Easter Surprises

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.  โ€” 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)

2 comments on “Easter Surprises

  1. josh

    fabulous post! ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Marsha Kessler

    Lovely! Thanks for the Housman poem as well. Perfect for the picture.