Kwanzan Cherry
When the cherries are in bloom I am often reminded of this celebration of springtime.
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my three score years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow. — A.E. Housman
It’s the sort of enchanting notion that can get you out and about on an Easter morning. And when I did so I was immediately rewarded by a visit from an Angel, Wuhan Angel to be specific.
Iris japonica ‘Wuhan Angel’
I’ve had a fitful relationship with the Iris Japonica because the other cultivar that I have is fairly aggressive and I’ve banned it to the shade garden reserved for thugs. I haven’t seen blooms on it for years and I was thinking of taking it out of even that hidden spot until I saw this morning’s white angel and so I went back to check on it and found that it too is coming into bloom, probably by tomorrow, and it is appropriately named ‘Eco Easter’ courtesy of Plant Delights.
There were other benefits of this morning’s walk around the yard.
Two more Peonies had their first blossoms (P. caucausica bloomed last week)
Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii (Molly the Witch) – no yellows around here…
Paeonia ostii
This is a spectacular species tree peony.
It’s also blooming time for the merry bells and fairy bells
Uvularia grandiflora (Bellwort or Merry Bells)
It’s easy to confuse these with the Disporum flavens (Fairy Bells) which blooms at the same time. But an easy way to see the difference is to note that the flowering stem comes from within the leaf on the Uvularia. The Disporum flavens is also simply more floriferous.
Disporum flavens (Yellow Fairy Bells)
Nearby the first of the arisaemas is getting ready to strut it’s stuff.
Arisaema ringens
And the white glaucidium is a dramatic addition.
Glaucidium palmatum ‘Album’
Under the Kousa Dogwood there is planting of tulips that is commanding attention right now.
Tulip ‘Yellow Spring Green’
Let me close this Easter message with a peek at the Alpine bed which is accented at the moment by a fully open display of Delosperma
Delosperma ‘Gold Nugget’ and friends (aubrieta, armeria, dryas, lewisia, and aethionema)
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day April 2019
Camellia pure white
Well, not only has spring jumped forward for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, but it looks as though we are done with frost for this year, weeks in advance of the norm. The Camellias have had a great run of bloom, producing more flowers than we could have imagined.
Camellia pink in abundance
The daffodils and hellebores have provided multiple pickings each day to feed the household vases.
Daily indoor spring flowers
Meanwhile, I go on a daily treasure hunt to see what has popped up from previous plantings. Like the following little treasures.
Erythronium revolutum ‘White Beauty’
Ranzania japonica
Peltoboykinia watanabe
Primula kisoana
Helleborus x hybridus ‘Peppermint Ice’
Oxalis griffithii – Double Flowered
Trillium pusillum ‘Roadrunner’
And then there is the further development of plants I had noted in earlier posts, like this lovely anemonella
Anemonella ‘Green hurricane’
And the last of the adonis.
Adonis amurensis ‘Sandanzaki’
Of particular note are the bloodroots.
Sanguinaria multiplex
These last in flower much longer than the standard species. Similarly, the new semi-double cultivar ‘Snow Cone’ is wonderful in the way that the flowers expand in size each day and lasts about as long as the double-flowered.
Sanguinaria ‘Snow Cone’ next to Corydalis ‘Beth Evans’
Sanguinaria canadensis Snow Cone’
This little beauty came from Garden Visions.
Then there are flowers in the troughs and alpine beds like this very tiny phlox.
Phlox sileniflora
and this colorful geum
Geum reptans
The dwarf columbine has it’s first flowers out
Aquilegia flabellata v. nana
And some of the flowers I’ve noted earlier have continued to expand.
Aubrieta ‘Blue Beauty’
Lewisia longipetala ‘Little Raspberry’
Armeria maritima ‘Victor Reiter’
There is also a very compact, low to the ground ornithogalum that I can’t put a name on at the moment (but it’s lovely even without a name)
Delightful ornithogalum in the alpine bed
Finally, I spent a couple of seasons trying to trace down a single pink anemonella, and I finally have one that is blooming very nicely.
Anemonella ‘Single Pink’
April Delights
Daffodils in conversation
There are so many things happening in the yard right now that it is difficult to keep track of them all. I feel light the perennial puppy dog jumping from one delightful surprise to the other. To begin with the daffodils are exploding in the yard, on the hillside, and in the forest. It seems like a particularly bountiful year for these stellar performers that get ignored by browsing animals.
Narcissus ‘Tropical Sunset’
And the big Magnolia Stellata is fully in bloom
Magnolia stellata
The Hellebores are everywhere with their spectacular but mostly downward facing blooms
Double flowered White Hellebore
Helleborus Double-White
Hellebore double purple
But what really engages me in the spring are the smaller ephemerals that mostly have short but lovely blooming cycle.
Jeffersonia dubia ‘Dark Eyes’
Jeffersonia dubia ‘Dark Eyes’
Hepatica light pink
Hepatica nobilis white
Sanguinaria multiplex
Hacquetia epipactis
Fritillaria stenanthera ‘Cambridge’
Anemonella thalictroides ‘Green Hurricane’
Corydalis solida ‘Gunite’
One of my favorite Corydalis is ‘Beth Evans’
Corydalis solida ‘Beth Evans’
It was delightful to see that not only has this Corydalis seeded itself into the neighboring pathway but it’s also 15 feet away under the holly tree.
I was somewhat surprised that a couple of the Adonis are coming up much later than their brethren.
Adonis amurensis ‘Beni Nadeshiko’
Adonis amurensis ‘Pleniflora’
And my favorite, Adonis amurensis Sandanzaki, is only just now coming into bud.
The alpine beds and troughs also have some early spring flowers in bloom.
Aubrieta ‘Royal Red’
Pulsatilla grandis
Aethionema saxatile
This little Burnt Candytuft was planted in tufa, but has jumped ship and is appearing in various places in the alpine bed.
Nearby is a really nice little sea thrift obligingly staying put on the tufa.
Armeria maritima ‘Victor Reiter’
Nearby is a very early blooming Lewisia
Lewisia longipetala ‘Little Raspberry’
Two years ago I acquired a nice little Draba from Oliver nurseries that is forming a nice compact mound.
Draba rigida
A surprise to me this year was a little Saxifrage that came from Wrightman’s Alpines two years ago.
Saxifraga ‘Valerie Keevil’
It’s growing in a very protected location on the shady side of an eastern-facing trough and if it flowered last year I totally missed it.
I shouldn’t ignore the greenhouse which continues to produces some South African gem every week. The latest is a 2 1/2 foot tall Ixia that came from the Pacific Bulb Society last fall.
Ixia hybrid
I would be remiss if I did not mention the Edgeworthia by the front road.
Edgeworthia chrysantha
It seems they are much hardier in Maryland than I expected.
Finally I need to share an example of the Camellias which also prove to be much hardier than one should really anticipate.
Camellia japonica Pink with dozens of flower buds.
Now it’s time to go out into the yard and see what else is blooming.