Flowers and Plants

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.

Maple Samaras

There is no question that spring is here now and moving forward apace. The maple trees have finished blooming and are already producing seeds. Maple seeds are fun, as seeds go, because of the little helicopters they are in. When they fall from the tree they spin to the ground. When they are coming down, which hasn’t really started yet, if it’s a windy day, the air can be full of them and the lawn covered. Of course that means there are going to be lots of little maple trees to pull up in the garden, but they aren’t the worst weed we have to deal with. At least once they are pulled up they don’t come back from bits of root that were left in the ground. Anyway, I think they are pretty.

Muscari armeniacum

Back into the garden today for pictures of the Muscari armeniacum, a.k.a. grape hyacinth. You can’t have too many of these, in my view. There is another species, M. azureum, that I really need to add to my collection. It’s a purer blue color and the flowers open a bit farther. There are a white varieties of that, as well as M. botryoides which are probably worth adding for a bit of variation. Overall, though, a drift of these, anywhere from a square yard to a whole field, is worth the effort put into planting them. All of the Muscari species are quite hardy and none of them require much in the way of care.

Scilla siberica Var. Spring Beauty

The scilla has been up for a few days now but it wasn’t until today that I had the opportunity to get a few photographs. Either I’d be in a hurry and didn’t have the time or it would be dark and not really appropriate for taking pictures of flowers. The last time I posted a picture of this on my blog was on Thursday, March 22, 2012, so I think we’re due for another.

So, this is Scilla siberica Var. Spring Beauty and I think it is wonderful. Many of the flowers look down towards the ground but they are still blue from above and as they finish their display, they start to lift their heads a bit, making them easier to look at. Of course, even so you have to get right down on the ground to see them eye to eye, as they are in this picture, but that was never much of an obstacle for me. I definitely need more of these.

Coming soon are the grape hyacinths.

Lenten Rose

The Lenten rose plants had a hard spring but they are finally blooming now, in the final week of Lent. They were buried by a few snowfalls just about the time they normally would have been sending up their new leaves and this year’s flower buds. They can take the cold without any trouble but the snow does tend to flatten them, with their largish leaves, so they don’t have an easy time getting up and out. Now that the snow is gone and it’s been warm (although we had a frost this morning), they are doing much better.

Really Strange Daffodil

It was an amazingly beautiful day today, warm bordering on hot (well, hot for around here in mid-April, anyway). We drove down to Brookside Gardens in the afternoon. Needless to say, we didn’t park anywhere near the actual parking lot, but it wasn’t actually as crowded as I expected it to be. Of course, the fact that their larger parking lot is closed as we move into their busiest season probably has something to do with it. They have no economic incentive to avoid inconvenience to their visitors, since there isn’t any direct connection between the number of visitors and their budget.

In any case, it’s a lovely place, particularly this time of year. The daffodils are out in force, of course, but unfortunately very few of them are labeled in any way. This one, in particular, caught our eyes. I’ve seen many double daffodils but I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s just a bunch of yellow and greenish strips of petal, about two inches across. Very odd and very nice. If you have any idea at all as to the variety name, I’d be very interested.

Chamaecyparis obtusa var Formosana

The second picture for the day doesn’t really say “spring” because it’s an evergreen tree and it won’t look a lot different in the fall. This is a Chamaecyparis obtusa var Formosana, commonly known as the Japanese or hinoki cypress. Personally, I love the green of all the Chamaecyparis species and also really like the cones, particularly when they are empty, as they are in this picture. They look a little like something out of a science fiction movie, I think.

Daffodil

This is a very pretty daffodil that always blooms reliably and joyfully each spring in front of our house. I don’t know the name of the variety because I was given the bulbs by a friend and if I ever had the name, I’ve lost it. I don’t much care, because they are so festive. They are in Division 3, the small-cupped daffodil cultivars and should probably buy more in that division. If I remember at the right time, I’ll plan on this fall being a big year for planting more bulbs. One problem, of course, is knowing where there already are bulbs, because the leaves are generally gone by planting time, and I hesitate to dig in the areas where I know they are. Maybe I can mark them with small stakes before they are gone from sight.

Chionodoxa forbesii

The bulbs are up all over the yard and it’s wonderful. This is one of my favorites and I have a good bit of it. It’s Chionodoxa forbesii and it’s growing up through the pachysandra around an oak tree near the end of our driveway. I have a variety called ‘Pink Giant’ growing nearby and it’s pretty, as well, but for some reason I don’t like it as much. Perhaps it’s because pink flowers are relatively so much more common, while blue flowers are a special treat.

The blue in the flowers seems to vary from year to year. This year they seem a bit paler than they did last year. Not that I’ve compared photographs, though, so maybe that’s just my imagination. Scilla is certainly bluer than Chionodoxa. It’s also easier to pronounce. But I’ll take them both. I need to plant more, in fact. But that’s a job for October.

Still Life with Acorn Cap

I met with about a dozen junior girl scouts this evening to talk about photography. They were working on their photography badge and needed someone to give them a lesson. I really wasn’t sure how much detail to go into and probably went farther than I needed to. They seemed interested, though, and were very attentive and polite. I had a big stack of pictures to illustrate the things I was telling them about shutter speed and aperture. The pictures were probably more useful than my descriptions. After my presentation, we all went out back to see what we could find to photograph. This is one of the pictures I took, a still life of an acorn cap.

