Spring, Glorious Spring!

Bright Crocus and Tulips ... Spring, Glorious Spring ... It Finally Got Here!

The weather today gave us a wonderful official re-introduction to our long awaited friend Spring! We had a very busy day, starting bright and early by going to get our taxes prepared ... happy, happy, joy, joy! Actually, it wasn't that painful (both of us are getting refunds) and it's virtually done, all but for the signing and payment ... at least one less banal worry during the time we want to get kicking in the gardens. Of course Princess Hanna accompanied us on a couple of errands for groceries, so she was enjoying the going fast machine ... but our main accomplishment was getting almost all of the front boulder bed, sidewalk and the front gardens cleared out, cleaned out and raked. Some fantastic news to report: we were both seeing quite a few Tulips coming up, and to our memory more than last year, so we are cautiously optimistic they may be making a comeback..... Though we haven't yet found any bulbs coming up in the Woodland Garden, that's not surprising because it always stays coolest there and they usually arrive later than those planted further in front or the parking.

Today's photos were taken by Fernymoss ... You'll notice I changed the header photo again ... it now displays a Crocus that is actually blooming at this time ... The same variety you see in these first shots is called Specie crocus 'Dorothy' and was planted way back in 2005 when we really worked ourselves and planted hundreds of bulbs we had ordered, the same year we planted the 200 Tulips, 100 Spanish Squill and a bunch of Daffodils, Hyacinths, Alliums and Crocus. Many of the bulbs planted that year are now starting to spread nicely, especially these 'Dorothy' planted in the back with the snowdrops. We'll be seeing more of the progress of the rest of that year's class over the coming weeks and are looking forward to the show, given the number of bulbs coming up we uncovered or discovered today, which is only the start!

Golden chalices filled with sunshine ... that's what this shot evokes for me. A view you can only get if you're willing to get down, up close and personal with your crocus ... it's essential, I think, if only because their yearly visit is so brief, indeed ephemeral. Yet, they're such a deceptively complex flower when examined up close. To me, the outstanding features of this Crocus, aside from the brilliant gold accentuated by sunshine, are its hardiness (zones 3-9) and those dramatic stripes on the outside of the petals. And the nice bonus is that this Crocus naturalizes readily, and quite rapidly. As you'll see in the following shots, it has spread quite nicely in this part of the back corner bed.

These Crocus and Snowdrops are clearly establishing colonies in this bed, where they were originally planted on the periphery ... they've moved inward a bit, as you'll see in successive shots. At first glance, I missed the "baby" in this shot ... further proof that the colonies are reproducing nicely. You go, Crocus!

Here's a bit wider view of two small colonies of Galanthus elwesii and 'Dorothy' not far from the parent planting but moving inward ...in the forest of Monarda and Coneflower stalks, and if you look closely at the enlarged image, you can see the Monarda 'Blue Stocking' (purple) already up and growing ... in fact, the Monarda all around Casa IVG is already up and growing, despite the recent cold weather. After all, it is a member of the mint family, and one doesn't get rid of those easily! We make major exceptions for this one, however!

This is obviously the parent planting of the Snowdrops in this area of the garden, and it sure looks like things have gotten crowded enough that some have set off to establish homes elsewhere in the area, much to our delight ... the more the merrier as far as early spring bulbs are concerned!

Let's go a bit wider in this area to get some more perspective on these plantings and colonies ... now you can see how they've moved around a bit over the years ... naturalizing is what it's all about for me when it concerns bulbs ... yes, they're a lot of work to get started, but if one is patient over the following years, that's when the reward really starts to pay off. Of course, any perennial gardener already knows this, but I think it's worth reminding ourselves about this at times, especially when it relates to early Spring bulbs!

Despite my recent laments about the spotty performance of Dwarf Iris in our gardens, three of them have managed to sneak above ground since I last visited this area with the camera on Thursday! What a great surprise to find when we ventured to the back garden today! They came up remarkably quickly (I didn't see them on Thursday!) and have bloomed apparently the last two days, testimony to their ephemeral nature, as the one that looks purple is already a spent bloom ... the blue is fresh and current. These are such incredible little flowers, but I still wonder about expending much time, money and energy into growing them, given their spotty hardiness for us so far. We'd love to have a great mass of them ... but don't want to have to be planting them every year, so again, if anyone has great success stories to share about growing these Iris, please let us know. We'd love to be able to count on seeing them every year!

