'Spring' (?) planting ...

It's like Christmas morning!
Just unpacked a box with several bare root beauties for my woodland shade garden.
Podophyllum verspeille, paris japonica, ranzania japonica, glaucidium palmatum, peltoboykinia watanabei, and a few oddball trilliums & polygonatums to round out the order.
Unfortunately, supposed to snow 6-9 inches tonight ... but it's going to be in the 50's today.
So I'll be racing to get them in the ground before mother nature's onslought!
I'll be sure to post pix of any survivors! Wish me luck!

Good luck! Happy planting. Let us know if you got them all in the earth.

They're all in! Now, 'Let It Snow' !!
It's truly a beautiful spring day today - nice to be out in the yard.
And hard not to be amazed at the durability of hellebores!
Mine have been blooming since January, rebounding amazingly after every snowfall.
They've reseeded themselves in about a dozen patches scattered throughout the woods.
It's so nice to have things blooming in the midst of winter!
Here they are today, just a week after a heavy icy snow, strutting their stuff.
They couldn't care less that they're about to be buried again!

This message was edited Mar 23, 2013 12:48 PM

Those are some of the lovliest hellabores I have ever seen.

Where do you live (where's my shovel...)?

Come on over - I've got plenty to spare !
NOID's.

Gorgeous! I've been out in the yard today as well starting spring cleanup and noticed my H. sending up flower buds so I'm happy! We're supposed to miss the snow tonight but that's not 100%.

I have to agree with DonnaMack, those hellebores are lovely. You must have been down on the ground to get such a good photo LOL. I started adding hellebores to my woodland garden 3 years ago. The first ones added are finally blooming this year, but I'm finding it hard to get good photos of the blooms. When I just squat, my hands are too shaky and the pictures turn out blurry - I really need to just bite the bullet and get down on the wet and muddy ground.

Good job, Scott! You got it done.

I have the same issue as aspenhill about photographing them. It does mean lying on the brick to get their faces.

Of course, I cheated!
I've got a couple clumps which are planted near the crest of a small hill.
So you get a good upward view from the path through the woods below.
Here's another view that shows better how high they're planted.
Mind you, I'm often on hands & knees in the spring seeking out my woodland wildflowers.
Sadly, they're often diminutive, but I enjoy the hunt each spring.

Luscious photo. It looks better than a box of Godiva...almost!

Enjoying what you grow is the big reward of gardening. It looks like they could be a great subject for a depression in the center of a stump.

How's the snow, Scott? Radio reports 8 to 12" are hitting Kansas and Missouri this morning. You may keep my share!

The snow's behind schedule. I expected to wake up to several inches already, but it was just starting.
It's snowing heavier now. Last I heard 5-8" expected here.
My driveway curves up a hill, so I already moved the car to the bottom of the hill.
Otherwise wouldn't be able to get out for work tomorrow AM!
So no yardwork today; just hunkering down for some basketball viewing.
P.S. I presume we're sending the snow your way...

Just for your amusement, a chilly little scilla just outside my kitchen window.

Ouch! I guess any moisture we get should be a blessing after last year. At least that's how I try to reconcile this year's weather. Heard a forecaster say it'll be another 2 weeks before we're back in the normal seasonal schedule.

Poor shivering scilla! It gives me goose bumps as I look out at sunshine but I know the snow is heading here.

Thanks, Cindy. Two weeks sounds like too long but we can't battle Mother Nature. It's just nice to know there's just two more weeks to wait.

I hope it's only two weeks. This time of year really bums me out. Gray and brown and trash everywhere, hidden by snow up til now so not as noticeable.

We think alike, Cindy. I know in my heart that plants and trees are mostly in the dormant stage right now but more than ever they do look so lifeless as we await spring's arrival. It's actually depressing.

If we do have two more weeks of this I might really enjoy vacuuming and dusting.

Now it's snowing hard in NJ but not sticking due to the temperatures.

We got slammed; officially a foot of snow.
You guys up north & in the northeast probably scoff at such things,
but we're not accustomed to that much, certainly not this time of year!
Lots of trees, esp evergreens, seriously bent over; hopefully will straighten out with the thaw.
I'm not sure about vacuuming and dusting, but I enjoyed my snow day yesterday
watching basketball without feeling guilty about slacking on outdoor chores!

See that! There is a God! I hope your favorite team won.

