FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING!!! May Flowers :)

Speedy, you need to keep that Precious photo to enter in the DG photo contest. What a lovely morning greeting you had!

Thanks for explaining why the rhodie is so fat. LOL.

Cat, I love your 'artistic' pic!! looks great

G.T. wow! your rhododendron is doing so well. You can't tell it's that huge from the picture

speedie, it's a peony bud ^_^


Clematis beginning to open
Strawberries

Cat: Is that the Bevan's variety Geranium Mac? Beautiful wisteria and foxglove too!

Wind: That is a gorgeous Columbine. Would you mind mailing me some seeds from that when they are available? I can pay postage.

Nice pics everyone :)

Here are a few of mine.

Geranium, Ballerina
Orange Geum
Helianthemum
Packera Aurea

Here's a few more:

Gibralter Exbury Azalea
Purple Passion Rhodie
Our 'Honeylocust Garden' in all its glory
Summer Snowflake Viburnum

Seq, nice pics

... that is Clematis Wildfire, a Polish cultivar. It really is spectacular. I doubt it would come true from seeds though since it is a hybrid; but, if seeds develop, I can gladly send you some. Just dmail me your address.

Seq, that's a good question about the geranium--it does look like G. macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety'! Thanks for the ID! :-) I love your 'Ballerina' geranium--such pretty coloring. And where did you find the Packera aurea??

Wind, that is such a beautiful clematis--such a brilliant blue!

Thank you Wind, I thought it might be (a Paeony), but I didn't want to sound goofy guessing. ;) Can't wait to see a pic (or 2.. or 3, heehee) when she opens!! =) And what a gorgeous Clematis!

Pat, oh, I hadn't thought of that (saving the pic for one of the photo contests), but okey dokie, I'll do that!

Jeff, that Geranium is beautiful, and I love the Geum.. keep thinking I should have a couple, we've got 'em at work all the time. Never enough room for all I want. ;)

Haha...you're right Speedie, never enough room for sure :) I have a red one blooming soon as well. They're a nice hold over for the 'in between' part of spring after bulbs but before summer perennials.

I got my packera aurea at North Creek in the group buy. It was just planted a few weeks ago.

Wind: I was talking about your Black Barlow Columbine, not the Clematis, which is also beautiful.

So pretty! What a happy time for gardeners!

WOW you guys! Gorgeous stuff going on! Love it all!

Speedie: Yay Peony! I am practically on pins and needles waiting for mine to open this year. Hoping for dozens on the big fuschia one. Lighter pink one just got transplanted so she'll be sulking for a few years.

Cat: Love the "artistic" pic. That heuchera and columbine compliment each other beautifully.

Wind: First time I've seen Black Barlow, is it a columbine? Gorgeous.

Seq: That orange Azelea... Now you're making me want an orange-themed bed. I don't have room for an orange bed!!! Stop it now!

Lol...nice Typ. Just wait until I start showing pictures of our Mt. St. Helens. It blows the orange one out of the water IMO.

Seq, how old is your Mt. St. Helens? I have a request -- can you post a picture of the entire tree as well as a close up? I just purchased mine last month so I'm curious about how it's going to fill out its spot.

Finally got my act together and took some pics to post. Here are the bleeding hearts:

1.'Gold Heart' - lovely lime green foliage
2. 'Valentine' - red flowers
3. Old fashioned white hearts against Brunnera
4. My most reliably friend, the good ol pink

Ours was planted spring of '12 from a 3G pot. It's about 3.5' x 3'. I'll take a pic of it soon when it's in bloom. That should be in a few days; it's about to pop.

Donner, can you save me some of those red bleeding heart seeds?

I will try, Paul. I bought the plant last year. It had flowers, but didn't produce any seedlings. Hopefully, the plant is more mature this year. I will look out for seeds for you.

thanks, Seq! :-)
That's a good point about geraniums filling the gap for the 'in between' part of spring after bulbs but before summer perennials. I was noticing this weekend that it seems kind of a slow time after the profusion of early/mid spring bulbs--columbines and geraniums really help.

