Pacific Northwest Gardening: What would you say is in "full bloom" in your yard right now, 1 by

wrote:
This is in full bloom: Rhododendron 'Lucy Lou'. I just put her in last year.

I am laughing at the Bergenia posts. But first, Sharon, I wish my crocus were as pretty as those. I have decided that next year I will plant more, and I will plant them where the rain will not touch them! Every year I look forward to the crocus, only to have them look like purple and white soup. Blech!

Yes, Kayte, we should have a mourning for the Edgeworthia blooms. Too much too soon, I'm afraid. I might get one. The rest are toast. As are my tree peony blooms. Now that REALLY hurts. Maybe I'll be lucky and the plants will want to put up more buds, but at least two tree peonies look terrible and I picked off mush buds. One night of frost...rats. Another year down the drain.

Now, regarding the bergenia, I just cannot make up my mind about them. First I hate them, then I love them. I have several cultivars. The one I definitely like is a newer one called 'solar flare'. It's smaller, tidy, and has nice leaves. That one is a keeper. I also have 'Bressingham Ruby'. It underplants two witch hazels. It's fairly nice in the winter, with reddish leaves. But I've been on the verge of ripping it out for two years.

Kayte, how big are the leave on that bergenia you have? Believe it or not, if they are bigger than the old cultivar that came with my house, I might be interested. I have seen those grown in dry shade and they are just dandy. I'm always looking for things I can grow in the doug fir area. I've been considering moving some of my old standby ones, but I really want the ones with the huge leaves. The leaves on mine are 8-9 inches from tip to the start of the stem. They are in full bloom right now, so I'm satisfied with them where they are. They give me that combination of pale green leaves and gaudy pink that I so love! :)

Edited to say my Ribes isn't even close to blooming. Not even any buds yet. It's in a lot of shade.

This message was edited Feb 26, 2010 11:47 PM