3/15/12

March 15-31, 2012

web visitor stats
' King Alfred'.   Without doubt the commonest daffodil, and several sorts of the same color are now available, that are larger in size.
Camellia 'Crimson Candles', at its peak.
The odor is detectable, as you pass the Edgeworthia.

Suddenly two of the Japanese Hollys just died.
I replaced them, after searching for identical leaves at nurseries.
Some reader may know the name of this particular daffodil, as they all have names, but I had no interest in memorizing or listing them.
The color of some bubble gum, Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink' was planted, and the more common sort purposely avoided.
Bulbs that come as a gift, monthly, for 6 months, are planted out.  This hyacinth is not behaving as they usually do.  They peter out, over years, here. I know that in Holland the flowers are cut off, annually, while the bulb builds up marketable size and blooming strength. No way will I get involved with doing that, here.
Abeliophylum is at peak bloom.



































What buds have not opened, by now, probably will not.   They are yellowed and blasted by frost.
As identified, just recently, this is Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Alba'.
Along with this rare white form, the true pink, shown above, and the original orchid color, there seems to be a fourth on the market. I have not checked the color, but it also departs from the original orchid color.

 The frost blasted buds are easy to see, next to the tissue paper textured blooms.
A bunch of flowers have shown up from another Eranthus haemalis bulb.  The much more matured foliage, of the one that bloomed weeks ago, is shown at the bottom. I am guessing that the grass-like foliage, by the flowers, is from a bulb of Scilla hispanica, as they are common on the property.
Both are Spring Ephemerals, and will die down once the overhead canopy of forest leaves has filled in. A few fleeting weeks at the end of Winter and into Spring, to bloom, set seed and gather strength to store away, until they again emerge a year from now.
 Cornus mas 'Golden Glory'.  The Cornel Dogwood was, apparently, well known in colonial times, and is a significant source of fruit in other parts of the World.
I don't see them very often.
 I have to say that I find the foliage of this clone of Ranunculas ficaria quite ugly.  R. f. 'Brambling'.
The flowers are attractive.  The plant is a true menace and will never be allowed to seed or get out of the pot.
Perhaps 4 years ago I brought one home from Bucks Co., PA, as it was covering acres of lowland, and I thought it was our native Marsh Marigold.  The next year seedlings were everywhere, here. I thought I got them all.
Today, while roto-tilling the vegetable plot, I found one, almost in bloom.  It was close to where I had put the original little monster.



























The pink flowers were just shown. R. mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink'. The Pale yellow flowered shrub is, in my opinion, the most graceful of the various Corylopis shrubs on the market.  It is C. 'Gotoana', and grows like it should be in some oriental painting.   I don't think the short chains of flowers are quite as well developed as they will be, in about a week. The bucket is fiberglass, stained with the same driftwood silver as the lattice screen and the cedar siding on the house.
Have not even checked if the two goldfish, placed there last Spring, and apparent a few weeks ago, are still alive. They kept mosquitoes from breeding.

 Another Corylopsis is in bloom. This one is called C. pauciflora.  A years cycle of reading this blog will show similar comments. The scientific name, pauciflora, certainly does not have to do with the quantity of bloom, but the fact that the individual flowers in each chain are few (pauci).
For me, a much preferred color than the school bus yellow of many Forsythia.


Scilla siberica has never been the pest that some people call it.  A few slowly increasing clusters of half-inch bloom with a cobalt blue color.
Like the rest of the 'minor' Spring bulbs, it will disappear until next year.
Never noticed any seedlings.
 Edgeworthia c 'Snow Cream.
 Somewhat of a mess.  The Forsythia was an overwhelming tangle. A large flowered sort called 'Karl Sax'. Now it is coming back and, when it is thicker, outlying branches will be completely removed.
One thing that will not be done is trimming it into a bun shaped or neat mass.  Totally out of character with the nature of Forsythia. The little Edgeworthia 'Snow Cream' is shown.

 Only a few flowers, at first, but now the Scilla libanotica is a pale blue cloud.

3/8/12

A visit to Longwood Gardens

The website shows vastly more and gives all needed info., but here are photos taken with my simple little camera.  The date was 3/8/12.  If you are within driving distance, you will find much more than I show. The particular attraction was an all out exhibition of orchids. If I click on any one photo, it fills my computer screen.  No one has ever told me if it does that for them.
And the area has many other attractions like several museums and Winterthur.
The only warning is the videos might not be good for people who get seasick.
I am far to lazy to name all the plants photographed or in the brief videos.













 Pride of Madiera
Yes it is that true blue, almost as pure as the blue poppy, shown below.


 In this greenhouse the ground is planted with non-hardy white Cyclamen, and various cherry and plum trees are espaliered.

The legendary himalayan blue poppy.




