My Korean Spice viburnum is blooming for the first time ever! Yipee!
This is one of the first plants I've ever bought. Actually, it might be the very first shrub I've ever planted.
I bought it in May after it had finished blooming. The following year the blooms didn't open up all the way but stayed closed up in tight balls then sort of fell off. And last year it didn't bloom at all. Not one flower. I had bought it specifically for the scent, so I was really disappointed.
And now I finally have fragrant flowers! :)
Typ, I really love that daffodil. I may have to cut down all of my daffs and bring them in, too. About half are horizontal right now.
FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING Frost..What the??
I find B&B's catalog helpful in IDing daffs, as they have so many listed! The multi-flowered ones are generally Tazetta class, which narrows down the choices a lot. See https://store.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/spring/genus.php?genusid=44&division=D8
If you're thinking the cups on the blooms are a little too small and a little too light to be 'Avalanche', see if you think 'Aspasia' is a possibility. I know it's listed as late season rather than mid, but maybe yours are in a slightly warmer spot in your yard.
another possibility... N. 'Grand Primo', which is described as having a sweet fragrance without the muskiness of most Tazettas (including 'Avalanche', as I recall). Hardy only to zone 7, but multiplies well in the south. http://southernlivingplants.com/fall_bulbs/plant/grand_primo_narcissus
I have Avalanche and it has always been a horrible performer for me.
I love the idea of using a catalog to help with plant ID -- makes complete sense, but I never thought of it before. Since my daffs are mostly quite commonplace (by intention), that should work really well.
My Minnows are blooming right now..
ALL DONE! got home around 11am and hit the sack to catch up having gotten up
at 4-15am. Drove to my DD and she drove me to the hospital and back to her place
when I was done.
Hung around there for an hour or so until my whooziness was done, and then--
against all more sane suggestions, i drove home from her house to mine.
I felt OK enough to do so...The Dr. would freak out...
All I did outside was remove all the covers from the plants. Tonight will be
above freezing....
Now I will try to start transplanting some of my seedlings into small pots.
Set it all up last night..... G.
Good luck with the healing process Gita! Glad it went ok
Viburnum. Wonderful spicy scent.
Phlox.
Candytuft not quite in full bloom.
A bumblebee on my blueberry.
A bleeding heart that needs to be transplanted.
Gita, good to know its alll over!
ssg, that viburnum is wonderful, my neighbor has one and let's me steal it and sniff it.
my pink phlox is blooming well, the blue is waiting a bit..The delospermum still looks like a hayfield. But it was tucked in a corner quickly being swallowed by a holly anyway.
Gita, that was fast! Why am I not surprised that you drove home AMA! LOL
Sally, my blue phlox is lagging behind as well.
SS--Sounds like you know me well.....
Aina kept telling me she would drive me home (about 20 min on I-95)
but then her DH would have to come and get her and drive back home.
I really did not want them to have to go all through that...
"Rules" were--NO driving for 24 hours----NO alcohol for 24 hrs (I,m having
a glass of wine as we speak), I DID ice my hand for a while--may do it one more time...
trying to be "good'....;o} Teee....Heeee.... G.
SSG, you have an amazing amount of things in bloom considering the weather we've had. I will have lots in bloom in about a week.
Gita, I'm so glad to hear it went well.
Gorgeous, SSG! I love the viburnum--and I can't believe the wonderful mass of phlox you have--and all the bleeding heart blooms! :-) Your microclimate must be a good week ahead of mine!!
I also love the bumblebee on the blueberry--very nice.
My candytuft looks like yours!
Muddy, I feel like we need a couple of more 70 degree days before everything pops!
Catmint, it's interesting that your brunnera's at least a week ahead of mine! Mine's actually not blooming all that well. I love it when they get that mass of blue flowers, almost like they're floating in the air.
Last year, It felt like I was planting a whole mass of muscari, but I'm not so happy with the results. They look so sparse compared to the vision I had in my head. : /
I was going for this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Muscari_in_Showa_kinen_park.jpg
Maybe in about 10 years!
SS-- In your dreams!!!
Did we talk, somewhere up above, about Muscari spreading"
And--I think you said they do not spread....
If I had not mowed my lawn Monday--I could show you all the Muscari
scattered on an area in my back lawn. This was close-by my bed where
they also grew--but how did they scatter all through my grass?