All in all, it was a great first Spring day here at Casa IVG ... the front beds got cleaned up and are sprouting all sorts of plants (including dandelions!) and the big wind up to Summer is starting with our earliest bulbular friends' (imminent) appearance. By this evening, all three of us were exhausted from today's work after dinner and conked out in our respective nesting places (recliners and couch) for a good portion of the night, so no Saturday Cinema here this week. But we all had more than sufficient fresh air, sunshine, warmth and work to wear us out, and when you add in a big dinner, it's easy to see why we all conked out for a while!

I think we're all contented with the arrival of Spring and all we got done today ... but it's going to be that yearly adjustment to the season (e.g. work and fresh air makes you sleepy!) that will send us into the full swing for the next few months in terms of planting. Weather permitting, we hope to get some more clean up done tomorrow, and perhaps even some seed planting ... we'll see how it goes, since the next few days are being forecast as fairly rainy. No matter what, we had some great flowers blooming on this, the first day of Spring! Let's hope old snow has finally been sent packing!

More Bulbs Are Starting to Pop Up ...

Today wasn't as warm as earlier this week, but at this point, even a sunny day with a temperature of 54 seems balmy! So I quit work at 4:30 and headed outside to survey our messy garden that's definitely starting to wake up ... even though I tied Hanna to her long lead in the backyard, she certainly seemed to enjoy the late afternoon sun while I strolled about the gardens ... except for that chattery evil tree rat that tormented her from the spruce. Actually I was amazed she didn't bark at it because it's already clear that she has no tolerance for such vermin! They better be on notice, because she's quick enough she may just nail one some day soon and that won't be a pretty sight (for the tree rat)!

Though these first few photos may look a bit like reruns, they actually have new flowers popping up in them ... this is the same area in the far back garden where the first snowdrops and crocus have appeared, but now you can see that additional clumps of both have sprung up since we last visited this area. Those crocus have definitely been moving around a bit, as have the snowdrops, so just click through to the larger version and let your eyes wander and find the splashes of gold and white ... also note the increasing numbers of Monarda (Bee Balm) starts coming up ... I think this will have to be the year that we thin this patch out! We have both the deep red and purple ('Blue Stocking') planted together out here and with all of the Phlox Paniculata (Pink) that took over back here last year, this corner is in serious need of some thinning. As for the Monarda, we'll probably just give it away to interested gardeners, and our tentative plan is to dig a lot of the Phlox and move it along to our back fenceline and hope it doesn't offend our neighbor, but we hope she wouldn't object because when it blooms, the scent around it is just delightful!

Here's a closer view of the same area, and I think I can spy some other things breaking ground here ... I hope one of them is that blue dwarf Iris! We would be two very happy gardeners to see it reappear this year, despite our doubts ... you'll be sure to see it here if it does!

Out front, the snowdrops are finally, slowly, showing up ... this is a shot of the Primrose bed by the front steps, complete with the "Round Tuit" that Shady Gardener gifted me with during her visit last summer (thanks again, Shady!). There are only about 4-5 Snowdrops in this bed, but I'd like to add more ... the ones that are here ended up getting planted because they were dug up inadvertently from other positions and I didn't want to lose them, so I put them toward the front of this bed where they are multiplying slowly.

I could see today that the Primroses are greening up and pushing up through the leaves, so this weekend, I plan to carefully rake out this bed to give them more air and sun ... I'm anxious to get a handle on just how many we have this year because last year they had practically doubled in number from the previous year and that would be a fantastic discovery to make again this year! I've been toying with the idea of ordering more from Spring Hill Nursery, which was the original source for these Primula polyanthus hybrids, which have been the only Primroses I've ever had any degree of success in growing. They're not cheap (3 for $12.99), but they're pretty foolproof as long as you pamper them a bit during the dry months and these have even been known to produce a brief flush of re-blooms in the fall as long as the hard freeze doesn't come too early. They're hardy from zones 3-8 (yes, Boran2, you could grow these!), and aside from needing a partial to shady position in moisture retentive humus rich soil and some watering during dry periods, they're very hardy and these hybrids have multiplied pretty rapidly for me. This will be their fourth year here this Spring.

