Each Little World

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 05.15.2013

Yesterday's sun and high temperature of 91 degrees F. (32.77 degrees C.) pushed any laggards in the garden into full bloom. In my garden in flower today are:

Trillium grandiflorum. I can't take any credit for this as it was here when we bought the house. But I have managed to start some new clumps from this mother plant.

Woodland peony, Paeonia obvata var. alba

Another woodland peony, Paenonia japonica

Checkered lily, Fritillaria meleagris

Epimedium x rubrum

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilac Fairy'

Japanese woodland poppy, Glaucidium palmatum. I moved this gem to a shadier spot last fall and then we lost the tree over the winter. We'll see how much sun it can take and survive.

Tulipa 'Orange Princess.' This is in the traffic island garden 60 feet from the house, but she's visible from the window over the kitchen sink.

Tulipa 'Prinses Irene'

Chenomeles, unknown variety. This was also here when we moved in but mostly buried under a Weigela. We axed that shrub to save the quince.

To see what's blooming today in gardens around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who monthly hosts GBBD.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 04.15.2013

I thought that in the month from March to April, I would have Hellebores in bloom for GBBD at the very least. But April continues colder and wetter than average. A dusting of snow on the ground greeted us on Saturday morning and more of the same on Sunday. Though it melted by mid-day my April flowers are still hiding.

But The Capital Times newspaper here in Madison ran a photo essay of 13 brightly colored houses around town to help brighten our spirits. So I am sharing this bouquet taken by photographer Michelle Stocker as my offering for Bloom Day. The houses are located on 8 different streets and Mark and I have actually lived on 5 of them, though only once in a painted lady that we decorated in multiple hues.

To see what's blooming outdoors in gardens here, there and everywhere, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, the host of the monthly meme: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 03.15.2013

Last year, my snowdrops were up by middle of February; no such luck this year. It's mid-March and there's still lots of snow on the ground. So I'm sharing the only thing that's blooming at my house: a bowl of Muscari bulbs. I bought them at the grocery store when they were just poking the first bits of green leaves through the soil in the pot.

However, since they were bulbs, I pulled them out of the dirt, washed them off and put them in this bulb bowl from the Metropolitan Museum catalog. Feeling very Dutch with this combination of flowers and container! Stop by May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming on this day in other gardens around the country and the world.

GBBD: 9.15.12

September Bloom Day offers an unexpected surprise in this long, hot, dry summer: lots of flowers all bloooming right on schedule. Thursday's rain passed us by again and much of the garden remains stressed, but these plants seem to be coping nicely. 

The Hendrix Border (aka Purple Haze) is awash with Anemone japonica 'September Charm' (above) and an Aster (below) that remain nameless since I purchased it unlabeled. 

Allium senescens 'Glaucum' and Sedum hybrida 'Matrona' (the next two images) complete the purple theme. Though these colors are all so soft I guess it's more of a lavender haze.

Elsewhere Cimicifuga racemosa 'Brunette' (snakeroot or bugbane) is blooming in a number of locations throughout the garden.

But all the Tricyrtis hirta 'Tojen' is concentrated aound a stone lantern in one huge clump in The Sacred Grove.

The Traffic Island garden in the street in front of our house continues its bright color scheme with Pelargoniums, newly planted Sedums, Agastache 'Tango', Coleus and a Geranium 'Rozanne' for contrast. These next pictures show what's happening in each of the four corners of that little garden surrounded by concrete curbing.

To see what other gardeners have blooming in their plots this September, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly bouquet.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 08.15.12

The garden is starting to bounce back as a result of cooler temperatures and the arrival of the rain we've been waiting for all summer. I would have said there are not a lot of flowers blooming at the moment, but when Mark wandered around the garden with the camera last evening he found plenty of plants to record.

These first three perennials are recent purchases from K & A Greenhouse which is having a big sale. I decided I needed a little jolt of color for the group visiting the garden later this month. I scattered these around a curving border so they're not all visible at once. 

Scabiosa columbaria 'Butterfly Blue' (Pincushion flower)

Geranium hybrida 'Brookside' (I want to compare its performance with 'Rozanne' which is growing elsewhere in the garden).

Agastache hybrid 'Blue Fortune' (Anise hyssop)

Tricyrtis hirta 'Tojen' 

Kirengeshoma palmata, koreana group

Ligularia stenocephala 'Osiris Fanaisie'

Nymphae pygmae 'Helvola' (Dwarf Helvola water lily in a pot)

Sagitaria latifolia (Arrowhead in the upper pool)

Hosta 'Royal Standard' (August lily)

Actea pachypoda (Doll's Eyes). Seedheads as attractive as any flower I grow.

