Warning: the following post contains material which may be unsuitable for those who can't handle an excessive amount of shade garden perennials and wildflowers. The poster is solely responsible for this overflow of photos. Some plants have been manually manipulated as noted.Here it is, the one I've been waiting for since last Autumn, a Bloom Day post with more than three flowers! (I'm metaphorically jumping up and down right now.) The Scilla, Sanguinaria and Hepaticas are all done blooming, and the last of the daffodils, 'La Vie En Rose' (shown above with Malus 'Prairiefire') has faded to white and is nearly done as well.
Although there's not much happening in the front garden, only the seedheads of Pulsatilla vulgaris
and the about-to-open seedheads of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum),
the Woodland Garden is at its peak. Something will be blooming in it for the rest of the season, but now is when it is an explosion of color and bloom.
Leaving the front garden, the small shaded border on the north side of the house is at its best with the Pulmonaria 'Roy Davidson' adding to the hellebore blooms.
All the hellebores are still blooming except for Helleborus niger. Through the gate is the woodland garden.
First, a photographic overview:
Normally, the crabapple is not blooming this late, but it decided to burst into full bloom just in time for Bloom Day.Turning left past gate are the Podophyllum peltatum. I confess that I flipped up a leaf
and the hood in these photos.
I returned both to their normal condition afterward. (Hey, they're my plants, I can play with them if I want.) Next to the Arisamea triphyllum is this little grouping.
This is Dicentra 'Candy Hearts' and the aptly named Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume,' both of which were new to the garden and that spot respectively.By the arbor is the ubiquitous Labrador Violet with the native Geranium maculatum.
This particular plant is a seedling that I selected for its more intense flower color.
This grouping is on the other side of the Heuchera 'Lime Rickey'. Shown from left are Polemium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven' with Epimedium 'Lilafee'.
Behind this group are the Little Merrybells, Uvularia perfoliata.
It has wandered across the path and now blooms under this group.
Dicentra 'Zestful,' the mother ship of Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume,' and Smilacina racemosa in bud.Another fragrant plant is Corydalis 'Blackberry Wine'.
There used to be three plants, but one died.It's Tiarella and Heucherella time at Squirrelhaven. This is the first of them to bloom, Tiarella 'Oakleaf'.
That is followed by my favorite-named plant in the garden, Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' (seen here with the double Anemonella and, yes, the Labrador Violet).
I can't see this plant without hearing in my head Harry Shearer's stentorian voice intoning "'In the Garden of Eden' by I. Ron Butterfly'" (from an episode of The Simpsons). The foliage of Heucherella 'Burnished Bronze' plays off the color of the neighboring hellebores.
This is Heucherella 'Sunspot,' which I prefer to its sibling 'Stoplight'.
I just can't resist neon pink flowers with yellow foliage, it's so subtle. For everyone who has ever accused me of impatience, here's the evidence to refute that charge:
I have waited over 10 years for this Trillium grandiflorum to bloom. I moved it from its original spot over half a dozen years ago. It is magnificent and it even has a scent. (That's Dodecatheon media 'Alba' and, yes, Labrador Violet blooming with it.) So many things in the garden this May have a wonderful scent that all I have to do is step out back to be surrounded by a heavenly perfume.It's the start of Iris season here at Squirrelhaven. The first to bloom are these mystery Bearded Irises that were here when I bought the property.
Opening just in time is the much smaller Iris cristata 'Eco Little Bluebird.'
Here it is growing with, once again, Labrador Violet.Not all native woodland wildflowers are small and dainty.
Case in point, the Celadine Poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum. This is such a great plant, as it is not ephemeral and blooms sporadically throughout summer.
I have planted it in several places throughout the garden. Here it provides a contrast to the blooms of Brunnera 'Hadspen Cream' and the last of the Mertensia.There is no way I could possibly post photos of everything blooming right now, so here is a list of those plants blooming but not pictured:
Dicentra 'King of Hearts,' Geranium macrorhizum, Geranium sylvaticum 'Mayflower,' Viola sororia, a just-beginning to bloom Aquilegia vulgaris, Thalictrum thalictroides and T. thalictroides 'Rosea' (Anemonella), Bergenia 'Bressingham White,' Lamium 'White Nancy' and a mystery pink Lamium, Forsythia (just a few flowers left), Anemone nemorosa (also nearly done), Phlox divaricata 'Plum Perfect,' and a white flowering quince.
*Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is the sole creation of Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Anyone else claiming credit does so at the risk of being throttled by a hoe.
50 comments:
MMD, thanks for the warning. I have nothing even close to resembling a woodland garden, so I am green with envy on all that you have blooming at SquirrlHaven.
Congrats especially on the Trillium. Ten years! We gardeners are patient, aren't we?
Oh, and I would never use a hoe in a violent way, unless of course it is against a weed that I don't like.
Thanks for joining in for bloom day, in your own unique way.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
I love your woodland garden. You have quite a lot in bloom despite the shade, and your variegated and chartreuse foliage also make it interesting. You'll be enjoying that shade come July, right?
Fabulous post about your blooms.
I envy you your trillium
Regards
Karen
Everything in your garden is glorious! I love the idea of a "woodland" garden!
Hi MMD, you have the perfect woodland garden, natives and exotics, I assume some are exotic?, but I almost missed the most unusual of them all, a white flowering quince??? Just like the coral ones with white blooms, or some other species? I want to see it, even though the whites are so hard to capture, please. ;->
Frances at Faire Garden
MMGD, you may not be able to grow the Rhododendrons, but you most certainly have a lot of what we grow here on a NC mountain top. Maybe you could try the Mountain Laurels, Kalmia species. They like a higher altitude than our 4000 feet.
I loved your postscript about Bloom Day and the Hoe.
Your pictures make me want to plant more trees in my yard!
I love all your little frothy mounds of flowers. It makes me want to be a woodland flower fairy.
Off-topic, what's up with the footnoted warning about GBBD? Is someone else trying to horn in on Carol's day? You get the hoe and I'll bring my rake.
MMD, You are truly a gardener extraordinaire! Your woodland garden is just beautiful; thanks for giving us a tour.
It's beautiful--I love shade gardens. It's amazing to me that all those plants come up after your winter.
No wonder you've been waiting for May to come, MMD! Your woodland shade garden is lovely. That's one advantage of a vintage house - you frequently get the established trees that make such an enchanted place possible. The Iris cristata 'Eco Little Bluebird' is a gem.
Since I was lucky enough to meet you, now I can imagine you out here, strolling and looking and yes - playing with the plants! Congratulations on the trillium - a decade of waiting for the bloom does affirm that you have patience.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
What a wonderful walk through your garden. You do a really nice job with the color echoes... and you know I like those little labrador violets for the contrast they provide! What I really want to know is how you keep 'Lime Rickey' so happy? It glows, without losing its yellowness or burning out leaves! Wow.
(ps. I'm still giggling at: "I just can't resist neon pink flowers with yellow foliage, it's so subtle.")
MMD, what a gorgeous and informative post! I can now see what an expanse you have to work with and am heuchera green with envy! Our woodland garden has to be confined to the north side of our house, due to our location on a corner in the middle of an old neighborhood in the city, so we do with it what we can! Hey, congrats on that stubborn Trillium! Ours are blooming like crazy right now (just did a post on them last night at my place). Looks like you're ahead of us in certain respects ... our iris are up but far from blooming so far and I'm still waiting on my pulmonaria!
Thanks again for such a lovely post!
I really enjoyed seeing your shade gardens. They look stunning. The colors flow so nicely. You've done an excellent job.
Wow what a selection, I thought I was doing all right in my shady area but its not a patch on yours. Fabulous flowers
MMD, your garden is simply beautiful. I love all the natives you have. That's a fabulous trillium. I'm crazy for heucheras, heucherellas, and tiarellas. You've got some great ones. They're quickly becoming mainstays in my garden. I got Stoplight a couple of years ago, and saw Sunspot for the first time last fall. Stoplight's nice, but I'm with you - Sunspot's better.
This Saturday, weather permitting, I'm installing a garden for a client. Sunspot and Heuchera Obsidian are among the plants. Obsidian is a favorite of mine too.
So many beautiful blooms (and so many I had never seen before). Ofcourse almost none of them would do in my garden, but that's the beauty of GBBD, you get to enjoy flowers that other way you would never see.
Wow - gorgeous. I love that you play with your plants. The Jack looked like a cat with its ears folded back (who doesn't love to torment kitties and woodland ephemerals occasionally?) Your geum has me in full "want that, need it now".
Carol - the hoe remark was merely in jest. I know you would never want to hurt an innocent hoe. Congrats on your major Mousie wins!
Pam - shade isn't quite as important in Illinois in July as it is in Texas, but it does make a difference. It's enjoyable to sit on the swing and listen to the rustle of the leaves in the summer breeze. Congrats to you also for your Mousies!
