Spring week 10- May 19

A perfectly gorgeous weekend. All the plants have headed outside. The orchids are the last to be inside, but even they have started their migration.
I was struck by a remarkable symmetry at some point this weekend. I brought the orchids in this fall and almost immediately started watching as one after another their started to set their bloom stalks. Within a matter of weeks there were 4 then 6 then maybe 10 plants with buds coming.
So in the spring the amaryllis and the clivia head outside. Many amaryllis are stone dry, looking completely dead. One good watering with some fertilizer and now, 4-5 days late,r there are a half a dozen with buds coming. And the clivia- at this point I have about 12 plants, and at least 4 now have buds coming. Amazing. Just you wait for early June. There is nothing like a blooming amaryllis in the border to catch your eye.

So what’s blooming in this, the slightly down time between the riot of spring bulbs and the riot of June with its Siberian iris and Asiatic lilies.

The peonies have started. The tree peonies began on Friday. They bloom maybe two weeks before their herbaceous cousins.
The allium have started. The shorter purple ones, maybe 18 inches tall, have started. Then there are the big ones, almost three feet tall, called Globemaster or Gladiator. I have about 30 of them scattered around the garden. They are splitting open and should all be blooming in about a week.

Then there are still the spring things, such as pulmonaria, epimedium and hellebores, all still making major statements. There are even late daffodils, including the tiniest daffodils all spring. (There is a picture.)

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For your voting pleasure this week I have the following:

1- This is a shooting star, a native wildflower. I expect that Rochester Cemetery, about 20 miles east of Iowa City, has its annual display of thousands of these at the moment. If you have never been there try to find in the time in May.
















2- Here is the first lupine. Lupines would be a flourist favorite but the just don’t bloom up the stalk at the same time.
















3- This is hosta Split Milk with a neighboring tulip called Greenland, creating the impression that the hosta has this amazing bloom. Please understand, the garden did this all by itself.












4- Finally there is tree peony Siedi. It is amazing how this supports itself. For 2-3 days this will be a focus flower, dominating the backyard.









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Last week the picture of the pink crabapple trees nosed out the gaudy iris as your favorite.
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There are so many other pictures to share.
Here are three of a new bulb this year- Camassia leichtlinii- Blue Danube. It is standing tall at about two feet with each bulb sending up 2-3 stalks. I had tried cammasia before without much luck. I think this species has to have that mark in the catalogue-“Get more.” There are apparently white and yellow ones too. You should see them next year about this time.



























Here is the old favorite tulip Monsella in its final bow.












I told you about the tiniest daffodils. The foliage looks just like wild onions. This daffodil gives you an excuse to avoid weeding too soon. You wouldn’t want to pull one of these up.











Then there is the seed head of the pasque flower. This proves once again that back lighting works for so many things.











Here is one of the late epimedium, a Japanese variety called
Yohkihi.












I will close with this Heucherella called Rosalie. The tiniest flowers made a good contrast with the tree peony this week.








Just you wait for next weekend.
The poppies are coming.

Enjoy.
Philip

Mears garden news- May 12

Overwhelmed. That is where I am at the moment. Sometimes it happens and about this time of year it is rather common. Both Julia's mother and my mother were in town for the Mother’s day weekend. We even had a fire in the fireplace Sunday morning, as the temperature was in the mid forties and there was a 35 mph wind.
On the other hand the crabapple trees were out as were the lilacs, and the redbuds. So when the sun was out it was spring about at its best.
My professional work is busy and then there are a few things going on in the yard.
The last of the daffodils have opened, including ones that were planted at Thanksgiving. You can always add several weeks to the bloom season by planting those things in the fall. For a real season extender just plant something listed as “late” in the late fall. It will bloom in May every time.

So here is what is good right now.
There were the crabapple trees, but boy do they go fast. Even without a heavy rain they are gone in 4-5 days it seems.
The late daffodils are usually the tiny ones which are so cute.
The little iris show continues.
And then there are all the hostas. The backbone of my garden has been hosta for 20 years. I have many varieties and they can be wonderful. I must confess however that at times I grow tired of them. Mostly that is in July and August when they can’t quite compete with the lilies.
But at this point they just get bigger and bigger and are so fresh and clean. (Pretend that the weeds have not started and that the spent foliage from earlier bulbs hasn’t died away.)

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On the picture poll last week the favorite was Shirley the tulip. I was not surprised.

Here are this week’s choices.

1- The wonderful pink crabapple trees. This week there will be pink snow providing for some great contrasts between the hosta green and the pink ground.












2- Speaking of hosta here is this great big one, whose name as just escaped me. I knew there was a reason to put those labels out there. Sometime the labels get lost.











