Rainy Day Discoveries ...

Spring is a season full of surprises and discoveries in the garden, whether they be pleasant or less so ... but today was filled with excellent ones! As I took Hanna out when I was done working today, I glanced back at the area I've been featuring in the last few posts, and to my astonishment, I saw little masses of purple! After she was done with her end of business, we both strolled back to the corner bed to see what was going on ... lo and behold, there were several small clumps of Specie crocus 'Tricolor' just blooming away where just a day ago there were none! Apparently I had forgotten that I had planted these back there in 2005 (though Fernymoss assures me that I did) because I wasn't expecting any more crocus to be showing up there ... and, as a really pleasant bonus, I discovered yet another blue Iris reticulata in bloom! Maybe we're not such failures with these after all! Now I'm encouraged to buy more of these in the fall and try a bunch in various other places in the garden ... so perhaps my earlier discouragement was unfounded after all....

Here's a closer shot of these little charmers blooming bravely into the late afternoon on a rainy and overcast day ... unlike the yellow crocus who close up shop the minute the sun wanes, these little guys were still showing off for me, even if the light wasn't optimum for capturing their true colors ... but never fear, we have plenty of these out front as well, so you'll be seeing them in sunnier conditions sometime soon! Note the prolific Monarda (Bee Balm) surrounding these beauties ... fortunately they'll be at rest before the Monarda shoots up and shades them out completely from the sun....

We're still in the savage back corner here (we need another couple of nice days like last weekend to get this cleaned up!) where I discovered some more of our original bulb plantings from way back in 2000. At that time, we were aiming for the "natural surprise" effect of Tulips and Daffodils in apparently random spots ... silly us, that was before we discovered the real benefit of planting these bulbs in masses for a more dramatic effect! We've changed out ways and now are firm believers in group plantings of Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus and Muscari, and as the Spring progresses, we hope some of the Tulip masses will make a comeback ... it remains to be seen, but all my lamenting about the Iris reticulata seemed to do the trick, so I'm going to keep our Tulip expectations low and hope for the best!

I'm sure Gail at Clay and Limestone will immediately recognize these emerging perennials ... it's Phlox paniculata (I'm not sure what variety because this was a gifted plant from another gardener), which we've really come to appreciate over the past couple of years as it has aggressively come to dominate the back corner bed ... last year it was so prolific that it crowded out a few things we may have lost (including a couple of hibiscus), so this spring we plan on digging up quite a few of these to move to the back fence line, where we hope our neighbor won't object too much ... they're so pretty (even if they are pink!), such long bloomers and are so fragrant that we think she'll be fine with having these lining her driveway. We have great ambitions for this back bed this year, after neglecting it the past two or three years ... we want to thin out the Monarda, Phlox and Coneflowers, move our Oriental Poppies from this area and get more Hollyhocks going back here again. This will also give our Black-Eyed Susans a bit more breathing room to spread as well, so wish us well on this project! It's going to involve a lot of digging and moving plants, and some will probably go to new homes too, if there's interest in adopting some of our more enthusiastic growers....

Well, these look mighty dead don't they? Actually there's great potential for beauty hiding in these pods! For anyone who grows this plant -- Baptisia australis aka: 'False Indigo' -- these will be easy to ID, and for the uninitiated, we can't recommend this amazing perennial highly enough! They're incredibly hardy from Zones 3-9 and though they take a couple of years to get established enough to bloom, they're very carefree from that point on. Aside from their striking long stalks of blue sweet pea like flowers, they have lovely grey-green foliage that remains attractive throughout the season (we often use it as filler in bouquets) and produce these pods in late summer and fall. I've read that some people dry the pod stalks for use indoors in the winter, but honestly, unless you do something like spray paint them, or prefer black pods, we've never seen much use for them as "everlastings." We just let the seeds fall where they may, and when we find volunteers in the spring, we find them new homes to inhabit ... they are truly striking and quite dramatic when they bloom in late May or early June and every year someone inevitably stops us to inquire just what they are. We don't see a lot of these around town and wonder why, because they are such an easy plant to grow ... they just require a hard pruning in the spring (they only bloom on new wood) before the new shoots emerge ... which, by the way, look like huge stalks of asparagus! If you're not familiar with Baptisia, you owe it to yourself to get acquainted and find one a nice sunny spot in the garden. We're going to move a second year seedling to the front this spring as soon as it emerges so we can have another spectacular display out in the boulder bed....

I know, I know, these guys look pretty bedraggled don't they? But imagine you just spent the entire winter buried under nearly 5 feet of snow, covered with leaves and only got to see the light of day just recently and you might not be looking so chipper either! These are my prized Primula polyanthus, the ones I was waxing rhapsodically about last week ... though they don't look real happy just yet, look closer and you'll see there's a ton of new growth happening at the center of each clump. All they need now is some sunshine, milder weather and about another month to grow and they'll be blooming in all their wonderful jewel toned colors ... I can't wait, but guess I'll have to after all! Remarkably, these Primula tend to stay pretty green throughout the winter, even if they do look like wilted spinach. I'd venture to guess that for those of you in milder climes where the winters aren't as harsh, they would probably be evergreen throughout the winter. Their main enemy is too dry of a planting position, and I tend to pamper these during the hotter months and water them nearly every day if we're not getting regular rains. They're worth the extra effort for the show they put on every spring and sometimes even fall (when it doesn't get cold too soon).

