Hyacinths and Hellebores

Apr23

I like hyacinths. They’re so fat and fragrant I can’t help but not like them, and even though I don’t think I use them well in the garden they will always get a spot here. -Even if they’re all girly pink and white like some Easter wedding bouquet 🙂

Pink and white dutch hyacinths. I like them, but not so much with the bright blue of the scilla siberica “spring beauty”. Also the pastel combo reminds me too much of the bathroom we still need to remodel.

The darker blue and purple shades are something I’ve been trying to add more of around the garden. I think they complement the daffodils and tulips well and I’m glad to see that several are making offsets and beginning to clump up. Dividing them would save me a few bulb dollars that could be spent on other goodies!

“Miss Saigon” hyacinth (maybe?) with a mix of other spring bulbs. Notice the freeze damage on the tulips, they didn’t enjoy last week’s 20F nighttime lows.

The large, heavy blooms of hyacinths can look a bit awkward in the garden and tend to flop, so I’m really loving the looser multi-flowering types. I think this is hyacinth “Anastacia”. Each bulb of this type sends up several smaller bloom stalks rather than one large congested head, and the dark purple flower stems only add to the effect. Too bad the only other colors I can find these in is pink and white…

If you remember, we had a hard freeze last week and although most things made it through just fine, there has been some damage to tulip foliage, hyacinth blooms (a few randomly turned to mush), and hellebore stalks. Hellebores are trying to put on a show now, but this garden is pretty wide open, and hellebores take a beating.

Hellebores with some freeze damage to the blooms, but still putting on a show!

Between last summer’s drought, last winter’s freezes, and late spring cold snaps it’s a wonder that I get any blooms. Maybe pity will be the motivation I need to reward these clumps with some better prepared soil and a less weedy location. It’s a shame these and some other cool anemone flowered plants are forced to suffer like this!

Pink anemone flowered hellebore with spotting, grown from Elizabethtown seed sown around 2008ish.

I hate having my hands in pictures, but to get the full effect you really have to take a look inside these blooms. Maybe someday I’ll collect a dishful and float them in water, but until then you’re stuck with the hand shots.

A little beat up by the cold, but still a nice white anemone, -also from Elizabethtown hellebore seed.

These were also raised from Elizabethtown seed, and now that Elizabethtown has closed down retail seed sales, I’m at a loss for a new seed source. I could go with tissue cultured hybrids or buy seedlings of some of the better strains, but I like the adventure of raising from seed, even if it takes a couple years for your first bloom…. plus it’s so much more affordable (unless you’re eyeing Ashwood seed from England!)

A nice red double and some yellow picotee seedlings blooming for the first time. They also took a beating from the cold.

I don’t know if this last one counts as anemone flowered, but the neatly arranged petaloids(?) or nectaries(?) inside the bloom give a similar effect. The plant photographed well and the color looks more apricot than it really is, in person the flower leans more towards interesting than towards beautiful.

Hellebore blooms padded with extra petaloids, these plants are sheltered by the house.

Sorry about the poor picture quality, the day was a little dull for my point and shoot skills to get good pictures, but I wanted to get a few in there before I get lost in the world of daffodils and tulips! The early ones are just starting now and between trying to get things transplanted and trying to enjoy every new flower it’s hectic. Viva la Spring! 🙂

Making up for lost time

Apr17

The first few weeks of spring all happened in four days, four gloriously warm and sunny days! I prefer a drawn out cool season with no big shocks but I don’t think that will be the case this year. Last Saturday went up to just over 80F (27C) and the drab gray garden exploded into color.

Narcissus “Tete a Tete” one of the best small, early daffodils for the garden and also for forcing in pots.

Just a few days ago we were freezing our kazooies off looking at snowdrops, now I’m rushing to admire the last spring snowflake (leucojum vernum) before the warm weather fries its delicate bloom. It’s hanging on in a cold spot which only just thawed out last week.

Leucojum vernum the spring snowflake, that’s a flake, not a drop, even though snowdrops are a close relative.

