Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Right now in Nashville it's around 45 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill feeling like 35, but just give these pansies a little sun and they look so good. On some other wet very cold day they will retreat and look like something in your compost bin. But they are so worth it when the sun comes out again. And they give us these colors all winter, often lasting into April or May -they don't like a lot of heat. By then you can replace them with the many many choices of annuals available in Spring.

(These pansies are planted in a steel sculpture in very little soil, facing Southeast. They get a half day winter sun. When there's sun. Because they are in a shallow container I do give them occasional water during the fall and winter. Pansies planted in normal beds typically get enough moisture from winter rains and snow to not need supplemental watering.)

A Winter Day

I love tulip poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera (aka yellow poplar, or tulip tree) has a beautiful light green leaf, a unique green and orange flower and in winter gives us shapely seeds. Here's a tulip poplar seed with silver maple (Acer saccharinum) seeds in background. The winter sky and leafless trees give us the opportunity to look at things a little differently. How eye-catching things are in the winter when so much is just reduced to the structure of a view.


It's a great time to see the basics of a yard/garden/street/ landscape.



Look at your yard now to see what the basic frame is...do you like how the trees create boundaries and vertical movement? Are they blocking a nice view of your house, or draping around a beautiful door drawing attention to it? Do you like the contrast of ornamental grasses against evergreen trees and shrubs. You can look now to be thinking about next summer. Even from the comfort of your kitchen or living room window you can look at the yard and think about how you can add some eye appeal. See a nice bank of green laurels or cedars? ...but if they look kinda plain you can underplant or plant in the sight line with some color.

Of course evergreen shrubs and trees as foundation plantings are all that are desired by some. Their advantages are the simplicity and lower maintenance. And with so many varieties of color to choose from even among evergreens, you can create an interesting palette. But there are many winter options for visual show that are not evergreens.
Structure and color are available from many sources.....the beautiful bark of birches and crape myrtles, the flowing tans and yellows of ornamental grasses, red bark and berries, the green dry eucalyptus stems.

There are several winter bloomers and winter color options. Blooming December to February are various species of Helleborus (aka Christmas rose or Lenten rose) and they have nice tough semi-evergreen foliage that looks great all winter; Witch Hazels (Hamamelis virginiana) bloom a subtle yellow in the mid to late winter. Many hollies are producing bright red berries which are more noticeable. Ilex verticillata (winterberry) is a low growing deciduous shrub that has fantastic bright red berries most of the winter. It will highlight and contrast well against the dark green background of evergreens. Also for color : red twig dogwoods (Cornus sericea) , kinda plain-jane much of the year, but then they drop their leaves in fall and the red stems look great against some hollies or a dark painted house. Ornamental grasses are great for white/cream colors and eye-pleasing movement when the wind blows. Don't cut them until mid-February.

It's nice to lounge around and check out the catalogs full of spring and summer blooming plants. It's also comforting to simply enjoy the clarity of winter.

October Colors and To-Do list

A quick post about What's Blooming This Week:

Asters, native and otherwise look just great. Knockout roses are still blooming. Wild ageratum is mixed in with some of the native asters. Muhly grass is a blast of pink mist. Butterfly bush still going. Japanese anemones look great in mass plantings. Burning bush, hydrangea quercifolia, and dogwoods look really nice, turning some rich reds.
And that's not even the tree color!

What to do, when there is a rare moment without rain?

LAWN: If you dutifully overseeded your Fescue lawn a couple of weeks ago, you might have a nice crop of fine seedlings. OR a lot of your seed may have rotted or been washed away and you can overseed again, maybe at half rate if some of the first crop sprouted.

PERENNIALS: We should be getting some frosts soon, so if this is your only weekend available for awhile, you can cut back your herbaceous perennials, trimming the monarda, hostas, iris, platycodons etc. to within a few inches of the ground. Leave your tall coneflowers and sedums and sages if you like their look; leave all your ornamental grasses for some eye appeal during the winter (cut them back in mid-February to early March).
P.S., you can divide many of these plants now if you need some space or want to give root sections to friends. Note on the bearded iris, you can divide them now, but next year immediatley after blooming is better. Dividing now will work, but they might postpone blooms for a year.

After a few hard frosts, you'll be able to see what softer tissue plants have 'melted' in the cold and you can remove any dead above-ground plant material.

Plant bulbs (tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, etc.).

SHRUBS: Don't do much pruning. Trim very lightly, if you must, the yews or laurels. Don't touch the forsythia, they have set their buds for spring. Of course, have a go at any overgrown Privet hedge. Really, do.