I don't scoff at it, Scott. Spring storms can be just as disastrous as storms any time of the year, bringing down limbs and crushing shrubs. It's not wise to laugh at Mother Nature.

We even got snow down in the Washington DC area. This is crazy. Starting to go stir crazy with the continued delay in starting the outdoor work. No dusting and vacuuming for me either LOL, but did motivate to work on a tile floor project that has been lingering way too long.

You're far more talented and ambitious than I.

If we got a foot of snow in Las Vegas, it would close the whole town down.

weerobin - sorry for the load of snow. It would seem to be hard to bear with so many things in bloom. We missed most of it, only getting about 1 1/2". I wouldn't have complained about a little more to build up soil moisture. It had all melted by yesterday afternoon.

Weerobin, I just drooled when I read what plants you purchased. Where did you get Paris and Glaucidium? I've been looking for a reliable source of these and other woodland plants.

Plants Delight has them both. The Glaucidium is $26 for a 3.5" pot. Please do not kill the messenger.

Thank you, WormLov Sharon. Unfortunately Plant Delights charges huge for fitosanitary certificate to Washington state. I wanted to order some cyclamen once and when I saw charges for fito (around 100 USD), I gave up :-(
I will be looking locally for these treasures. Thanks!

Enith, I've often wished I lived in Wash or Ore given that so many nurseries are in your neighborhood!
I order from lots of nurseries, but only a few have woodland plants.
Here are some which often have woodland beauties:
Arrowhead Alpines, Broken Arrow, Keeping It Green, Hillside, Eminence Meadows, Fraser's Thimble Farm (Canadian, but ships to US), Hoot Owl, Mason Hollow, Munchkin, Sequim, Wild Ginger.
I'm sure there are others, but these are some of my favorites.
Glaucidium is always expensive; not sure why. Here's a picture from last year to whet your appetite.
My only paris is paris quadrifolia (pic 2). I just planted paris japonica last weekend before our snow.
The melting snow should water him in nicely. Now I'll wait to see what comes up.

Weerobin, thanks for the info. Some of these nurseries I indeed know! I should check their offer more often.
I am hoping to score few Glaucidium and Paris plants during oncoming plant sale. Keeping it Green Nursery will be there and they have Glaucidium in their offer. I hope they bring it to the sale!
Thanks again for info, now it's time to browse :-)
Good luck with your woodland beauties!

What are your favorite hellebores cultivars? Mine don't excite me -- they always look a bit tired. I'd like a really nice white one with flowers that aren't too droopy.

My most rewarding hellebores are seedlings from an original one which looked totally different.
(And whose identification I forgot long ago).
I am no botonist, but my experience was that the seedlings outcompeted the original named cultivar.
I'm not sure if that's a problem w/ newer cultivars or not.
I presume there are sterile hybrids where that wouldn't be a problem.
I just have a couple named cultivars, and am not super bonded with either of them.
I like my seedlings better. Hellebores are unbeated for mid-winter bloom.
Maybe others can help with cultivar recommendations?
Plant Delights catalog has a lot of sumptuous looking hellebores,
but I have no experience with any of them.

Happy, I really like the doubles from Pine Knot Farms - "Southern Belles" - darks, bicolors, picotee, pinks, pink spotted, reds, whites, white spotted, plum, yellow. Like Weerobin said, the seedlings won't come true to the original for these, but they should always be double. Pine Knot Farms also sells many cultivars that are sterile. For pictures, look on their website. They also come up to the DC area for plant shows if you decide to buy and don't want to pay shipping. I always see them at the Green Springs spring and fall shows in Alexandria.
http://www.pineknotfarms.com/new%20list.htm

I picked up another cultivar that I really like at the Philadelphia Flower Show. It is a single and has nice contrasting spotting - 'Mary Lou', one of the Spring Promise series. Also liked it because of the name LOL. I collect plants that have the name of family members. Mary Lou is my aunt. Random link to a nursery that has a picture of it. Colors are actually more intense than picture indicates.
http://www.phoenixperennials.com/nursery/plant.php?plantID=4490

Weerobin - thanks for the list of vendors. I always look for your posts to discover all the unusual plants for shade that you find for your gardens. Your photos have led me to a long list of "wants" for my own gardens.