Around front, the shelter of the house has things popping up even faster. Corydalis “George Baker?” and the hellebores opened in two days, the hyacinth was a fat bud Sunday and then full bloom on Monday when I took this picture.

I have good luck with hyacinths. In fact the blooms get so big and heavy they end up flopping when fully open. This little piglet has been in the same spot for five years and has a bloom bigger than ever, plus two secondary stalks. If only the yucca “colorguard” behind wasn’t so beat up by the winter….

The hard winter may have been good for something though. This is the first spring I’ve ever seen corydalis seedlings, and Carolyn over at Carolyn’s Shade Garden said she notices an abundance of seedlings around her plants after a snowier winter. Maybe the snow cover helps moderate the soil moisture or temperature and aids in germination or maybe after all the snow we’re just looking more desperately and notice every single green sprout!

Corydalis seedlings, I first thought they were some odd one-leafed clover that needed weeding out!

Corydalis are one of my new favorites, and the most confusing thing about the seedlings is I never even noticed the seed pods forming… and trust me I was looking! I have it in my head to nurture nice swaths of corydalis color similar to the showcase found in Carolyn’s garden. The ones I have here (“George Baker and “Beth Evans”) were originally ordered from Brent and Becky’s and are exactly the bold colors I’m looking for. I also added some straight species corydalis solida from Van Engelen’s, but they’re just a little too pale and small and actually seem to be dying out.

Corydalis solida with blue scilla siberica “Spring Beauty” and Chiondoxas…. and finally some greening grass.

Corydalis really appreciate division and replanting, and this single bulb moved the year before last is already a nice little clump. You just have to get to them quick though, they die down fast after blooming and it’s hard to remember where they were.

Corydalis “George Baker” with some hyacinths in need of division and replanting.

My focus for the last few days has been getting the cleanup done so everything can sprout up all nice and fresh. Some people are concerned that early cleanups leave the little sprouts exposed to late frosts, but I never have a problem. Actually I feel that mulched areas warm up in the sun more quickly than damp exposed earth, but overall it’s the mid May freezes that kill my plants, not the cold blasts in March and April, so I clean up as soon as I can get out there. It lets me see all the weeds such as this campanula that has taken over most of what was supposed to be an iris bed.

Cleanup includes taking the seeds out from under the deck. What was I thinking when I started all these!? Even if I get rid of all the campanula plus some more lawn, there still might not be enough room for planting out all these seedlings. A few pots already show sprouts btw.

Seed pots sown throughout fall and winter and left to stratify (exposed to the elements) under the deck.

Daffodils will also need some attention this summer. The first are opening and I’d like to divide several of these clumps after they die back. Here’s the early yellow “Peeping Tom” and some unknown bicolor that I’d love to put a name to.

Some of the daffodil beds got a nice mulch of mowed up maple leaves last fall, but they only go so far. As I clean out the flower beds everything from leaves to perennial stalks to shrub trimmings to ornamental grass tops, all gets run over by the mower and bagged up to either mulch beds or feed the compost. The warm weather brought up this clump of narcissus “Rapture” so fast, I barely had time to get the mulch around it before the blooms opened.

Narcissus “Rapture” opening so fast in the warm weather the blooms barely had time to make it up out of the ground.

I really should use some of these early daffodils out in the front beds along with a few of these blue chiondoxas. This clump was actually just a weed which hitchhiked in on some scilla mischtschenkoana bulbs which share this same spot. Six days prior the scilla was in full bloom and there wasn’t a sign of the chiondoxa. Now look at it!

A clump of what might be chiondoxa forbesii… don’t know for sure since I never really planted it 🙂

There’s nothing subtle about spring in my garden. Besides yard cleanup I planted these pansies out in pots by the front door, and although these are in a more subtle grayish pot, the rest were planted in a bright cobalt pot! Planter choices aside, I may be on to something with the pansy mix. Christina over at Creating my own garden of the Hesperides used a similar color mix for an arrangement of Gerber daisies, and I’m going to be on the lookout for my own daisies in these colors too.

