Flowers and Plants

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)

Flowers are nice, of course, but even leaves can be beautiful. I love the variety of leaf shapes, the patterns of their veins, and the different greens created by the light shining through leaves.

This is the leaf of an oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) that I planted a few years ago. It’s still getting established, really, but is doing quite well. The leaves are a beautiful green now and all summer and then turn the most gorgeous burgundy or claret color in the fall. It doesn’t have the showy pink or blue flowers of the bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) but it makes up for it with its leaves, as far as I’m concerned. It also takes virtually no care and doesn’t die back so hard in cold winters.

Welcome to spring.

Muscari

I still haven’t found my garden drawing that tells me exactly what is where so all I can tell you is that this is one of Muscari armeniacum, M. neglectum, or M. latifolium. My memory says it’s M. armeniacum but that’s a pretty unreliable source, I’m afraid. This is growing on the north end of our front yard, under a dying cherry tree. It’s a very nice little shade garden, particularly in the spring. Each year we replace a little more of the pachysandra with a few other things, so it’s getting to have a bit more interest in the summer and fall, as well.

I love these little flowers and should plant more. I have some growing along the front edge of the bed that borders the walk to our front door but it’s not as noticeable because it’s growing in with the pachysandra. Did I mention we have a lot of pachysandra? Anyway, more grape hyacinths would always be welcome, as far as I’m concerned. I think I need to plant a bunch more bulbs this fall.

Spiraea Flowers

This morning the spiraea has burst into bloom. In fact, a lot of things have burst into bloom. We have a cherry tree that started blooming in the last day or so but it’s already losing petals. That tree is actually dying, losing one main branch each year for the last three years. The largest to die so far is gone now, leaving basically two more and it’s over. I’m planning to put in a replacement—an apple—later this spring. I bought two apples, Goldrush and Arkansas Black. As for the spiraea, it’s a splash of white in the darkest part of our yard and very happy. I love that up close the flowers have tiny bits of green. These flowers are between five and eight millimeters across.

Camellia japonica ‘Dad’s Pink’

What a beautiful Saturday it was today. The sky was a beautiful blue, it was cool but not cold, and it was just lovely all around. We need a bit more rain, really, but I don’t mind if that holds off for weekdays.

This is a camellia I bought and planted last spring, called ‘Dad’s Pink’. It’s not one that my dad ever grew but with that name, it still reminds me of him. It’s not even three feet tall but it’s covered with dozens of pink striped flowers.

One branch seems to have reverted to some less fancy form, with pure red flowers, although they are still of the same formal double type.

Daffodil ‘Actaea’

Yet another daffodil. This one is a beautiful poeticus daffodil called ‘Actaea’. The poeticus division (division 9) are distinguished by their large white petals and small, dainty cups in contrasting colors.

These start to bloom between four days and a week later than the big yellow daffodil ‘Marieke’ that I photographed on April 8. They are in the same bed, along the walk to our front door.

Daffodils

Are you tired of daffodils or daffodil pictures? Not me. I love them all. Big and bold or tiny and delicate, all yellow or mixed shades, they are all wonderful.

This is another daffodil growing along the walk to our front door. I love the pure white of the outer petals as well as the deep orange corona (the trumpet). Very cheerful and happy and reliable. There are more blooms each year, which is one more thing to love about daffodils.

Bradford Pear Blossoms

After a few weeks of wonderfully cool spring-like weather, we’ve moved to summer heat. It was over 90°F today, which I don’t appreciate even in the summer, much less a week after we were having nights in the 20s. Cathy and I went for a walk today, partway around the block our office is on. I took some pictures of the Bradford pears that are blooming, as well as some early cherry blossoms.

Daffodil ‘Marieke’

What would spring be without daffodils? Summer, I guess. They are out in force now, including the bigger varieties that are so wonderfully cheerful. These are along our front walk and are called ‘Marieke’ and are in division 1, the trumpet daffodils. This is, I suppose, what most people think of when you say daffodil. Big, bold, bright, yellow trumpets happily gazing into the sun on a cool spring morning. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Purple Hyacinth

Flowering Quince

Heath

What a beautiful spring day we had today. On the way out this morning I stopped to take some pictures of daffodils blooming on either side of the walk. Then later I stopped to pick up Dorothy and took more pictures of flowers there. The first is looking down on a spike of purple hyacinth flowers. I took more from the side but they look pretty much the same as the pink flowers I posted a photo of recently. I thought this different angle would be more interesting. I also like the intense blue toward the middle of the cluster of flowers.

