March 2013 Blooms

Is it really mid-March already?  I feel so far behind.  I haven't started seeds yet (except the peas); I haven't prepped the veggie garden (except to plant the peas); I've barely begun to cut down everything from last year.

Fortunately, my yard is a bit slower than last year to wake up, too.  The crocus are mostly done, except this little patch shaded by a euphorbia.

 

not yet fully awake this morning - must be the shade

 The rest of the crocus have given way to the daffodils:

The large patches of daffs I showed off this time last year are still just starting to come into bloom. 

The trailing Euphorbia myrsinites is just thinking it might be springtime:

In the front parking strip the crocus are finishing, the daffs are still budding, one anemone is opening, there are some random flowers on the moss phlox, and this:

Of the 10 or so squill bulbs I planted two falls ago, only one remains.  But it is a cute one.

Over on the north side is the periwinkle. So much periwinkle.  I planted it in two spots in my yard, before I knew better.  A few years ago, I successfully dug out one 5x5 patch (formed from just three original plants) to plant strawberries.  But this patch I haven't dealt with yet.  It has smothered a mini azalea, invaded my window well, and started to grow up the house.  But it still makes me smile when covered in flowers: 

One tree is in bloom, too.  My maple tree doesn't have showy, or even pretty, flowers, but they are there.

This time last year the plum tree was in full bloom; nothing yet this year.  I haven't been keeping records long enough to know if my yard is "late" this year, I do know it was earlier than normal last year.

I hope you'll visit May Dreams Gardens to see more March blooms. If you found me from there, welcome!  And thanks for visiting.

May 2012 Blooms

It rained on Bloom Day (two days ago).  It rained the day and night before that, too.  But everything's green now!

For this Bloom Day post, I'll focus on the side garden.  It has a lot going on right now.

At the driveway entrance to the garden, the geraniums are blooming.  Lambs ear provides a nice contrast.

A week or two ago, this garden was full of various irises, mostly along the house side of the path.  Most are finished, but there are a few that are later than the others.

Yellow bearded irises with white rose campion

purple bearded irises with rose campion

 Think I have a lot of rose campion? I sure do. Its shocking-pink blooms are about all you can see at the front end of the garden.

a sea of rose campion

Taking a closer look, it is hiding one of the first daylilies of the year.

Also along the house side, I have a few patches of mazus reptans.  It has been blooming for about two months, though it is finishing up now and the blooms are more sparse.  I bought two little pots of this groundcover last year, to see if it would spread well enough that I can redo the path with it between stepping stones.  I planted them along the edge of the existing path, and it has spread very nicely.  It should be easy to divide so I can put some along the whole path.  I love it when a plan comes together!

Mazus reptans

At the front end of this side of the garden (ok, actually in the front yard, but humor me...) is my rather prolifically flowering white rose.  I have no idea what it is, but the one-inch flowers are covering the shrub right now.

Along the fence-side of the garden, Centaurea have been blooming their funky flowers for a while.

Centaurea with lamb's ear

 The heuchera I planted for foliage accents actually have nice pink flower sprays.

Heuchera flowers

 The doublefile viburnum I planted last fall (to replace a nandina) is still very small, but growing and flowering happily.

Viburnum

 And at the front end of this side of the garden, peonies and salvia.  Why does it always happen that as soon as the peonies bloom, we get a big rainstorm?  I think I could predict rain better than a meteorologist, just by looking at the peony blooms. As a result, they don't last very long.

And that's the tour of the side garden.  Here's what it looks like from the front:

 Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting another Bloom Day!

April 2012 Blooms

Everything's blooming at once!  And I want to show it all off!  (But I don't have the patience to edit that many photos)  Here's a sizable sample:

An overview of the garage bed:  rue, moss phlox, columbine, geranium, and violets.

Up in the edibles garden, the strawberries are blooming.  So are last year's bunching onions and this overwintered kale, with flower stalks nearing five feet tall:

The red and yellow columbine have been filling in nicely over the years:

 
 Under the japanese maple, the green-and-gold I planted last spring have made themselves at home.

 

Over in the side yard, the black cherry is blooming, and is quite fragrant.

Around front, the catmint is already blooming.

So is this coreopsis, hidden among the daffodil foliage.

Over in the side yard, my pink bleeding heart is MIA.  But the white one has been very showy this year, seen here with a centaurea:

Both green and variegated solomons seal are up and blooming in the side bed, thought the ones in the upper garden are just breaking the surface.

Finishing up, here's my favorite iris blooming today.

Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting the monthly Bloom Day.


(Also blooming today:  hellebore, periwinkle, creeping and woodland phlox (nearly finished), moss phlox, S-O-B (pulled today), spanish bluebells, camassia, anemone, pansies, lavender irises, mazus reptans, euphorbia, dicentra eximia (nearly finished), flax, and pasque flower)

April in the Woods

Yesterday I took a short walk along the C&O canal, just upstream of the DC/MD line.  The woodland was all abloom!

An allover carpet of green-and-gold

Chrysogonum virginianum

played host to Virginia bluebells,

Mertensia virginica

phlox,

Phlox divaricata or P. stolonifera?  I don't know.

and a mystery yellow flower.

??

Bluebells also lined the canal.

More Mertensia

Overhead, a shrub had some exotic-looking red flowers.  And idea what this is?


A friend gave me the answer to this one:  it's a paw paw!

 Back in my own garden, I have phlox and green-and-gold growing.  I've planted bluebells in the past, but they don't seem to think my yard is woodsy enough.