Finally, we've come full circle from the far back corner to the front of the boulder bed where we discovered these delightful additions I planted back in 2005 ... look at the enlarged version and see if you can spot what I'm talking about ... these are Tulipa humilis v. 'Persian Pearl,' one of the many varieties of "wild" or Species Tulips. They're one of two varieties we have planted and I look forward to seeing them every year ... they're tiny dwarf tulips with every bit of the attraction of their larger cousins and make excellent additions to rock gardens or the front of a border where you want to show off something unusual and colorful ... so be patient and when they bloom you'll see them again in their full glory!

After our wonderful sunny and warm weekend, we're now heading into several rainy and gloomy days (in fact there's a thundershower going on as I write this) where it's forecast to be much cooler, with a few nights down into the lowest 30s, so that's bound to slow down the arrival of some of the other bulbs (such as those in the Woodland Garden), but unless we sustain long periods of sub-freezing weather (such as we did in 2007, which caused the great die off of many tulips and other bulbs), what's up so far should fare pretty well. At least I hope so ... one never knows with these wacky winters we've been having the past few years ... there was another huge tulip and daffodil die off again last year, though our Daffodils were spared and we had a good show ... and it seems the tulips are making somewhat of a comeback, so we're keeping all appendages crossed at this point! Of course, the chronicle will continue, so keep stopping back to see what's going on....

False Indigo

When we first saw a specimen of False indigo (Baptisia australis) blooming outside a local nursery almost ten years ago, we had no idea what it was, but thought it looked like some weird bush version of a Sweet Pea (a flower we try in vain to grow with little success). We were so taken by the dramatic tall stalks of blue flowers that we decided then and there that we had to have this plant in our garden, which was just in its infancy back in 1999. So, we inquired inside as to what it was and were lucky enough to be able to buy a specimen to take home with us. The ones for sale were small, only about five inches tall at the time, so we bought two just in case they didn't like where we planted them.

The first year they didn't grow much at all, but as we were to discover later (after some research) most of its activity was spent growing underground. So we had to content ourselves with making sure it was well pampered the first year and then waited patiently until the next spring to see if it would return. Return it did, and though it wasn't huge its second year, it did put up several spires of flowers, much to our delight! In successive years, it has increased in size and area and at this point usually grows to a bush size of about four to five feet in diameter once it has finished blooming. One of the (many) interesting things about False Indigo is that when it emerges in the spring, the shoots look like giant asparagus tips poking out of the ground ... but these soon turn into the stalks that will carry the leaves and flowers for each year's blooms. This year, unfortunately due to the April freezes, it hasn't gotten very big at all, and we wondered if it would bloom at all ... but in the last week or so it has put up a limited number of bloom spires and made a good effort to provide its usual late spring show. It won't be as big as it usually gets, but that's fine, just as long as it's happy enough to continue blooming for us!

It's really a pretty easy and showy perennial to grow, and it has the great advantage of not having garnered a great deal of popularity with garden variety gardeners. We see a bit of it here and there around town (some of which has come from this original plant that we've spread around a bit), but it certainly hasn't achieved the kind of common presence that other perennials have. It has a great hardiness range from Zones 3 to 10, and is tolerant of both wet and dry soils, and in the spot where we have it planted, it definitely wins awards for being very drought tolerant, as the soil is not too rich and dries out quickly.

After the blooms are spent, each one produces a seed pod that matures to a charcoal coloured hue, and if you're planning on collecting seeds, you should let them dry on the plant until you can hear the seeds rattling around inside. If you do nothing, the pods will eventually pop open and the seeds fall to the ground, where, if left to over winter, will often produce new plants the following spring. We've allowed a few of the younger plants to remain in place, but since we have gotten so many compliments on this magnificent flower, we usually just dig them up and give them away to someone we know will give them the love and attention they need the first year in order to return and reward the lucky recipient with its beauty in the following years.

Once established, False Indigo is virtually maintenance free, except for the need to cut back the dead growth in the spring before it re-emerges. It's not fussy about the soil, and actually seems to thrive in poorish soils ... all the while enriching them, since it does belong to the legume family. And once the pods have set on, the foliage makes a great filler for flower arrangements (as does that of peonies, by the way). I've read that some people use the pods in dried arrangements, but we've never considered them attractive enough for that use ... besides, they'd eventually pop open and drop their seeds indoors, where any chances for them to germinate would be practically nil. If you should choose to plant this outstanding plant in your perennial garden, my suggestion would be to just let it do its thing and progress through its annual cycle. If you do, you'll be rewarded for years to come from this sturdy and gorgeous plant.

Note on the photos: The first two are from Spring 2006, which was a better year for this plant, and the third is from May 30, 2007, showing the less robust growth it's had this year. Next year we hope it will be back to its usual height and floriferous abundance.