‘daffodil mix’ Matrix pansies

So that brings us to the next flush of color. The hellebores are also starting to open up in the exposed parts of the garden. Here’s “HGC Silvermoon” still looking kind of greenish. The foliage on this one is great and I’m jealous of gardeners who are able to get it through the winter with leaves worth looking at.

Hellebore “HGC Silvermoon” just starting to open up. Too bad the nice foliage on this one was burnt up by the cold.

And one of the first Elizabethtown seedlings just starting to come up.

A nice freckled hellebore from Elizabethtown seed.

So spring is finally here in full force, just in time for Easter. There are still a few bumps in the road …..such as last night’s snowfall and low of 21F (-6C) but I think we’ll make it. I just have to find the time to catch up on all the things that were on hold because of the weather. It’s way too early to fall behind!

Back to the Temple

Apr12

Last Saturday some friends and I made the trip up to Trumansburg, NY for what I hope will become an annual tradition; the open day at Hitch Lyman’s Temple Garden Nursery. As was the case in 2013, winter still had a firm grip on the weather so a thick coat was essential (and gloves and hat and scarf), but at least there was more mud than ice this year. That’s a start….

First garden tour of the year!

For those who don’t know, Mr. Lyman is (among other things of course) a lover of snowdrops, and his Temple Nursery catalog is the most specialized retail source for snowdrops in the US. There are other great sources out there now, but Hitch has been dealing snowdrops since before they became cool (am I the only one who considers them cool?), and his collection is considered to be the largest in this country with around 400 varieties planted throughout the property.

Snowdrops all over, patches big and small, named/unnamed…. heaven for the galanthophile (snowdrop lover)

The bank along the driveway is the first planting you see, and here’s my first favorite, galanthus “Wasp”, with its long wispy blooms. Not that I’m stalking Mr. Lyman’s snowdrops, but I just want to say it looks so much better this year upright and not all flat and frozen. 8 blooms this year (up from 4 the year before -in case you’re wondering). I took a lot of pictures last year too 🙂

Galanthus “Wasp” with “Dodo Norton” in the back

I could go on and on about my visit but I’ll try to keep this somewhat short. I referred to Hitch as a dealer of snowdrops, and I think that’s an appropriate term for someone who sells something so addictive…. here’s galanthus “Naughton” (also just 4 blooms last year) Hope it bulks up quick enough to make it into the catalog soon!

Galanthus “Naughton”. Maybe it’s a little droopy, but the flowers are so big, and I love the little curl to the pedicle(?) just above the bloom.

Doubles are starting to grow on me. Even the smaller blooms that normally bore me. “Cornwall Gem” has small sideways blooms that are held further out from the stem.

Galanthus “Cornwood Gem”

“Mordred” has a nice fat look that I liked. It’s hard to say for sure though if this fat look stays, since it could change completely as the flowers expand and open (if the weather ever improves). Odd that for this one the sun came out, with a name like Mordred I would have expected even more dark grey ‘Lord of the Rings’ weather to rain down.

Galanthus “Mordred”, a nice recurved fat double with green tips.

Once up the driveway we were invited in to the house for signing in and paying the $5 admission fee. We had only been out of doors for 20 minutes at most, and the break from the cold was already a welcome relief!

One of the most welcoming sign-ins ever! It’s hard to see, but some of those cut snowdrops were huge, and the cookies and muffins were a nice touch.

Out again and into the snowdrops. There’s a more formal part of the garden out back beyond the garden’s namesake temple. My traveling company spent most of their visit inside the temple, next to the warm fire. Fortunately they weren’t offered wine or else I suspect we never would have gotten them out of there!

Hitch Lyman’s backyard temple. Even though the pond was unfrozen this year, the fireplace inside was still a welcomed retreat from the cold.

From what I could see, the formal garden promised an explosion of lilacs , hellebores, and peonies as well as the small bulbs which were scattered throughout. In past years I’ve seen reports on the summer garden, but I don’t believe he’s opened it in the last few years. Maybe someday I’ll be able to see this in person when it’s green.

