FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING Frost..What the??

I have blue-flowering forget-me-nots that stayed green all winter long. I was amazed...I couldn't have forgotten them if I tried...I hope they multiply because I need more to pull erosion-control duty!

Muddy--
Those must be "Brunnera"---the perennial "Forget-me-Not".
I have one too, just started blooming. Bought the "Jack Frost" one
just this year. This one has the whitish green leaves.

Donner usually has these to share. Check her "haves"...

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scenefe65.html

G.

I have said that I don't have real grass just mowed weeds. Sometimes I think I would like to just put down a weed and seed product and get rid of all the weeds and have beautiful lush grass. Then on days like today I love my front yard.

SSG, glad to hear about your Joe Pye! And hopefully my crape myrtle will be leafing out soon, too!

Magnolia Jane is now in a 16" pot in the general area where I'm thinking of keeping her permanently.

Holly--yes, mowed weeds! That sounds like my lawn--only not mowed yet! :-) I really like the wildflower look.

beautiful meadow! are they violets?
I have a ton of violets and dandelions right now. I've also had bluets which are tiny.

Yes, I have a ton of violets growing in the front lawn.

That's a nice meadow-look, Holly!

Gita, I'll take a photo of my forget-me-nots tomorrow. I don't think they're Brunnera, but I could be mistaken.

Haha, violets on the lawn! That looks familiar! :)

Holly, it wasn't me

I finally took some photos of my trees while they're still in bloom! The first one shows my favorite Kwanzan. That's my house barely visible behind it.

Next, the closest I could come to fitting all the trees into one photo. There's another Kwanzan on the left of the driveway, my Japanese Maple peeking over the garage, a dogwood (Cornus florida) and a purple-leaf plum.

Third, the other Kwanzan, and last, my baby dogwood with the other dogwood and Kwanzan behind it. Lost among all these trees is a young red maple. It's one of the ones with edging around it.

Muddy--we cross-posted...

The FMN's I have are absolutely annuals. They get all stringy and dry out
soon after blooming. A real mess! There is NO option for these, regular FMN's to live
through the winter....
They DO drop their seed which comes up in early spring--grows and then blooms.

There are different forms, shapes and colors of leaves of Brunnera.
On some sites--I saw it was called "False Forget-me-Nots. Please Google it to see.

I may stand corrected---again...and, that's OK too. G.


This message was edited Apr 25, 2014 9:06 PM

I think mine are Myosotis sylvatica, which is a perennial type of FMN. When I looked them up, I saw that they like moist soil and part-shade, and mine are on a sunny, dry slope. I hope I don't have to move them to keep them looking nice..

Gorgeous cherry blossoms, Muddy! If something ever happens to my pink dogwood, a kwanzan cherry is high on my list of trees to replace it!

I had Myosotis sylvatica last summer but it didn't perform well for me, and I don't know if it will come back. I did get some new seeds just in case...

Oh, I think I get it now--FMN=forget me not?

Lol....Cat you're funny..

This whole FMN thing is perplexing me. I didn't know there were annual kind. But Muddy, mine were green all winter too and I know what Brunnera looks like and they aren't that. They were green when the snow melted. Mine are the pink ones.

Muddy, your flowering trees are gorgeous.

I've been wanting some FMN, so I'll look in to the perennial Myosotis sylvatica vs the annuals. I have the conditions that muddy said they like. Muddy, Cat, and Sequoia - where did you get them? Were you able to find them locally or were they mail order?

I got mine at a local nursery! It was the 'Rosea'--pink kind. I don't think it will come back this year because I was never able to find the right spot for it and I think it gave up the ghost. :-( But I will try, try again!!

Maybe the FMN that Gita and I are talking about it Myosotis arvensis, field forget me not

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/159954/

Sally you might be right about that! The Myosotis sylvatica seems to be classified as a self-seeding biennial. From MoBot:
"Although technically a short-lived perennial, this plant is often grown as a biennial by planting seed in the ground in mid-summer for bloom the following year."

Well--this beats me!!!

I looked up the Myosotis sylvatica and it looks just like mine--before they grow all leggy.
Very pretty!
http://www.edenbrothers.com/store/forget_me_not_seeds.html?gclid=COqNhvyZ_r0CFcyhOgod9lkARQ

Do these spread? or are they like ONE plant that just grows wiser and wider??