Magnolia stellata (Star Magnolia)

Dorothy and I went up to Baltimore this afternoon and spent it with our dear friend, Julia. We walked around the campus and enjoyed the things that are starting to bloom, including this star magnolia (Magnolia stellata). Many years, probably more often than not, the buds on the star magnolias are killed by a late frost. We had a few late frosts this year, cold enough to do the job, but fortunately we hadn’t had enough days that were warm enough to get the buds close to opening, so it wasn’t a problem. They really are beautiful small trees the years they do bloom and they seem to be doing very well this year. This one is in front of a south-facing, brick wall, which probably gives it a little more heat and provides a bit more protection.

Daffodils

Once again I find myself way behind in posting pictures. I will endeavor to get caught up over the next two days. This photo was taken on April 1, six days ago, and finally copied off my camera’s memory card and “processed” yesterday. The daffodils have come out here in Maryland and yellow is the color of the day. Actually, in our yard, only the smallest and earliest variety has started to bloom. The others are showing buds but we’re at least a week from them blooming. Ours are on the side of the house that faces northeast, of course, and they are in shade much of the day. These are at my mom’s, actually in the next door garden, where they have a westward exposure.

Maple Blooms

After such a chilly, dreary weekend, today dawned clear, bright, and warm. It was up near 60°F (16°C) this afternoon and Cathy and I took a walk. It was quite wet out today in low spots which are slow to drain and dry out. I took some pictures of standing water but decided to post this picture of maple flowers, which are starting to come out everywhere. They are small and individually are not too much to look at, but they give the trees a wonderful, happy, crimson hue.

Daffodil ‘Tete-a-Tete’

It was a very spring-like day today, raining throughout. I think everyone was so thankful that it wasn’t snow that they were willing to put up with the rain for a bit. Yesterday was such a beautiful day, though, that it was a bit dreary today. On the other hand, the daffodils have started to show a bit of yellow. They are not quite open yet, but that’s a flower and it’s a welcome sight. I did get a bit damp photographing it, as you might imagine, but it’s worth lying in the rain when the flowers are starting to open.

Purple Crocuses

Six days ago I posted a picture of the first crocus blooming in our yard. Three days later, we had a significant snowfall, covering the ground under a coating of white. I think we often forget how tough most of our spring-blooming bulbs are. We often associate bulbs with Holland and many cultivars were developed there. But many of them have roots (no pun intended) in much harsher climates. Many of them come from the steppes of central Asia where winter temperatures are much lower than they ever get here. So, when something as insignificant as a late March snowfall covers them, they seem to laugh it off and are ready to continue blooming when the snow is gone.

Crocus

The crocuses have finally come out, springing up during our most recent warm spell. I’m writing this on Tuesday, three days after the photo was taken, and anyone in Maryland knows that the weather has taken another turn back towards winter in those days. But Saturday, when the crocuses were out, was a marvelous day. The birds are singing, the little spring flowers are blooming, and the sun is warm on our faces.

Scilla mischtschenkoana

Spring seems to be on fast forward this week. Yesterday it was the peonies coming up. Today I found one of the Scilla mischtschenkoana in bloom. This is such a pretty little thing. I planted about a dozen of these in 2010 and they repay me every year. In addition to these, I have the much bluer Scilla siberica and two different but similar Chionodoxa species (pictures of those likely to come as they bloom). If you like early flowers, these spring ephemerals are just what the doctor ordered.

Peony Sprout

Spring is an unstoppable force and it’s coming. On Monday we had 8 to 10 inches of snow covering everything. Now, a mere three days later, there isn’t any snow left at all and it feels like spring again. The snowdrops and Eranthis that I photographed recently look as though they didn’t know anything about being covered with snow. They are happily blooming again (or still), now that the snow is gone.

Around the side of the house, a more exciting sign of spring is the small, bright red shoots of the peony are coming up. Are you a fan of peonies? I am and need more of them. Their bloom is all too short but while they are blooming, they are amazing. Before you know it, this tiny red stem will have a huge ball of petals balanced at the top.

I can’t wait.

Squash Flower

My back is feeling much better than it was, but I decided to give it another day’s rest today. I wondered what I would do for a picture today but in our kitchen, where we have most of our houseplants, a squash of some sort had sprouted from a pot that was out on the patio over the summer. When it came up I thought it might be a squash but now that it is in bloom, I’m sure. So, a beautiful, yellow flower, blooming a little earlier than it would do outdoors.

Eranthis hyemalis

There is something special about the first flowers of spring. I suppose that the farther north you are (or at least the harsher and longer your winters are, which isn’t exactly the same thing), the more this is true. I know when we lived in Juneau, we looked forward to the greening of the woods. It’s perhaps a little surprising that in an evergreen forest, the summer is still a lot greener than the winter, but there are more than just the trees, of course. It’s the little things. In Juneau the spring came a lot later than we were used to but when it came, it came with a vengeance.

I’ve posted pictures of snow drops a few times already, and those were the first blooms in the yard. The Lenten rose, which is usually in bloom by now, has been covered by the snow too much to grow, so that won’t happen for a while yet. I was happily surprised when I got home this evening to have this little yellow flower looking up at me from the garden next to the driveway. Eranthis hyemalis, otherwise known as winter aconite, is a little plant and we only get a few flowers each year. In time, this little patch will spread and thicken and we could have a nice drift of them, but it takes time (like most things that are worthwhile). In the meantime, I’ll enjoy them in ones and twos. Happy flower.