A small part of the formal garden. Apples trained to goblet shapes, beds filled with perennials, lilacs and tree peonies everywhere, and buds of hellebores and herbaceous peonies sprouting all over.

Close ups of the beds showed plenty of signs of spring, snowdrops and winter aconite (eranthis) plus many other goodies on their way.

Winter aconite waiting for the sun to open up, snowdrops scattered throughout.

Personally I was fine poking around in the still dormant beds looking at goodies, but the bulk of Mr. Lyman’s snowdrops are in the back of the property and it’s there we rushed off to next. To keep things moving along, here are more favorites, such as “Ballerina” a very neatly arranged double.

Galanthus “Ballerina”

….and “Flocon De Neige”, a wish list snowdrop. Easily on my top 10 or even top 5. It’s hard to say since I don’t actually dare put a wish list together.

Galanthus “Flocon de Neige”. Six outers with a doubled inner, very pure looking.

“Pricilla Bacon”, part of a healthy patch all with perfect large rounded flowers.

Galanthus “Pricilla Bacon”

The odd little “Alburg Claw”. Not a great picture, but There’s some kind of strange attractiveness to this one.

Galanthus “Alburg Claw”, a tiny plant which I hope to see thriving during next year’s visit.

The snowdrop plantings lined a taped off trail that meandered through the woods. You could tell quite some work had been done to get the gardens ready for this Garden Conservancy Open Day, brush was cleared, patches labeled, sprouts uncovered. All this must have been carried out in the last four days since our most recent snow storm!

Trail through the snowdrop woodland. Snowdrops extended deep into the trees, and I can only imagine all the additional treasure growing on in the distance.

I felt as if there were easily twice as many snowdrops as remembered from my last visit. Warmer weather and another year’s growth seemed to make all the difference, plus I recognized a few names which seemed to have been moved here from off the driveway bank. “Sophie North” was now in the woods, and this unidentified favorite from last year now has a name too. It’s galanthus “R.D. Nutt”(and was only two bulbs last year!)

Big Flowers, two blooms per bulb, nice wide plicate (folded on the edges) leaves, and olive colored ovaries make galanthus “R.D Nutt” another one of my favorites.

A few really stood out for having big blooms. This is “Grayswood” who’s blooms are easily an inch long. I don’t have small hands.

Not the best picture of galanthus “Grayswood”. It’s listed as having four outer petals, but I didn’t have enough sense to look. In my defense my hands were probably freezing at this moment.

“Imbolc” is another one I’d put in the short fat group (a good group to be in if you’re a snowdrop). Technically it’s out of the “Mighty Atom” group, a strain of stocky, large flowered drops, but until my snowdrop sophistication grows….

Galanthus “Imbolc”. I love this one, but have two related ones which are similar, so it’s closer to top 20, and not top 5.

“Major Pam”, a nice clump which was offered in Mr. Lyman’s catalog this year. Tight, neatly organized blooms with short inners, it’s part of my “I don’t like doubles” remission.

Galanthus “Major Pam”

You’re doing well if you made it this far. I’m almost done so here’s “Peardrop” showing two blooms per bulb, nice long blooms…. I’m not sure if the bulbs to the left are also pear related, but the one on the right looks to be a real nice drop.

Galanthus “Mrs. Thompson”. Almost always referred to as a ‘variable snowdrop’ because it can be all over the place with extra petals, twin flowers, Siamese twin flowers…. I think it really makes for a nice display, but I wonder what the real Mrs. Thompson thought of having such a fickle flower named after her?

Small blooms, big blooms, four petals, six petals; galanthus “Mrs. Thompson” looks good all the time (to me at least)

I included “Richard Ayres” because one of my hardier traveling companions told a nice story about meeting the real Mr. Ayres when this was spotted. I always love a good story, too bad the sun couldn’t come out to open him up a little.

