GBBD: April Beauties

I know I am really, really late to this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, but with Easter weekend, tax day, and many commitments the past two weeks, I haven't had time to sit down and read blogs for awhile.  But what a difference a month makes!  In March I had a few early bulbs trying to bloom in the snow, and this month . . . well, let me show you . . .

Since the end of March there has been a steady stream of daffodils blooming.

From the standard yellow trumpet daffodils to ruffled doubles to . . .

. . . daffodils with contrasting cups to . . .

. . .  miniature daffodils.

I've forgotten the names of most, except for 'Mount Hood,' 

a white beauty that has been a vigorous multiplier.

After the rabbits and/or deer ate many of my tulips after a bad winter a few years ago, I have been planting many more daffodils than tulips.  Most of my purchases have been collections of bulbs for naturalizing, another reason I don't know the names of most of these.

But I like the variety and the longer bloom time from these collections.  

These slender narcissi in the shade garden are one of my favorites.  As you can see, there is so much more blooming right now than daffodils--hellebores are still going strong, tulips are at their peak, tiny pushkinia dot the front of the garden here and there, as well as a few early perennials.

The only disappointment this year has been the flowering crabapples.  I wait all year for that one special week in the spring when our long lane is a bower of blooms, as you can see in my header photo from last year.  But most of the crabapples didn't bloom as much as usual; perhaps one of the cold nights we had two weeks ago nipped the buds. It has happened before, so I am hoping that next year all the blooms will return.  The white flowering crab was filled with blooms, however, though the wind and rain this past weekend finished them off.  And it has been a great year for redbuds.

I was worried about the lilacs last Bloom Day, as they were budding up just as a freeze hit us, but I needn't have worried.  The old lilac was in full bloom for Easter Sunday.

Other perennials blooming right now include the Pulmonarias and the Epimedeum above.  

'Jack Frost' Brunnera, still one of my favorites.

The old-fashioned Bleeding Heart is blooming as is my newest bleeding heart added last year, Dicentra 'Gold Heart.'  The foliage on this plant is stunning!

And finally, one of the best parts of spring to me--it is Tulip Time!

Because tulips can be short-lived, every spring is a surprise since I never know what will return.  A few of my favorites that I was happy to see come up again include 'Ad Rem' above.

My "namesake" 'Rosalie' also returned.

As did the longer-lived species tulips, 'Lady Jane.'  These are multiplying as well.

The neon-bright orange tulips that I don't remember ever planting returned 

for what must be their eighth or ninth year!

And my very favorite tulip of all, 'Akebono,' is still as gorgeous as ever.

Then there are a few new varieties of tulips planted last fall including this 'Silverstream.'  It looks like a twin to 'Akebono,' doesn't it?  In fact, if I hadn't marked where I planted these last year, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

Also new this year is a tulip I've admired on Jason's blog for several years--'Coleur Cardinal.'  They are a little shorter than most of my tulips, so I'm glad I planted them in the front where they can be seen.

'Rembrandt' is also new this year.

Every year I plant more tulips in my roadside garden, hoping for an eye-catching display for passersby, and every year the voles (or some critter) dashes my hopes.  This year was no exception, though a few bulbs escaped being devoured.  These are 'Upstar,' an experiment I tried this year for the first time.  I purchased a bag of these that were intended to be planted, bag and all.  I was pretty skeptical, but the results were better than I expected.

Only a few of the new 'Lightning Sun' survived in this area, which is a shame, because these are a vibrant orange Darwin tulip.  

As I type this, we are having another unusually warm day with temperatures nearing 80 today.  The tulips have been blooming at warp speed the last few days and won't last long in these temperatures.  It's time to get outside and enjoy them while I can!

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day every month and for being patient with latecomers like me:)

Is it Spring Yet?? March GBBD

Goodness, it's been awhile since I have participated in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  But I haven't had much to show off the past few months.  There have been no forced bulbs indoors to brighten up a winter's day--I never did find those amaryllis bulbs I stored away last fall; they will probably turn up in July:)  And I really didn't think anyone would want to see the straggly plants I potted up to over-winter and then promptly neglected.  So I opted out of the past few Bloom Days, waiting for the first spring blooms to appear so that I had something worthwhile to share.

It has been such a weird winter weather-wise.  We haven't had enough snow all season to do much more than cover the ground for a few days before it melted, and I don't think the temperatures ever dropped below 0, both very unusual for Illinois.  February was the warmest February on record for our area, and I fully expected to have an early spring.  We spent last week visiting the two youngest grandchildren in Texas, where the temps were in the 70's nearly every day, so I was expecting to come home to see a garden full of daffodils.  Instead, I found this:

And this:

Poor little Scilla and daffodils shivering in the snow.  Once again, winter has returned, though not with the vengeance that has struck the Northeast--again, just enough snow to cover the ground.

I really had high hopes for an early spring, after the early appearance of some blooms in February:

On February 18 the first snowdrops appeared.  They always come as such a surprise to me--I had been looking for signs of them for days with no luck, and then as if by magic, they appeared in full bloom on this February morning.

On February 23, the first crocuses opened up,

 a new record for the earliest crocuses in my garden, I believe.

