This thread is for you Dahlianut!

LOL SteveFtWorth ain't it the truth. Late March at the earliest for me. I thought the leucojum bloomed at the same time as the galanthus? Not so?

True Debbie - and thank you for those - they have already sent up leaves but no blooms yet.

Dahlia, I think I had some at my other house and don't remember them blooming before March even here. Go figure.

mine have been blooming for a week, not all of them but some. Well, at least I hope so. remember planting more than what is up now.

They bloom early part of January for me--I still have way too many, I will probably dig and give more again this year.

These Leucojum bloom quickly in a bed that the Daffodils are the slowest to open. All my other Daffs have bloomed for two weeks before that bed opens. May just be different cultivars... both the Daffs and the Snow Drops.

Dahlianut, I will wistfully be watching your bulb blooms when we will be enduring sweltering temps here. I'll be whining then ~LOL

back to the weed: I found it! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53157/
at least that is the one that's getting on my nerves these days
there's a very good article on weeds today, that's where I saw the culprit

Yep ~ may be noxious or invasive all right. Guess if I had thought about it, I could have guessed as we got it here too.

no weeds today--sorry

Actually that was where one of those horrid, invasive vitex trees had been for 15 years--after Ike, and with the back fence down, I dug it out and planted daff's. Had I bothered to mulch back there--no weeds would be.

Here's another idea to keep the weeds at bay--underplant with alyssum. A peach tree used to be here, it snapped during Ike (the only tree I lost) so I hacked it out and planted bulbs from the Cincinnati Daff Society. I bought every tall and extra-early blooming variety they had and planted them in this long bed 3 landscape timbers high--they should shake and bake real well there this summer, just like they like it. Hopefully, they will actually bloom before the alyssum goes completely to seed--but I did plant the seeds on Halloween and they've been blooming solid since December.

This one is Home Fires--hopefully it'll bloom in April.

Hippeastrum glaucescens starting to bloom in the front planters--it does well there because it's shady in the summer. This one's early--bloomed Saint Patty's day last year.

Erlicheer is never early here and can be a bit overpowering at times. But its next to 2 other Tazetta's that haven't bloomed yet.

Does your alyssum self-seed dmj? I have to put it in every spring in my zone. It's worth it though. Another weed smothering ground cover that blooms with the late spring bulbs here is creeping phlox. Might not like your hot summers, although I see someone is growing it in Dallas in PF. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/49968/

Actually dahlia--this is the first year for it. It was too shady there under a huge peach tree for much of anything other than false indigo (don't know the latin on that one). It will be fine with me if it does come back next winter--its very shallow rooted and good to go with daff's. I think I'm going to over plant with Zinnia augustifolia for the summer (also shallow rooted and very drought tolerant) because it does well here when its really hot. Phlox is another good winter growing annual down here.

a few leucojum, should have more but I don't see them yet

Glorious bulbs everyone. So nice to see when we still have cold and snow!

Donna

The leucojum look so delicate nodding in that pic vossner. What is the plant with the red berries on the right? I'm surprised to see berries at this time of year even in TX.

that is the tip of a rose, so rose hips. will have to tell you later which one

O that makes sense to me now. My hips are all still there too. Thanks vossner.

Hyacinthus o L'Innocence

planted in mid Dec, these are blooming ahead of the others that have been in the garden for several years.

Chris

Dahlianut, I made a mistake, that is not a rose hip. They are berries from a jasmine. Don't know the name of this jasmine. Didn't know about the red berries. I guess these are seed pods?

sorry for the confusion.

Chris ~ L'Innocence is L'ovely! Does it smell good too?

oh yes, I meant to comment about the lovely hyacinth.

Here is a pink one to add to the lovely white ones!!

Odd, I like the Hyacinth and had some but they disappeared into bulb oblivion. They smelled great but were too low to the ground to sniff easily. LOL

St Kevernes

Steve the hyancith is glorious, I think I remember it from last year?
In my garden, not a single daff bloom yet.

Sorry to hear that, podster :-( Yeah, they require a pretty well drained soil that stays fairly dry in summer. I am no careful about where I plant and they seem to return well.

Here is "Red Devon" I believe.

Thanks Nery! Do you have sprouts at least? Many of the Jonquillas are late bloomers and should be up in due time.