Galanthus “Richard Ayres”

Finally a little hope for my ugly duckling of the snowdrop patch, galanthus “Blewbury Tart”. Grown well and in a bigger clump maybe someday mine can also have an attractive oddness to it, instead of just plain old oddness.

Galanthus “Blewbury Tart”, a ‘unique’ looking snowdrop that still needs some time to grow on me.

So thanks for sticking with me for way too much galanthus talk. We probably spent about three hours out in the cold and I believe it confirmed my and my friend’s suspicions that there’s something deeply wrong with my idea of fun. With frozen toes and fingers we returned to the house and headed around the side for one last look. Unless it was the hypothermia talking, there was still a point here when I actually may have skipped across the grass to look at another snowdrop. I’m that far gone.

A beautiful springtime sky in western New York. It almost makes you want to take a dip in the fountain 🙂

I have my fingers crossed for next year. Maybe the sun will come out and maybe I’ll even have the courage to talk to Mr. Lyman. Despite the cold and wind he was out and about in the gardens mingling, answering questions, and probably just plain enjoying the return of green (and white) things such as “Mrs. Wrightston’s Double”.

Galanthus “Mrs Wrightston’s Double”

So that’s it. It may seem odd to those of you in Europe to again be looking at snowdrops (you’re probably in bathing suits by now) but for us it’s only just turning in to warmer weather. I’m happy for that, and I’m happy to see green things returning here too.

Thanks again to Mr Lyman for another enjoyable visit and continuing to open his garden to visitors, and if you’re interested in receiving a snowdrop catalog, word on the street is to send three or four dollars to the following address: Temple Nursery (H Lyman) Box 591 Trumansburg, NY 14886. Catalogs go out in January and the drops are usually sold out within a few weeks.

And then it was spring!

Apr7

This was a good weekend. Not so much Saturday with blustery cold winds and stray snow and rain…. more so Sunday with calm sunshine and some of the highest temperatures of the year! Of course Saturday (the cold day) was the open day for Hitch Lyman’s garden, so trust me you’ll hear more about that, but for now I just want to bask in the warmth that was. Pansies were on the list and Perennial Point did not disappoint.

Just one of several pansy filled flower benches

Perennial Point is my go-to nursery for the best plants in my neck of Pennsylvania. This was their opening weekend, and I’m always glad to see them back especially after nearly losing them three years ago when the Susquehanna River flooded, spreading plants far and wide and covering the whole place in over ten feet of rushing water. They’ve rebuilt, and the new and improved is overflowing with spring goodies. Here’s the interior filled with more delicate things not ready for the frosty nights.

A spring greenhouse overflowing with all that’s good about ending winter.

I have to say my daughter was very patient while I looked around. Not every 5 year old tolerates plant shopping as a follow up to her first day of T-ball practice. Stopping for chicken nuggets helped, and she got to pick out one of these trays of primula for mommy. How could I not at $4.59 a tray (four plants)!!?

Some perfect primulas. I hope the ones I bought stay this nice for at least a week or two.

I could have hung out for a while among the spring color and fragrance, but ice cream was promised so off we went. I wanted to carry out another spring tradition, the visiting of a local spring snowflake patch near the ice cream shop. The snowflakes (the good kind!) were in full bloom and although there were fewer than in years past (there’s been some careless construction going on) there was still a nice patch filling the creekside hollow.

Naturalized snowflakes (leucojum vernum). Notice the cool green tips on the flower petals?

I love snowflakes (leucojum vernum). They open just after the snowdrops, usually just as soon as the soil thaws, and because of that they’re always a special part of spring. This group is just a few feet away from a creek, and I think they do well in damp ground, but they also do just fine in a regular garden setting. Good luck finding them though, I hear the bulbs resent drying out and as a result few sellers carry them. But they’re worth a search, and even better if you can find a special form with yellow tips to the blooms or double flowers…. if you do keep me in mind! Sharing is caring 😉

White is the new green

Apr1

How’s this for spring color?

