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| Trillium luteum |
We are overwhelmed by the beauty of spring after a winter of massive proportions... the tiniest of ephemerals thrill our hearts in what is blessed contrast from wind and seemingly unending cold. The trilliums always are a pleasure but this year they are a gift beyond wonder... somehow we have survived the onslaughts of attacks on our citadel... the strange new world of 'polar vortices'...
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| Trillium grandiflorum |
A rare Corydalis out of China called temulifolia 'Chocolate Stars' in bloom in the gardens is much larger than most, eventually having a mature height of two and a half feet...
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| Corydalis temulifolia 'Chocolate Stars' |
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| Lathyrus vernus beneath Picea abies 'Pendula' |
Every year we marvel at the beauty of Lathyrus vernus, native to the forests of Europe and Siberia. We love the slight variations of hue amongst the purple species, but even more exciting is the cultivar 'Alboroseum'. The purple ones seed themselves about with abandon and the only challenge is to protect them from the rabbits... how we wish the pink ones would be as prolific....
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| Lathyrus vernus 'Alboroseus' |
Viburnum carlesii is just one of the amazing fragrances of spring and it wafts about the front patio making wandering past it almost a requirement at least a couple times each day. While it is compact, after many years as in the case of this garden, it matures to about 8' by 8' and it brings joy to us every May.
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| Viburnum carlesii 'Compacta' |
We are disheartened by the huge number of primula that were killed out by the winter, but appreciate all the more the small plants that will rebuild our stock over time, such as the one pictured below nestled beside an Ivory Prince hellebore. Here we are two days from Memorial Day and there are hellebores just now peaking out from the soil and others that were mature have totally died from the ravages of the past six months...
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| primrose with 'Ivory Prince' hellebore |
Late blooming daffodils still grace the gardens here and there, but we've noticed bloom is down considerably in many of the daffodil areas... amidst reports of this being some sort of odd phenomena of the winter, we can't help wondering if the time has come for some major daffodil dividing...
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| Daffodils and Anemone sylvestris bloom amidst the yet to fall foliage of Quercus robur 'Fastigiata'... as with the European beeches, it is the emergence of new leaves that will clear the palette of dried foliage |
Hostas are slow to emerge this spring but their freshness is always thrilling to experience...
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| Hosta Montana aureomarginata is the centerpiece of this hosta grouping... |
Who can help but admire waves of Mertensia virginica, the lovely ephemeral Virginia Bluebells of spring... as lovely as it is, it is best left segregated to it's own little spot in the woodland gardens due to its thug-like self seeding... Brunnera in the same shade of blue are allowed to seed here as well and their foliage to remain once the bluebells have dried up for the season...
There is some color in the conifer rock gardens just now... we greatly admire the 'Lawrence Crocker' daphne in bloom and we are always in awe of the Phlox subulata that does well in this rocky site... there are pines such as thunbergii and others that hold some hope for regrowth, but are now as brown as the pine needles dropped last fall that surround them...
Here amongst the miniature and dwarf conifers, Picea abies 'Pusch' is forming bright red seed bearing cones not unlike it's parent 'Acrocona' featured in my last post...
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| Picea abies 'Pusch' |
The flowering crabs are all coming into bloom as I write this....
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| Malus 'Strawberry Parfait' |
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| Malus 'Flame' |
Who can resist the push of new growth each spring on the many conifers in the gardens...
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| Picea abies 'Pendula' |
We are thankful that all our magnolias other than about three young plants from last spring managed to survive the winter... they seem to fall into three categories...
1. magnolias loaded with buds (mostly of the soulangiana persuasion) on which all flower buds were destroyed by the cold, but the trees still appear to be healthy...
2. magnolias that for the first time ever made very few new flower buds last season... we suspect this could be related to the drought of the season previous to last...
3. a couple of trees that have bloomed better than we've ever seen... the fact that we have had no frosts from the time the buds began to swell may be a factor here...
We share an assortment of trees in bloom now although there are many more that we could include or have discussed in earlier posts...
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| 'Butterflies' ... minimal bloom this season, the first time since they started blooming years ago |
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| 'Toro'... bloom production good and comparable to past seasons |
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| 'Betty' (and Pinkie as well)... perhaps less than five percent of normal bud production and bloom |
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| 'Roseanne'... comparable to past years |
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| 'Roseanne' |
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| 'Angelica' ... bloomed with many blossoms for the first time last season... only a few blooms this year |
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| 'Red Baron'... excellent bloom and home to what my friend 'Frog Pond' calls a garden troll... my first sighting of a tree frog on this property in 43 years here... love it!! |
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| 'Daybreak'... outstanding this season |
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| 'Daybreak' |
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| 'Daybreak' |
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| Add caption |
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| 'Daybreak' |
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| 'Daybreak' |
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| 'Elizabeth'... also prolifically blooming this season |
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| 'Elizabeth' |
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| 'Elizabeth' |
And now for a few things that have been occupying our time, other than weeding, edging, and mulching that is...
We were thrilled with the wonderful folks from the Marquette County Master Gardeners who spent about three hours with us earlier in the week... touring the gardens and the twelve stained glass lamps and several windows presently on display... so happy to meet you all and do feel free to stop back anytime, although I might recommend orienpet/hemerocallis season late June, to early July...
What does 85 yards of mulch look like... here's the answer to the question in the following pictures... a fair amount of shoveling in my future so it's good my back has improved a goodly amount... it rained hard when the delivery came and the semi truck got stuck... thank goodness for neighbors willing to share the expertise of a 7700 John Deere tractor with duels... for those of you not in the know... that number means "big"!!
Studio time... the windows triptych that I designed is completed except for some more refining of the finish on the wood...
On the upside... a wedding in the gardens tomorrow and reception following... also in the gardens...
Also on the upside... my conifers will be delivered to a spot 100 miles south of here this week... should be in hand by the weekend if all goes as planned...
On the downside, we need a very expensive new well... on the upside and after a sleepless night, I think that I've come up with a plan that will avoid destroying any of the gardens... a priority for sure!
From the gardens at Oak Lawn, Larry
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