I fell in love with Primroses over 30 years ago during my first trip to France in 1978, where in the spring one sees these planted in huge masses in public gardens and many people also buy them on the streets to grow in windows and balconies ... seeing a mass of these planted by the hundreds, all blooming simultaneously is truly a beautiful sight! When I made my first hike in the Pyrenees (near Andorra) that spring, I also saw them growing wild and profusely everywhere (the "Cowslip" variety) and I still have a project I did for my exchange program --a notebook of dried mountain wildflowers-- that contains a yellow primrose I collected ... along with other flowers of Le Midi such as the famed Violettes de Toulouse, the native flower from my home base at the time. Little did I expect at the time that one day I'd own a home where I'd be striving to make them happy enough to bloom for me! It may have taken me a few years, but I'm glad I finally made it....

These next two shots are the first two snowdrops to show up in our "original bulb bed" that we started 10 years ago (yes, these were Martha Stewart bulbs, lol!) and are usually the first to appear, but this year this bed was piled high with so much snow over the winter it must have really frozen things down deep because even the many crocus in this bed haven't shown themselves yet, but won't be much longer I hope, because there are some real beauties planted here! I think I'll give this a light raking this weekend as well just to get the leaves off of the ground to encourage the ground to warm up a bit quicker ... aren't these two "twins" cute together nodding in the same direction?

This one had actually "speared" a leaf on its way up from beneath the ground, and it's funny, because though I had taken a (not so great) shot of this same flower while I was out, once Fernymoss got home from work, he grabbed the camera and took a few photos as well (he took these two) and he removed the leaf! Galanthus elwesii is a determined little flower and though it may take its time to show up, when it does, it's not going to let something like a leaf keep it from doing its floriferous duty! Now, if the rest of the crocus would just get busy and spear a few leaves of their own, I'll be a happy gardener!

This is actually an inadvertent puppy picture! The real subject of this shot was supposed to be one of our Chives plants in the little herb bed behind the house, but Hanna decided to walk into the frame just as I took it. So far the chives are the only thing that have come back to life, but there are also several varieties of Sage and some Thyme planted back here ... we'll also probably have some volunteer Cilantro and Basil as well because I let some of them go to seed last summer with just that in mind. It's good to see the chives back up, not only because I like to use them in cooking, but if you've ever grown them you know how pretty the flowers can be when they bloom in the spring, just one more reason to have them in the garden! One of many....

There are other things breaking ground here now that I saw today and I'll have another post sometime this weekend showing what I've discovered ... we also plan on spending some time doing clean up (it's supposed to be in the mid-50s this weekend) in the garden, so I'm sure we'll discover a few other Spring surprises ... just one more day until the solstice! It's about time!!!

Gradually Greening Up ...

The real warm up finally started happening today! We hit 72 this afternoon and I was able to open some windows to let in the fresh spring-ish air and the furnace hasn't kicked on all day ... I'm ready for lots more weather like this after this past winter! And ... *drumroll* ... I spotted the first golden crocus in bloom today!! By the time I finished work and was able to get out with my camera, unfortunately they had closed up for the day. But, in the meanwhile, those naturalized clumps of Snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii) I posted recently are doing quite well, despite the return to frigid weather right after they first started opening up ... fortunately, no harm was done by those several near zero nights we had last week. I was a little worried there for a couple of days because they didn't look happy at all in the cold, but they looked quite perky today....

Here's the same clump as above, but now you can see where the clump of golden Crocus is in relation to the Snowdrops ... unfortunately I was only able to get out about 5:30 (after work) so they had closed up for the day, but click through to the larger photo and check out the neat stripes on the petals of this particular variety ... they're quite striking. I'll try to get out sometime during the afternoon tomorrow when they're open to get some better shots ... You can also glimpse a bit of some of the other three clumps of Snowdrops behind the largest one ... they have spread out quite a bit over the years and it's a good thing they bloom so early, because in a mere month or so, they would be completely obscured by the purple and red bee balm among which they grow. In fact if you look really hard (and know what you're looking for) you can see that the Bee Balm is already starting to come up in spots. Now it's time to get out and clean out the beds so we're hoping the weather holds up through the weekend (supposed to be in the low 50s then) so we can get started on clearing out the brown out front and rake a bit so we can throw down some seed that needs to get out early....