They multiply so fast--If you just dug out a few bulbs from an existing clump
and planted them somewhere else--they would be big clumps by the following year.
And--the few smaller bulbs you missed when digging up, would become full
clumps in one year. No need to buy bulbs you have already.
G.
Ahh, SSG, very nice! I think this photo must have been taken very close up or something because the tiny muscari look huge--almost like tall plumes of liatris spicata! If muscari multiply quickly, then I bet every year what you planted will look closer and closer to this photo! :-)
I've been surprised that my brunnera has bloomed already. It's under the still-bare dogwood on the north side of my house, where it currently gets both morning and late afternoon sunlight. It was a strong bloomer for me last summer long after the tree leafed out. It's a 'Jack Frost'. Is that the same cultivar you have?
Good point about the angle of the picture. It almost looks like they used the clone tool on photoshop. :) Mine are in a high squirrel traffic area so I doubt they're going to multiply much.
My Jack Frost is looking rather sickly. The Silver Heart is blooming, but the solid green brunnera may have the best blooms.
Donner, are you around? She has lots of brunnera with really nice blooms.
Dang squirrels. :-( And that's funny about the clone tool--you're probably right about that! :-D well, Mother Nature never looked so good--LOL!
Would love to see photos of your Silver Heart and solid green brunnera! Poor Jack Frost--I hate it when one of my plants isn't doing well and I can't figure out why...
I have several Jack Frosts, and I don't think they are especially reliable performers. Some moments they look great -- and then a day later they'll look sickly.
The squirrels don't eat my bulbs (any of them - the deer successfully bribed them to let the bulbs produce leaves and flowers for them to eat), but my Muscari don't multiply. I've had just a few plants underneath a Japanese Maple for at least 10 years. I think it's because they don't get any sun after the tree leafs out.
I gave my Jack Frosts away because they looked terrible most of the time in spite of my best efforts to help them find a happy place. I've heard they have to have a consistent amount of moisture to look nice.
SSG, that river of muscari would be so pretty if yours end up multiplying and filling in like that. I saw this photo of muscari in pots on pinterest that I'd like to do at some point:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/368521181978497592/
I have Jack Frost brunneras and they look great for me until mid-late summer when the leaves start getting brown. I also have some of donner's solid green ones and they have been self seeding nicely - I find onesies and twosies in different places around the garden. They seem to hold up well all season. Last year, I bought Sea Heart and Silver Heart at the National Arboretum sale, but they look identical to me, so I think one was probably mislabeled and what I actually have is two of the same. I read that these cultivars are improvements on Jack Frost, so I'll see how the performance is this summer. Now, if I can just identify if it is Sea Heart or Silver Heart that I have :)
And speaking of micro climates, greenthumb and ecnalg live just down the road from me about 5 miles, and we've been comparing winter snow cover and spring plant emergence. The winter snow cover at my place pretty much stayed all winter whereas it melted between storms at their place. This spring, my plants seem to be about three weeks behind theirs.
This message was edited Apr 18, 2014 6:13 AM
Muddy, I think you're right about the consistent moisture for Jack Frost. On the shady side with just a little sun, plus moist. It does well under my Dogwood, where it gets the dappled sun through the early summer.
Aspen, my Jack Frost has performed like yours--looks consistently great until about midsummer, when I'm glad the leaf remains are by then hidden behind some later season annuals. :-) For me, it's very similar to my Jacob's Ladder, which I have planted on the other side of the same tree where it gets a little less sun--lovely blue flowers that bloom and bloom till about midsummer when it becomes unsightly and I start needing those annuals to cover the remains. ;-)
Latest blooms this morning:
(1) My bergenia is opening! I was afraid the buds wouldn't make it through the recent frosty mornings, but it looks like they did.
(2) My muscari doesn't look quite like the photo SSG linked to :-D but I'm happy with them. They seem to do well in a range of full sun to part sun. I planted them in part sun, but they're also doing well in the full sun spots that the squirrels planted them in.
Frost survivors:
(1) The hyacinth in my former firepit survived the frost well. Other hyacinth did not. So, this must be a warm spot in my yard.
(2) Not sure about my red tulips. They've looked like this since Monday, and this morning the outer part of the blossoms looked a little brownish. :-( I will be so disappointed if they don't open for me!! They would have been so big and beautiful! :-(
I'm so jealous of your bergenia! Mine doesn't look like it's going to flower this year.
