FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING 2015 DOUBLE TAKE

We came from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1387567/#post_10047309

I stole Muddy's pic of her primrose because they looked nicer than anything I have going on. The second pic is my first daff of the season: a Jetfire. As the bloom ages, the center will get more orange.

Tons of things started pushing up today. I must still have a rabbit around because there are some fresh munches on tulips. I had to chuckle to myself though as I noticed it took a taste of an allium 'Purple Sensation' and it must have spit it out as soon as it was in its mouth because it never severed from the rest of the leave....Lol Sucker!

yay for your Jetfire!
yes, Muddy s primrose is very pretty

The color on that primrose is so perfectly purple, it almost looks fake. I have exactly one daffodil blooming. Come on, daffs!

Thank you all for the wet-soil tolerant tree suggestions. I have a lot of viburnums and wet-soil tolerant shrubs already, so I'll keep looking for the perfect flowering tree for that spot.

What I really want is a river birch, but it would be completely out of scale in my small yard.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2015 3:57 PM

Taking of Primroses--I need to dig up my 2 old clumps of the Heirloom Primroses,
divide them and give them a better home. Both of them are in YUK bed conditions.

Can't imagine how nice they would grow in rich, houmous soil.
They have been choked to death in these two places.

1--In the corner of the bed next to my other maple--growing in between Spearmint
and right next to my Nandina.
2--this clump is growing on the very edge of my YUK bed near the concrete bird bath.

3--This is what it looks like--NOT from my garden....

Some of you got divisions of this primrose last year. Do you see it coming up???

Well-- I have wasted away all day today and have not done a bit of gardening....
Shame on me!
It is almost 6PM. maybe I will go outside and see if I can dig them up.
Gotta work all day tomorrow---YES! No rest even on Easter Sunday.
G.

SSG, why don't you try another Redbud and plant it in well-amended soil, maybe even in a slightly raised bed? Maybe it was just that Redbud, not the spot...or maybe it didn't have time to get established before the unusually cold and wet winter hit.

I've had a sweet spot for Primroses ever since we lived in Switzerland, where people plant them in their lawns. The slugs go after them in the summer, but other than that they're really easy. I'm working on filling up a small bed with them.

I really liked that Rising Sun redbud, so I'll be planting another one somewhere else. It really is a beautiful tree!

The dead redbud was planted a year and a half ago and overwintered fine the previous year. A heuchera planted next to it also died of some sort of rot around the same time (late summer/early fall).

I'm determined to find a wet-tolerant tree. This part of the yard is almost always wet. I think it's a combination of the location, the type of clay, and a really shallow soil layer with a very high rock layer. I can't plant high in this particular area because when water washes down the hill, it'll just wash away the mound. And amending the soil doesn't actually help with drainage because the rock layer is just below the surface.

You could try a Weeping Willow----(too big!) they love water so much they may
go and find all your water pipes.
Pussy Willows love water too. As do Clump Birches--a lovely, small tree to look at.

I had one that lasted about 28 years, Then it declined and I had it cut down.
Left the stump of it there so I could put pots on it.

The stump lasted a long-long time-and this little bed (the birch was in)
was always called the "Stump bed". I am sure you have seen me call it that.

Nowadays--there is Paul's gifted deciduous Azalea "Great Balls of Fire"
growing in my "Stump Bed". It is doing very well.
Am I the only one that gives names to my beds???

Last year--the coleus grew so massive, totally obliterated the Azalea.
They grew like insane!!! I believe last summer was the "Year of the Coleus"...
I still want to have Coleus there--they do so well--but maybe I will pinch them back--
or something...... can't have THIS again!!!

The Azalea tops are barely visible above the Coleus...

SSG, I'd love to have a wet place in our yard. There are so many cool things to do with such a place. Do some research, there are many things, some of which were mentioned here, that you can plant there.

Here are some pics from today.

Beautiful clumps of Crocus. I have the deep purple ones too.

Did you get one of the Heirloom ones from me last year?
I really want to know how they are doing!
I did dig up the 2 clumps I posted. Divided them and stuffed all the sections
in 2 bigger pots. I will get to them when i can.
I could share a couple id anyone really wants one.

Otherwise--I will re-plant them here and there..they are tough!
May even put some back where I dug them up from--just in very well amended
soil to help them out.
My Daffs are all really starting to pop. AHHH--the beginning of wasting away foliage....

:o( G.

Gita, I did get an heirloom primrose from you last year. It survived the winter and has grown a couple new leaves. I'm anxious to see it bloom. If it's anything like the ones you pictured above, it's going to be beautiful.

Jeff--

Good! These bloom a bit later than the regular primroses and the blooms are on
longer stems. ...just like in the picture. Give it some time...

As I said--the picture I posted is NOT from my garden. I just saved it from a site.
for reference.
I could look in all my folders and find one from my garden-but they would look similar.
Too complicated...

G.

Thanks, I'll post a pic when they're up and blooming.

Warmer weather has brought out the blooms.

#1 Close up of a yellow Helleborus

#2 Close up of a mauve Helleborus

#3 One of our Helleborus clumps around the yard

#4 Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire'

#5 Anemone blanda 'Blue Shades'

More

#1 Bloodroot

#2 Trillium about to open

#3 Hepatica, another nice woodland plant.

#4 Minerature Narcissus

#5 Narcissus 'Rip Van Winkle'

I like those Bloodroot and Hepatica. White (and almost white) flowers have such a way of standing out.

The blue of the Anemone is really nice too. I have planted Anemone blanda several times, but they usually only live for 2 seasons so I gave up.

Some of our clumps of Hepatica acutiloba have a pink tinge, while others are stark white. Compare -

lovely!!