Here's a closer shot of those crocus (click to enlarge and see the stripes!) ... if I recall correctly, these are the only crocus in this area of the garden, but I may yet be surprised ... the majority are out front in the parking, along the walk and in the main beds, where so far, there are no signs of them appearing. But this is one of the sunnier areas of the gardens and is where the bulbs always first make their appearance....

Nice patch of muddy looking dirt, eh? Look closer (enlarge to see) ... there should be Crocus coming up here (just planted last fall) but none have appeared yet, but something is stirring in the ground! If I'm not mistaken --and Fernymoss planted some larger bulbs here-- this would be one of the 5 new peonies we planted in this area last year! It seems unusually early to be seeing peonies breaking ground, but odder things have happened in the garden before. I looked for signs of other peonies in the usual places and didn't see any yet, but there's a lot of leaves and detritus to get cleaned up ... but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Bleeding Hearts are starting to come up, because they are protected by the house and usually start growing pretty early on. Now I'm starting to get excited about Spring growth ... because when it finally does get going every year, it seems like every day there's something new to discover ... I'm going to take a closer look tomorrow after work, so I may have some more news to report.

At least I've seen my first Crocus of the season and know there will be hundreds more to appear soon ... I hope that little Iris I posted yesterday reappears, but I have my doubts, so Iris, go ahead really make my day!

Galanthus Forever! (I wish...)

Some more shots of Snowdrops ... in the snow this time, albeit briefly! I took the first shot Friday late afternoon, when the sun was literally pouring through the flowers out front (such as the crocus in the previous post) on a really nice spring day ... whereas Fernymoss took the second shot just the previous day when we got that surprise snow. Though the second environment is how we usually expect to see the Snowdrops emerge (which usually happens in February, not late March!) ... eager harbingers of spring, bearing promises of crocus soon to come ...

Though I didn't get out to take some more shots today (household tasks got in the way), I did take a quick tour around the back yard and front gardens to see how things are progressing ... still no signs of the big Hyacinths, the Crown Imperials or the Siberian Squill, but there are lots of crocus, tulips, Daffodils, Chionodoxa and Spanish Squill breaking ground. It won't be much longer, that is, if the weather cooperates!

Olivia asked me recently if the Dragon Arum had broken ground yet, to which I of course had to answer Not yet... If I recall correctly (I should check the archives on this), it broke through in late April or Early May last year, and was in full bloom a month later. We're hoping that this year (its third) it may actually be able to muster up more than one bloom, though even if it's just one (as last year) we'll be more than happy. We're planning on adding one or two more of these spectacular oddities in the fall, if all goes well ... we'd love to incorporate some more Arums into the scheme of things, but I think we'll need to take stock of the landscape after everything is up here to see if there is enough room. They're somewhat pricey bulbs to plant, but well worth the results they offer!

If you're interested in planting some interesting bulbs, I'll conclude by linking to two resources we have used (to great satisfaction) for purchasing bulbs online.

The first, McClure-Zimmerman bulbs has a fantastic selection ranging from the more common bulbs (tulips, crocus, etc.) to more esoteric collectors' items such as a wealth of Fritillaria species and of course, Arums.

Van Bourgondien bulbs and plants was the original source for the Dragon Arum, as well as that half bushel of daffodils we planted several years ago. They have competitive prices, a great selection and best of all, they ship exactly when you're ready to plant, so you can order in June (usually with a significant discount) and they'll arrive right about when you're ready to plant. They usually also include a freebie or two with larger orders (we got a couple of Iris from them last time) and don't charge your card until they ship (in case that's a concern). --End of shameless plug-- But I'm often asked where one can get certain things they've seen on the blog, and these are two sources we consider reliable, high quality purveyor of bulbs.

