Weeding on the Wild Side

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Foliage Follow-Up, April 17, 2016

This is my Foliage Follow-up post, following my April GBBD post, thanks to hostess Pam at Digging. Foliage is the backbone of the garden, and by April there is a lot of nice fresh spring foliage. Some I most admire are the Japanese Maples, purchased as 4"potted trees. The largest is Amber Ghost-

Purple Ghost, being trained to a more upright position, it doesn't retain the red foliage in summer but has glorious red fall foliage, more than Amber Ghost-

The newest little Sister Ghost with lovely variegation, it at least lives up to its name-

Then there are 2 cutleaf weeping Japanese maples, this one is more orange-

I have tried to shape the interior-

New foliage on the Huckleberry has bronzy tones-

Hellebores turn into great foliage plants after blooming-

A vigorous shiny-leaved bright green shrub with foliage great in a vase yearround, and that spreads by suckering, very tough, Lonicera nitida, also available in a variegated form that is not as vigorous-

My latest Manzanita aquisition from Hortlandia, still small and not as hardy as the other 4 so planted on the east side of my house hoping for protection there from cold-

Arctostaphylos pajaroensis 'Myrtle Wolf'

What foliage do you find particularly inviting now? Hannah

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Saturday, April 16, 2016

What's Blooming now, April 16, 2016

It's time to see what is blooming now for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, with hostess Carol. Many flowers are 2-4 weeks early.

Today I am also linking with-

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

The Camellia japonica has been blooming for a couple of weeks-

The lilac is blooming, perfuming the air,

and even more fragrant, Daphne tangutica, blooming its heart out-

The gorgeous mounds of native Trilliums have been blooming for a while and have faded to magenta, here in my second shade garden-

The other magenta flowers are Lunaria, with also variegated Vinca major=

The Anemone nemorosa alba has also fade magenta-

My new Euphorbias that I planted last fall are blooming, Ascot Rainbow-

And Tiny Tim-

Tiny Tim from above=

The Columbines are beginning their spring show, where they have spread and developed many charming colors, more to come-

The Geums are blooming, as well as the Pulmonarias, Hellebores, and Daffodils, and the apples, pears, and plums have been blooming a few weeks. I like regular Tulips, but the squirrels and voles get most of the developed hybrid varieties, but don't bother some species tulips that have lasted me quite a few years, T. batalini 'Bright Gem', here with some Ajuga spikes-

Spring is exciting once it gets going, and it seems some flowers are 2-4 weeks earlier than previous years. What is blooming for you? -Hannah

Monday, April 11, 2016

Over the Moon April 11, 2016

The excitement of spring continues to amaze. Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

The cow had a growing feeling she was forgetting something, so she went for a stroll in the garden and soon remembered-

The many delicate little blue flowers were somehow very soothing-

After several days, the Forget-Me-Nots had grown taller-

The early flowers continue to amaze me, here is the shade garden I showed before here, now the columbines have begun to bloom as well-

My seed-grown Primulas from several years ago, these are the ones that survived where others did not, some of the mixed Cowslips turned out to be red-

In addition my large Stylophorum diphyllum bloomed but seems to blow rather fast, I saw a smaller version with many small flowers I hope to find this year-

The named Geums started blooming as well, in their lovely orange shades, the tall Totally Tangerine-

The short Queen of Orange-

And the delectable Mango Lassi, named for a drink, I think-

And now for this Monday's vase, I accepted Cathy's challenge to plonk some flowers in a vase, it is rather a mish-mash of colors, starting with variegated Vinca major with blue-purple flowers, Daphne tangutica,with white flowers backed in magenta, that surpasses the lilacs in wafting fragrance through my garden and perfuming the air. I added spiky flowers of a darker Ajuga, a couple of Fritillary flowers discovered late, with their darling checkerboards, and a sprig of my seed-grown Primula cowslips that turned out to be a delightful red-

I hope those in the Northeast US are getting some of their spring back, the weather has been quite nice here, even a couple of hotter days but back to cool now. Hannah

Monday, April 4, 2016

Flower carpets April 4, 2016

Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

An endearing part of spring for me are the carpets of green studded with flowers that suddenly appear. Anemone nemorosas are favorites, the white flowers with magenta streaks on the back that slowly darken to magenta-

And the purple ones that do so well dry shade under a large big-leaf maple-

and in my blueberries-

And here is how pathetic the rest of the blueberries look without the anemones-

The Pulmonarias do a good job of carpeting a bed especially when combined with a small-leaved hosta and the geraniums that will really take over later-

This one is a seedling that looks strongly like Excalibur, exceedingly silver-

Looking for flowers to put in a vase for In a Vase on Monday, I wanted to use some more of the daffodils-

The white-petaled one with large orange cup is Sound, I'm not sure of the yellow-petaled, orange trumpet, the little one is either Poeticus or Pheasant's Eye. And which one do you think has the most fragrance? If you guessed Poeticus you know your daffodils-

They seemed a little lonely so I added a few dark hellebores-

I noticed a solitary tulip blooming that managed to escape the voles and squirrels, so had to do another vase with it and the lilacs that just started blooming; I saw the hellebores of a similar tint, and I also added a sprig from Osmanthus delavayi, which is also fragrant but not as strong as the lilacs-

I noticed some white daffodils blooming too, the long-awaited Thalia and a larger one I don't know-

The lilacs in real life look more purple, here is a close-up looking pink-

And the white daffodils, there is so much elegance in their starchy stiff look, so white-

I'm continually surprised how early everything is blooming, I would have to look at dates on my photos for last year to see just how much. Are your spring flowers early too? Hannah

Another flower-