HERBS: Harvest all that basil now! Make pesto!

And you can always plant some pansies or if you dare, ornamental cabbages.

Thanks for reading, and here's to the sun predicted for next week!

Autumn Equinox...

....is today, September 22. This is an astronomical event. Daylight and night are approximately equal in length. The name ‘equinox’ comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). Because of the tilt of our planet on its axis as it revolves around the sun, we Northern hemisphereans have a little more distance from the sun for the next six months. We had mid-March until now of our half tilting more towards the sun...giving us long daylight, shorter nights, more heat. Now we approach winter.

Today is a good day for calibrating your your sundial. At noon the sun will be almost directly overhead. If we lived on the equator it would be exactly overhead.

Mid September (and early October)is also a good time to...

Over-seed cool-season turf (Fescue lawns).
Begin some garden clean up by deadheading and cutting back any perennials that are looking withered.
Applying pre-emergent herbicides to put a dent in winter annual weeds.
Plant crocuses and daffodil bulbs.
Save seeds from your vegetables and annuals.
And enjoy a few minutes of the evening before nightfall.

Rainy Day Colors

It sure has been a lovely week, all this slow peaceful rain. More like November weather than September. But it's come at a good time, we were getting a little dry. I still like to look out the windows at the shining leaves and emergence of fall colors. We will be coming in to another beautiful time of year.



The dogwoods and Japanese maples are starting to turn to their red decor, even saw a little dose of red in a burning bush. Sedums, Autumn Joy are at their best mild pink, and will eventually go to the burgundy/brick color of fall. Salvias in blues and plum colors look great in the rain.

Here's a fading Celandine poppy (wood poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum) behind some annual Perilla and a Quercifolia. The hackberry leaf snuck in for a cameo. BTW here are some more lovely poppy images:
http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/flowers/Stylophorum/Stylophorum.htm




Click on this pic to see the rain droplets on the needles.



I don't mind a few consecutive days of rain but it could get old after awhile. The cats and I are getting antsy to get out side and play.

Rain?

Just a quick note to say that we are seeing a drop in rainfall totals. We had normal or above normal rain levelsfor July, but most of August was a little on the dry side.
If you dont have irrigation, a few of your plants may be getting thirsty.

Any perennials,shrubs, trees new in the ground less than a year need TLC.
Many established plants will be fine, especially hostas, coneflowers, many sunlovers. But keep your roses watered regularly, your astilbes, your vegetable gardens, dogwood trees, rhododendrons, and again, any new plantings which are still trying to establish mature root systems.

Our temperatures are great and we human types are probably really enjoying the fall-like weather. Thank goodness we are not having extreme heat typical of August. Don't forget your plants in pots too, give them a drink on your way outside.

Summer Watering

August 1, halfway through Summer!
As of the end of July the Nashville area has had three months in a row of above-average rainfall. A healthy amount of rain for our landscape plants is usually an inch a week average. In July we received a total of 6 inches.
There are no drought reports for middle Tennessee. At this time in 2007 we were in a severe drought and in 2008 a moderate drought. What a great summer!


After all this nice weather don't be too concerned if we get some hot dry days...it is August after all. Remember that you can over water to the detriment of plants. Too much moisture can set up environments for root rot, and diseases. Most plants want a good drink and then a day or two of drying out.


So here we go with some basics on watering your landscape plants:

Let's start by saying that each species has particular culture requirements so it is best to know your plants and what they want. An example is that Astilbes (a shade lover) don't like to dry out, they like steady moisture. But your geranium, as much as it loves water, wants to dry out well between drinking binges.Hostas can actually handle a lot of dry weather, most roses want a drink several times a week. Even well-established Dogwood trees may want supplemental watering in hot dry weather.



All things being equal, appropriate watering is a LONG SLOW watering, less frequently. For example, water 2-3 times a week at barely a trickle for long periods (yes, maybe hours, you have to experiment to see what works in your situation) . This allows the water to seep in slowly, reach the deeper roots and soil levels, trains the roots to seek water deeper, not shallower, establish stronger root systems. DON'T water daily for a few minutes with the sprinkler. Daily light watering is wasteful and can be detrimental.

Containers...can need more watering than plants in the ground. They dry out more quickly, especially in terra cotta or clay.



