When the Good Blues Come Around

We have always sought out the many shades of blue flowers for our garden, and some might even think we border a bit on the obsessive about it (though I am equally well known about my obsession with fiery colors). The garden is currently morphing into its blue phase before ceding to the fire of summer, as demonstrated by today's shots, which are only just a sampling of what's to come....

First off, one of our favorites (and we actually "inherited" this particular plant with the house), Salvia nemorosa, commonly known as 'Meadow Sage.' This particular, quite popular variety, is called "May Night," no doubt due to its prompt arrival on the bloom stage in mid to late May. Like any of the Salvias (and there are multitudes of them!), this plant is a bee magnet and our resident bumblebee population is never far when it's in bloom. Deadheading Salvia nemorosa will reward you for your work, and you can often maintain bloom time throughout the summer if you're diligent about it (I'm not, alas). If you look to the right in this shot you can see that the Primroses that were so spectacular a couple of weeks ago have gone into a resting phase. I'll keep watering them and hope for more blooms, but even if not, as long as they're concentrating on bringing more to the party next year, I'm just fine with that too! That these little troopers have multiplied from an original 5 puny plants into over 20 in 4 short years has been reward enough for me! And you know, I do love me some Primroses!

This is one of our last spring bulbs to bloom, Camassia quamash, commonly known as Indian Hyacinth, of which we have become ardent fans since we first planted it back in 2005. At first, we made the common mistake of planting these bulbs here and there, for that "natural" look ... wrong move! They deserve to be planted in small masses (say, 6-7 bulbs) so they can really show off their presence when they bloom. And since they look so much like some kind of grass before they bloom, they just naturally look better in groupings ... and they do like to naturalize gradually, so do give them some space to expand. You'll be seeing more of this plant in future posts as the ones we got planted last fall start springing into bloom ... we usually have these through at least mid-June, so at this point they are just getting started.

This luscious bloomer is Hyacinthoides hispanica, aka, 'Spanish Bluebells,' a most reliable late spring bulb bloomer that has been naturalizing quite prolifically for us since we first planted them in 2005. As bulbs go, they're fairly aggressive (much like Crocus), which to my mind is a good thing! I suppose that should they ever become truly invasive, we could always just dig up the bulbs and give them away, but as far as I'm concerned, that's going to take quite a long time ... I think of these 'Bluebells' and the Camassia as the grand finale of the spring bulb bloom season, and when they have finished their show and moved on, Summer has truly begun ... and the Dragon Arum will be stenching its way on to the stage any week now. We did notice today that the first of this year's peonies have opened, and amazingly enough, they are the newest ones we planted just last Spring! The rest won't be far behind, and we'll soon be enjoying that blissful fragrance in the house once again (along with the stray ants)! I can hardly wait....

"Aerodynamic Lounging"

Just a couple of shots of the (apparently) ever popular Princess Hanna, here enjoying the evening air wafting through the Cabana Room on 22 May, 2009. Any guesses as to what she was thinking at this moment? (My guess is that she was gazing at whatever I was eating at the time while we had dinner on the porch!)

Fernymoss took this shot last night and is quite fond of it, despite its obvious flaws ... different lounging, here on the couch (in her favorite spot) and getting late ... Lil Miss Hanna has a bad attack of the snoozies!

Hyacinthoides Hispanica -- Spanish Bluebells

A previously misidentified bulb that continues to amaze year after year ... Hyacinthoides hispanica or 'Wood Hyacinth,' a cousin to the larger, more familiar Hyacinths (as seen here previously). When I first got these in 2005 from Park Seed, they were sold as Scilla hispanica or 'Spanish Squill' so I expected them to be just a larger version of Squill, but when they bloomed the first year, I knew this was no Squill because the bloom habit just wasn't right for the Squills I know. So I did a little digging and quickly found out that it's really a Hyacinth. In this case (which to me seems unusual) using the common name of 'Wood Hyacinth' got me a lot further than just poring through all the various Squills that exist.

Tonight, however, I did learn that this was previously classed as a Scilla, so nobody was entirely wrong. Happily. Which is exactly how these have been growing in the many spaces where we have planted them in the garden. My original purchase (a steal!) was 100 bulbs, for which I paid the princely price of $5.00! In the past three years they have easily doubled or perhaps tripled in number and just keep going. As of today, they're a bit on the waning side now (this photo was taken on 22 May), but they're still looking pretty among the now blooming columbines and other woodland plants.

Today was devoted (again) to finishing up the herb/veggie bed I talked about yesterday, and at this point it's nearly done. I planted seeds for several varieties of herbs, put in the new thyme and sage plants, a tomato, 2 mounds of cucumbers, and a huge (about 6 ft) row of assorted Zinnias as a background planting to the veggies. I have great hopes for this bed this year, both in terms of floral interest as well as tasty peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh herbs! I'll get a picture tomorrow of how it looks right now, and then try to keep updating periodically as it grows... ah, despite the aches and pains, I feel really satisfied to have this bed finally weed free and being put to a more fruitful use!

Oh, and I forgot ... the bloom stalk on the Dragon Arum has arrived! We're estimating that it will be blooming in about a week or so ... right along with our Peonies! More to come ... Hopefully I'll have an updated photo tomorrow to let you see where it is at the present!