to eastern North America and a pretty little spring flower. As you might guess from the common name, the plant is quite similar to the meadow rue (in leaf form) and to the anemone (in flower form). It’s a pretty little woodland flower and would be a nice addition to a shade garden.

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Camellia japonica ‘Pink Perfection’

Photograph taken on Saturday, April 14, 2018 by Henry
Camellia japonica ‘Pink Perfection’

Camellia japonica ‘Pink Perfection’

Some things are worth waiting for. If they were not, we’d have a hard time planning for anything farther away than next week, I guess. Some things, like trees and to a lesser extent shrubs, take a while to be worth planting. In the spring of 2010, I planted a small Camellia japonica called ‘Pink Perfection’. It was small to begin with and struggled through the first couple years. I’ve lowered the pH of the soil around it, and that seems to have helped significantly. It bloomed a few times the first year but hasn’t bloomed since until now. Hopefully it is becoming well enough established that it will begin to grow and we’ll get more like this in the years to come.

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Narcissus ‘Arkle’

Photograph taken on Thursday, April 12, 2018 by Henry
Narcissus ‘Arkle’

Narcissus ‘Arkle’

I hope you’re enjoying the spring flowers. I know some of my followers are in the south and your flowers started earlier and your daffodils may be finished by now. Others are to the north and the daffodils are only just getting started. The early dafs are done here but there are quite a few still in full bloom and one or two that are yet to come. This is a large, bright yellow daffodil called ‘Arkle’ that I planted in the fall of 2014. This being only their fourth year here, they are not as well established as the very similar ‘Marieke’ planted five years earlier. Still, they’re putting on quite a show.

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Helleborus ‘Red Racer’

Photograph taken on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 by Henry
Helleborus ‘Red Racer’

Helleborus ‘Red Racer’

One of my favorite things is the color of flower petals (or leaves, for that matter) with the sun shining through them. Even flowers that are beautiful on their own, like this Lenten rose (a Helleborus called ‘Red Racer’) are even more lovely lit from behind. At least that’s my opinion. I bought two of these from McClure & Zimmerman in the fall of 2014 but they no longer list it on their web site. I bought three others at the same time, two ‘Rose Quartz’ and one ‘Mango Magic’. We also have some white or nearly white varieties that we got from Brady when Brookside Gardens was replacing them with something else.

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Daffodil

Photograph taken on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 by Henry
Daffodil

Daffodil

This is among the first things I planted when we moved here eleven years ago. These bulbs and a few others were given to me by a good friend as payment for taking some family photos for her. They’ve done very well between our front walk and the house and always give good value. Daffodils have some exceptional qualities. For one thing, they are very reliable, coming up every spring without so much as a peep of complaint. A late freeze or snow fall doesn’t bother them, the deer and rabbits leave them alone, and every year the clumps get larger, eventually growing together into drifts that brighten a rainy spring day. What’s not to like?

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Scilla siberica

Photograph taken on Monday, April 09, 2018 by Henry
Scilla siberica (Siberian squill)

Scilla siberica (Siberian squill)

I love this beautiful, little bulb. Along with the similar (and related) Chionodoxa (glory of the snow) species, it’s an early, generally blue-flowered bulb. It’s also a very welcome sign of spring. Not as early as the Eranthis or the Galanthus (snow drops, both of which start blooming here in February, it’s still a great thing to see coming up, especially when you have a late snow, as we did this year. Scilla siberica, commonly called Siberian squill, is native to Southern Russia and is hardy as far north as USDA Zone 2. Like Chionodoxa, it has small, mostly blue flowers but they are generally much more thoroughly blue. The other obvious difference is that they open facing downward while Chionodoxa flowers generally face up. If you don’t have any in your yard, I highly recommend them. Buy a bunch this fall and get them in the ground. You’ll be enjoying them for years to come.

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Chionodoxa forbesii

Photograph taken on Friday, April 06, 2018 by Henry
Chionodoxa forbesii

Chionodoxa forbesii

I’ve planted a fair amount of this around the yard but I’m not sure I could ever have too much of it. Chionodoxa forbesii, commonly called glory of the snow, is a beautiful, little early spring bulb. Although the daffodils have started blooming and they overlap with this, these are going to be done well before the daffodils. The Latin genus, Chionodoxa, comes from the Greek words chion meaning snow and doxa meaning glory. This reflects their very early flowering, often when snow is still on the ground. The specific epithet, forbesii, honors James Forbes (1773-1861), the British botanist who was employed as the gardener for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey.