I walked around the yard yesterday after work and noticed some more freeze damage. The newest leaves on our deciduous azaleas I just planted are shot as well as the newly emergent leaves on our Gingko :( Does anyone know what I can do to help the azalea? I'm more concerned about them than the Gingko because I just planted them. I even covered them all but it still killed the baby leaves. The leaves that have been out the longest are fine though. Do you think if I gave them each a shot of kelp formula and hollytone they'd benefit?
Aww, SSG, don't write the bergenia off yet! I've been surprised by mine this spring, since last year it seemed to underperform. A few weeks ago, I moved it to a morning sun spot and it seems happier there than it was in the part sun spot I had it in before. The cultivar is 'Pink Dragonfly'. However, there is *no sign whatsoever* of my Bressingham Ruby. :-(
Sorry to hear about your azalea, Seq! What an awful time of year for them to get some frost damage--just when blooming is right around the corner! :-(
I'm not terribly worried about the blooms because all three are late bloomers, June/July. I just got them from Greer this spring and installed them a few weeks ago so they were artificially advanced because they came from Oregon. Oh well, I know the risks but I sure didn't need that weather on Tuesday/Wednesday. Very anomalous.
Seq, I've been told that you should never fertilize a sick plant, but I don't know if that also includes a cold-damaged plant. I bet that since you have just planted them, that the soil has plenty of nutrients and you might want to just leave it alone. Although, I don't see why the kelp would be a problem.
And you're a smart guy so I'm sure you know to be careful ordering plants from the West Coast, especially rhodies, azaleas, camellias, etc. They are hosts for P. ramorum, which is the causal agent for Sudden Oak Death. While the nurseries are screening for the disease and other Phytophthoras, it's always possible that something can slip through the cracks.
https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/fungi/Oomycetes/Pages/SuddenOakDeath.aspx
I think I might kelp them then. I just got some so I'm anxious to see how effective it is. I was unaware of the phytophthoras coming from west coast nurseries. Interesting article. I got them all from Greer, which is highly rated on here and pretty reputable in the business. I have two rhodies coming next week as well. I really hate photophthora as I have lost three rhodies due to it being a 'sudden death' situation where it was systemic over the entire plant. Phytophthora with one or two branches is also occasional among our rhodies but once the infected branch is removed, it's usually no longer an issue. That type is more environmental anyway; too hot, too dry, too wet, poorly draining soil, etc...
I just hate to see this happen so early in the season. Oh well I knew the consequences when I planted them. I'm anxious to see how the Gingko performs since it's leaves have been damaged as well. We'll see I guess.
I really hate phytophthoras too but they pay the bills! I work for APHIS PPQ.
Let us kno how the gingko recovers. They are such beautiful plants with the most beautiful leaves.... But not spiky? I thought you like spiky plants?
thanks for the info, Typ--I was not aware of that!
No spikes Typ, just pretty. I have a male. What is the acronym mean for your job?
Typ, how cool you work in a field that relates to your gardening interests. I am envious of both you and speedie for that. Seq, I didn't know either and was interested - USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ)
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth
Typ, we cross posted - I hadn't seen that post describing your job before, somehow missed it. Again, how cool is that :)
Yeah it's pretty cool. I'm blessed to have the job I have. A lot of my work is about killing plants or plants dying. Of course my gardening is about keeping things alive. Also, work is mostly on food crops and agricultural products. I can't seem to successfully grow any edibles at home except tomatoes!
I just wrote the post about my job, so you didn't miss anything. :)
Typ, have you ever brought a sample from home to see what was happening to an ailing plant in your yard? Talk about perks of the job!
I got phytophthora pretty bad last year. The ajuga just withered away like they were melting. I thought about buying a hardcore antifungal online but decided against it. I just put compost and pine mulch in the area and hope that the good fungi fight the bad ones.
Typ, I imagine the worst part about your job is the commute!
Sequoia: I haven't been very successful at nursing back sick azaleas (I've lost a lot to lace bug), so take this with a grain of salt, but I would stay away from adding any fertilizer, and I would try to be really diligent to keep the plant appropriately watered and mulched at all times so it doesn't suffer any more stress. My sense is that keeping new azaleas well-watered is key.