The second picture is of a flowering quince (one of the three Chaenomeles species, not to be confused with the proper quince, Cydonia oblonga). This is just starting to bloom and has lots of small, pink flowers that are quite pretty. I was out without my tripod, so this isn’t as sharp as it might be, but probably good enough for jazz. This is a nice shrub to grow for early spring color. I personally get tired of all the yellow forsythia and would welcome more of this.

Finally, we have the tiny flowers of a heath plant. Heath and heather are quite similar, with heather having smaller scale-like leaves. They both have tiny flowers of white, pink, or purple. Some of the heath species bloom in the winter, and they bloom for a fairly long period, which is nice. This one is actually past it’s peak of blooming.

Both heath and heather (Calluna vulgaris) are calcifuges (plants that do not tolerate alkaline soil). Like azaleas, they thrive in places with low pH and in fact most will not grow if the pH is greater than 6.5. I’d be curious to know if the deer bother them. If you have deer in your garden and you grow either heath or heather, let me know in the comments.

Thank you, Maureen and Bob, for sharing your garden with us today.

Lenten Rose

I’ve posted pictures of the dark claret colored Lenten rose before but this is the first time for this flower. We got three plants from Brady last fall, when they were being dug up to be replaced at her work. I planted two along the back fence and they are both blooming now. At first I thought they were going to be plain white but they are not, they have a nice bit of color and I’m very happy to have them. Thanks, Brady.

Pink Hyacinth Flowers

It’s true that I’m not a huge hyacinth fan. Still, I have to admit being cheered by these this year. It’s really only the smell I object to, I don’t mind the flowers themselves. I found their fragrance to be overpowering, though, and it’s not something I’d willingly bring into my house. In the yard, however, where you don’t notice the smell so much, I have no objection to them.

These were planted, along with some crocuses and daffodils, the fall after we moved into our house. They were given to me by friends for taking family pictures for them, and I enjoy them each spring. Erin and David, if you see this, I hope you still enjoy the photographs. Of course, there are more of you now. The crocuses are still blooming — the purple are done for the year but the white soldier on — and the daffodils are just about to open. Spring is here, although it was in the 20s this morning and it’s suppose to be cold the next few nights.

Chionodoxa

Since not everyone is fond of spiders, I thought I’d post this photo in addition to the spider picture posted earlier. This is Chionodoxa, which I planted on the south end of our house about two and a half years ago. They have bloomed each of the last two years but this year there are quite a few more flowers.

I really like blue flowers and these are among the best of the early blooming sort. I can recommend them highly to anyone who wants an early splash of blue. They are pretty short, so you can’t plant them where there is much else of any height, but otherwise, they aren’t all that particular.

I planted two Camellias this morning. In the front of the house I put in a C. japonica ‘Mrs. Lyman Clarke’ that I expect to replace a dogwood seedling that’s much too close to the house. The other was C. sasanqua ‘Cleopatra’ which I planted against the fence at the north end of our back yard. This is a large shrub with simple and small (for a Camellia) pink flowers. It’s also one of the hardiest. Hopefully I’ll have pictures of flowers some day that I can post here.

Update: I had this post labeled as Scilla Siberica ‘Spring Beauty’ but that’s not what it is. For some reason, I have some tendency to identify Chionodoxa as Scilla. This is the former, not the later. I still haven’t found my drawing showing where I planted bulbs but it is either C. forbesii or C. lucilae.

Chionodoxa Forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

There are a lot of things coming up in the yard now. I’m afraid that you are going to be seeing a lot of flower pictures in the next few weeks. I guess there are worse things. Today’s flower is a pink version of the usually blue Chionodoxa Forbesii, appropriately called ‘Pink Giant’. Note that giant is relative. This thing is tall enough to stand out above the pachysandra but that’s about it.

Very pretty.