 The jade vine.  Some flowers have fallen.



video


video

video

3/1/12

March 1-15, 2012



 Viburnum bognantense is almost in full bloom.  A shrub that I will prune, to make it denser. And right after bloom is finished seems the best time.
 The two forms of Helliborus I have, here, have done very well.  A liberal dose of bone meal seems needed in this acid soil.  With a typical Winter, the foliage would be so bad, by now, that trimming it off would be necessary. This year, the foliage does not look too messy. And the flowers are, then, hidden by those leaves. A full range of colors is not really available, yet. The slates that made up the sidewalks, when I was growing up, were just the color of many of the flowers that are on the market as 'blue'. But there are fine yellows and reds available.

Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Snow Cream' is just starting to open the unusual flowers.  They are fragrant.













  One of the larger and later Crocus hybrids.  Unusual in that the voles did not get to it.  The little corms must be highly poisonous, but might be new to each hapless vole, and, like the mushrooms given to a Roman Emperor, to kill him, might taste fine.  He remarked about how flavorful the mushrooms were.

 As the new little Edgeworthia 'Snow Cream' comes along, photos will be continued.

 Iris histrioides 'Katherine Hodgkins' is the most extraordinary colors. It came in the gift plants that arrives, monthly, from a friend. 
It was planted out, with no expectations, after other Winter blooming Iris, like I. reticulata, just peter away, slowly. They seldom bloomed after the first year. This one, just carelessly set out, has come back for 3 years.
Even the cultural directions suggested in 'Paghat's Garden' did not help.  That website stands alone, for many good reasons
 The work in progress.  A plastic pool that cost just about as much as the rocks I am setting around it.  Hopefully, it will be useable by the Southern Gray Tree Frog, that always ends up singing by the above ground pool, and did produce hundreds of ill fated tadpoles in that pool. A pump would make the pool more interesting, but powering it is problematic.
The Spring Peepers, Hyla crucifer, have been singing for several nights, now, so one or two might wander by and breed in the pool.  Time will tell.



 While all the daffodils come up, and are almost blooming, these plants are  the Lycoris called 'naked ladies'.  The foliage will die down in late Spring, and the plant will bloom, with no foliage, in Fall.

The only two Helliborus on the property.  Hardly Christmas roses.  And the flowers look down, like those of Edgeworthia.  Very easy, with bone meal added, to overcome the natural acid of this soil.
Pink coloration seriously fades with my little camera, and the previous photo of a single flower shows the darker pink that is more accurate.
Below is Cornus mas 'Golden Glory'.  It was put next to the Arizona Cypress for the contrast.
 
 Totally purple, for the Winter, Ajuga is a splendid ground-cover, but what garden-web opiners call a 'thug'.  I can see it as a useful addition to containers, and am very careful to keep it from romping out of the slightly elevated bed where the roses are kept.
It is time to take the wire and leaves away from the Roses, as it should not get too cold, and the buds are swelling.
Mazus repens is in this same bed, contrasting totally with the Ajuga. It is not as invasive as Ajuga, but is also not allowed to wander into the lawn.












 I have been mislabeling this Camellia and its proper name is 'Crimson Candles'.
Really does fill itself with flowers.
The color is deeper and more intense that the photo shows. A blood red in the ones we brought, early, into the house, but a little darker, out-of-doors, than the photo shows.










 Scilla libanotica
3/13  Earlier than Forsythia, and, here, a leggy and sparse shrub, Abeliophylum distichum is supposed to be very rare in its native Korea.  The brief bloom is remarkable only for the early timing, but it is fragrant.
 It seems to bloom better when pruned back, after the bloom is done.
 Of all the plants that bloom in what is 'technically' still Winter, none is anticipated more than Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Alba'.
A great deal of time was spent hunting up where this plant could be purchased. The bloom only lasts about a week, but the plant does take on some Fall color, also.
Frost had messed up the first few flowers, but these are fine.
 A bumblebee was busy on the plant.
 The older Edgeworthia, that has been here for about 8 years, bloomed poorly this Spring. These flowers are darker than the one shown before, that are on the sort called 'Snow Cream'. That plant is supposed to grow faster, does have larger flower clusters, and also has a fragrance. 








This photo was taken a year ago.  I have seen the insect out, flitting in the Winter Sun, as early as February second.  This year I saw one, last week, and tried to photograph it.  It must have been a male, because it took off, immediately, after another, and they went off, together, into the forest. The young are supposed to feed on the sweet-gum trees that are everywhere, here.  The female must have a powerful odor that the male could detect, as that is how many female insects are discovered.
Having never seen identified male and female up close, they seem to me as alike as a pair of Canada Geese. My assumption is that the very dark color helps the insect gather heat, and they do sit in the Winter Sun enough that the insects are approachable and easy to photograph.

The two Hellibores continue to gain height.

































 I have joked about Dirca palustris, a native NJ plant called the wicopy.  Apparently valuable to the original denizens because of the extreme flexibility of the branches.  But, beyond that, I see little reason to plant it. 
 The half-inch long, greenish yellow flowers seem scentless, but do fit the description of a Winter Flowering Plant, as Spring starts 3/20.