After the big spring blast, a more subtle time...

With a combination of very hot and windy days, and very cold and rainy days, the big spring show has come and gone for the most part. Only bloom on a few late magnolias and flowering crabs, mostly of the sargentii persuasion, remain in flower. This is a very busy time with long hours of planting annuals, weeding, and mulching. As I sit in the garden after a day's efforts, I realize that in many ways, this is an even more exciting time. In place of the vivid colors, there is the lushness of foliage in innumerable shades and textures. The new foliage on conifers is rich in its many shades of green. The weather is a bit more settled with less wind and the skies are often overcast as if enveloping the gardens. The air is filled with the fragrance of lilacs and the remaining blooming flowering crabs.

I am still having problems with my computer picture files, but I have managed to garner several photos from the past day or two. I will share the remaining blooms of flowering trees, but I wish to start with my latest plant interest, that being the Japanese maples. With careful attention to wrapping for winter protection, I have managed to bring over a dozen of my newest plant acquisitions through the winter and this is the third season for some. Japanese maples are new to our area as they have been considered not sufficiently hardy in the past. Only one tree had severe winter damage, that being a nice sized Acer palmatum 'Tobiosho'. While I could return the plant under warranty, I have been unable to find another... there are enough fresh starts on the trunk that I feel it may be possible to save the plant I have, making it a more meaningful part of the gardens, if I succeed.

Foliage of 'Tobiosho'

I don't have a water fountain in the gardens, but my latest maple acquisition certainly reminds me of one! It is an acer called 'Seiryu' and I find it absolutely enchanting, not only in its shade of green but particularly in texture.

Acer palmatum 'Seiryu'

Acer palmatum 'Seiryu'

I have two Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' in the gardens. The one shown below is in its third season in our gardens. I quickly learned of the importance of wind protection with japanese maples. I now provide a screen against fierce west winds until the new foliage is hardened off in the spring. This plant really isn't in a prime position for its needs to be met, but I am reluctant to deal with a move as it is doing so well. It is bordered by several examples of the paperbark maple, 'Acer griseum', which leafs out very late in the spring.

Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood'

Osakazuki came through its first winter with absolutely no sign of distress. My only concern on this cultivar and others that color up late in the fall, is whether our season will actually be long enough to experience that amazing color. Last year the foliage turned brown after a period of very cold weather without a sign of the amazing reds this cultivar is noted for.

Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki'

One of my favorite late spring views now includes Osakazuki...

... The crab is a sargentii

Here's a plant that I find intriguing as well. It is Acer palmatum 'Sherwood Flame' and it is well placed in a very protected part of the gardens, not far from Seiryu. In fact, I am making an effort at incorporating Japanese maples all along the sides of my 'birch walk'. In addition to the two aforementioned, there is a second 'Bloodgood', a 'Red Select', and an Acer palmatum dissectum atropurpureum 'Tamukeyama'.  At the end of the walk, next to the barn are two additional weeping varieties Acer japonicum 'Attaryi' and 'Dissectum'.

Acer palmatum 'Sherwood Flame'

In addition to the maples shown here, I am experimenting with a 'Red Emperor',  a 'Trompenburg', and a 'Ukigumo'. These are all part of my plan at reducing work in the gardens over the coming years... color and texture from shrubs and trees will go a long way towards reaching that end.


And now for  a few of the trees and shrubs presently in bloom...

Lilac with Snowdrift crab

A different perspective on Snowdrift

The gazebo

Ludwig Spaethe lilac backed up by Purple Fountains Beech

Malus Tina with Blushing Beauty tulips

The beginning of intermediate iris season

The birch walk with fernleaf beech on the right

The conifer/siberian iris bed

I close with my latest blooming magnolia... this is Daybreak which has a lengthy bloom period every season. Thank you for all your visits to my blog and until next time... Larry

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