GBBD: Remembering Spring

In my last Bloom Day post, I worried that spring would never arrive.  But not surprisingly, all I needed was a little more patience, for less than two weeks later, spring burst forth in all its grandeur.  Suddenly, daffodils were dancing everywhere, and each day new tulips opened up their blooms.

Now, two short weeks later, most of the tulips are just a memory.  I know that on Bloom Day we are supposed to be sharing what is blooming now, but since I haven't posted for a month, please bear with me--I just have to share all these happy blooms from the past few weeks.  I promise to keep the narrative to a minimum and let you just enjoy the sights.

Every spring I am eager to see what tulips emerge, both the new bulbs I planted the fall before and the old faithfuls I have had for a few years.  Since tulips are not very long-lived and because they are a popular treat for certain varmints (more on that later), one never knows just how many or which ones will appear.  I planted more 'Margarita' last fall because the old ones were looking puny last year and was happy to see the new plantings looking good.

I also planted lots of orange tulips last fall, because I had very few in my garden.  I think I might have gotten a little carried away, though, because I had so many different orange tulips that I couldn't remember which was which. This is 'Gudoshnik'--I think.

This is 'Orange Van Eijk,' according to my planting notes from last fall.

After being impressed last spring with 'Lightning Sun,' I ordered more for this year.  One photo doesn't do these justice--they have variegated coloring in shades of orange to red, and the color varies from one bloom to another.  As they age, the petals remind me of an Impressionist's brushstrokes. Both 'Lightning Sun' and 'Gudoshnik' are tall Darwin tulips purchased from John Scheepers and should last for several years.

I did plant more than orange tulips last fall, in case you were wondering.  'Barcelona' is a lovely rose-colored pink; I just wish I had gotten a better photo of these, minus a car in the background:)

Then there were the returnees: although I prefer the tall hybrid tulips, I do love these little species tulips 'Lady Jane.'  The best part besides their longevity is that they multiply.

My namesake 'Rosalie.'

A double, 'Pink Star.'

And another double, one of my long-time favorites, 'Angelique.'

And what has become my very favorite tulip of all, 'Akebono.'  Another Darwin tulip, these return every year, yet just to make sure I always have some,I add a few more each fall.

There were many more returning tulips that I have simply forgotten the names of.  I wish I could identify the ones above so I could order more this year; they really were beautiful.  Notice I also had a healthy crop of henbit and dandelions this spring.

Some type of Rembrandt tulips.

Shades of yellow

Pale pink/lavender in the shade garden

Orange and purple are not a color combo I would usually choose, but I'll take it here.

And finally, two whose names I do remember and usually the latest to bloom, 'Maureen' and 'Queen of the Night,' with some early 'Purple Sensation' alliums.

Tulips are my favorite bloom of spring, no matter what color or type.  Although most did very well this year, despite the late start and quickly rising temperatures, there were a few disappointments.  The biggest disappointment was in my roadside garden, where I planted an additional two dozen bulbs last fall.  Whether it was the voles that have invaded that area or another varmint or the standing water from the floods in February, only one measly tulip appeared!  This is not the first year this has happened, so I am finally waving the white flag--this fall I am going to stick to daffodils and alliums in this area.

Tulips and other bulbs weren't the only blooms this spring.  The first week of May the flowering trees began to bloom, including the redbuds.

The week before, I was sure the crabapples had been nipped by frost, but thankfully I was wrong.

For one glorious week, my driveway looked like my header photo, once again.

The old lilac has gotten huge and was full of blooms that smelled divine.  I have two newer, smaller lilacs, including one called 'Scent and Sensibility' that also has a sweet fragrance.  But nothing compares to the scent of this original!

Spring is my favorite time of year, but sadly it is the shortest season here in Illinois.  After one week of heaven, the trees dropped their blooms and leafed out, and the lilacs faded.  Only a few fading tulips remain. Temperatures soared into the 80's and even the 90's a couple of days, and we have sped straight into summer.  If nothing else, spring is a reminder of transient beauty and the importance of slowing down and enjoying the moment.

But while I am sad to see spring fly by so quickly, the garden has gone into overdrive, providing more blooms as it transitions into summer.  One of my favorites above, Amsonia tabernaemontana.

Small alliums in the shade garden.

