Rose Stem, Thorns, and Leaves

We had quite beautiful weather over the weekend. After the gorgeous but melancholy day yesterday, the rain we had today just seemed appropriate. I went out back when I got home from work and I took pictures of plants with water droplets on them, including this rose stem with the new growth of leaves that’s been growing strongly the last week and a half or so. This is a multiflora rose, or a natural hybrid with that as one parent. I dug it up in the woods near my office because it has the most lovely pink flowers. The canes don’t seem to be terribly long lived and last summer I spent a good while cutting dead wood out of it. This one does have some thorns on it and by the time I was done my arms were crisscrossed with scratches. Worth the effort, though.

Daffodil

This is one of the daffodils we have growing in our front garden and it is one of my favorites. I planted it the first fall we lived in this house and it has done really well. Each year there are more flowers than the last. Daffodils are great—they are amazingly hardy, the squirrels don’t dig them up to eat the bulbs, and they bloom in ever increasing profusion every year. If you don’t have daffodils in your yard, then you should. That’s my opinion.

Scilla siberica (Siberian Squill)

In the past I often got Scilla siberica confused with Chionodoxa forbesii (a.k.a. glory-of-the-snow). They really don’t look that much alike, except they are both small, ephemeral, blue flowered, perennial bulbs. The most obvious different, though, is that Scilla (or squill, not to be confused with Scylla) has downward facing flowers while Chionodoxa has mostly upward facing flowers. There are other more subtle differences. Seeing them side by side, you might wonder how anyone would mistake one for the other. In any case, I have them pretty well separated in my mind now.

Of course, deciding which of them I prefer is not so easy. They are both beautiful in their own way. I don’t suppose I have any great need to pick one over the other. I think both should be planted far more often than they are. They grow well, they are quite hardy, and they are beautiful. Do you need more than that? Well, if you do, how about the fact that Scilla siberica has blue pollen?

Daffodils In The Rain

The early daffodils were up last week and lots of other things are starting to appear. The maple trees are blooming and leaves are starting to appear on willow trees. We had a fair amount of rain last night and it continued throughout most of the day. When I got home it had stopped raining quite so hard but everything was wet. Of course ”it isn’t raining rain, you know, it’s raining violets.” And more daffodils. This is a daffodil called ‘Marieke’ and it’s one of the best. Of course, the rain does tend to knock it down a bit, but it’s still beautiful.

Pink Hyacinth

After our brief Easter interlude, we now return to our regularly scheduled spring, already in progress. There are a few hyacinths in bloom in our back garden. I planted a dozen more last fall but those are a little behind, as bulbs tend to be their first year. The old plants are already blooming, though. There were originally three each of pink and yellow, although one of the yellows has died (or was dug up by a squirrel). This (for those of you viewing it in black and white) is a pink one.

Helleborus (Lenten Rose)

We drove back from Richmond this morning, having a much better time of it than the drive down yesterday. In the afternoon I went out back and took some pictures of a couple Lenten rose plants. This is one we put in when we first moved in and it’s doing really well (and probably needs to be dug up and divided). Lent is over and this plant has only just started blooming late this week, but we had snow later than is usual and that slowed it up a bit. In 2012 I have photos of this same plant blooming on February 19. Anyway, it’s blooming now and it’s lovely.

Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

Today the ‘Pink Giant’ Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii) started blooming. This is a pale pink variety that I have growing amidst the pachysandra in the northeast corner of our front yard. In addition to being pink, as the name suggest ‘Pink Giant’ suggests, it is fairly tall for a Chionodoxa and holds its blooms above the pachysandra. Otherwise, it is similar to the blue flowers I posted a photo of for yesterday.

Chionodoxa luciliae (Glory-of-the-Snow)

Next up, after the early daffodils, are the glory of the snow (Chionodoxa luciliae), this little bulb native to western Turkey. I have a pretty nice little bunch of them growing on the south end of the house, which warms up before other areas, which helps get them up early, as well. As you may know, I’m partial to blue flowers and these, although early and ephemeral, are some of my favorites. They are such a lovely color and in quantity are quite striking.

Our First Daffodils

Are you ready for flowers? I hope so, because they are coming up relatively fast and furious now and I think I’ll most likely be posting them fairly frequently. If you’ve been following me a while, then they may look like photos you have seen before. If her are new, well, they will be flowers. You’ll see.

Today the first daffodils in our yard came out. They are called Tete-A-Tete and are small but growing in large clumps and are quite cheering.