What's blooming in Canada #2

Nice pictures, Christine! Luv the var. Iris.
:) Donna

My plant of the moment today is my Rhododendron oreodoxa. Sometimes the species types can be more attractive than the high bred hybrids.

I was so excited to go out in the rain today and see this Lady Slipper strutting her stuff! It was a gift from a family friend last year and I am thrilled to see that it survived the winter.

Susan

This not so great picture is from last week. Our "old as the farm" crabapple put on the best show I have seen from it in years.

My ID thread got answered. The yellow flower is a wildflower, Cursed Crofoot (Celery-leaved Buttercup) - Ranunculus Sceleratus ( http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/ranunculusscel.html ). Looks like a bird "delivered" me a wildflower seed!! Nice birdie!!

Thanks DDirt - I've never collected seed from the phlox, they just come back each year. I also have a groundcover phlox that has tiny white flowers. Do you know when the best time is to try to collect seed from them?

Hey Donna, hi and thanks!

Todd, that rhododendron is so beautiful, wow!

Durtcom, your ladyslipper is just beautiful and I love the colour, and that crabapple tree is amazing!

Christine

Amazing plants and photos everyone! Theres so many since I was last on. Sadly though my BIL came by today and took back his camera :( so I won't be able to take any more photos for a while.........Here's one the the last one's I took: A rather blury shot of a Nora Barlow. I should be able to get a camera of my own though later this year! :D

Steve

And here's an almost picture perfect shot of my raised bed. It used to be an old sandbox.

Gee Steve, your garden is as far advanced as mine will be in early July! Bearded iris open already...mine are just 6" high yet! I always seem to be playing catch-up.

Susan, that lady slipper is wonderful. My brother in calgary has 2 clumps open now as well. Again, you are about a month ahead of me.

Himalayan blue poppy I purchased in a pot a few weeks ago. I don't ever expect to see it bloom again, but it's nice to see it this year.

Ken

wow ironwood nice poppy i hope mine will look so good when it blooms.Ceedub im not sure when the best time is i,m going to keepwatch and see how it goes with mine i will keep you posted.

Oh man Todd, I don't think I could wait that long for everything to get going. You seem though to still have lots of plants blooming in your garden now. I would love to have more early bloomers. Any suggestions are welcome :D

Nice poppy Ironwood!

Steve

Reaching its peak now is Ribes sanguineum King Edward VII. I saw these in bloom in Victoria, BC in early March!...only 3 months late!

Those are gorgeous! You have so many unique plants I've never really seen before. I like those red/yellow tulips you have too.

Steve

The tulips are 'Apeldoorn's Elite'. For the most part I avoid the common plants...I'm such a plant snob! I especially like to grow plants that shouldn't be hardy here. That Ribes is a case in point.

I have to share this! I've waited 6 years for this japanese tree peony to bloom. Was worth the wait!
Garden Art the Rock Chicken keeps company.

I've never seen anything common in any of your photos, that must be why your gardens look so good. I tried to push zones, and planted a hardy passion flower, but it doesn't look like it worked for me :) As it hasn't come back :(

a close up of one bloom, it's as wide as my hand spread!

Bonkers, we posted at the same time! Very nice tree peony. How tall is it? It's so exciting when our plants bloom for the first time.

Steve

the tree peony stands about 3 feet tall.

I had given this one up for dead much earlier this spring, it was winterkilled to the ground, so nice to be wrong, lol!

I have a pink one also, much older (about 12 years) not so much of a show from that one this year, but in the past it has been spectacular!

Here's it's pic.

Amazing! I just wish I had room for one.

That peony is wonderful. I have a double orange-yellow one but its flowers are so large they flop terribly.

Steve, I tried that hardy passion....false advertising! Having said that, they do survive the winters in Denver, Colorado, but then they might get a few cold days but it doesn't last like Ottawa or Newfoundland.

Well, it's good to know it wasn't just me then. I grew him myself so I was really hoping he'd come back. It was an unusualy warm winter too.
I think I'll plant morning glories and canary bird vine there instead. That should be a good combo. What do you think?

Should be a nice combo Steve.

Another show-stopper in the garden now is spring vetchling, Lathyrus vernus. I have to watch this one because it likes to self seed everywhere.

Very nice! I picked up a small Lathyrus vernus last year and it came back well, but didn't flower :( Maybe it was only a first year plant when I got it, so hopefully it will bloom next year. The foliage is quite nice too though.

Steve

My little garden beds have produced some more lovelies. Here's my Dwarf Korean Lilac. The flowers are all the more precious this year due to a blunder by landscapers who cut off 50% of its blooms more than a week before they opened. I think these flowers open later than other lilacs because its planted on the north-west side of my house.
Christine

Oriental poppies, first, my fave-light pink, top view.

I just love the wrinkles on the petals when they first open.
C.

Classic, brilliant red. I think its beauty stands alone - except the shape's a little wonky because its so windy on that side of the house
C.

Lastly, little white phlox flowers they just keep blooming and blooming. I had no idea they lasted so long - at least three weeks now.

Happy Sunday everyone!


Christine

Gorgeous flowers, Christine! I'm waiting for my poppies to open up.
:) Donna

Thanks Donna-that zone thing really slows us down doesn't it? No matter where we are though, someone else's flowers are opening sooner...
C.

Finally my Jap Maples are leafed out....here is my 'Red Dragon'

and here is Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum'

Nice pics everyone. Todd, the Japanese Maples are at the top of my 'most coveted plant' list. Ceedub, that 2nd shot of the pink poppy is amazing...it looks like tissue paper!

I had to stake my pink tree peony this year. Last year it had two blooms. This year seven huge blooms opened at once! OK, then it rained.... of course :(

This was a nice combo today. I liked the way the buds of the Iris 'Empress of India' matched the colour of the Baptisia.

My Delphiniums are just getting going - I love these.

Lovely peony sanannie...mine is just starting to bud. Unfortunately mine has such heavy, double blooms, they always flop, rain or not. I pick them to enjoy indoors instead.

The lurker popping in again just to say how much I've been enjoying everyone's eye-candy. :)

sanannie,all i can say is WOW what a beautyful shot of that iris and baptisia.
You must have taken it for me blue is my favorite color im drulling over it.
doze you iris produce seed ohhhhhh i hope so.

I just got back from Kentville, Nova Scotia...this is what I saw at the Kentville Research Station!