FIRST FLOWERS MEMORIAL DAY 2015

You guys really have me thinking about a bog garden. We only have two downspouts though so I don't know how that'd work. Maybe someday in the future when we put on a new deck.

SSG: I bought two V. acerifoliums this spring from White Oak Nursery. He tells me they are seed grown so they should pollinate each other. I'll have to let you know how they turn out in a few years when they are both blooming and setting berries.

SS--

Late, but--I too wanted to say that the Azalea'a blooms are awesome!
How close can you get to something looking like a Rose?

I wish Paul was close too --or not so busy--but having found this awesome
job, I know he has to prioritize his time. Besides--he is now living in his own Condo with
his SO-(forgot her name)--hopefully a wedding will be soon.
Seems like everything is "falling into place" for him--as life should be.

I know he checks DG now and then, as when we went to the Fells Point Walk
(and froze our tushes off)--he mentioned a few things from DG.

HI! Paul!!! IF you are reading this!!!! G.

I just took a pic of this azalea we got from Paul at last years swap as well. Should have gotten the pic before the rain did a job on the blooms but you can still get an idea of how lovely it is.

Yes, Paul certainly knows his azaleas! It'd be wonderful to see him again. I wonder if he'd be able to stop by Yehudith's garden party.

Seq, I bet your viburnums are going to have amazing fall color, even if they don't bloom this year.

Yeah, I hope so SSG. Maybe not so much their first year but high hopes for next.

First water lily of the year. So pleased that my air plant wreath is blooming again this year.

Wow, that's cool. I didn't even know air plant bloomed!

Holly--How did you overwinter your Tilandsia wreath? Greenhouse?

Looks like it came through the winter in great shape.
So pretty!

Yes GH

Pre rain: Deutzia and late azalea

My Indian pinks are blooming! :D

I remember planting 3, but only see 2. Both have red flower buds on them.

Muddy, how are yours doing? I'll take pictures when they're in full bloom. I mistakenly thought they were fall bloomers, so this is a nice surprise.

Indian pinks -- is that Spigelia marilandica? I picked up 3 of those from MamaJacks this spring. Potted them and put them on the deck (in mostly shade) where I could keep an eye on them... cute little blooms! I really love the color... not a fan of orange-reds, but these were a nice deep red color, almost Victorian-Christmas red. I'll plant them out in fall and cross my fingers... would love a nice clump of them, and so would the hummers I bet!

Yes they are spigelia something. :)

I do think they look best when there are swaths of them. They were extremely late in coming up so I'd been worried. I hear hummers love them!

I bought two from Shooting Star nursery this spring. One of them is fighting off the tiarella and the other is probably buried under all the myosotis flowers.

My Spigelia marilandica are starting to bloom, too, as well as several Penstemon species and this Foxglove, which I think is Digitalis purpurea 'Camelot Rose'.

I collected a few 'Camelot Rose' seeds last fall, but then I decided not to sow them and I thought I threw them out. I guess not! The bees sure like it.


This message was edited Jun 3, 2015 10:03 PM

A little tropical flavor Passi

I love passifloras. I wish the native maypop would survive the winter in a container for me!

Muddy, that's a gorgeous color on that foxglove. What's the yellowing flower in the second pic?

lovely flowers, coleup, you get nice blooms despite all your shade!

wow Muddy, so pretty.

Holly, you must have overwintered that in the greenhouse, right? Maypops are just beginning to sprout here.

Those foxglove and passifloras are beautiful!

Yes Sally, I have two of them that overwintered in the GH this year, The other one is loaded with flower buds, too. My Maypops are just starting to peek out as well.

Forgot my pic.
This is one of my dwarf perennial pots, solomons seal, hosta and the heucheria was a dwarf but is getting a bit bigger, we will see if it out grows this pot.

That's a lovely arrangement! What do you do with the container in the winter?

Some of my daff foliage is *still* bright green and upright. Quite a few of my daffs didn't return this year, possibly because I cut them down too early last year. So I'm playing the waiting game right now.

Great pot mix Holly!

Lychnis Alpina Alpine Catchfly?

Garden Sundrops. O fruticosa?

Blue Men discussing another plant , from David. Runes on tag translate to Houstonia. I forget the species at the moment.

Nice Sally. What's with the blue men. Do they walk about the garden on their own discussing the plants? Or are they just photo bombing your plant pics?

They do her weeding at night. LOL
That pot stays out all winter with the plants in it so far it has done well, I have a corner that tends to collect leaves and I put it in that corner with a few other things like my hardy semp living wreath and cover them over with leaves. That pot is a really very heavy pottery so far so good. I have another just like it that has also been doing very well but another one that was just ceramic cracked this year. I will have to get pic's of the others.
Here the the living wreath, minus a few holes where the chippers got into it last year and I didn't bother to fix it. This year I have several choices of plants to plug the holes with. Maybe a lime green sedum? or some of the Blue Spruce sedum I got from Sally

Wow, so beautiful, Holly! That must be quality pottery if it survived these last two winters outside.

