Late Winter...Early Blooms

The Daphnes are blooming!

Here's Alden's Regal Red...note the solid green leaves...


Try not to notice the winter damage...it'll be gone shortly... here's my favorite, Aureo-marginata, and as the name would indicate...notice the edge...


Yippee! Daphnes are divine for fragrance....as if you didn't know by my posting about them every year....

First of the tulips...


I thought I'd celebrate the crocus one last time as they are about done. I think there's one variety I have that is still to bloom...

Caught these guys before they opened wide to the sun...


Then later...


My fav Cream Beauties...


purples...


and whites...


The hyacinths are just beginning...


These are pink Roman Hyacinths...they increase like crazy here...


One last look at the early iris reticulata as their time is soon over...



The earliest of the daffodils....here's Cum Laude...which will need to be lifted this fall and spread around to give the bulbs more room...


This is a dwarf daffodil, Topolino...such a cute little thing...


closer...


February Gold....I think I should call mine March Gold...


closer...


This is NOT Gigantic Star, unfortunately....simply not gigantic in any way, but nice...and yellow...and in late winter, we'll take it...


Some Slim Whitman perhaps, but not Fragrant Breeze...


Some unknowns and Ice Follies:




Inside, we are watching the daylily seedlings grow and getting our rest. This is Leo....stretched out....all 11 pounds of him...in a dog bed meant for 100 lb. dogs...

Looking Back at April 1st, 2008

While looking for a picture of a heuchera I want to blog about, I realized that I can't keep putting off organizing all the zillions of pictures I have. The last two years are in particular disorder...often I open a file and find the latest picture is from 2006. I have a pretty good system, I just don't often find time to use it (and several external hard drives). For grins, I picked a day...April 1, 2008 (no foolin', ha)...and organized those pictures.

Here's the best for that day....no daylilies, of course.....April is daffodil time here. This year, I'll be looking forward to seeing what that macro lens will do...and maybe even try out the zoom. These pictures are from before my camera upgrade in May....when I didn't have to worry about lenses....

RING OF FIRE:




ROSEWORTHY:



(Roseworthy fades into a pinkish color) PINK PARASOL:



MOUNT HOOD (you might remember that this was one of the varieties I dug up last fall):



FLOWER RECORD:



(Flower Record also got dug up....we'll see how the bulbs respond to having more room and less competition) CAMPERNELLE (you can find this old fashioned historic daffodil at Old House Gardens):


CONSPICUUS:


SORBET:


HOLLYWOOD:


Annoying (when will I learn??...maybe this year (ha)...only buy from very reputable dealers/growers...repeat after me) this is NOT Curly:


More NOT Curly....pretty daffodil, though...whatever it might be:


I did show this one, I think on March 31st of last year...because I was so excited....I still am...can't wait to see it this year (fingers crossed)....my seedling....nature planned and planted:



A few other things did catch my camera eye. These tulips have been so reliable and faithful for me. I hope they are this year (2009) as well....I'm a bit concerned as there was a lot of activity where they reside....we'll see....PINNOCHIO:


I think this variety was new last year....we'll see about this year...SWEETHEART:


Finally, here's a picture of Brunnera Hadspen Cream...I've noticed that it has spread out quite a bit, so hopefully an even better show this year. It tends to send out solid green leaves on occasion (which I faithfully remove)....and in the heat of summer (like some variegated plants) may have green leaves (I hope that's the case and that the solid green hasn't taken over...we'll see this year).....I've put in another variegated Brunnera on the other side (under the Saucer Magnolia...I've given up on the thymes filing that area....except for one...)


In looking back, I found that it appears I didn't post very much, if anything, about my daffodils past the end of March last year. In fact, I found a number of drafts on all kinds of stuff...several of which may make the light of day this winter...stay tuned...

Mary Washington House Spring 2008

Today I made it to the Mary Washington House garden. My first visit of the season! Everyone was hard at work when I arrived and it was just great to see our group. There have been some changes since we (you and I) last took a look here.

For starters, a new fence is up thanks to some intrepid Boy Scouts. It looks most lovely behind all these yellow tulips, doesn't it?


Closer:


Those Boy Scouts hand cut each piece of wood which is really in the spirit of the time.

Last year, I missed the blooming of the tree peony. I am determined to see it this year.



This is a rescue by H the Horticulturist and some of the garden gang. It's doing amazingly; one would never know it was moved (I told you they are a talented bunch).

These black tulips against the white wall are pretty stunning.


Closer:



The redbud is striking as well:



You may remember the native columbine (some of these reside in my garden thanks to the MWH garden) from before. Look where this one has placed itself:



As we head out, it's hard not to notice the lilacs in bloom:



This was just a little taste of spring today. It will be a different garden when next we visit.