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Cherry Blossoms

Photograph taken on Tuesday, April 03, 2018 by Henry
Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry trees around here often bloom over a fairly wide range of dates, with some finishing up before others even get started. There are trees in full bloom and others that are barely showing any buds. I was at the school today (Dorothy’s high school) and on the way out passed a few that were pretty close to being in full bloom. So, I stopped and took some pictures. It rained off and on today, so the flowers were wet and the sky behind the tree was white, rather than any sort of contrasting blue. Still, the pale pink of the flowers is quite nice. Interestingly, the tree next to this has noticeably darker pink flowers. Close up, it isn’t so obvious but when looking at the trees next to each other, it’s easy to see.

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Daffodil ‘Arkle’

Photograph taken on Monday, April 02, 2018 by Henry
Daffodil ‘Arkle’

Daffodil ‘Arkle’

This isn’t a great picture but I’m pretty pleased with these daffodils. It’s a variety called ‘Arkle’ and I planted them in the fall of 2014, making this their fourth spring in our yard. They are still just getting established, with two or occasionally three blooms per bulb in contrast to those that have been here for ten years or so, which have five of six per bulb. Nevertheless, these are lovely, huge, bright yellow flowers on tall, strong stems and I’m happy to have them. These were bought in 2014 in two orders totaling 535 bulbs, the last, large order I’ve made.

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Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)

Photograph taken on Saturday, March 31, 2018 by Henry
Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)

Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)

Eight days ago (see Friday, March 23, 2018) I posted a picture of a star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) bud. I commented that the petals were slightly burned by the cold but that in about a week or so the flowers should be open and if there is not another serious frost, they would look wonderful. Well, we haven’t had another significant frost and the tree does, indeed, look great. You can see a little burning on the tip of a petal or two but overall, they don’t look at all bad. It was an absolutely beautiful Saturday with a rich, blue sky and the star magnolia petals, mostly white touched with pink, were lovely.

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Purple Hyacinths

Photograph taken on Friday, March 30, 2018 by Henry
Purple Hyacinths

Purple Hyacinths

Depending on which computer I use to look at this picture, these hyacinth flowers sometimes look a lot bluer than they are in real life. Other monitors show them the way they looked. If they look blue to you, take my word for it that they are a very strong, electric purple with just a bit of blue on near the base of the flowers. Nevertheless, they look quite nice as blue flowers, too. I’m not a huge fan of hyacinths, mostly because they are so strongly sweet smelling. I don’t mind them in the garden but I don’t want them brought into the house. Every year I take at least one set of pictures of them, though, and think of our friend who loves them. Here’s one for you, Julia.

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Daffodil ‘Tete-A-Tete’

Photograph taken on Thursday, March 29, 2018 by Henry
Daffodil ‘Tete-A-Tete’

Daffodil ‘Tete-A-Tete’

Since last week’s snow, it’s been relatively balmy and spring-like. The daffodils were already coming up when the snow came, with a few already in bloom. Now, a little more than a week later, they are bursting into bloom all over. Shortly we’ll have great drifts of yellow where the highway department has planted them alongside roadways. Front yards will be sporting the beautiful yellow flowers, dancing in the breeze (a la William Wordsworth). This little one is the earliest in our yard, to be followed shortly by the much larger and dare I say quintessential ‘Marieke’, along our front walk.

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Kalanchoe daigremontiana

Photograph taken on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 by Henry
Kalanchoe daigremontiana

Kalanchoe daigremontiana

We have two Kalanchoe plants. This one is Kalanchoe daigremontiana (a.k.a. Bryophyllum daigremontianum) and it’s a pretty little thing, although our plant isn’t particularly robust. Most of our house plants have been somewhat neglected lately. We have lots of excuses, such as the disruption from the renovation project, Solomon’s cage (and Solomon, of course) being moved in front of some of them, or the fact that it’s winter and some of them do better outdoors, during the summer. I do try to get at least a little watering done now and then and we have a small mint next to the kitchen sink. When it starts to wilt, I know it’s watering time.