3- This is the gaudy iris of the week. They did put on a show until the heavy rain Saturday night kind of washed them out for several days. Blink you eyes and they are gone, along with the snowdrops and all those wonderful early bulbs. At least with daylilies when it rains the next day’s flowers are not affected.












4- This pink tulip just grabbed me this week. Maybe tulips have an unfair advantage, particularly if you can find a few bluebells to pose in the background.










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For your extra pictures this week I will start with the array of little iris.
















































Some more crabapples.














Another hosta














Some little daffodils. You just don’t get tired of these guys.



That’s it for the week.
I am having my yearly spring sale this Saturday morning from 9-12. Everyone is invited. You can even meet the newest zany addition to the garden. It is featured on a tree in the front yard. I won’t say more.
What will be blooming by the end of week?
Enjoy the week.
Philip

Spring week 8- May 4

If you put flowers into the refrigerator they will last for a long time. This last week the garden was put into a refrigerator. I had to get my winter coat out of the storage closet twice this week.
But the sun came out and the bluebells bloomed and most of the same flowers that were here last week are still here.
Many daffodils are still around, with even a few varieties still in bud.
Some of the tulips are stunning.
The gems of the week are the little bearded iris.
Then there are the epimedium- I promised you a picture last week.

Speaking of last week, in the poll last week:
The fan favorite was the Monsella tulip. There is a surprise. I can take an entire roll of Monsella tulips pictures, if there was such a thing as a roll of film anymore.

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So here are pictures. There are four pictures in this week’s poll, that almost all make my toes curl.

1- Shirley- the tulip
I took a picture of a lily last year with just about this kind of blue muted background. That was the sky in the lily picture. This I think is bluebells.












2- Sweetheart- the epimedium
Talk about your fairy flowers.












3- The yellow bearded iris
It looks a little like a purple furry catepillar crawling down the petal.












4- Pulmonaria
It’s pink. It’s blue. It’s purple. And to think that some of these plants volunteer.











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Here are several other bearded iris. They are blooming right along Fairview Street.




























Flower pictures can be taken of individual flowers or they can be taken of the group. Here are groups of Monsella tulips, Anemone blanda, Tulip bakeri Lilac Wonder, and the yellow dwarf bearded iris.














































The entire garden is splashed with bluebells. Some dominate. Some provide background. Here is hosta Sagae with bluebells appointment.











Finally there is this white trillium. Our gardens are collections of not just plants, but also the people who have come to the garden or who have given a plant or two here or there. I got this grand trillium a while back from Diana Paulina, a wonderful person with a wonderful garden of her own in the woods north of Iowa City. Diana and Kevin, her husband, helped me get this blog going last year.






















Diana died this week after a fine struggle with her cancer. She chronicled her last year in a blog about that struggle. It is to be found at http://kevin-and-diana.blogspot.com/
Good-bye Diana. You will always be a part of our lives and our gardens.
Philip

Spring Week 7, April 27

For the third week in a row we got over two inches of rain in a week. In addition it has cooled off with even a hard freeze in the forecast for some places Monday night. What that means is that things are growing, but that things that are blooming are sticking around for a while. Most of the lilies have gotten out of the ground so that weeding can begin. I am potting things up all the time. I divided the first hosta yesterday. The difficulty with dividing hosta, is that sometimes, like yesterday, I divide one clump and get 20 plants.

What is blooming now?
The daffodils are putting on a display.
The bluebells have started.
The Monsella tulips are blooming and blooming and bloomings
The first little bearded iris bloomed yesterday.
The crown imperial fritillaria bloomed this week.
The pulmonaria and hellebores are putting on a show.

What’s just around the corner?
There should be little bearded iris for the next several weeks. Most of them are right along Fairvew Street by the curb. There is the gradual slope that bearded iris like. If you are in the neighborhood keep an eye out for them.
The epimedium have just started. What’s epimedium you ask. Wait for pictures next week.

The celendine poppies have just started, making a wonderful contrast between their gold and the bluebells which are everywhere.

So here are pictures. For the poll this week I have decided to put the first colors, represented by four flowers.
There is the blue from the bluebells.
There is the red/yellow from Monsella tulips.
There is the orange from the crown imperial fritillaria.
Finally there is the white of the Thalia daffodil. From this angle it almost looks like an orchid.





















































Then there a bunch of daffodil pictures. They are so diverse. You got to like Rip Van Winkle. It is the one that looks like it got connected to an electric line.



































































Then there is this interesting iris called Iris bucharica. I saw it first in the Chicago Botanical Gardens 4 years ago. This is its 3rd year in the garden.
























Finally there is this Pasque Flower.

Enjoy the week and the springtime. Perhaps for the last time I tell you that I hope you stay warm.
Philip