Spring....continuing...

Ipheon Uniflorum 'Rolf Fiedler'


...such a great color of blue...which I...still...haven't captured here...

Last night, I experienced a sweet little fragrance, but couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. The daphne near there is pretty much done, as are the viburnums...not the fragrant azalea...the mock orange is about to burst open, but not just yet....so, what?


Yes, from about six to ten feet away...it was the tiny Baby Moon daffodils. I guess this year, there are finally enough of them to make a statement. So, if you should add these, order plenty...you'll want to enjoy their fragrance sooner.

Baby Moon daffodils are my marker for the late daffodils. Once they bloom, I know it is the beginning of the end. Well, it is getting toward late April....those still going will carry us to the end of the month for about two months of bloom, I'd say.

In recent years, I have begun to collect some of the mini hostas. Very sweet and tiny, they lend a nice touch to special areas. Mine are adjusting to living with shade from daylilies as the giant tree that used to shade them is now gone. They're coming up now and I'm pleased to say there were no losses this year.

My very first one a few years ago was this one, Green Eyes...


Some of them...perhaps this one...would make nice border plants in the right place.

Here's one called Cherish...


One in the Mouse series, Holy Mouse Ears.


Country Mouse...


Masquerade...


Cat and Mouse...


Cute name, Cookie Crumbs....


Elsley....


Just in case you were curious, the new daylilies are beginning to arrive....


Creeping Phlox with crabapple blooms...

March.....

This is my first...and only...at least at this time....daffodil seedling...




If this seems vaguely familiar, it's because I first saw this seedling bloom in 2008 and put it in near the end of this post here... It didn't bloom last year, which was rather upsetting....however, it looks robust this year and perhaps the bulb is even increasing. I'll be leaving it alone to see what it does. This is an unknown x unknown as I didn't cross it or plant it....but, I'll take it! Still going strong two days later (this latter picture was taken yesterday 032710)..,


Can you tell I'm proud? :) Since it's the Season of Daffodils, there is more to see. Here, I believe we are still not quite into mid daffodil season, but getting close. As I write this, I can hear the rain coming down. This will mean some more daffodils on the ground...and since I have a rule that those lying on the group can be cut....yippee! More to bring inside tomorrow (the upside)....luckily, there are lots who take the pounding and keep on standing. I think, actually, that those with sturdy stems are better, but I can't part with any. One day....(does 'one day' ever come?)....I intend to move all the floppies and the unknowns to an area and just treat them like a cutting garden.

New this year is Velocity....I looked at it and my first thought was "It looks an awful lot like Jetfire." So, I came in and looked it up on DaffSeek....and what did I read? Something about it is an improved Jetfire. (I would quote it exactly but at this moment DaffSeek is down for maintenace). Whatever was I thinking when I ordered this one?? I have plenty of Jetfire. Silly me. I much prefer the unusual...and pinks....or white and yellows....


Speaking of the rain, I noticed when I uploaded this picture of Audubon from my camera that the last rain had left it a bit dirty. Just means I'll have to keep trying for a better picture...


A nice little grouping here of Curlew....


Sort of a follow up here of Cassata which led my last post....you can see they are fading to white...that's one of the cool things about daffodils is that they change with time...sometimes, the colors become a bit more intense...or you might see that yellow finally turn to the salmon pink that was promised...but, whatever...I like'em....


This bouquet of Tete-a-Tete sits right at the edge of the driveway. Thankfully, no one has stepped on it...yet...This variety likes this spot (maybe it likes to live dangerously) and seems to be increasing well. I have it in several other spots....and well, in a couple of them, we might as well write them off. I know that some varieties will take a year off, but these are taking years off. I think in one case, they simply didn't get enough sun and dwindled away....


Cute, though. I think you find these a lot in the big box stores, ready to plant out either blooming or almost blooming. Speaking of this (I was thinking how around Easter they all get potted goodies in like, hydrangeas, lilies and tulips plus daffs, etc...maybe even some hyacinths...), I bought an Easter Lily! It's just something I like to do...wouldn't quite feel like Easter without one.

My plan has been to replant them in an area...which would have been fine except that 1) I either forget to...and/or 2) the area I chose is pretty tough (let me count the things that should be there or used to be there...)...so that my "Field of Lilies' (Easter lilies, that is) is not much to look at. Hey, maybe I'll start again with the one that's sitting in the window...

Now, this was interesting...I think I've mentioned several times that I dug up and moved a number of daffodils last fall...that can be challenging, I have learned.....as it can be near impossible to get all the bulbs.....hmmm, in some cases, it's probably best to replant in the same area, if that's the case....but, in others, it isn't...for a lot of reasons...so, I have a little patch of Cum Laude that's blooming where they used to be...and then I have what I believe is Virginia Sunrise blooming....I'm thinking that I had two little groups of Virginia Sunrise and I didn't dig the second one because....it took last year off.....well, I was quite surprised to find this cute guy blooming in front of the un-dug Virginia Sunrise group....


Pretty nice, huh. I have no idea who this is. I'm sorta wondering if it was mixed in with the Virginia Sunrise....


There, you can see the Virginia Sunrise and the newbie beneath it. Very wild. I'm debating about moving some of these (the Virginia Sunrise, the Cum Laude(s)) 'in the green' as I suspect I'll forget about them otherwise. They don't have labels since their cousins were all moved with the labels.

I've made some hard tasks for myself. Year before last, I somehow managed to mix up the hard dug bulbs and especially those I meant to save for myself....and must have given them away....and ended up with the 'mixes' here that I had not intended to keep. Maybe the gnomes got into my garage and switched things up.

So, I see where Dreamlight is supposed to be that it appears to be a Butterfly mix of daffodils (from those early years when I thought mixes were cool...who needs to know a name?)...I am hopeful that the ones in front are actually Dreamlight (skinner leaves, not blooming yet and different buds)....what was I thinking?? This will not be fun to try to separate these bulbs...

Here's a tiny little bulb called Puschkinia...

...and the Snowflakes are beginning...


I am unable to get satisfactory pictures of Ipheon uniflorum(s)....the blues are defeating me at the moment, but Ill keep working away at it/them...