Snowdrops covered with yet another surprise snowfall

Good thing I got my new snowdrops planted Saturday. By Sunday night a storm system moved up the coast and by Monday morning we were again covered by a couple inches of snow. Winter is really putting up a fight but March sunshine works wonders, and by late afternoon the snow had melted back enough to convince the bunny buffet to open up and invite spring back.

snow crocus doing its thing

The wind and sharp temperature plunges may have been a little too much for some of the snowdrops, but most just laugh off a late season snow. This bunch is just as happy today as they were last week.

snowdrops back up after the latest snow

Today the thermometer made it up to almost 60F (15C). Flowers were opening, snow was melting, and I saw the first honeybees working what few crocus were left in the meadow. Spring weather for sure and even if the yard is a soggy mess from all the rain and snow, the birds and flowers don’t care, they’re ready to go!

Hope for spring

Mar16

Last Sunday was a big day. The first snowdrop managed to pop up and drop the first pure white bloom of the 2014 season. Since then the not-so-pure snow has been on the retreat and temperatures have been almost seasonable! One night temperatures didn’t even drop below freezing, and if you ignore the 9F night (-13C) you could almost imagine spring is close.

I don’t know how they do it, but somehow even from the frozen earth, under a layer of snow and ice, the snowdrops (galanthus elwesii) are growing. I can’t imagine I missed this one in January during the last thaw. It must have continued to grow as melting snow trickled down through the ice and then voila! Spring 🙂Other old friends are reappearing from beneath the filthy snow remnants. Cyclamen hederifolium doesn’t look half bad after having spent the winter under a driveway snow pile.A few feet away cyclamen coum is a different story. The melting snow is leaving me with a mat of sloppy, rotting foliage. Just for the record, you won’t get these pretty pictures on just any blog. We’re here for the good, the bad…. and the ugly.

But spring is a fountain of hope, and even here I was able to find the first bloom coming up! I think they’ll be ok but it’s a different look without the backdrop of healthy foliage (and I hope the tubers are able to prep for next year without their leaves)

Here’s a standard pussy willow shot. Another one of my favorite plants. Not much to look at most of the year, but I’d never be without it 🙂The “solid” winter of 2013/14 has tied up the Northeast in longer than average snowcover, and as a result even the snowdrops are running late. I got this postcard from Hitch Lyman of The Temple Garden Nursery in upstate NY, and what a relief that I won’t be stressing over the long range weather report. By April there should be something! and even if some freak warm spell comes along there are enough other bulbs and hellebores to fill a garden visit. But change your calendars, the new Garden Conservancy open date is April 5 from 11 to 3.

Here’s how my first snowdrop (an anonymous galanthus elwesii given to me by a friend) looks….. and notice another dead cyclamen coum leaf right at it’s base. This spring they all look this way 😦 I’m going to go on about snowdrops now, so tune out if you’ve already had your fill. This week I’m struggling through my attempts to get better pictures. So far I’ve learned nothing, but out of the countless blurry and overexposed pictures I’ve taken, the law of averages has let me bumble into one or two acceptable shots. Here’s my nicest clump of galanthus nivalis (or most likely a hybrid thereof) which was rescued from the edge of a bulldozer rut during a local dairy farm’s gentrification. It’s the last survivor of what used to be swaths of snowdrops…. And here are three new treasures 🙂 -all variations on white, and all making me happier than a sparrow in spring (I’m assuming they’re happy, I finally hear them singing in the mornings). The first is galanthus “Gerard Parker”.
The next, with much smaller blooms and a more average snowdrop look, is galanthus “Chedworth”.and finally (with a drumroll implied) is galanthus “Primrose Warburg”. It’s a little thing, but special enough to make me happy I was able to finally get a non-blurry portrait.
Yesterday I noticed the first winter aconite is out. They’re still tiny and lack confidence, but I’m hoping spring is really on its way (although it’s snowing as I write this and a storm is predicted for tonight). Happy Sunday!