I did not realize we had any packera aurea as part of the North Creek group buy! Just can't keep up with all the activity--LOL! :-)

Donner, those are beautiful bleeding hearts--I think I have not found a good spot for mine, as it only bloomed briefly.

This message was edited May 19, 2014 7:56 AM

Catmint- I've had my bleeding heart for four or five years I think. It's been slowly building momentum. Last year my first finding seedlings, and this year there are seedlings like crazy. So I think the mother plant just takes a bit of time to get strong and then - stand back.

Cat, the bleeding heart, when dormant, does leave an unsightly hole in the flower bed. Maybe you can plant it in the back of the bed? Or plant some tall annuals to hide it.

Seq, sorry, I saw that you said columbine, but it was after the photo I posted that didn't have a columbine in it, so I figured you meant the clematis!! you meant what you meant!! the plant in the photo is the only Black Barlow we have, I'll try and mark where it is so I don't forget and if I can snag a few extra seeds for you I'd be glad to

I have my eye on a few gorgeous solid dark purple columbines at our church for seeds too

Lol...yeah Wind I knew what I meant, no worries :)

I have a solid dark purple one too but it didn't come back this year. I spread its seeds about the last couple years though so I think there are a few volunteers that will bloom this year.

Columbines are great, they seed so vigorously but they are never invasive. I let all of the seeds mature on the plant and then every last seed head gets sprinkled about.

Allium Schubertii and peony. I can't remember if this is a noid or Moonstone. The tag got washed away.

Allium Purple Sensation and clematis.

Rose and noid salvia with faded alliums in the background. Last year the alliums and rose bloomed together but I pruned the rose too late this year. What kind of a salvia is this?

Ninebark. I read somewhere this was good in the shade. Nope! It doesn't bloom well in the shade at all.
edit: that blue hosta in the background is supposed to be Gold Standard. It is now 100% blue. Weird!

Dwarf mock orange! Aspenhill and happy, are yours blooming? Unfortunately there is no scent at all.

This message was edited May 19, 2014 7:20 PM

My very first seed-grown petunia! It was fun but I don't think I'll be doing it again. :)

All 3 hosta pics were taken from the same height/angle.

Guacamole didn't even fit inside the frame. This one's almost 3 years old.

June is by far my favorite hosta. What a cutie!

Liberty was so late in leafing out that I thought it may have died.

Euphorbia Ascot Rainbow. I love it do much I bought 3 more for the front yard. And I never buy 3 of anything!

SSG, what gorgeous plants! Your allium are so beautiful--I really should take a photo or two of my allium for comparison purposes ;-) --and then try to figure out why it is that I cannot seem to grow allium successfully! :-)

I also love the mix of colors that you have in the photo with Ninebark--such pretty contrasts. The salvia looks similar to my Salvia nemorosa or Salvia x sylvestris. There are so many different kinds of salvia! :-)

The color on your pansy is very pretty. Why do you think you won't grow them from seed again? I did sow some pansy seeds but so far no germination...

Your hosta look great! Your guacamole is so big and healthy looking, and June is one of my favorites, too! And I love the euphorbia Ascot Rainbow and am resisting the 'I have to have it' urge... ;-)

For some reason my hosta all look nibbled on. I put down some sluggo in case it is slugs, but I think the problem may be 4-legged...

love the allium and clematis combo. nice job on growing petunias! I only tried once and I'm thinking it was a wild petunia? is there such a thing? anyway, I never grew petunias again after that either. Those and pansys

plain 'ol white iris
Scotch Broom 'Pomona' we just got from H.D.
Sage
first Clematis Wildfire bloom has fully opened
Geranium macrorrhizum 'Spessart'

Wind, there is a wild petunia. It's called Ruellia humilis. I'm sure there are others but this one is native to the eastern US. I bought one from Lazy S&S this season so we'll see how it performs.