To see what's blooming in particpating gardens around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this wonderful survey on the 15th day of each month. 

GBBD: 7.15.12

The tremendous heat and dryness we've experienced in Southern Wisconsin, coupled with our accelerated bloom schedule this year, means that not much is in flower this month. Street trees are dying and I'm seeing Serviceberries in gardens dressed in fall color and getting ready to drop their leaves. As of July 10th, the U.S. Drought Monitor had bumped southern Wisconsin up to "severe drought." 

But I do have one flower that is giving me a thrill in the garden this year, especially since it hasn't bloomed for the last couple of seasons. As you may have guessed, this is an Agapanthus. But it's a perennial version of the more common tropical Lily of the Nile. Agapanthus campanulatus, or Bell Agapanthus, is hardy in colder climates. I bought mine from the late Seneca Hill Perennials, which noted that it was "hardy in open gardens in central Illinois," and suggested it as a Zone 5 plant. 

But some of what I have since read suggests it is not really cold hardy to Zone 5, which may explain why mine grows but does not always flower. I have been assuming it needs more sun, but I'm not sure if that's the problem. Given our intense heat this year, maybe what it really wants is dryness and tropical temps. Whatever the reason, its beautiful blue blossoms are one of the few bright spots in the garden this month. 

To see what's blooming in other gardens, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly meme.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 06.15.12

We're so far ahead of schedule this year that the usual array of June blossoms have mostly come and gone. I saw our neighbor and a friend of hers out in our garden the other day, ooohing and aaahing over this combination of perennial foxgloves and assorted foliage plants. "You should really take a picture of this, it's so beautiful," they told me. So here it is in honor of Bloom Day.

To see what's blooming in other gardens here, there and everywhere, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly meme.

Screaming yellow zonkers: GBBD 4.15.2012

If you are of a certain age you may remember Screaming Yellow Zonkers, a kind of sugary carmel corn packaged in a black box. I am always reminded of the name at this season of blooms of brightest yellow.

Here are some yellows for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  To see more visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts GBBD on the 15th of each month.

Shrub: Kerria japonica (detail and full view in the first two photos)

Bog plant: Detail and full view of Caltha palustris / Marsh marigold 

The last flowers of a huge shrub of Forsythia 'Beatrix Farrand'

Erythronium 'Pagoda' / Dog tooth violet or Trout lily

Shrub: Kerria japonica 'Pale Moon' is a more subtle version of the first plant pictured.

An Epimedium with large flowers that self-seeds: Epimedium grandiflorum ssp. koreana 'La Rocaille'

Another floriforous Epimedium: E. perralchicum 'Frohnleiten'

No description needed. This sunny little flower is blooming everywhere in the garden.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 03.15.2012

In March of 2011, I noted that the snowdrops had arrived just in time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. This year, the snowdrops have been blooming for almost a month. With rain on Monday, followed by a record high of 79 degrees F. yesterday, the garden is exploding.

The Hellebores are up, the woodland peonies are visible, as are Trilliums and primroses. But it's still only March and even though lots of plants have suddenly made an early appearance, the same is not true for their blooms. Still, this is much more of a show than we usually see on March 15th.

Double snowdrops:

Snowdrop 'Straffan':

Giant snowdrop (note leaf size):

Crocus 'Snow Bunting':

Yellow primrose (unnamed variety):

Assorted hybrid Hellebores:

Thanksgiving Hellebore from Seneca Hill: Every time the snow melts, this Hellebore perks up. It's been doing that since it began to bloom in December:

To see what's blooming in gardens around the world on the 15th of each month, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens. She hosts this monthly Bloom Day for Garden Bloggers.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 02.15.2012

Even though we've had what is certainly a mild winter, it's still too cold and too early for anything to be blooming outdoors in the garden. I'm hoping snowdrops will appear in time for GBBD next month. In the meantime, we've been getting a floral boost with a trio of Rex Begonias that were growing in pots on the deck last summer. I brought them all indoors, repotted them and they are suddenly puting on a growth spurt with the lengthening days. No flowers but the leaves are so ornamental that blossoms aren't really required. Alas the plant tags are long gone so I don't know the exact cultivar names.

To see what's blooming in other gardens in other climates, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly meme.