August 1 is officially mid-Summer, halfway between Spring and Fall Equinoxes. There seems to have been a blend of Christian and pagan celebrations in earlier days in Europe, marking the first successful summer harvests and the assurance of having some grain to put up for the winter. I am certainly grateful for the bounty of flowers, tomatoes, cucumber and other garden goodies received of late. At any rate I hope to squeeze a lot more fun and enjoyment out of the rest of summer.

Mid Summer

I have been pretty busy this summer so not much posting, but how about all the flowers!?

So much to do and see!
Summer is so full of color...we are seeing all the displays of the summer flowers and shrubs. Hopefully we have time to enjoy them, not just see the weeds and pruning to be done.

There's been a lot to do this past month, but here's a list of the perennial flowers and shrubs I have admired blooming in July:
Canna lilies
Echinaceas and other coneflowers
Daylilies
Hibiscus
Hosta
Hydranageas
Coreopsis
Catmint
Pop up lilies
perennial geraniums
Roses
Rose of Sharon
Buddleia
Vitex

Garden fun (I am avoiding the idea of 'tasks' in the garden): pull a few weeds; deadheading roses, coneflowers, coreopsis etc for rebloom; you can cut back hard the catmint (Nepata) if you haven't already and it will send a second flush of growth with flowers in a few weeks; dead head the flowers off your basil to keep it producing leaves; watering as needed.
We are in pretty good shape for rain...just think back to 2007 and be grateful! But we still need to water pots.

And enjoy the flowers, cut a few to bring in, doesn't have to be fancy, a few coneflowers and some of those basil blooms stuck in a water glass make a nice reminder of the beauty outside.

Whats blooming in mid-June

I do not have much spare time to write this week but I want to keep a log of the color changes as we move through the season..so here is this week's tally.

WOW - Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) everywhere is big and orange and beautiful. Most of these plants are slow to show their foliage in spring, (mine didn't show until after the hostas even), but as soon as we got heat, they went crazy. I love this plant. It is stunning, loves heat, and is not very demanding.

Daylilies (Hemorocallis), all kinds are showing off, especially the old fashioned orange and the tall yellows. Stella d'Oro, a reliable repeat bloomer, is around on many a development corner, and look nice in small bunches in corner gardens too.

Hydrangeas are really lovely this week. I have seen all colors, but my favorite is a warm pink in an old old homestead in Woodbine.

Lots more perennials blooming are: Coneflowers, Echinaceas and Rudbeckia; Magnolias, Southern and Sweet Bay are looking good and smelling nice too; Garden Phlox; and Knockout Roses.

Events, Saturday June 6

BAMBOO

At Carver Food Park, a community garden in sw Nashville, Adam Turtle speaks on temperate bamboos.
1001 Gale Lane (corner of Gale and Lealand) 12 noon. More info: Sizwe Herring at 300-2941

GARDEN TOUR

"Seeds of Hope"
The Seeds of Hope Garden Tour will showcase eight unique gardens in Oak Hill, Belle Meade, and Green Hills. The annual Tour benefits at-risk youths ages 16-24 who reside at the non-profit Monroe Harding campus in Oak Hill. Tickets are $12 in advance at www.monroeharding.org or any Bank of Nashville location

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186144425365&ref=mf


HIKING/TRAILS

It's also National Trails Day with at least four opportunities in Nashville for enjoying the woods and other folks while helping with park projects.

http://www.americanhiking.org/NTDSearchResult.aspx?sId=42

Opportunities!

Zone Detour

What a difference a zone or two makes!

I was in east Tennessee/western North Carolina last week (Which was it?... Both in fact. I was hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail, which straddles both states, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.)

It was pleasing to notice the wildflowers blooming as we started our ascent in the 4000' elevation range. Blooming were white trilliums, solomon's seal, false solomon's seal, some small yellow lilies that I couldn't identify. I thought it interesting that these were just blooming, as they peaked in Nashville area late April/early May. Several weeks difference .


Microclimates As far as I can tell this area of the mountains is zoned 7a, so it is not much different than our 6b. But at 4000-5000' or more in elevation, in the mountains, the understory is a lot cooler as well. Nashville peaks at around 1100 feet.


Driving into the area, around 2000' we saw plenty of Rhododendrons blooming, but up in the mountains the rhodies were just showing buds. I did find this one beauty...it had a lot of western exposure and was growing quite near a large rock which probably reflected back some heat.



We can consider microclimates in our own yards and plantings: sunnier areas, reflected heat from patios, sheltered areas, extra dense shade. These all will create variations in the growth and bloom of your plants. Even the cool spring we had was noticeable here in Nashville. My butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), always late to emerge, was slow in gaining height. Despite the rain. But two weeks of rising temps and a few days into the 90s... and it grew monstrous and today, first of June, is about to bloom.