I SO am going to try dutch hyacinths even though they are iffy here. I have a new warm bed ^_^ I wonder if some are hardier than others. I feel a new thread coming on. Thanks vossner for the jasmine clarification. Jasmine only comes in a bottle here LOL.

You should try, dahlianut! I started growing peonies a few years back and have been pretty successful with them even though I am south of the area more "natural" for them. I bet if you find the right microclimate and mulch well you can do well with hyacinths.

Starting to get some color in the broad sense here ^_^

Steve looks like yours are coming on strong now. I really like the blueish foliage on your St Kevernes or is that just the lighting?

Probably a combination of both, dahlianut :-) Many of the daffs have a bluish foliage but that area is shady in the evening when I took this.

O joy. Steve you have a gardening neighbour. Or did you 'accidently' encroach across the street (tee hee)

hehehe that is part of our driveway - it is a small circle drive so our yard is on both sides of it. The street is farther back :-)

Ohhhhhh I get it now. Nice layout you have.

Thanks dahlianut. Yeah we like it too. I was standing in the street when I took that picture.

Steve and Chris, I used to grow the doubles Chestnut Flower, Hollyhock, General Kohler and Madame Sophie. After years of success, I lost them all one winter and did not replace them. I may have to rethink this! I got them from Old House Garden, which also carries L'Innocence. I grew them with anemone blanda (white with Chestnut Flower, pink with Madame Sophie, etc,) I realize how much I miss them.

Donna

Hi Donna,

I have many from OHG as well and love their unique selection. I planted Madame Sophie for the first time this past fall and have had Gen. Kohler in the ground for several years now (well this is the third year at this house - planted them the first fall we moved in). Probably my favorite from OHG is "Vuurbaak" and I love "Amethyst" as well which has been a strong returner for me. You should try them again - I would think they'd do quite well in your zone!

I was looking at some pics from last year and it appears my daffs didn't start blooming until late march. hmmmm.

Hi Steve,

Old House Gardens is great. I got liliums Silver Sunburst (the one I sent to you), lilium martagon, daffs Mount Hood, Mrs. Backhouse, Tresamble and Thalia from them, as well as crocuses, special order anemones, camassia quamash, leucojum Gravetye Giant and other goodies. They have all thrived. I'm looking at his hyacinth special - one of each of the 4 doubles for $15, or three sets for $45. Part of my problem is that I was planting them at the base of my lilacs, and my lilacs ate them. The other was the hard nasty frost of a couple of years ago that wiped them out. And by the way, General Kohler actually multiplied in my yard. Last fall I dug up a clump in a location where they had been, and discover that they were there but not getting enough love. So I dug them up, fertilized and composted, and we'll see!

Did I see somewhere that you wanted to try Thalia? She's lovely. Tresamble is simply a bigger Thalia. They nod a bit, so if you can elevate them a bit you'll enjoy them even more, although I confess that I happily get down on my knees to say hi. My daff color scheme is all pink and white (Mrs Backhouse has a pink cup - but you know that!) and the other pink is Vie en Rose, a gorgeous pink and white that White Flower Farm marketed as a pink trumpet, but Brent and Becky say is a large cup. Doesn't matter. It's glorious. Pics in spring!

I actually got to meet Scott a few years ago when he led a garden walk in Illinois. It was something like 80 miles each way but it was worth the trip. He's terrific!

Come on spring!

Donna

Hi Donna,

I think I remember that Scott Knust of OHG talks about growing the old Hyacinth Bismarck in his own garden in Ann Arbor and having it come up year after year. So it might be worth a try.

Another resource is that Cornell U did a multiyear study comparing 17 hyacinth cultivars in 3 different climates and --Cornell (zone 5), Long Island (zone 6) and Clemson. (zone 7) and also sun vs part shade. The ones that thrived in zone 5 were:
Anna Liza
Atlantic
Blue Jacket
Carnegie
City of Haarlem
Fondant
Gipsy Queen
Whitle Pearl
Snowwhite
All these did much better in full sun than in shade in zone 5. In zone 7 a few did better in part shade than in full sun.

I guess the lesson there is that you need to find the right spot and the right cultivar for your conditions--the gardener's constant quest.

Chris