That last week in February was so warm that I spent some time cleaning up in the garden--what a treat to finally be able to work outside!  I was ready to call it a day after a few hours, but I decided to check the shade garden where I found these fat Hellebore buds.  I promptly put on the gardening gloves once again and began snipping away all the old foliage so they could get the attention they deserve.  They're probably blooming by now, but unfortunately, they're covered in snow, so I can't tell.

But back to today--instead of all the spring blooms I thought I might have by now, everything is in a holding pattern.  More crocuses have opened up in the past week or two, but for now they are huddled up waiting for the sun and warmer temps.

A few Scilla have been brave enough to appear, though most are waiting, too, for the snow to melt.

The big old lilac has budded up--the only plant I'm concerned about now.  I'm afraid these early buds may be doomed after this latest cold spell.

But other than the lilac, I'm not too worried.  Daffodils and tulips are up all over the place, waiting for the right time to bloom.  Spring will arrive whenever it is good and ready.

Thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, and congrats on the new book, Carol!

Garden Muse Day: Carpe Diem!

To the [Gardeners] To Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying . . .

--Robert Herrick (from "To the Virgins ...")

Today is the first of the month of May and time for another Garden Muse Day. While there are no doubt many appropriate poems for the month of May, I couldn't think of any because Herrick's poem and similar quotes swirled around in my brain. How quickly the garden is changing right now! Mr. McGregor's Daughter and others have posted photos of ephemerals recently, but in some ways everything about spring seems ephemeral. The flowering crabapple blossoms above that appeared last week opened up and then were literally gone with the wind within two days' time.

And my beloved redbud tree that has been lighting up my yard with its shock of lavender blooms the past week is already sporting a few leaves. Soon the blooms will be gone, leaving the heart-shaped green leaves in their stead.

"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May . . ."

---from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

While spring blooms last only so long, they have had a particularly tough time the last week with lots of rain and several days of fierce winds. This "Pink Impression" is in its final blowsy stage, as I call it, but it's amazing it has any petals left at all.

. . . Forward they come, with flaunting colors spread,

With torches burning, stepping out in time

To some unheard march . . .

--from "A Tulip Garden" by Amy Lowell

But even while many of the tulips are on their last legs, so to speak,

there are still a few unopened buds and daily surprises.

Careful planning went into deciding where each color and collection of bulbs would be planted last fall. A map was made to identify varieties for future reference. But as the warm days of November began to change into winter, I threw out the plans and quickly dug holes wherever I could and threw in the remaining bulbs. As a result, some strange combinations appeared like this unknown pink-tipped tulip next to an orange and yellow "Color Magic."

One tulip I was eagerly anticipating was this "Sunrise" whose buds I showed on my "Blogging Blips and Tulip Trends" post. As they opened up, I could see the ruffled tulip was going to be as promised in the catalog.

What I didn't expect, though, was that the blooms would be this big! When Beckie stopped by the other day to see my tulips, she commented that this looked like a peony blossom, and it does.

While there is a theme to this post, you may think this is a shameless excuse on my part to show off more of my tulips. You're right! I spent many hours late last fall planting over 200 tulips and daffodils, and my creaking knees groaned and complained the whole time. But it was worth every ache! I am enjoying the fruits of those labors so much this spring. This tulip is one of a collection called "Monet," which includes several different pastel shades of tulips.

Still another variety, "Apricot Beauty," one of my favorites. My very favorite tulip is pictured at the end of this post, but frankly every tulip is a favorite!

And just for a little variety, more daffodils were added last fall as well. These "Pink Charm" daffs bloom later than the standard yellows and others that have already faded. I didn't plan staggered bloom times--that was just a happy accident.

I've enjoyed my tulips so much this year that I'm already making plans for next year. Photos of each flowerbed and planting are being taken to make it easier in the fall to remember where bare spots might be filled. In the roadside flowerbed above, the various shades of pink tulips in the foreground were planted a year or two ago and may need to be replenished. This collection I mistakenly identified as "Monet" last spring, but it's actually a collection of pinks called "Appleblossom." "Prince" tulips in purple, red, and yellow can be seen in the back right, while "Angeliques" are just opening up in the center front.

The photo of the main flowerbed was especially important, because a few tulips had already been planted here, and I couldn't remember where they were last fall. Besides, this area was covered with perennials in November, making it difficult to find bare spots for digging holes.

There's still room in the shade garden, too, even though many bulbs were added here. As much as I've enjoyed admiring these tulips every day, not everyone shares my enthusiasm, as you'll notice. (Do enlarge the photo to get Tarzan's full reaction.)

While the blooms of spring may be fleeting, the good news is that there is always something new to take their place. The old-fashioned lilac is in full bloom right now, perfuming the air.

And more and more perennials are sprouting up. Do you recognize this plant? This is my "Sum and Substance" hosta which grew to an amazing size last year. I've never before noticed its leaves in early spring.

But before the summer garden grows, I hope you will take the time to enjoy every moment of a spring flower's beauty. For me, nothing can compare to this "Apricot Beauty" unless . . .

. . . it is my favorite of all: the delicate, ruffled "Angelique."

Enjoy every moment in your garden--Carpe Diem!

Garden Muse Day is the brainchild of Carolyn Gail; do visit her to see other musings on the month of May.