A few more mountain plants: at lower elevations we also saw plenty of mountain laurel,Carolina allspice, and an umbrella magnolia in bloom. And just for fun, here is a doghobble bush in bloom (aka fetterbush, aka Leucothoe).



A final detour on our trip was a visit to the Joyce Kilmer National Forest, a tract of old growth timber (unlogged since Europeans arrived, and protected since 1936). Go see this, in person. It's an easy walk from the parking area to see Tulip poplars (Liriodedron tulipfera) over 400 years old., 15 to 20 feet in girth. There's nothing to compare with experiencing old forest like this with your own five senses. You don't have to go to the west coast to see living giants.
http://www.main.nc.us/graham/hiking/joycekil.html

Upcoming Garden and Plant Events

For Nashville area plant and garden enthusiasts... be aware of these events in the next few weeks:

HOMEOWNER FIELD DAY - UT Extension of Davidson County and the Davidson County Master Gardeners present Homeowners Field Day

Where: Ellington Agricultural Center UT Central Region Extension Office5201 Marchant Drive, Nashville, TN 37211

When: June 20, 2009, 9:00 -3:00

Admission: FREE

Featuring : Master Gardener talks on plants and specialty gardens: Perennial Flowers -- Azaleas -- Color Wheel -- Ornamental Grasses -- Butterfly Gardens -- Basil & Thyme -- Groundcovers -- Shade -- Limited Mobility Gardening -- Knockout Roses -- Controlling Moles -- Tufa Pots --Demonstration Gardens on display -- White Elephant Sale (plants) -- Roof Garden -- Rain Garden

Contact is Beth Babbit Horticulture Specialist/Master Gardener Coordinator UT Extension- Knoxville, TN W 865-974-7324

At Cheekwood Botanical Gardens:
http://www.cheekwood.org/Calendar/Events.aspx#
Special Lectures and Tours
May 23 Dig Deeper11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Wills Perennial Garden - Take a tour of living exhibitions with expert botanical garden staff, stopping to “dig deeper” and further explore a different garden each month.

Nashville Rose Society - lots of great events upcoming
http://www.nashvillerosesociety.com/Schedule.html

An a little further afield... The UT demonstration gardens at Jackson TN (West Tennessee Research and Education Center) hosts their summer celebration in July with an emphasis on heat and drought tolerant plants http://westtennessee.tennessee.edu/events/SummerCeleb.asp

What a great collection of resources...Enjoy!

May Flowers

I was accused yesterday of cursing us by my posting 2 weeks ago.

I was writing mid-April about how great it was we were having so much rain. It was great then. By now, May 8 we are all pretty sick of it and most of us gardeners are having a hard time doing any actually gardening. It's early May and the roses are on their way to a huge round of black spot. Spirea are looking very mildew-y which we usually see in July with all the heat and humidity. And it's almost too wet to be working in any beds. Yes I have to say I have had enough rain, thank you.

Powdery mildew wont kill the spirea, but over time it could be stressful. You may want to take care of the fungal disease on your roses. There are synthetic and permaculture products for rose care but I claim ignorance on the complete care of roses and refer you to http://www.nashvillerosesociety.com/GrowingBeautifulRoses.html



So here is a bit of a small garden to-do list for early May, what I have been doing in the garden on occasional less-damp days.


Fertilize, prune, plant.

If you haven't already given your flowering perennials a nice big dose of a high phosphate granular fertilizer, now is a nice time. All those summer bloomers (day lilies, coneflowers, Shasta daisies, butterfly weeds, butterfly bush etc. etc.) will put those phosphates to work now, forming blooms. I like an organic fertilizer or even straight bone meal. Ornamental grasses and hibiscus appreciate an all purpose or high nitrogen fertilizer (again an all purpose organic product will do, or cottonseed meal or blood meal).



Pruning: Trim or prune anything out of control like Euonymous Manhattans or any yews or laurels that are in your way. Be gentle but shear them back.

Dogwoods should be done blooming. Not much to do here, but you can prune out any deadwood or low hanging branches that are in your way while lawn mowing.

Daffodils... what to do, what to do...ideally you will let the foliage lay on the ground in their messy browning pool while they feed next year's bulb and store up for a fabulous February 2010 and eventually only mow them after they are all yellow/brown. But if you can't stand how they look, cut off about one half of the foliage. That will make them neater and they can still feed for the summer.