This is supposed to be the best time of the year for my woodland (which is ~90% of my yard).
Woodland plants are typically early spring bloomers - usually in full flower through March.
Here it is almost April, and my woods are still under a coat of snow.
The streeets and most the grassy open areas are mostly clear now, but not the woods.
I fear it will be a compressed spring and then zoom straight into summer.
Since I only have the weekends to check things out, I suspect I'll miss much of the show this year!

I was out of town over the weekend; arrived home at dusk.
As luck would have it, I missed our first 'spring' weekend here in St Louis.
Temp was in 60's when I got home. Sounds like it was nice yesterday also.
I rushed out in the waning light to see if anything was springing to life.
I found a corydalis (c. solida Dieter Schacht) starting to bloom.
My woodland peonies (this one is paeonia willmottiae) are robustly putting up stems.
Trilliums are coming up (this is trillium underwoodii).
And the lonely little scilla pictured last week buried by snow is finally able to strut his stuff.
Unfortunately I'm going to miss next weekend too.
I suspect spring will be leaping into action, since it's a few weeks behind schedule.
I'm ready for it!

Some of my favorite woodland plants are coming up finally.
Some less common than others, so I thought I'd share some pictures
so anyone else with a wooded yard can get some ideas.
#1 is a very cute plant (aren't they all?) called chloranthus japonicus.
It's been in the ground 2-3 yrs and you can see it now has mutiple shoots coming up.
The flowers are neatly contained within the emerging foliage.
#2 is maybe my fave of all time (I can't resist posting pictures each year - it's too beautiful!)
which is the double bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis multiplex (or plena)).
#3 is anemone hortensis with beautiful saturated purple flowers.
It is also 2-3 yrs old and is putting up multiple flowering stems.
#4 is anemonella thalictroides. I have many of the named cultivars, but this is the species.
It is spreading nicely amongst the dead leaves of the woods.
Finally #5 is a very strange hepatica. I love hepatica and have many.
Most of them aren't emerging yet. But I've got this one labeled hepatica japonica,
which has two-toned flowers and is starting to bloom now. It was outstanding last year.
I'm hoping this weekend it will be fully open. My other hepaticas look to be a couple weeks away still.
Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Weerobin! You are such an inspiration to me. I have 6 acres which is mostly wooded. Your pictures make me want to go out and get everything you post. I can't thank you enough for sharing. I don't have a pc at home but aim to change that this year so, eventually, I hope to post pictures too. But I wanted to let you know how much I LOVE seeing your posts. THANKS and happy Spring!! kim

I second what Kimmy said, weerobin!

I had forgotten that some years ago I splurged on a bloodroot multiplex on ebay. It arrived not just dormant but obviously dead. I complained and was sent another in the same condition, so I gave up. They are so expensive! I bought some regular bloodroot some years ago, but they didn't do anything until this year. I don't think I'd ever seen bloodroot blooming. And then this year, they burst forth. The purity and beauty of the blossoms is really startling.

Weerobin, I do have a question for you. The back part of our yard is wooded, but the ground cover (previously ground ivy and wintercreeper) has been stripped off so it is currently shockingly bare. Do you have suggestions for a native ground cover that is reasonably tough and that can cover a fair bit of space at reasonable expense?

And what do you do to protect ephemerals from having their "spot" choked out by weeds during the summer, leaving them no room to emerge again the next spring?

happy, I LOVE my Asarum canadense (Canadian wild ginger) but it is deciduous in winter. It spreads I would say "moderately" but it forms a very dense mat that nothing seems to penetrate. I did have the deer eat it the first spring I planted it (I thought it was a goner) but it returned ever better for it. The area is now fenced (b/c of the deer damage) so I'm not sure if they would devour it or mostly leave it be.

Thanks, Kimmy. I've planted Canadian wild ginger before but it has never held on for me. I probably lost track of it and didn't give it a fighting chance. I'll make a point of buying a bunch of plants this spring and giving it a real go -- thank you for the suggestion. I don't mind if it is dormant in the winter. Dense mat -- that is what I love to hear.

I notice that North Creek has it at 32 per flat for $52.80 (there is a minimum $300 order but I'm considering biting the bullet for that).

This message was edited Apr 12, 2013 8:53 AM

Love your plants and photos, Scott. You do have so many beautiful plants!

Sanguinaria multiplex! I've lusted after it for years! Where do you live? (Where's my shovel?)

happy....would you like me to send you some to try first? I have some I have to move so will be digging anyway.....kim