Azaleas, a Wild Crabapple, and Garden Plans

The picture below from March 28th of this year shows that part of the garden next to the neighbor's pasture has turned into a miniature meadow, the result of no Bidens coming up there last year. A finely woven wild grass thatch and last spring's drought prevented it.

March 28, 2011

My eventual plan is to convert this mini meadow on the left to a woody plant garden with a few perennials: native azaleas and Virginia sweetspire under shade of the pine tree and Rosa palustris scandens, blueberries, and winterberries out in the sun. There's already several starts of Joe Pye Weed from the farm and a stand of swamp sunflower in the swale.

You can see my sweet garden assistant Prissy in the lower corner, and a tangled "mess" to the left of that. I use the word mess in quotes because it really is a mess but the indigo buntings love it. If there are any blackberry briars they are there. When we moved the house the indigo buntings moved into our old yard when some of the barely contained areas were allowed to go more wild. I will take out most of the saplings and dead canes though, eventually.

The birds love garden squalor, and they really loved the strip between the woods and the grass that was high-mowed with the tractor once and then allowed to be. Both indigo buntings and blue grosbeaks included the tulip poplars above the house as their territory and took baths in the puddle beside the water trough behind the house.

At the edge of the woods a wild Dogwood that was opened to
the light when the house was moved looks beautiful this year.

When the earth dries out again I plan to mow that stuff in front of it, and try not to mow down any of the seedling trees that I planted like I did last year. I was able to salvage two mowed redbuds but a dogwood and a swamp cyrilla were toast. It's not like they were ready to bloom or anything though; they were 1' high among 5' "weeds" and hard to spot from a tractor even when marked with pink surveyor's tape. I thought I was being really safe as far as distance from the seedling trees when mowing; my spatial memory sucks.

I am looking forward to the day when the trees that I planted at the edge of the woods are big enough to bloom. They include dogwoods, redbuds, hawthorns, snowbells, a sorrel tree and one remaining swamp cyrilla.

I would love to have wild crabapples along the wood's edge too. I am hoping that the second year for the is the charm for the seeds to germinate, as I picked up the fruits and buried them in the compost heap more than year ago. The tree down in the floodway field is in full bloom and a vision of loveliness.

The azaleas are a vision of loveliness too, from the bud stage to full bloom. Especially the natives.

April 5, 2011

The leaves of the evergreen azaleas are not
brown and dead. :) They turn purple over the winter.

April 10, 2011

While I was admiring the azaleas I heard Cedar Waxwings.

They were taking a break from chowing down on nearby American Holly berries.

In a typical year the berries are gone sooner than this, but last year the birds didn't eat them at all. I think the Waxwings were disgusted by the cold wet winter in '08-'09 and decamped south and/or east. After the first major snowstorm that winter I didn't hear them and they're usually around until May.

It was very nice of the Waxwings to pose for the camera. Two years ago I got some pictures while they were feeding at the holly tree and then accidently deleted them before getting them on the computer.

Blooming Friday ~ Eye Candy

In the spring there is eye candy everywhere ~ on the ground, in the air, and everywhere in between.

Do these flowers not have a delicious quality about them?

This lilac was supposed to be a white common lilac (Syringa vulgaris), but I think it's a vulgaris hybrid instead judging from the early bloom time ~ perhaps Syringa x hyacinthiflora, a S. oblata and vulgaris hybrid, or Syringa x chinensis, a Syringa x persica and vulgaris hybrid. Like the common lilac it's sweetly fragrant.

The mauve stamens add an extra touch of elegance
to the white clustered flowers of Aronia arbutifolia.

Toothwort ~ finally blooming again this year! I love this plant. It's both delicate and
showy at the same time. The clusters of buds are as lovely as the flowers.

The white Piedmont Azalea is almost half open now, with the pink ones soon to follow.

Woodland phlox: purple 'Louisiana' on the left, 'Fragrant Cloud' on the right and some 'London Grove Blues' in the middle. There's mixed-up seedlings too, so almost every shade of blue and lavender is represented.

Happy Friday, and join Katarina at roses and stuff for Blooming Friday, where the theme this week is "eye candy".

Blooming Friday

A gardener spends a lot of time on the ground in early spring ~ weeding, checking to see what's coming up, and getting pictures of those ground-hugging early flowers and brand new foliage.

White Wood Aster makes an amazing spring ground cover. Later the dark stems become more prominent and add a surprising sculptural component, even at ground level. In late summer the plants are covered with a thick scattering of small white flowers with yellow centers that change to burgundy after pollination and which the tiny bees love.

Celandine Poppy is the same yellow as daffodils but with a daintier texture and wonderful scalloped leaves. The leaves stay beautiful until the summer heat hits, by which time they are hidden by other things.

Woodland Phlox, a heavenly color and with fragrance to match.

I was happy to see this Peony 'Raspberry Sundae' come up, as I bought it at Plant Delights last spring after coveting it for a long time. The blossoms look like some sort of amazing confectionary creation come to life.

The big bed is currently covered in swaths of Lamium purpurea. It's a naturalized weed and I'm keeping it from engulfing the iris this year, but do the bees ever love it. Two thirds of the Lamium in this picture is on a path through the garden, not yet mowed.

Lamium has also paved the ditch in front of big bed this year.

The newly emerged iris foliage is a beautiful sight.

Even more so because they hold the promise of flowers.

These are the buds of 'Nightfall', often the earliest iris to bloom here. It may open today after being in a holding pattern for several chilly wet days.

Another 'Nightfall' getting ready to bloom, along with Narcissus 'Trevithian'.

The native Jacob's Ladder has been blooming for a couple of weeks already.

Eastern Columbine will probably open today, which means the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds will be here soon.

The flower buds of Baptisia alba look like purple asparagus. Baptisia takes the cake for an unusual style of beauty.

The beauty of early spring echoes the beauty of very new Baptisia ~ beautiful but a little gawky, a little awkward, and always inviting a closer look.

Happy Friday, and join Katarina at roses and stuff for Blooming Friday, where the theme this week is "on the ground".