I saw the buds on my Anemone blanda after sunset. Bloom tomorrow! Buds on Chrysogonum virginianum!

More new green things today! Hardy ginger leaves still folded, just emerging, unusual looking. Bleeding hearts! Anemeone from donnerville! Monkshood!

Very pretty GT. I really like that one daff; it almost looks like a semi-cactus style dahlia. I also really like how your woods looks with scattered flowers popping up.

Your crocuses look great, Sequoia! I really like the color of the ones in the 2nd pic.

Greenthumb, those Hepatica are beautiful. I'm already thinking of where I can put some.

#1 and 2 - Chionodoxa

3 - daffodils in my side garden, which will be a mess of daffodil foliage and perennials at swap time

Muddy - the new leaves of the Hepatica come out after it blooms and provide interesting shape and coloration too. As the season progresses, the mottling becomes more pronounced than in the early season photo below. A really great plant for the shady garden.

Peonies are starting to show,

so pretty, greenthumb.

yup me too Holly. With that cold winter they all should bloom well.

What a welcome to spring, Muddy, with that burst of daffodil blooms.

Nice pack of daffs Muddy :)

What a difference one warm day makes this time of year! Below are photos of the same patch of Bloodroot taken almost exactly 24 hours apart.

Third photo is of White Forsythia or Korean Abelia - Abeliophyllum distichum

Edited to note that the photo in the middle is the White Forsythia. Photo was added after the first two were in place but somehow the order was changed. Weird.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2015 3:25 PM

Things are popping up all over the yard in that last few days. It was just beautiful out there today. I cleaned up the two beds under the junipers at the corner of the parking area.
These tulips are a short variety and always very early, they bloom even before the daffs. Nice little clump of crocus, lemon yellow Hellebore and speckled Hellebore.

I just went out to get some pics of my Hellebores in bloom.
So hard--you have to hold up the stems to get a shot....
Four of them are blooming....need to look for seedlings on the white one--
I KNOW it was dropping a bunch!
G.

oops! Posted one of the pics twice!

This message was edited Apr 6, 2015 6:20 PM

Your bloodroot are very pretty GT, I'm excited for mine to pop too.

It's a smorgasbord! Love the trillium and hepatica leaves! Rip Van Winkle is a crazy daffodil!
Beautiful hellebores! I love how chionodoxa just glows!
Sequoiadendron, is that third crocus called Spring Beauty because it's on my list now?
I wish my bloodroot would spread out like GT and those primrose are just beautiful. I wish I had a spot damp enough for them but they don't like my yard.

1. This is the color Diane fades to
2. A reliable patch of King of the Striped crocus
3. Iris reticulata - I think it's Springtime
4. More iris - Katherine Hodgkin
5. An iris danfordiae that actually overwintered and is blooming a second year (out of 100 bulbs).

Also, today I saw my first butterfly and bumble bee for the season but I didn't get a picture. The butterfly was probably a black swallowtail and none of his food was up yet so he left.

In the meantime, I was walking my dog the other night and all these moths are all over my porch and fluttering around my head. Turns out they were pollinating the witch hazels at night. I think they are called the Speckled Green Fruitworm Moth and there were a lot of them.

that's really cool about the moths Loretta-- although it might not be good news if you re growing fruit they like. Still, it must have been interesting.

Loretta, I do believe 'Spring Beauty' is the crocus. If you do get it, be careful placing it because it is very tiny, even for snow crocuses. It's also our last snow crocus to bloom. It blooms when all the others have died off.

It's crazy you saw a butterfly already! I would never have imagined one of those would be out already. That IS cool about the moths. I always wondered what pollinated the witchazels. Nice pics! My witchazels are just about spent. If we get a decent rainstorm in the next couple days all the petals will likely fall off. They had a good run though.

A few more Hellebore pics. The first one is Golden Lotus

Wow, that Golden Lotus is really beautiful. And congratulations on scoring all those bricks.

It's nice that your Golden Lotus is outward facing, Holly. I don't think mine does that.
Sequoiadendron - thanks for the information on Spring Beauty. It looks like it is flowering with Flower Record? I have Advance that was disappointingly small. I always loved the pictures of it and finally planted some. I didn't like it at all in real life. The color always looked dirty to me. Then I put in a new bed with Flower Record on top of it and Advance popped right through. Now I don't mind it since the contrast in size and color is decent.
Gitagal - what is that last hellebore you posted?

Loretta, I think 'Flower Record' is a giant crocus and I have only a handful of giants that I planted last year and haven't bloomed yet. I could be mistaken and perhaps others here could help me out but I think my purple crocus are Crocus tommasinianus 'Whitewell Purple'. I looked at the pics online and compared them; they sure do seem similar.

Ok, good to know. I don't have any tommies so I can't compare.
I do have Blue Pearl, Cream Beauty, Romance and Advance crocuses. I would say they are either mostly done or the blooms are being eaten by rabbits.
This photo of Blue Pearl was taken on April 2nd. The flowers are completely gone.

Stupid rabbits...try throwing some Milorganite around your crocuses. That can help early nibbling.

Loretta---
I do not know what that hellebore is called. Names are not important to me.

I got it in a Swap from someone in another state. I suppose you could look up
pictures of ALL Hellebores and see if anything matches.

Here is a better picture from lat year. If anyone finds the name--I would like to know.

Gita

Every time I go out I find more plants on the verge of blooming. Today I found

#1 Rue Anemone - ones in the ground are a bit behind this one in a pot.

#2 Grape Hyacinth - Muscari latifolium

#3 NoID Narcissus

#4 Hyacinthus orientalis "Miss Siagon'