In general, prune your flowering shrubs...AFTER they flower. Only prune for health or beauty. Prune deadwood, prune crossing branches on certain specimen shrubs, prune away branches that impede your view, or are obstructing your path. Don't touch your crape myrtles or butterfly bushes or beautyberry right now!


Planting: You can still get a lot of great seeds and veggie starts at nurseries, garden centers, the farmer's market, hardware store. Put in some veggies and annuals if you haven't already. Fill in the empty spots of your shade borders with coleus and impatiens. Fill in any empty areas of your sunny areas with annuals: callibrachoa, vinca, petunias, sun coleus, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, dusty miller....and so forth. Or better yet plant another perennial.



Blooms I am enjoying seeing this week: luscious peonies, climbing roses, and a few standout rhododendrons!

It's not rocket science

I was hiking near the Fiery Gizzard trail (Grundy/Marion County TN) a few weekends back and saw a small tree growing with a rock. On this heavily used trail, a 4 inch caliper young tree (umbrella magnolia) had emerged from the edge of a sloping trail, and much of its base had grown around a 6 inch chunk of rock.
This is a trail used heavily by people, and on its own this tree was reaching up towards the canopy, for the sunlight, and reaching down into the soil for its nutrition sources and water. The rock looked completely embedded as the base of the tree had grown around it.
No problem.
The natural world, Mother Nature, pretty much takes care of business without much help from us.

Horticulture is the meeting of humans and plants, specifically, humans growing and manipulating flora.
It' s not rocket science but it is science. The size of particles in soil components, the concentration of hydrogen ions in soil, the response of plants photoreceptors to the length of daylight hours, these things determine plant outcomes. Left alone nature will takes care of a lot of things. The ecological processes in a woodland or field create natural soil nutrition, appropriate lighting conditions, rain fall variation, seed dispersal. In ornamental horticulture (a.k.a. gardening and landscaping) we manipulate nature quite a bit.

We ask shady plants to grow in sun, we ask alkaline loving plants to grow in acid soils, we plant things in really small patches of soil, or even containers and deny them the insulation and moisture retention capacity of a natural soil environment. We plant seed where we want , not just where the wind or birds leave them, we over-mulch..... and they still perform a lot of the time.

It is helpful then, to support our plants as much as we can afford the time and money. Supplemental fertilizer is helpful in certain constrained environments. Supplemental water is certainly an option ...we trade all this for the beauty given us, for the satisfaction of creating a certain space. But let's trust the plants to take care of themselves a bit too.

I am trying to point out that in ornamental plant environments it is good to create beauty, but lets first care for the health of the plant, primarily giving it a great soil environment, then think about what it is not getting in these manipulated environments and give it fertilizer, soil corrections, pruning for health and beauty etc., but then...lets just let the plants do their thing. They might really impress us.

April showers...

It's really great all the rain we're having. Great start to spring planting and rebuilding our soil moisture. So are we back to normal,or still in a drought?
It's all relative I guess. Over a 12-24 month average we're below normal on rainfall. Over a few months we are average here in Tennessee, although some parts of East Tennessee are officially still in a drought.

http://www.drought.gov/portal/server.pt/community/drought_indicators/us_drought_monitor

So if you're planting new shrubs and trees or vegetables, rely on the rainfall but do additional watering if the rainfall is below 1-2 inches per week (How to know: local weather news on t.v. usually tells us the rainfall measure). Better to water deeply, slowly - leave the hose on a trickle for an hour- once a week than sprinkling a few minutes daily.

Poison Ivy

Nice weather we have been having, for the most part. Itching to get outside? Now's a good time to talk about Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). I have had some bad poison ivy rashes in my time. If you've gotten it, you know it's an unrelenting itching that will annoy you by day and keep you awake all night.
So what to do?

First of all, learn to recognize the plant, here's a link with some information and photos. Also, know that the plant is alive in winter, without it's glossy leaves, so a good rule of thumb is don't touch any vine in winter, especially vines with hair.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Toxicra.htm
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/796_ivy.html

Second, minimize exposure and clean the oils off if you're exposed. Here are some solutions from various sources: If you know you've been exposed, wash with soap and water, but don't scrub; or, rub skin with rubbing alcohol after exposure (use common sense, don't rub your eyes, face etc. with rubbing alcohol); some people say the crushed leaves of the Jewelweed plant will remove the oil from your skin. The FDA website above is very helpful.

