Redbud (Cercis)

I assume this is an eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) rather than a Chinese or European redbud (C. chinensis or C. siliquastrum) but I don’t actually know the differences between them, so I won’t say for certain. They certainly do make a fine show this time of year, adding a bit of pale purple to the beautiful tapestry of greens that the woods become in spring. The flowers are mostly seen from a distance and their best effect is as a mass of color, but they are interesting little things individually, as well.

Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis)

I’m always forgetting what these are called.

Well, not really. They are members of the genus Myosotis and are very pretty little flowers, most effective in large drifts. I don’t know which species these are (there are about 300) but I believe they may be Myosotis sylvatica, a European variety commonly known as the wood forget-me-not. They are short-lived herbaceous perennials and where they are growing in our garden sort of shifts from year to year, as new seedlings grow and old plants die, but we still have a little area where they seem to be happy.

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.