What\'s Blooming

Things are really starting to bloom now. What do you have blooming now.
Azalea
Kerria Japonica
Unknown If you know this please tell me
Pink Fringe

We have had some challenging weather each of the last few weekends - cold, wet heavy snow, etc. Not exactly spring-like. But between the cold blasts, spring seems to be progressing anyway. Here are some recent spring bloomers showing off.
#1 A fancy hepatica called Ellison Spence
#2 Syneilesis aconitifolia coming up like a bunch of unfurling umbrellas
#3 Corylopsis 'March Jewel'
#4 An unusual white bloom on otherwise lavender blooming Jeffersonia dubia
#5 Leucojum aestivum
Hoping for a nice weekend coming up - might find some more treasures!

I like them all but is #5 Leucojum aestivum a shade garden plant? I must get it if it is for the shade.

Not sure if it's supposed to be in shade, but it's certainly in a very shady location at my house and doing fine. Mine is in a wooded area, so gets sun this time of year since trees haven't leafed out.

Beautiful. I love sports, so the white Jeffersonia is a treat. I also love tiny intricate flowers like the amazing Hepatica in #1, but my garden is full of vigorous spreaders that would probably crowd it out. I'm thinking Corylopsis might be a better choice for me than the orange paperbush I swaddled in burlap stuffed with excelsior this winter. Somehow I missed the Zone 8 hardiness, but having failed to kill it last year, I wanted at least to see a floret open. And now I have.

I've lived the disappointment of paperbush - I tried it both in the yard w/ protection (died immediately) as well as overwintering in garage, but even though it lived fine overwintering in the garage, since it blooms so early, it's floral effect was totally lost mid-winter hidden in the dark garage.
I also have annoying overly vigorous woodland jungle, but I have a protected area right next to house where I put my more delicate woodland beauties.

Leucojum aestivum 'Gravetye Giant' is another possibility if you like aestivum. It looks just like it, but can reach 20 inches. I have grown it in full sun and mostly shade. The attached pic shows what was once FIVE from Old House Gardens. I dug some up and put them in a shady spot where they grow less rampantly (not invasive - you just have more bulbs) as well as a full sun spot that geys almost no water. A great plant.

One of my locations is just like Wee's.

Nice clump, Donna. Mine is getting near that size & I was wondering if you have to divide it to maintain vigor like you do with some other plants, or just leave it be? I'm of course hoping the answer will be to leave it be ...

I didn't have to divide it at all! It's that vigorous. The only reason I dug it up at one point was because I planted it too close to lilies in the same bed. Leave it be!

I am hoping to have the same "problem" in the two areas in which I am reestablishing it.

A beautiful spring day here today. Spent a couple hours at MoBOT.
Then home to check out my own neck of the woods.
Here are some of the guys blooming here today.
#1 epimedium x versicolor Cherry Tart
#2 A cute volunteer viola.
#3 pachysandra procumbens
#4 A dwarf quince, Chaenomeles japonica var alpine pygmaea
#5 My favorite anemone, A hortensis.

Really beautiful, Wee. Such a varied and lovely garden you have. So many plants that I have never heard of (which I love).

That's the sweetest viola I have ever seen!

Beautiful, Weerobin! Cherry Tart is as cute as its name!

I had to lookup the paper bush. It is a very lovely plant. I must put it on the wish list. This web page says it is a 7-9 zone plant and zone 6 with protection.
http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/cobb/anr/Documents/paperbush.pdf
Weerobini your plants are lovely. I planted anemone once but they never came back. I just planted out some trillum, mayapple, bloodroot and some ostrich fern.

My paperbush is done blooming, but here is a pic from about a month ago-how nice to see this in Feb, and a Hummingbird was also very happy about it! I had tried this once, and a harsh winter killed it, even in a protected spot, then planted a "sapling" a gift from nearby DGer (volunteered in her garden under her big one). This time there was a mild winter and it has been here several years now, including a very cold winter. I was feeling rather hopeless about it, because the first two years it tried to bloom the buds were killed by a late hard frost. I really really like the leaves though, so thought I might keep it there anyway. Now this year it had these BIG yellow and white flowers, quite flashy really, and they lasted a long time. Sadly, in the meantime I planted a Pine Tree in between the shrub and my window, as I will need a screen eventually between my house and some icky neighbors. Maybe as the pine grows I can limb it up so I can see the February flowers (and Hummers).

