It's been a little over a week since my last "newly blooming" update, and this time I had to take a memo pad out to the garden, because this one's a long list:
Narcissus poeticus (the pheasant eye pictured in the post below) and Narcissus poeticus var. odoratus 'Albus Plenus'; Amaryllis 'Green Goddess' (my only success so far in getting an amaryllis to rebloom in its second year indoors); shrubs: Potentilla fruticosa (shrubby cinquefoil), Weigela (cultivar unknown), Viburnum trifolium (cranberry bush viburnum), Cornus sericea (redosier dogwood), Rhododendron x 'Nova Zembla', and Cotoneaster horizontalis (rockspray cotoneaster); Aquilegia (columbine, er, "love children") in purple, deep purple, and parchment; oxalis (unknown species or cultivar) with unusual narrow palmate leaves and magenta flowers; a blue perennial lupine from a wildflower mix sown three years ago; self-sown Silene armeria (catchfly), Escholzia californica (California poppy), snapdragons and petunias; Iris cycloglossa (Afghani iris), Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Firewitch' (Cheddar pinks); Allium schoenoprasum (common chives); Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna'; Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation'; dark blue Iris siberica (Siberian iris); Phlox glaberrima (smooth phlox); Ranunculus acris 'Flore Pleno' (double meadow buttercup); Clematis 'Blue Ravine' and 'President'; Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata 'Nora Barlow' (columbine); Baptisia australis (blue false indigo); Centranthus ruber (Jupiter's beard); Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mountain penstemon) and a coral-pink penstemon whose name I've misplaced; and Geranium clarkei 'Kashmir Blue'.
And...the peonies are poised in taut expectant perfect globes, well over a hundred of them. Ahh, it's a dream come true.
Wonderful!
Snapdragons this early? You must start them inside?
Posted by: Robert the Llama Butcher | May 26, 2005 at 03:50 PM
Thanks, Robert! The snaps that are blooming right now are self-sown from last year's window boxes. The seeds fall close to the foundation, in a gravel bed in south-facing full sun, so they're off to a healthy head start.
Posted by: Chan S. | May 26, 2005 at 07:45 PM
I'd love to see a photo of Nova Zembla. Does it have much dieback with you? Also, do you have 100 peony plants, or 100 peony buds? (!)
Posted by: Kathy | May 26, 2005 at 08:29 PM
Kathy, I was crossing my fingers to see what would happen with Nova Zembla over this past winter (its first in my garden). There was no winter kill, even though it is in a very exposed site (bed in the middle of the back yard, so it gets sun and wind all winter long) and I had not put down extra mulch nor had I burlapped it for protection. I am not a PJM fan, so I'm excited to have found a "good do-er" of a rhody.
Yes, it is 100+ peony buds. But someday...
Posted by: Chan S. | May 27, 2005 at 06:30 AM
My peonies are going to bloom this year. I don't know why, but we keep moving them, and they hate that so much. We didn't last year and the one whose name I forget is going to do well.
But my iris were so beautiful. The last ones are coming out now--pink ones--we're in Spokane so things come out later. For some reason the pink ones don't look as pretty with the iris foliage as the blue and purple ones. I have the big white "Iditarod" I think the name is, and it is magnificent.
Also the indestructible "beauty bush" is out. A neighbor gave it to me 20 years ago. I loved it when my husband didn't prune it in our old home, and it grew into a huge mound of blossoms. He pruned it last year, and it was down to several branches, but with all of the blooms on it now, it looks great. Like an ikebana arrangement.
Posted by: Michal | June 04, 2005 at 12:53 PM
Wow, Michal...your words are worth a thousand pictures! Here's to your beautiful garden.
Posted by: Chan S. | June 05, 2005 at 11:14 PM