Third, if the rash develops...this is beyond my ken, so ask your physician.

What works for me: Tecnu Poison Oak and Ivy Skin Cleanser, sold at Walgreen's and elsewhere. If I know I have been exposed, I apply this according to the directions (no stinging, no funky odor), and usually get no or very little breakout. Worth the price absolutely.

Recycling Electronic Waste

Not plants exactly but for those who value recyling as part of the bigger picture....here's a quick note.

Davidson County residents can recycle old and unsued electronics 3 days this spring:

Saturday “E-Waste Collection Day” events:
9 a.m. to 12 noon.
• Saturday, March 28th -- the MTA Park & Ride Lot at Coley Davis Road and Highway 70 South in Bellevue
• Saturday, April 4rd -- Hillsboro High School in Green Hills (entrance is on Hillmont Drive behind the school)
• Saturday, May 23rd -- Dupont-Hadley Middle School, 1910 Old Hickory Blvd, Old Hickory
Items accepted : Small batteries (A, AA, AAA, C, D, 9-volt, button) • All sizes, types of televisions, VCRs and DVD players • Cell phones • Microwave ovens • Stereos and audio-visual equipment • Computers, monitors and printers Only household waste – no business waste -- from Davidson County residents will be accepted.
NOT accepted: Car and boat batteries, paint, tires, CFLs and other hazardous waste.

Other info: www.nashville.gov/recycle, or call 880-1000.

Wildflowers, Plant sales

Today is March 22, it is now officially Spring. Yesterday was the Spring Equinox and we have a long period of lengthening daylight and pleasant temperatures ahead.Eager to plant....? Here are some plant sales being offered by local groups. Often reasonable prices, selections not to matched by chain stores, and generally supporting the work of not-for profits:

Herb Society of Nashville, April 18th 2009 http://www.herbsocietynashville.org/events_open_to_the_public.htm

St. Andrews School-Sewanee "Trails and Trilliums" events including hikes and native plants for sale April 18th in Sewannee TN
http://trails.sasweb.org/GenInfo.htm

Perennial Plant Society of Middle Tennessee, April 4th, 2009
http://www.ppsmt.com/

Related: Tennessee Department of Conservation, click on the link to find wildflower hikes : http://tn.gov/environment/
And I have to put in a plug for this great magazine, The Tennessee Conservationist, published by the state of Tennessee. It is so worth subscribing to the print version for the stunning photography and of course the great information on Tennessee cultural assets: http://www.state.tn.us/environment/tn_consv/

See the adjacent post for some photos of wildflowers blooming TODAY at Percy Warner Park in Davidson County. Enjoy.

Wildfllowers

Dutchman's Breeches
in bloom at Warner Parks

And red Trillium.... these are everywhere once you know what to look for. Also seen today, Rue Anemone and Toad Lily in bloom. Never dig these up in the wild. Write to me for links to nurseries who legally propogate and sell wildflowers. plant.manager@live.com.

What's blooming in late winter...

We've seen tremendous color as the warm weather of last weekend pushed things open. Last weekend gave us 70 degree plus highs. Never mind about the snow this morning, that's normal March weather.
Sunday drivers would have seen the forsythia that appeared overnight, the pink saucer
magnolia (Magnolia x soulangiana ), and perhaps even some hyacinth blooms. Flowering quince, more daffodils, star magnolia and so on.
Thank you, by the way, to the folks who prune their forsythia to a natural shape. There's nothing like those tall yellow arms reaching for the breeze.

Easily overlooked however...are some happy blooms and shoots emerging in shade and woodland gardens.




















Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum, above) one of my favorites. It will grow well in deep to partial shade and blooms bright yellow May through summer. It's not blooming now, but the foliage is well emerged and it's a nice promise of color to come.
Want more winter color? Try Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica, next image ). Easy to grow in rich soil, again part to full shade. Already popping out, pink in this photo but they will show their blue soon. And finally, I saw a tiny Dutchman's breeches in this same woodland garden, couldn't grab a photo, sorry, time to upgrade my camera!

Finally, no blooms yet, but I was thrilled as I always am, when I saw my trilliums pushing through the mulch and compost. I don't know what it is but this plant has always inspired awe for me.

(And in the weed department...winter annual weeds that are blooming now: common chickweed, henbit, and purple dead nettle. Pesky as these are, look closely at the bloom of the henbit. It's actually quite beautiful. Now mow it or pull it before it goes to seed.)

So much to see, both grand and demure, and all this before the first day of spring. Put on a coat and go look.