Just another day at the salt mines

May14

I can sorta relate to the people looking for low maintenance plants and landscaping. I for one love being outside, watching things grow, tending plants, dividing, staking, deadheading…. even weeding. About the only thing I really don’t care for is watering, so when it’s spring and I have a list of projects to work on and halfway through start to think it’s more trouble than it’s worth….. well it might be time to hit the lawnchair with a drink. In a sick way I sometimes look around at my fellow suburbanites and think their yards look just as good as mine, but then I remember it’s unlikely they have a couple dozen different iris coming along into bloom, and they probably don’t even have any more than one or two snowdrops. That helps my mood and I go through and finish the day with a smug grin, quite pleased with myself all over again.

The late tulips are still holding out, these (probably “Dordogne”) mixed in with all the others keep the patch colorful even after the rest are over. Unless Sunday’s high winds beat them silly, they should last another week.

I think what beats me down is the lawn maintenance. If you want to talk high maintenance a lawn is right there on top. Part of that is my fault, I’m stubborn and insist on using a corded electric mower instead of something bigger, stronger, and faster. It’s not the most manly mower, but from someone who’s always wandering the yard looking at his flowers….. well, the mower doesn’t help.

Something that’s mostly no-maintenance is fothergilla. It doesn’t need pruning, blooms with these nice white bottlebrush flowers, is presentable all summer, and come fall puts on a nice show of glowing reds, yellows and oranges. The blooms don’t last long for me, somewhere around two weeks, but that’s plenty. You miss it when it’s gone, which in my opinion is better than a plant that wears out its welcome.

Round around July the lawn starts wearing out its welcome. Mowing in the heat stinks and I look forward to the summer sun and drought sucking the green out of its blades. As long as I mow on the long side it just goes dormant, and the summer vacation from mowing is much welcomed, since mowing clearly cuts into pool time. But right now I need the flush of green clippings since they’re my number one mulch for the vegetable garden. I use them and some leftover chopped maple leaves to smother the grass and weeds that are buried in this new bed.Most of the weeds and grass will die, and hopefully by the time tomato planting weather rolls around (2 more weeks?) I can carefully dig down to soil level, plant the seedlings, top the bed with new clippings, and admire my avoidance of actually digging up this patch of hardpacked gravely “soil”.

Since I don’t have enough better things to do I actually transplanted some of the grass from the new bed into the former bed-turned-new-pathway (lower right of the picture). I’m a big sod mover. I hate waiting for grass seed to sprout. People will disagree, but I like grass paths through the garden. If you noticed, mine are edged with fancy pink marble sections. Some people have compared the look to “deep south cemetery”, but it’s the best use I could think of for the stone we pulled off the house front. Maybe it’s the second best…. we also have a pink marble compost bin.

In the orchard our new “Freedom” apple has even put out a few blossom clusters. I should of course nip them off so the tree has more energy to establish, but I don’t care. For all I know the tree could die tomorrow, so I’ll enjoy the blooms today.

Speaking of dying tomorrow, we have a frost predicted for tonight. I brought in a few succulents and four or five early summer plant purchases. The rest of the stuff is on its own. Planning for low maintenance gardening means not sweating the small stuff like late frosts. The cold weather veggie seedlings will tough it out (strong sun would damage them more than cool weather).

So we will see where the weather takes us. I figure if the tulips and iris don’t mind this afternoon’s snow, they shouldn’t mind a slight frost.

Surprise Hellebore

May2

I planted out a bunch of neglected hellebore seedlings early last fall and hoped they would have time to root in before winter really set in. Apparently they did. This double red seedling from Elizabethtown seed really took off and even put out a bloom.

The rest of the seedlings are much smaller and may consider a flower by next year, this one really surprised me. Needless to say I’m pleased as punch since this one is my first seed grown double…. so far….

My biggest issue with late plantings such as these is frost heave, when freezing and thawing pushes the plants up out of the soil and kills them through exposure, but that’s usually the only problem for these tough growers. I’ve found a nice mulch of chopped leaves gives them enough insulation to protect them throughout the winter, even in this exposed spot. Then the mulch just stays there as they start to grow. Good drainage in the raised beds is also a plus.