Crocus

The crocuses have been up for a while and I’ve been meaning to go out and get a photo or two. Today I actually managed to do it, probably not a bit too soon. They are starting to fade a but, although the color is still pretty good on this purple flower. It’s lying on its side, though, so it’s not what it was. I really love the combination of the bright orange stigma against the deep purple petals of this crocus flower. I also have white crocuses, which are also in bloom right next to the purple. They are coming up through Vinca minor (periwinkle), which is also starting to bloom.

Snow on Pachysandra Leaves

We had a light dusting of snow overnight and it was cold again this morning. Not enough snow to make a difference — the road wasn’t even wet — but it was pretty on the leaves of the Pachysandra around the house.

Daffodil ‘Tete-a-Tete’

Spring is starting to accelerate. The snow drops have been up for some time, the Eranthis flowers are drying up. The Lenten rose has been blooming for a while. I had a picture of Scilla on Sunday (four days ago). Crocuses are coming up and the daffodils are starting to open. This is a sweet little division 12 daffodil (that’s the miscellaneous category) called ‘Tete-a-Tete.’ They do tend to bow their heads a bit rather than looking up at you, but they are still such a cheerful yellow that you can’t help but smile when you see them. More flowers to come, it’s that time of year.

Scilla mischtschenkoana

Unfortunately I cannot put my hands on my garden drawing that tells me what is planted where. Still, I’m fairly sure this is Scilla mischtschenkoana, otherwise known as Mishchenko squill, early squill, or white squill. It’s a pretty little thing and the more lovely for blooming now, when most things are brown and dull.

It foretells of spring and the coming of many other little bulbs. I’m looking forward to the Scilla Siberica and the various Muscari and Chionodoxa varieties, most of which have blue or purple flowers, which are such delightful little things. I have Chionodoxa forbesii and C. luciliae as well as Muscari armeniacum, M. neglectum, and M. latifolium.

Soon. Very soon.

I should also say, I enjoy words that can manage seven consonants in a row, like mischtschenkoana. You have to stop and think about it before you say it.

Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite)

Galanthus nivalis (Common Snowdrops)

Helleborus sp. (Lenten Rose)

We don’t usually think of things being in bloom this time of year. At least not here, we don’t. In Florida or more tropical realms I’m sure it’s fairly well expected. And of course in the southern hemisphere it’s summer so I’m sure there are things blooming. But it’s pretty much still firmly winter here and we don’t associate winter with flowers.

If you don’t like that about winter, then perhaps today’s post will cheer you up a bit. We have three things blooming in our yard right now — things that bloom regularly this time of year. In fact, they all have common names that speak to when they bloom. The first is winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis). It’s a tiny little woodland perennial from Europe. It is only about 3 inches tall because although it has a stem, it’s an underground stem and the leaves come off of that, with flowers above the leaves. They take a good while to get established and really, our heavy clay soil isn’t terribly well suited to them, so they don’t do as well here as they might. I planted some a few years ago and one or two have bloomed each year since but I really need to plant more and in more locations.

The second thing that we have blooming now are common snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis). As their name implies, they often bloom when there is snow on the ground. They are also mostly white, which may be where they get their name, but I don’t really know. We have a few bunches of these in various places around the yard and they are a welcome bit of white when most of the garden is brown.

Finally, and most flamboyantly, the Lenten rose is blooming. We have one very well established Lenten rose (some variety of Helleborus) that has this wonderful claret color. I think of all the flowers in our yard, I like the color of this one best. Well, I like the blues, as well, but this is right up there. The fact that it blooms now makes it that much more special. We do have a few new Lenten rose plants that I put in last year but they are not blooming. Given a year to get established and I think they will do fine next year. They are both white, which should be nice.

So, if you’re a bit blue because everything is brown, plant some February blooming plants and it will be that much easier to get through the cold winter months.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

We stopped by Johnson’s this afternoon. It’s nice to go into a greenhouse and see so much green and to smell the earthy aroma. There isn’t a lot, even in their greenhouse, this time of year, but it was still worth the time.

I need to repot a few of our orchids but wasn’t in the mood to buy pots today. We were just looking (actually, we did buy something). In addition to the orchids, there were cacti and lots of different house plants. Relatively quiet, though.