The taller 'Purple Sensation' are taking over one corner of the Arbor Bed!

My original bleeding heart is a no-show this year, but the newer 'Gold Heart' dicentra is doing well.

The tiny blue flowers of  'Jack Frost' Brunnera are a favorite of mine, and I have added several more of these the last two years.

It does pay to take the time and look closely around you--I almost stumbled over this Trillium one day while weeding in the shade garden.  I am so excited to see it, as woodland plants often don't do well for me in the dry shade of this garden area.

The Butterfly/Pollinator garden is also coming to life.  Camassia were the first to bloom, but I didn't take time to get a single photo.  Now Phlox pilosa, or PPPP as Gail calls them, are showing up here and there.

Golden Alexanders are also flourishing, which delights me

 since I tried for years to get them established here.

If you have stuck with me till the end of this post, I thank you.  And while I am sorry to see spring come and go so quickly, there are daily reminders like this 'Immortality' iris that there is much more to come in the garden in the coming months.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  There are sure to be many, many blooms to see this month so hop on over and join in the celebration of spring!

May GBBD: Planting Frenzy Month

There ought to be a law--no one can graduate in the month of May.  Or have a birthday. Or get married.  Or all the countless celebrations that have kept me out of the garden this month.  The weather is finally cooperating so that I can plant some of the many, many annuals I have purchased.  But I keep getting interrupted by things like graduations, confirmations, and t-ball games.  And to top it all off, my Texas grandbabies will be here for a visit in a few days, and I really, really need to clean my house.

Not that I'm complaining.  I've enjoyed every minute of celebrating so many milestones with my family (no weddings, though--I just threw that one in there), and I am so excited about seeing my littlest grandchildren again.  No, I am just explaining why this is not a good time to visit my garden.  The spring show of tulips and daffodils is over, and in their place are weeds . . . lots of weeds.  At the rate I'm going, some of those weeds are going to be there for awhile, so instead of showing any long views of the garden today, we'll just focus on close-ups of a few pretty blooms.

   After heavy rains at the beginning of the month that turned the garden into a swamp and a cold spell with the threat of frost, the weather finally settled down so that I could get back into the garden and plant whenever there are a few uninterrupted minutes.  Typical of Illinois weather, we've gone from coat weather to tank top weather in just a few days, and now I'm griping that it's too hot to work outside.

May is usually my planting-frenzy month.  There are annuals from all my shopping sprees the past few weeks covering my back porch, my front porch, and the patio.  Only a few containers have been planted so far, but I'm not in a big hurry to change this pot when the sweet little violas and alyssum from April are still looking so good.

Other than the annuals, May is usually a transition month here, though there are a few perennials blooming.  The peony bud shown earlier opened up early in the month, and I'm happy to see that 'Scarlett O'Hara' is sporting not just one bloom, as in earlier years, but five blooms this year.

Other peonies are still budding up--I usually think of Memorial Day when I think of peonies--but the NOID white peony has a few blooms already.  The Amsonia Hubrichtii makes a nice backdrop for them, though as is usually the case in my garden, this was a happy accident in planting, not a carefully thought-out design.  Other Amsonia are also blooming, though I find it hard to capture their blue blooms on camera.

The clematis 'Nelly Moser' also bloomed early and is covered with blooms.  I have a hard time catching this one at the right time in the spring to prune it, and last year I made the mistake of pruning it too hard and too late so there were very few blooms.  This year I was late again, so I just left it alone, and I'm glad.
 

Columbines blooming under the 'Limelight' hydrangea.  I transplanted some native columbines from my mother's garden last year, but I haven't seen any sign of them blooming yet.

Speaking of natives, there are a few early flowers in the butterfly garden as well.  Phlox pilosa, also known throughout the blogging world as Gail's PPPP, has happily spread itself around this area.

And I am thrilled to finally have some Golden Alexanders Zizia aurea blooming!  I've tried planting them from seed before with no luck, and last year I planted some seedlings from the local prairie plant sale, but never saw any signs of bloom.  But patience has paid off, and these look so robust, I have a feeling I will have even more in the future.

Irises are blooming in the Arbor Bed and the Lily Bed--white, pale lavender, and yellow.  But my favorite are these purple and white bearded irises, a passalong a couple of years ago from Beth of Plant Postings.  Notice how many blooms are on each plant!