I like your sundrops, Sally. They look a bit different from mine.

Can you prune sundrops to control flopping? Some of mine are growing horizontally.

Very very heavy pottery.

Took a couple pictures of what is blooming right now.

The Roses are going to all bloom out--wet and soppy and not one bloom
upright. Gonna miss the first flushed of bloom this spring...

Here are some new blooms:

1--My red Carpet Rose just started blooming.
2--VA Clustered Bluebells--from donner. BOY! Has it spread!!!
Glad that I finally have it going...It has been a LONG wait...
3--My Estonian Clematis "Piilu" (Little Duckling) just started blooming too.
The "Piilu" C. is growing in a big pot and in part shade--going on 4 or 5 years now.

All the Oriental and reg, day Lilies are yet to come. The blooms are startting....

I've heard very good things about the red carpet rose. Yours looks really healthy, Gita.

Muddy, I LOVE your Chrysogonum virginianum! Some sources say it's evergreen or semi-evergreen, which would be great for weed competition.

Those VA clustered bluebells are gorgeous G!

I wanted to say Muddy, that the Chrysogonum you gave me is performing nicely. Hopefully it fills in more like yours.


This message was edited Jun 4, 2015 9:56 PM

My Chrysogonum virginianum was semi-evergreen; I took this photo of it in late February.
It wasn't great looking, but at least it had some green leaves! The brown leaves were easy to pull off for spring clean-up.

Speaking of evergreen groundcovers....my strawberry "groundcover" plants are producing berries. I picked a lot yesterday. The chipmunks either aren't finding them or aren't interested.

Oh, it'll spread all right, Sequoia!
I started with 5 small plants in Spring 2013 (photo 2), and they had spread enough for me to share a year later.
Photo 1 shows what those original 5 plants looked like earlier this spring.

This message was edited Jun 4, 2015 9:18 PM

Jeff---
The Bluebells are really blue. My picture does not do them justice.
I took the picture as it was dusk already.

I had these a long time ago-maybe 2008--and then they petered out
over time. Last time I saw them in bloom was in 2011.

Donner gave me some starts a couple years ago--and now they are thriving
and spreading. I'll see if I can dig away some of the smaller ones for you.
Donner will have some to share as well--I think. Just ask.

from 2011. Same off color--it is my poor cameras....

Wow Muddy, those suckers spread like wildfire. That's great. I'll take some more if you're sharing for the fall swap :-)

Yeah those are pretty nice G, I wouldn't mind taking some more. Donner gave me one at the spring swap but I don't think it will bloom this year as it's just a youngin'. I think I bought one last year and put it in the front yard garden but I think it got overtaken by other plants. I'll have to check it out when I get home.

Jeff--

My Clustered Bluebells are growing near, and in between, two gutter
extensions that were put in to keep the constant water dripping down
on this corner from all the siding draining there. This moisture, of course,
went straight down to my foundation and caused a lot of mustiness in my
3rd (club room) level of the house, which is 50% underground.

Level #4 is the Shop, laundry and storage level--and is 80% underground.
YES! I have to run a dehumidifier in either of these 2 levels, depending on the season.

SO! back to the Bluebells....

1--Here is the gutter extension and the BB's happily growing there.

2--A close-up of the blooms..

3--Here is the big clump of "Jack Frost" Brunnera, right next to the B-B,
and all the baby B-B growing around there. I will dig these up to root.

4--My C. Elizabeth starting to bloom. These are wall-to-wall jammed in a 14" square pot
by the shed. I have NO idea what to do with it next???

5--And--my KO Rose, that I cut back to the nubs last fall--has now fully
re-grown and is blooming away.

ADR fall bulb and amaryllis thread is now up in the group buy forum: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1397083/

Yeah, they look really good where you have them. They must be quite healthy.

GT, I think I've lost my 'Elizabeth'! I'll have to hit up you or Terri for a seedling. I do however have this luscious purple one blooming... Thanks to you!

Alpine Catchfly... love it any time and anywhere it blooms!

Cucumber 'Tasty Jade' in a hanging basket. I have visions of it growing along the framework of the canopy on our deck.

Wild onions (or possibly Egyptian Walking Onions) that really went wild!

Does anybody else have coral bells thriving in a full sun location? This is a pass-along variety from years ago... until it was given to me, I'd considered Heuchera strictly a shade plant.

Jill, some heuchera prefer full sun. It all depends on the variety.