Oops forgot to comment on all the pretty blooms. I love that scotch broom color Wind. Nice pics SSG!

I sowed 2 packets of petunia seeds back in late January/early February and I got my first bloom just a couple of days ago. The wait has been exhausting! :D I think I'll reserve seed-growing for just edibles from now on.

Catmint, about a third of my Schubertti aren't coming up. The leaves are there, but there's no bloom stalk. I have no idea why! I hear this is a variety that doesn't return very well. Are your Purple Sensations not blooming well? I have white alliums as well, and they seem to last a bit longer than the purple ones.

Salvia nemorosa sounds right. Last year, this salvia was completely horizontal. A lot of perennials are very floppy the first year that they're planted in my garden and only perk up the second year. I think it might be the clay; the roots take a while to get themselves established.

Wind, I don't think I've ever seen a scotch broom before. Look at that color!

Wind, that Scotch Broom is gorgeous (trying once again to resist the 'gotta have one' siren call--LOL!)--such a beautiful, vivid color.

Seq, funny you should mention Ruellia humilis. I found some seeds for this and planted them in a couple places, and am still waiting for signs of life. Okay, I have one green sprout out of a whole package, but I honestly don't know if it's a weed or the real thing. ;-) SSG and Wind, it's good to know of your own experiences trying to grow petunias from seed! If I decide I really want the R humilis, I may have to order a plant like Seq did, since they don't seem generally available...

SSG, so far the only allium I have near blooming are schubertii. They look kind of sloppy and not nearly as dramatic as in other people's photos. I'm not sure what's going on with the A. christophii--I think the buds have not opened yet. I don't think I got any Purple Sensations--unless those are the A. christophii?

That is interesting to know about perennials being more floppy the first year. I have noticed that a lot of my returning perennials look better so far this year than they did last year when I first planted them. ;-) I'm hoping this holds true for the Penstemon 'Electric Blue' I got which is very floppy so far! It's hard not having much medium to dry soil space to offer it... :-(

Hey Cat, I hope your ruellia turns out and not a weed...lol

Gorgeous pics, SSG and Wind!

SSG, how hard do you think it would be to take cuttings from that Ninebark? Is it 'Diablo'? Can I have a few growing tips on the day of the Swap to try to root? :)

typ I was thinking the same thing about that ninebark. I actually did root ninebark a few years ago and gave one to donner. then killed mine. It is a very wide spreading shrub.

ssg I ditto that the picture with ninebark show a great mix of color and shape.

LOL Seq--actually I fear that it is a weed, since the tiny leaves don't look anything like the photos.

Typ, I'll try, but I'm so so so bad with keeping cuttings alive. Would it be better if I just cut them off the morning of the swap? Mine's Summer Wine.

Thank, Sally! This specific combination was recommended by a landscape architect -- dark ninebark with spirea 'Ogon.' He was telling another gardener that in a small yard, there should be maximum contrast between neighboring plants.

Ssg, your photos are breath-taking, and I LOVE the Allium/Peony combo!!! Your June Hosta is so cute!! Makes me want to bring home a Mouse Ears from work today. ;) Do I really need to do that?? ;)

Wind, that Scotch broom is outta this world, the colour is so rich and warm and snuggly!! :)

SSG, yes please just take several stems for me on the day of the swap and wrap them in a damp paper towel. My track record with getting cuttins to root is not very good either, but I always hope! :)

Wind, can you show some more pictures of that Scotch broom? It really is exciting!

I haven't really had much time for pictures lately. On Sunday, I spent all afternoon with hedgetrimmers in my hands chopping back my beast of a Japanese Holly hedge. I found a robin's nest along the way and tried to leave it hidden, so now my hedge looks like I trimmed it really strangely with a big lump on one end! :)

Here are my two blooming irises. One bright yellow NOID I got in a DG trade last year and the other is from Gita. Thanks Gita!

Posted to wrong thread, can't delete photos.

This message was edited May 20, 2014 10:42 AM