They're especially beautiful to me because I once had several of these at my old house, given to me by my mother.  When we moved, I dug up a few plants, but forgot all about these.  When I look at them, I think not only of Beth, but also of my mother.

Finally, this is NOT my garden!  It's the MG garden at the county nursing home where I volunteer every summer.   This is another activity that has taken up much of my time in the past few weeks, since I am one of the co-chairs.  We are going to be on the annual Garden Walk this year, so we have spent more time than usual weeding and dividing to get everything spruced up for the walk, as well as hours planning and plant shopping.  But it's already a beautiful garden as you can see from just this one little corner, and it really is a joy to work there.

And now back to weeding and planting in my own garden . . . and maybe taking a few swipes at the layers of dust in my house:)

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted each month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens and author of Potted and Pruned.  Thanks, Carol, for helping me keep a monthly record of what is blooming in my garden!

Wildflower Wednesday: Planning for Next Season

It's Wildflower Wednesday, and usually at this time of year I still have one dependable wildflower blooming--Aster pilosus, also known as Frost Aster.

Frost Aster in October 2012

But not this year.  My husband has been on a weeding and trimming mission around all the farm buildings this past month, and the only remnants of this weedy wildflower were a few puny specimens whose blooms had already turned to fluffy seedheads.  That's too bad, not only because the bees enjoy the nectar of this late-season bloomer, but the name is so appropriate this week.  We had our first hard frost Monday night, and overnight all the annuals turned to mush.

What I do have this week are two late blooming coneflowers that seem unfazed by the cold.  The little specks of white on the center disk are the remains of the frost two hours after sunrise. The frost has jolted me from my denial that winter might be on the way and shifted my fall garden chores into high gear.  I've brought in some annuals to overwinter and transplanted some perennials from containers into the garden.  A few spring bulbs have been planted, but many more need to be planted, not to mention a clean-up of the garden in general.

Prairie Area at Chicago Botanic Garden, Spring '09

Also on the fall to-do list is some seed planting.  It may seem strange to plant seeds at this time of year, especially here in zone 5-6, but many wildflowers need cold stratification to germinate.  I first saw Golden Alexanders, Zizia aurea, at the Chicago Botanic Garden during Spring Fling in '09, and was so taken with them.  But it wasn't until this spring that I finally purchased some seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery.  By the time it was dry enough here to plant them, however, it was also too warm, so I decided to wait until this fall.

Image from Prairie Moon Nursery website

Golden Alexanders not only provide these pretty yellow blooms, but they are an important source of nectar in the spring for short-tongued bees, wasps, and other insects.  Bumblebees, small butterflies, and the caterpillars of several butterflies and moths, including the Black Swallowtail, also visit these plants for nourishment.

Image from Prairie Moon website

Included in my order from Prairie Moon was a free packet of seed for Ascelpias incarnata, also known as Swamp Milkweed.  I've been wanting to plant some type of milkweed for some time, and these pretty rosy blooms look different enough from the common milkweed that grows freely around here that I don't think my husband will mistake them for "weeds."  Swamp Milkweed is the only Illinois milkweed that favors wetland conditions, so I will definitely have to be careful about keeping this watered during the summer.

According to Illinois Wildflowers, Swamp Milkweed is a favorite of a whole host of insects, butterflies, caterpillars, and even hummingbirds.  But for me, the main reason for planting milkweed is for this creature...

A late visitor this past weekend--I certainly hope he made it safely out of the area before the frost!

As most readers know, the number of Monarch butterflies has been in serious decline in recent years.  There are many factors which have contributed to this decline, some of which we have no control over.  But one way in which we as individuals can help this magnificent butterfly is to provide more of its host plant. I'm going to sow some of the Swamp Milkweed seeds as well as the Golden Alexanders and some other wildflower seeds I have this fall, and then sow the rest in late winter over the snow, which has proven successful with poppies and larkspur in the past.  I don't know which timing will be the most successful, but I hope at least one of these, if not both, will provide the pollinators with some important food sources next year.

Wildflower Wednesday is hosted the fourth Wednesday of every month by our hostess at Clay and Limestone.  Thanks, Gail, for reminding us of the importance of planting for all the important little creatures that visit our gardens!