Galanthus Encore

We're still seeing some new snowdrops popping up in places, though in another week or two, they'll have likely disappeared until next year ... such is the garden fate of one of its earliest late winter arrivals. But we do treasure them for their brief reign over the still messy garden littered with leaf cover, from which they have little problem (if any) just punching their way through when they're ready!

These two little clumps are near the front of our original bulb bed we started out front years ago, and if we can get ambitious enough this season, we'd like to to totally overhaul it and build it up. But it all remains to be seen, because this particular bed is just loaded with small bulbs (crocus and galanthus), tulips and daffodils and a few stray fritillarias. In the first shot, if you look closely you can see even more crocus poking through the leaves on their way to their place in the newly warming Spring sun.

I consider the second shot a fortuitous mise en scène of these little plants emerging from their winter den ... I can almost see the nest where they spent their winter's nap below them, and it's as if they all woke up at different times and are arising from the darkness where they slept .... But alas, their waking period is oh too brief, and they'll soon hibernate again until the right moment again next Spring. To me, that's one of the most magical aspects of the spring bulbs ... they provide so much beauty and wonderment during their relatively brief appearances, only to vanish until the following year. When I think about it, it's a lot like Morel season ... it's brief, sweet and oh so delicious, but oh so short ... always leaving us wanting more.

Photos taken 29 March, 2008
Fuji Finepix 2650 -- soon to be replaced by the bigger, badder Fuji S700!
More to come ...

Yippee! The Snowdrops Finally Appear!

We've been waiting for over a month now to see the Snowdrops emerge ... telling ourselves that this is the latest we've ever seen them ... Well, I was curious about last year's arrival date, so I went back to the archives and found this post. Looks like we were getting impatient last year too! But, after what has seemed to be an interminable winter, the Galanthus elwesii have finally broken ground ... now we know that winter is on its inevitable way out ....

These photos show a nice little patch that has been naturalizing in the back corner garden, along with the yellow crocus featured in the previous post. We're of the mind that you can never have too many Snowdrops or Crocus in the garden ... they both naturalize freely in the garden and don't mind breaking through the winter dead vegetation and leaf cover, oftentimes literally spearing their way through to announce themselves, and with that the definitive arrival of the Spring bulb season.

I was out this afternoon after work getting some late day shots of some of the crocus out front and I noticed that lots of other bulbs are breaking ground ... tulips, daffodils and even more crocus are on their way to join the show! I'll be featuring them here (as usual) as they come into bloom, so there's lots more to look forward to in the next few weeks ...

Photos taken 21 March, 2008

Sweet Harbingers of Spring

Here are the first of this year's snowdrops from out front in the original bulb bed. Almost as soon as the snow cover began to melt, these cheerful late winter troopers emerged to begin the annual bursting of the bulbs festival around Casa IVG.
In fact, Snowdrops (galanthus sp.) often will indeed poke their heads out from under the snow and surprise you, but this year, given the enormous cover we had for over a month, they really didn't get a chance until the big thaw started to happen the week after the last ice/snow festival ... the one that claimed the Ranger, as you'll recall.

There's a lot to recommend these little guys for any garden, especially if you just can't stand how winter drags on and you crave to see some proof that flowers will indeed return soon! They are virtually carefree once planted (and since they're small bulbs, that's not too big of a task initially), they naturalize nicely after a few years and return faithfully every year, usually around the end of February for us, (though as noted, it was significantly later this year). Once we see Snowdrops nodding their graceful white heads, we know the crocus can't be far behind ... as you can see in the following photo taken the same day (17 March, 2007). The simplest of all crocus (to my mind), the "snow crocus" varieties are among my very favorite flowers ... due in large part, I think because I've always associated them with the early heady days of spring when you know that aside from a few isolated minor incidents, the snows are either receding or gone completely from the garden.

Since these were taken a whole host of others have popped up and are blooming in shades ranging from deep purples, yellow, white and striped varieties ... Unfortunately I've not been able to get any pictures yet due to weather ... no more snow, but increasingly frequent rains and overcast days ... Sunday was a glorious high of 82, however with the sustained spring winds of 30-40 mph, it was a bad day to try to get flowers to stand still ... so you'll have to hope (as I am) that there are sunnier, calmer days ahead later this week, so I can capture them and bring them to a gardening blog near you...

... Stay tuned ...