They’re in the middle of the vegetable garden, which might be the next problem. It’s full, baking sun which they seem to like unless they dry out too often too severely. Hopefully when I pass by each day I’ll be smart enough to keep an eye on watering needs.

Now I just need to find a new spot for the tomatoes.

Seedling Update

Apr27

I’m not as far behind as I thought I was. Even though not a single garden center would ever worry about me as competition, there are a few things looking like they might be ready to go in the ground. Two weeks earlier and a week or two in the cold frame (which doesn’t exist) would have been perfect… but this is where I’m at… and chances are next year this is also where I’ll be at. I’m a slow learner.

This was supposed to be the warm season light, with tomatoes and peppers and such, but I think it’s still not warm enough. The empty pots are things that just didn’t want to germinate, and the ones that did did it ever so sloooooowly. I think I need a heat mat to speed them up, it sounds like a good idea but I’ve never committed to getting one. Anyone have good luck with them?

The tomatoes and peppers look fine, but the coleus cuttings seem to do much better on the windowsill. Coleus are the one plant that appears to find something lacking in the flourescent lights. They always seem to have a “funny” look to them until they go outside and I wonder what it is.

The cool weather plants under the lights in the back of the garage look a little more impressive.

I think once this stuff hits the great outdoors it will take off…. assuming the bunnies stay away. I’m trying out “bright lights” swiss chard and already like the multicolored stems.

So we’ll see where this goes. Right now the vegetable garden is full of spring bulbs. It seemed like a good idea in October, now I don’t know. But at least it looks nice.

A few good hellebores

Apr24

In the last 4-5 years I’ve noticed that hellebores have entered the tissue culture world. It was just a matter of time I guess, but I feel like it takes away a little bit of the magic and mystery of these plants….. but on the other hand there’s no way I would have ever gotten my hands on some of the newer complicated (usually sterile) cross-species cultivars that are showing up.

This “HGC Silvermoon” is a heavy bloomer with an interesting color. It’s attractively planted too close to a construction area and the bricks are supposed to remind me not to step on it. Too bad the leaves get beat up by the ice and snow, I’ve seen it in bloom with foliage intact and it looks so much better. But you get what you get when you’re too lazy to offer up any winter protection.

“Cinnamon Snow” is from a similar cross involving 2 different species. I could google the info and come off as sounding pretty smart but it’s late and I don’t think I’d be fooling anyone. I believe one of the parents is H. Niger, commonly known as the Christmas Rose, and I think this is the first time I’ve got a nice bloom on this plant. It’s in a sheltered spot so the leaves hold up well, but the sheltered spot also brings the blooms up early so they tend to freeze, abort and not open fully

Hybrid hellebores

The “other” hellebores are the regular hybrid hellebores. They’re a mix of several species, they set seed easily and run a range of colors from white to mauve to purple to nearly black. There are some greens and yellows now and with spotting and doubles the range keeps getting bigger. Nearly all of my plants are from seed, but tissue culture clones are showing up here too. These here are all from Australian Elizabethtown seed (now sadly closed).

I’m still waiting for the fancier ones to grow up and bloom, but I do have a couple anemone flowered (a flower part-way between single and double) starting to put on a decent show…. I hate when any part of my hand shows up in a picture, but hellebores tend to nod and sometimes you need a helping hand to peek inside.

Since many hellebores are seed grown there’s always the chance your plant will be a dud when it blooms, and it’s not a bad idea to avoid buying them sight unseen, but if you go with a decent source your chances for a good ‘un are much better. I would bet that most people in the anti-hellebore camp (if one exists) have only seen poor quality seed grown plants. Get good seed and be patient, things will work out.

Next year should be a good hellebore year. I have way too many seedlings coming along and have actually been taking pretty good care of them. I’m hoping for doubles, yellows, picotees…. all the fancy new types that I don’t have yet. The nursery plants are usually out of my budget, but give me a packet of seeds and a couple years and I’m right there with a decent hellebore bed.

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

Category Archives: early spring