Well, we've had a couple of nice days in a row and many plants have decided that it is spring. Let's see what's happening out there…
First up, we have buds on the Geum "Flames of Passion". Given a couple more sunny days, these might be in full flower.
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| Geum "Flames of Passion" |
I planted the geum in the middle of a sea of Ajuga genevensis (with the blue flowers) hoping that they'd bloom together. I don't know…do you think it'll happen?
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| Ajuga genevensis (blue) |
Elsewhere in the front garden, the daffodils have been blooming for a week or so. These are "Tete a Tete". I prefer them because they are miniature (about 8 inches tall) and the dying foliage is easily hidden by emerging perennials. They also fare well in heavy rains that often cause the bigger-flowered varieties to wind-up face down in the dirt. This little one has some splashed-up mud on its face.
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| Tete a Tete daffodil |
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| More Tete a Tetes |
A little patch of cyclamens, planted in the back yard under the eaves of the house, still looks nice. This is a mixed planting of coum and hederifolium--for both spring and fall bloom. I have had no trouble in getting these to naturalize in my garden so I have high hopes for these baby plants.
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| Cyclamen coum |
Akebia trifoliata is also blooming--if you can call it that! These blooms define "subtle." That almost-open, chocolate-mauve bloom is the size of a baby aspirin. Sure, they come in a raceme, but that whole grouping is less than a couple of inches long.** Oops--did I write "less than a couple of inches long"? I meant to write "barely over an inch long."
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| Akebia trifoliata |
Several types of seedlings have appeared. These are astrantias. Many thanks to Scott for picturing these babies on his blog a while back--if he hadn't, I'd have no idea what they are.
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| Astrantia seedlings |
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| Astrantia mother plant--also emerging |
The sweet cicely seedlings (sowed in place last fall) are putting out their first true leaves.
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| Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) seedling |
And the sweet cicely that I planted last fall as roots are growing, too. They are not known for transplanting well because they grow a large tap root but, honestly, these really weren't troubled at all by the move. We'll have to wait and see how big they become this year.
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| Sweet cicely grown from transplanted root |
Now, here's a surprise--I didn't expect this Adenophora to come back. I planted several plants from small pots last year and they just weren't as vigorous as I'd expected. Nonetheless, all three are back and bigger than last year. Incidentally, I followed the advice of Rob (who blogs at Rob's Plants) and dissected the flowers. This led me to discover that Adenophora Tashiroi is actually a campanula. Not that it matters (except in principle) as the main issue with campanulas is their potential thug-ish-ness and this variety doesn't seem all that vigorous. Rob's tutorial is posted here.
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| Adenophora (should be Campanula) Tashiroi |
However, I tend to like "vigorous" plants. I would much rather shovel-prune and divide a bully than coddle a diva. I may yet live to regret those words--two of my more brutish plants promise to do really well this year.
First up is the Gallium odorata (sweet woodruff.) I planted it to fill in around the base of some shrubs and bigger perennials in the back of the front garden bed. It's doing that and more. Each plant sent out sprouts 18" or more in all directions--a 4" pot yielded a 36" diameter patch in one year. That's something to keep an eye on.
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| Sweet woodruff looks innocent, doesn't it? All the green in the background is more sweet woodruff. |
And one of my favorite plants is Lysimachia clethroides (goose-neck lysimachia). I grew it before and it wasn't invasive at all--just healthy. Maybe I sited it better this time around. It looks like it's going to to need some shovel pruning.
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| Lysimachia clethroides |
See all those red nubs? Yup, that's the lysimachia--and this isn't so close to the original plant, either. But how can you resist the blooms? An established patch is so beautiful. It blooms for a pretty long time, and the foliage looks good all season long.
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| Lysimachia in bloom |
Here's a potential maintenance headache that I just planted--Rhus typhina "Laciniata" (Cut-leaf Sumac). I know that it suckers heavily, but I hope I can keep on top of this trait by watching and snipping.
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| Rhus typhina--just planted |
And, a couple more pictures of new growth…. The alchemilla is doing what alchemillas do. I didn't cut them back super-cleanly last fall--just chopped and dropped--and it shows in this picture.
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| Alchemilla |
And the brunneras (these are the all green variety--plain old Brunnera macrophylla, I think) are vigorously pushing up new growth and and making sprays of their small, blue flowers.
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| Brunnera |
So. That's what's going on in my garden. What's happening in yours?