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Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

Photograph taken on Sunday, March 25, 2018 by Henry
Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

The Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’ has begun to bloom in the shady northern corner of our yard. It’s more shady later in the year, when the oak that is over it has leaves. This time of year it gets a fair amount of sun from mid morning through early afternoon. This is a pretty little plant, barely showing itself over the Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese pachysandra). There are some others coming up, as well. And our early, small daffodils are in bloom. In spite of the snow we had last week, it’s really starting to look, if not to feel, like spring.

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Star Magnolia Bud

Photograph taken on Friday, March 23, 2018 by Henry
Star Magnolia Bud

Star Magnolia Bud

The house Cathy grew up in has two star magnolias (Magnolia stellata) in the front yard. They bloom early and their petals are quite tender so it’s actually more common for them to be frost damaged than not. The snow and cold we had yesterday has done a little damage to the petals, as you can see on this bud. Nevertheless, if it doesn’t get cold again, this tree could put on a wonderful show in a week or so. But we aren’t out of the woods yet, in terms of frost and there’s plenty of time for these blooms to be wiped out. They’re lovely as they are, of course, but on the rare occasion the trees bloom without any petal burn, they are quite spectacular.

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Icy Buddleia

Photograph taken on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 by Henry
Icy Buddleia

Icy Buddleia

Spring is definitely on its way but we had rain and a little freezing rain today and it didn’t feel very spring like. It was a chilly, dreary day, for the most part and I didn’t get outside much. When I got home I took a few pictures out the back door of the buddleia that’s growing by the patio. There was less than an eighth of an inch of ice by the end of the day but the forecast is for snow tomorrow (and since I’m writing this after the fact, I know we got it).

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Spring

Photograph taken on Monday, March 19, 2018 by Henry
Leaf Buds with Insect

Leaf Buds with Insect

I took my camera with me to a meeting across campus and then spent a little time taking pictures on the way back. The Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) is starting to leaf out and in spite of the fact that it’s quite likely that we’ll have another freeze, it’s not at all bothered. It’s pretty well suited for cold and a light freeze or two isn’t going to do it any harm. This little insect, however, may be jumping the gun a bit. I don’t know, really. Perhaps it, too, has ways to deal with late freezes. I know some of my followers think it a bit funny that I try to identify all the plants and animals in my posts with their Latin names. You’ll be happy to know that I have no idea what sort of insect this is and I’m going to leave it at that.

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Double Lenten Rose

Photograph taken on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 by Henry
Double Lenten Rose

Double Lenten Rose

This is the first real flower I’ve had on this Lenten Rose. It sort of bloomed last year but the flower was somewhat deformed and was missing more than half its petals. This year it’s got a serious flower and I think this may become one of my favorites. Off hand I don’t remember the variety name but I should be able to track it down somewhere. As you can see, it’s a double flowered variety and the pink edges to the petals is quite nice. This is under the trees right out back and when it gets a bit larger it will be very obvious this time of year.

Update: I looked up the variety and it’s Helleborus ‘Rose Quartz’ (although the order actually said Rose Quarts).

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Scilla mischtschenkoana

Photograph taken on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 by Henry
Scilla mischtschenkoana

Scilla mischtschenkoana

This is one of my favorite little, spring bulbs. I don’t think I could ever have too many Scilla and Chionodoxa bulbs in my yard. I currently have two species of each. This is the less common of the two Scilla, with the other being the much bluer Scilla siberica. The flowers of the Chionodoxa species are similar but are more upward facing. One of those is pink and the other a really beautiful blue. These are mostly white with just a small amount of blue down the middle of each petal.

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Dried Lotus Seed Pod

Photograph taken on Monday, March 12, 2018 by Henry
Dried Lotus Seed Pod

Dried Lotus Seed Pod

I looked around to find something to photograph this evening. I took a few pictures of doodads brought from Cathy’s mom’s house but then decided to take pictures of this dried seed pod from an Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). We didn’t cut down a Christmas tree this year, with all that was going on. Instead, we put up a wreath in our living room and put out a few ornaments. The wreath had some decoration on it, including this lotus pod. It had a few more seeds it it but they are not held in by anything and they have fallen out. The wreath has been lying on the ground outside since Christmas and I burned it in yesterday’s fire.

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