A few seasonal highlights from 2013....

Bloodroot 

A double hellebore

Hepatica

April... our gardening season generally begins in April but we are really late this year. We are anticipating a week with temps in the mid 40's and nights just above freezing in some cases. Additionally we are told that we could get 3 to 4 inches of rain. This will be perhaps the latest spring I can recall but on the positive side, plants like magnolias may avoid late freezes all together. I thought I'd share a few highlights from last year while I anxiously await this season's bloom... this is an exercise in positive thinking as I am reminded that despite losses, the gardens are still full of potential.

Malus 'Tina' at the forefront in full bud

Malus 'Flame' on the left

Malus 'Firebird'(s) and 'Sargentii' with 'Spring Glory' to the right

Tree peony 'Kamatanishiki' (Kamata Tapestries)

May.... generally the best month for flowering trees and all matter of bulbs and the start of peony season...

Hosta 'Sagae'

assorted Rhododendrons'

Siberian iris

'Bartzella' intersectional peony on left

June.... a month full of some of the loveliest of perennials including delphiniums, peonies, irises... hostas are at their best and the rhododendrons bloom now....

Clematis 'The President'

Asiatic Lily

New Millennium delphiniums

unnamed Hemerocallis cultivar

'Robina' Orienpet Lily

July... providing an overlap of some of the most marvelous perennials including delphiniums and early lilies.... the clematis come into their own, daylilies are lush throughout the gardens, and orienpets fill the air with fragrance...

Orienpets clckwise from left... 'Pizzazz', 'Scheherazade', 'Silk Road'

Dusk over Oak Lawn

Hemerocallis 'Brookwood Marian Cavanaugh'

Hardy Hibiscus 'Tie Dye'

Hydrangea 'Angel's Blush' with pulmonaria

Pelargonium 'Calliope Dark Red'

August.... the bountiful bloom of July continues unabated while new characters come upon the scene, including the hardy hibiscus cultivars and later shrubs such as hydrangeas... annuals are by now at their peak...

Brugsmansia

Miscanthus 'Morning Light'

Heptacodium with 'Tiger Eye' Sumac

Gentian 'True Blue'

Rudbeckia 'Indian Summer'

Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'

September... a month that begins the process of garden renewal... rethinking of the design and sensibilities, and beginning the work of change... 

Calyxes on 'Seven Sons' brighten this late blooming shrub (tree)

Sargentii fruits provide rich doses of red to the garden pallete

Malus 'Louisa' offers fruits in a warm orange tone, picking up on the ash trees in the distance

'Tiger Eye' sumac goes from a bright yellow to a fiery orange contrasting with Acer 'Autumn Spire'

Asters

The yellow foliage of a tree lilac serves as a backdrop to the reds of the arbor display

October...when the weather cooperates, this can be a month of emphasis on larger projects in the gardens and garden change. Foliage and fruits replace the flowers of earlier in the season, providing the color that we so enjoy...

Quercus coccinea

Acer palmatum 'Tamukeyama'

Malus 'Mary Potter'

November... pretty much the end of our gardening season... some years we have snow and some years rain... the Japanese maples are the biggest provider of color this late in the season.

Thus ends my little sojourn into 2013. I fully trust that 2014 will eventually prove to be an outstanding garden year, for sometimes these late starts provide overlap of bloom seasons that are nothing short of amazing. While I could provide winter months photos of the gardens that are very pretty as well (for ours really is a four season garden), it's almost too painful to do so just now... one wishes to forget about the recent harsh winter I'm afraid.

I've only touched on the bounty of 2013... for example, I purposely didn't add any photos of the magnolia collection... fresh blooms will appear in due time. There will be many losses this season and time will tell what they may be. I've committed my mind to digging out, tossing, and replacing without looking back in some useless funk and depression. The gardening life, as with life in general is for those willing to move on and deal with whatever new challenges come their way... so be it...

Larry

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