Now for what's actually blooming now- quite a lot, actually!

Here are more:

And more:

Wow, your yard is popping. Isn't spring great!
My very favorite epimedium by the way ...

Nice! What do you call those little purple and yellow flowers again? Third photo in the second set.

Wow, Pistil thank you! What lovely plants you have. And ditto to Loretta's question - and please keep them coming!

Polygala chamaebuxus, a European Alpine. I am not sure of cultivar, possibly var. grandifloa, or 'Kamniski". They are in a very un-Alpine location, with clay, no rocks.
I have one in a sunny spot, one in shade, both planted last year, we shall see which one does best. It's the one in sun that is blooming. It stayed green all winter (mild winter this year).
My sister had one in the shade, in her home garden in the foothills, very fine plant bloomed for many months, a slowly expanding weed-smothering thing of beauty.

I tried it here a couple times over the years with no success.
But if you're not finding it to be fussy, maybe I'll try it again in one of my rock-garden planters. It's so pretty - it's worth trying again.
In fact, I have an order coming from Arrowhead Alpines in a couple weeks.
They offer polygala vayredae - supposed to be similar to P. chamaebuxus.

http://www.arrowheadalpines.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_112&products_id=2201

I think I'll have them add one to my order & I'll try it out.

I just saw these for sale by Well Sweep at a local flower show. I almost got them but they just didn't look like they would come back and they were already in full flower. But we'll see if they are still around when I go there next month.

MoBOT suggests that you move to the pacific coast if you want to grow them.

Aaaah, no wonder.

pistal what is yellow flower in the first set and the purple plant #1 in the third set? I have more blooming.
1. group with florida azalea, purple azalea, purple rhododendron
2. large pink azalea
3. another yellow florida azalea
4. closeup of florida azalea
5. florida anise

pistal what is yellow flower in the first set and the purple plant #1 in the third set? I have more blooming.
1. group with florida azalea, purple azalea, purple rhododendron
2. large pink azalea
3. another yellow florida azalea
4. closeup of florida azalea
5. florida anise

One more. It's blooming in the greenhouse. The tangerines and lemons are blooming.


This message was edited Mar 31, 2016 11:54 AM

weeding, I especially like your Azalea-Rhody grouping, makes me long for the SE. And the FL Anise has such interesting flowers, and I like the color- what do you color-coordinate with it in the garden.

The yellow flower in the first group of my pics is Epimedium pinnatum subsp. colchicum, a winning groundcover for dry shade. Evergreen for me. Pine needles sift through the leaves easily, so it needs no grooming- it is automatically mulched, unlike most plants I have under my pine tree.
The first purple flower in the third group is Anemone blanda 'Blue Shades' from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. Nice to tuck in here and there, if happy they multiply a bit. They go dormant in summer.

I'm afraid I do not color coordinate my garden. The florida azalea is planted in partial shade and is near the florida anise.it also has a couple of small maples around it.

More Blooms!
1. azalea midnight flame
2. Calycanthus Athens
3. wood sorrel

Beautiful, Pistil!

Nice. I wish I had room for allspice.

My allspice takes about the same space as an azalea. My granny had a red one planted in her front yard and it did not grow very large. Of course my grandfather did keep it trimmed. My white one does my smell as sweet as my granny's red one. I think I will get a red one.

I'm so happy to have found this thread...what a feast! Thank-you contributors for your very interesting gardens!

My calycanthus suckers to form a very large shrub, though I haven't noticed as much suckering with the hybrid guys. Not sure if this is generally true, but it's been my experience.

That's a good bit of information Wee, thanks. Who doesn't like Calycanthus?

Here's a cute little oddity I ran across in my yard today.
The first picture shows an innocuous looking spread of foliage spanning a tree root.
But on closer inspection you see these cute little flowers.
This is Arisarum proboscideum. Extremely cute.
Again demonstrating that gardening is best enjoyed on your hands & knees.

And a few others
#1 Gentian, unsure if G acaulis or G angustifolia
#2 Paris polyphylla urfurling. One of my favorites.
#3 Polemonium, I thought it was Brise d'Anjou, but the pinkish variegation makes me wonder if it's Stairway to Heaven. Not sure.
#4. Arisaemia ringens, always a reliable early bloomer.
#5. A case of mother nature's serendipity. Bluebells, hellebores, celandine poppies randomly assorted.