Mears Garden news- Spring week 8- May 19, 2009

We were in Chicago for a long weekend, after my plant sale on Saturday morning. Hence the late post.
Plant sales are an interesting phenomena. There are a lot more of them now than 10 years ago. I do this as a gardener for a number of reasons each year.
1- Some plants have to be divided and there is not enough room for all the divisions. You must have something to do with the extras. Some organizations have annual fund raising sales. We have several locally. These are excellent opportunities to help raise money.
2- Some plants have just finished their run in your garden. You have something else in mind for that space. You just have too many of that plant already. The alternatives are the compost heap or passing them on. A plant sale is one solution.
3- Then there is the social opportunity. There are some people you will just get to see when there is a sale. You talk plants. You give advice. You meet some neighbors. Of course you do this a little every time you go into the garden. Maybe it is a time that people know you will be home and can suggest the right plant for the difficult area.
4- Finally it is one way to justify the garden budget. How can I afford to buy another terrestrial orchid in the fall? How many flats of impatients will I get at the farmer’s market?

But my goodness. Despite all of those reasons, it takes it out of you. I sometimes wonder what the garden would look like if I pulled weeds instead of potting plants in April. Then I remember how I hate to just throw plants away.

But let me post some pictures and go pull some weeds.

This is the little yellow lady slipper, cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflora. I have had it blooming in the garden for almost 10 years. It did well this spring after all that moisture last year.










Here is epimedium Yokihi. It is a little later than most of the others and gets to live in the dwarf hosta bed. They do look like spiders.










This is a wonderful blue pulmonaria that gives meaning to the term blue.











This is cammassia Blue Skies. It is in its second year in the garden and did come back again, just about as good as last year. It blooms at a time when other spring bulbs are mostly finished.











So there you have it.

In last week’s voting the yellow iris just edged the shooting stars.

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For your brief bonus enjoyment first there is the enormous tree peony that has lasted over a week in this year’s garden. The cooler weather of course is responsible.




Here are two pictures from Chicago and my sister-in-law’s garden. What’s remarkable about this cute little guy, a viola, is that he is growing in a rock crack. Rock crack plants are fun. In this case the violas are covering the little wall by her front porch. It was amazing and made me smile. What else is there?
Enjoy the week.
Philip