Another typical spring 2012 morning ... frost and freeze every couple of days following warmth and very high winds... footsteps imprinted in the icy grass. Much of the joy of the spring gardens has gone on a temporary sabbatical. One learns to accept a loss such as the magnolia bloom... my friend Frog Pond feels this may in fact lead to a much greater outpouring of bloom next season. Breakage amongst the wind torn tulips bowed down from yet further cold are distressing but one learns to live with that as well...
Even poor 'Tinka Philips' peony manages to recover after each cold night. Monitoring the weather daily, frost and freeze prognostications decide the course of daily activities.
In other areas of the gardens, it takes about three hours to cover what needs covering against the cold. For the most part, these are the plants that will bring joy in the summer season... things like the japanese maples, hostas, and lilies... all way too far along for mid-April. Tomorrow rain is indicated, so all the covers came off, but on Friday they'll need to go back on with lows in the mid to upper 20's being forecast for 2-3 days. The covers will remain until the next warm spell occurs. It is getting to be very tedious and takes way too much of my life now, however... there have been many beautiful moments this spring as well... I'll share a few, but first a few looks at a portion of my tent city!
...and now for a few bright spots in our strange and often disappointing spring.
1. Whether by virtue of tepal hardiness or placement downwind from a large white pine, magnolia 'Daybreak' is the only magnolia that has stood up to the frost this spring. All other blooming magnolias have had the majority of their blooms turned to brown mush, but Daybreak looks great with no browning whatsoever...
2. Prunus avium 'Plena' (plena referring to the double form of the tree) has outdone itself with bloom this spring, and amazingly, while situated in the lowest part of the gardens, it shows no discoloring from the below 32 degree temps.
3. The early daffodils started blooming a month ago but the later ones just started in these past few days... while a bit windswept, they are still quite lovely...
4. Several of the flowering crab apples seem to have taken advantage of their alternate year tendencies by blooming lightly this season. A few of the ones that have given a good show thus far have not seemed to be damaged or discolored by the frost. They include a favorite white called 'Flame'...
... a weeper called Louisa intimating its shape in the future for it is still a quite young tree...
A very youthful 'Strawberry Parfait' that I particularly enjoy...
...and 'Floribunda', the japanese flowering crabapple...
5. Fifth on my list of spring blessings this season includes things happening in the rockery and similar areas of the gardens.
There's the pink form of Lathyrus vernus...
There's a number of varieties of anemones...
... and there's primulas...
6. One of the things that I most appreciate from this spring is that the efforts of covering the japanese maples have so far worked... (the one exception is an Emperor I that I forgot to cover one night and which is now totally devoid of foliage).
7. Finally, I need to at least mention that we did have a few days of beauty from tulips here and there. Their stalwart return to vertical time and again has amazed me and while the display needs a redo for next season, these do cause one to smile at their joyous persona through these many days of repeated freezes...
In closing and in reference to tulips, we spent a few days in Pella Iowa this past weekend. The tulips were at peak on the morning that we arrived and prior to the serious storms that wreaked havoc throughout the midwest. We also got to spend some time with fellow blogger Beth and her husband Ron (Beth's blog is Beyond The Garden Gate) and also had the opportunity to tour former a garden blogger's amazing gardens where wild flowers and their Asian counterparts are of extreme importance. This was very much an educational experience for me as I felt like a novice in this gentleman's garden... it was amazing.
Here then are a few photos of a small portion of what we experienced in Pella. Take care, Larry
In other areas of the gardens, it takes about three hours to cover what needs covering against the cold. For the most part, these are the plants that will bring joy in the summer season... things like the japanese maples, hostas, and lilies... all way too far along for mid-April. Tomorrow rain is indicated, so all the covers came off, but on Friday they'll need to go back on with lows in the mid to upper 20's being forecast for 2-3 days. The covers will remain until the next warm spell occurs. It is getting to be very tedious and takes way too much of my life now, however... there have been many beautiful moments this spring as well... I'll share a few, but first a few looks at a portion of my tent city!
...and now for a few bright spots in our strange and often disappointing spring.
1. Whether by virtue of tepal hardiness or placement downwind from a large white pine, magnolia 'Daybreak' is the only magnolia that has stood up to the frost this spring. All other blooming magnolias have had the majority of their blooms turned to brown mush, but Daybreak looks great with no browning whatsoever...
2. Prunus avium 'Plena' (plena referring to the double form of the tree) has outdone itself with bloom this spring, and amazingly, while situated in the lowest part of the gardens, it shows no discoloring from the below 32 degree temps.
3. The early daffodils started blooming a month ago but the later ones just started in these past few days... while a bit windswept, they are still quite lovely...
4. Several of the flowering crab apples seem to have taken advantage of their alternate year tendencies by blooming lightly this season. A few of the ones that have given a good show thus far have not seemed to be damaged or discolored by the frost. They include a favorite white called 'Flame'...
... a weeper called Louisa intimating its shape in the future for it is still a quite young tree...
A very youthful 'Strawberry Parfait' that I particularly enjoy...
...and 'Floribunda', the japanese flowering crabapple...
5. Fifth on my list of spring blessings this season includes things happening in the rockery and similar areas of the gardens.
There's the pink form of Lathyrus vernus...
There's a number of varieties of anemones...
... and there's primulas...
6. One of the things that I most appreciate from this spring is that the efforts of covering the japanese maples have so far worked... (the one exception is an Emperor I that I forgot to cover one night and which is now totally devoid of foliage).
7. Finally, I need to at least mention that we did have a few days of beauty from tulips here and there. Their stalwart return to vertical time and again has amazed me and while the display needs a redo for next season, these do cause one to smile at their joyous persona through these many days of repeated freezes...
In closing and in reference to tulips, we spent a few days in Pella Iowa this past weekend. The tulips were at peak on the morning that we arrived and prior to the serious storms that wreaked havoc throughout the midwest. We also got to spend some time with fellow blogger Beth and her husband Ron (Beth's blog is Beyond The Garden Gate) and also had the opportunity to tour former a garden blogger's amazing gardens where wild flowers and their Asian counterparts are of extreme importance. This was very much an educational experience for me as I felt like a novice in this gentleman's garden... it was amazing.
Here then are a few photos of a small portion of what we experienced in Pella. Take care, Larry
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