FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING 2015 DOUBLE TAKE

Ooh I like that Rue anemone!

greenthumb, that Daff could be Ice Follies. My Ice Follies are in bloom, and I have possibly shared them too

Sally, the white petals are much broader than those on the Daff you posted on the Discussion thread. Is that the one you are referring too?

I'm thinking Amber Gem, Gitagal.
Rue anemone is something you don't see often or never! Does the foliage stay purple?

The coloration is of the emerging plant. On mature plants (photo below) only the stem retains the coloration.

No, David. what I posted on April 6 Discussion thread are NOT ice follies, and are much smaller than IF. I'll try to get a comparison picture this week. I can put them side by side.

I took a nice jarful of daffs to the library. And have a nice vase of Forsythia on the kitchen counter.

Daffodils! I don't label my bulbs so I have no idea what this one is.

I didn't know there would be such a huge difference in size when I planted these two crocuses together.

Reticulated iris clumps.

Two different hellebores. The second one has so many flowers I couldn't fit them all in the frame.

I like that daff SSG, not sure which it is though either. The bigger crocus looks huge next to that baby.



I'm going to have a heck of a time trying to figure out which is which with all my bulbs this year. I have so many different varieties, it's going to be hard.

Gita's double hellebore is so pretty. I might pick one up if I see a double blooming variety locally.

Seq, I've found wet shade to be much easier than dry shade. A lot of natives love wet shade, but weeds love it, too! I literally never have to weed the dry shade area, but I'm having to constantly weed the wet shade.

I actually have most of the shrubs that have been recommended, but my problem is finding a *small* ornamental flowering tree that tolerates wet soil. I just weeded in that area and the soil was muddy.

There's a woman on ATP who has thousands and thousands of bulbs. She posts pictures everyday with the cultivar names. I don't know how she does it!

Sally, you are indeed correct that the photo I posted is Narcissus 'Ice Follies'. Thank you so much. Hope you get good sleep tonight.

Wow, I bet she has a lot more time to devote to cataloging her bulbs and other flowers.

Would there be any types of magnolias that like moist shade?

Sweet Bay Magnolia - Magnolia virginiana

Check out this chart from nearby Penn State Extension. http://extension.psu.edu/plants/gardening/eco-friendly/using-natives/plant-guides/shade-moist

Ah yes the Sweet Bay. I wasn't sure about that one in moist shade. My Sweet Bay is in full shade and grows wonderfully. The soil is of average moisture though. The silvery undersides of the leaves are really something when it's breezy. I also LOVE the fragrance of the blooms as it is the best smelling thing in the garden....sorry AP Witchazel...I've had mine since summer of '12.

Thank you so much for that chart, greenthumb! Sweet bay is on my short list.

Is the soil wet or moist? Didn't anyone suggest Stewartia or cornus alternifolia aregentia or Sourwood?

Another day, more flowers found.

#1 Our re-blooming azaleas are just getting started for the year. They bloom on and off until Thanksgiving or Christmas.

#2 Pulmonaria saccharata

#3 Pulmonaria noID

Nice GT. I have a pulmonaria that started blooming late last week but the flowers are so tiny that it wasn't worth photographing yet. I'm not expecting to see much new in the yard today since it's been cloudy and rainy all day. It's crazy that it's in the upper 60s in western pa and we're in the mid 40s.

I like that Rue anemone, greenthumb!

My reticulated Irises aren't up yet; I hope they made it through the winter. Yours look great, ssg!.

You guys were talking about Mahonia flowers getting wrecked from the winter in the old thread.

My Mahonia bealei flowers got burned out too. Mine flushed out late last season and the leaves didn't harden off enough and most of those leaves are now shot. It will be interesting to see how the plant recoups this season. I think it flushed out late because it was still adjusting to its new location and probably had decent transplant shock. That, coupled with last winter wasn't very good for it. I moved it fall of '13.

Anyone else's daffies drooping? I cut quite a few white ones yesterday and added them to a vase. If I can't enjoy them outside then I'll bring them inside.

My little white forsythia has a few blooms on it. Yay!!!

Haha, that's the same outlook I have on the drooping daffs Jan. Last year we got some heavy rain and it knocked a few over. I cut them off and brought them over to my MIL for Mother's Day :)

I'm sure she enjoyed them. There will be a very full-flowered one that will be blooming later that will definitely come inside. Last year was the first year for it in my garden and even though it is a pretty I was a little disappointed that I had to bring them in, but they are so top heavy that was the only way I could see the bloom. I guess I could put a prop around it, also. Just thought of that. Silly me!!!

Lol...I stick to single flowered daffs for that reason. My ice follies and the yellow trumpet daff they came in a mix with are the only ones that seem to flop. Most of the others hold their own. I do have a lot of brand new daffs though that have been untested in my yard so we'll see.

None of my hundreds of daffs are blooming yet. I bet they will all bloom after we leave and be in rough shape when I get home.

A few of the King Alfred's in the front of the veggie garden are showing good color and ready to pop open. They are residual from a planting that ran the length of the garden when first planted.

Jan, all of my double daffs have fallen over in the rain. :( I'm going to wait a couple of days and see if they stand up on their own. If not, they're getting cut off to be enjoyed indoors!

Seq, you were smart to get just single daffs! I couldn't resist the pretty doubles. :)

Loretta, the soil in this part of the yard is wet enough that the clay is almost always muddy.

Greenthumb, that's a really early azalea!

Actually, it is running late this year. Here is a photo from March 23, 2012 where it is pretty much fully in bloom.

Wow, I didn't know there were azaleas that bloomed so early. Do you remember the cultivar name?

crazy early azalea!

also a lot of droopy daffs here, just that cold and a lot of rain. There's a next round of some cultivars that haven't opened yet, they'll be wonderful this weekend and next week. Still to come: an old noid I call Moms Multiplier, and Salome, and Capree elizabeth, and some small cupped and Poeticus. Wow, still six or more varieties to bloom!

Unfortunately, I have no idea what cultivar the azalea is, it joined the household ahead of me.

Are you sure it's an Azalea and not a PJM Rhododendron?

Since you asked, I looked at photos I've taken in the past and see that the flowers have 10 stamens, hence they are Rhododendrons rather than Azaleas, which are Rhododendrons with 5 stamens. Never was particularly concerned about the distinction, so I never checked them out.

You learn something new every day! Never knew that was the difference between azaleas and Rhodies.

Interesting GT. I just new that PJM is a very early blooming rhodi and also extremely common so I took a shot in the dark.

PJM doesn't rebloom, does it?

Not that I'm aware of but they are always 'inventing' new plants so who knows if something will come out. PJM also has a sister called 'Olga'. Olga has pink flowers and is really pretty as well.

This definitely re-blooms. Depending on weather, it blooms off and on from mid March to nearly Christmas, reliably til Thanksgiving.

The rhodo that David pictured blooms spring and fall. Actually there are 4 of them.

And obviously not a lot of communicating happens in this household since we posted essentially the same info 2 minutes apart!

This message was edited Apr 10, 2015 9:13 AM