This had good information....
http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/Wildflower.asp?ID=74

Now I want some--and I know what to look for... G.

My new blooms today:
1) Dianthus, although the blossoms ended up hiding behind leaves in the pic
2) creeping phlox

And two more germinations from my Great Seed Planting of last weekend: Cosmos bipinnatus and another marigold (Tagetes patula var. nana).

And I think I saw my first tiny shoot of fennel--although of course it could be a weed... ;-)

nice flowering trees muddy. our k.cherry is blooming away too. so pretty. ours has a surface root that sprouted with several branches that are also blooming; like having another tree next to the main tree.

our bleeding hearts look pretty too. I didn't get any new photos today though. And, we spotted our first humming bird today!! yay! I knew they had to be here based on the migration map

gardening today tuckered us all out... starting to finally see the soil from beneath weeds, weeds, and more weeds in the garden

Me too- tuckered. And me too wanted to say how pretty Muddy's pictuers are. It's a wonderful time, with the flowering trees and red maples all making things so colorful.

Thanks, everyone! I like my trees. My old dogwood isn't in great shape - I'm sure it has a touch of whatever disease attacks Cornus florida - but I keep nursing it along, hoping that fertilizer will extend its life.

About Myosotis sylvatica: I grew mine from seed last year. I can't remember where I bought the seed, but it was either from a garden center or Home Depot.

Thanks Sequoia for saying your "FMN" were green all winter as well; I was beginning to wonder if I imagined it. I piled a little mulch around them but left the green tops exposed. Considering how cold our winter was, it's pretty amazing that they didn't die back all the way.

Mine look great in the full sun spot they're in now, but I suspect it will be too much sun for them when the weather gets hot..

Yeah I was really surprised when I saw they were the first green in the garden. Pretty amazing they didn't die back or brown out. Mine get nice morning sun and then dappled shade from a honeylocust tree. I hope they keep spreading. I never put any preen in this bed so that my columbines will seed so I guess it helps my FMNs too.

Based on what you all are saying, I've moved my M sylvatica seeds to a spot that gets nice morning sun and then afternoon shade. Maybe it will sprout for me this year!

My Viola cornuta was like the way you're describing your forget me nots-- it always seemed to stay somewhat green, and it was fully in blossom before my crocuses were even up! Microclimates... :-o

My azaleas were starting to open late yesterday afternoon!! Such a pretty time of year when both the azaleas and dogwood are in bloom.

That's a gorgeous Azalea Cat - which one is it? I love that shade of pink!

Thanks Speedie! The azaleas were all left for me by the previous owner. I've been trying to figure out even what species of azalea it is!

Hi Cat,

There are a number of cultivars that resemble your azalea. It is a pink, hose-in-hose, evergreen azalea. I will try and come up with a few registered names for you.

Oh wow that would be wonderful Terp! Thanks so much!

Woodland phlox from aspenhill.

My very first confederate jasmine blooms! I thought there would be a stronger scent.

Brunnera Silver Heart looking very pretty. Pre-slug damage, of course.

Gita: I'm pretty sure your forget-me-nots are indeed the Myosotis sylvatica. You were kind enough to give me a large pot of them last year, and they look exactly like the Myosotis sylvatica I have had before.

My guess -- though I really don't know -- is that they don't flower the year that they germinate. Once they do flower, then they do become straggly after flowering.

This message was edited Apr 28, 2014 9:45 AM

Very nice SSG: I like your woodland phlox. Was it hard to get it established? I planted one in late summer of '12. It came back last year but never amounted to much and certainly didn't bloom. This year it's back again and it looks like it might have buds at the top of the stems but I'm not sure as it's in a hard to get to part of the garden. I'll have to do a closer inspection when I get home. Overall so far it's been a disappointing plant.

Very easy to get established. I got a good clump from aspenhill last spring.

It's in a pretty wet spot with quite a bit of sun.

Maybe that's the problem with mine. It's in a moist spot but with mostly shade.

Ssg, what a gorgeous Brunnera, I hope mine looks as nice when it grows up! :)

Not much new to post....

--Brunnera from Donner--starting to bloom

--My old, holey ,bird condo, Kwanzan Cherry tree. Hanging in...

This is always the first bed to get cleaned.
Tulip Ollioules one of my favs.

It is gorgeous, Holly!