Karen - thanks, I think I've earned a little envy for the Trillium.
Nancy Bond - as I explained in my previous post, I had to have a woodland wildflower garden. I was just lucky to find a property with trees.
Frances - for you, I will post about the Quince. It's out front, next to the garage. It came with the house & is sorely overgrown. Yes, there are exotics in there, Hellebores, Hostas, non-native Campanulas, Monkshood, Tricyrtis & non-native Bugbanes.
Christopher - I don't think our soil is acidic enough for Mountain Laurels. I haven't seen anybody growing them around here. Glad you liked my attempt at humor.
Laura - go ahead, plant a tree. It's the "in thing" to do.
MSS - The bottom "warning" is merely my legally trained mind's warped sense of humor. The top warning got me onto that track & I just couldn't help myself.
Rose - thanks! It's easy to have a good looking shade garden in May. It doesn't look anywhere near as good in July.
Chuck - what's even more amazing is that some of these plants have leaves all winter or start sprouting in the winter.
Annie - what I'm usually doing out there is pulling out the weed seedlings. Stay tuned for my thrilling post on Buckthorn, Boxelder and Garlic Mustard weeding.
Blackswamp Girl - sarcasm is my middle name. Lime Rickey is in full dappled shade. Other than that, I can't say why it looks good. Heucheras & relatives like my garden. Coming from you, the compliment about my color echos is highly valued. Thanks.
Iowa Victory Gardener - the influence of Lake Michigan probably accounts for the difference in our blooming times. I'm in Zone 5, whereas Rockford, which is about an hour west of here, is only Zone 4.
Thanks, Anna, glad you liked it.
Hi, Helen! You've got to remember I've been working on this garden for 15 years. It's taken a long time to get the plants to work for me, instead of me working for the plants.
Garden Girl - Sunspot & Obsidian look great together. I don't have Obsidian because I want it all - foliage & flashy flowers. I'm trying to do something similar with Hollywood instead. It's so hard to just keep walking past the Heucheras at the nursery.
Gintonio - our gardens are about as different as they can get. I agree, that's the fun of Bloom Day.
Kris - get the Geum, they are the most carefree plants, yet they're pretty much evergreen.
Quite a striking idea that - hoe throttling!
Someone recently - I think it was MSS at Zanthan Gardens had a lovely post about garden gates.
The gate picture you have here reminded me of it.
Very peaceful and tempting!
(My gate leads straight to the compost bin!)
Esther
ESTHER IN THE GARDEN
What a wonderful garden!
So many great plants. You have the woodland garden of my dreams.
Allowing the plants to spread and self seed is what we are trying too,adding more plants slowly. We have trees and shade but are trying to build up the soil to a rich woodland loam.
I can't believe both you and Sweet Home and Garden Chicago have Jacob's Ladder blooming already.
We live in between and just foliage so far. No flowers on the wild geranium either. Maybe the soil is warming slower?
Ester - I wish I had a gate in front of my compost bin. It's a good thing to have, as it makes it appear that there's something interesting on the other side of the gate, something mysterious.
Gloria -thanks! My soil is very well drained, so it dries out faster & warms up quicker than heavy clay soil, which is what most soil is in this area. If my soil was heavy & wet, things would probably not be as far along as they are.
Oooooohhhhh, you have Dutchman's Breeches? And that Trillium is just splendid...I am so dang jealous! Wonderful Bloom Day!
What a beautiful garden walk we just shared! I have many of the same plants as you do, so, clearly, you have good taste! ;-) I just love the tiarella, pasque flowers, geum, irises, Jacks, and may apples. Say, you wanna come to my plant swap tomorrow? What? No, northern Illinois is not to far away from SE Michigan. No, it really isn't! Oh, OK, fine. I concede defeat!
~ Monica
MrMcDD, I just love the overall views of your shady plot. You certainly have lots blooming this time of year. I have a piece of that wild iris, I forget its name, but it isn't blooming yet. Here you are way ahead of me in that respect.
mmd,
I thought I left a comment here! Oh well, I am totally crazy about your wildflowers...They are wonderful...you have inspired me to try a few new ones ...and to do more editing of the plant material.
Gail
Your garden is so inviting and I loved seeing longer views of it and not just individual plants. My eyes were drawn to the Uvularia (I love them) and Heucherella 'Sunspot'. It has an almost glow-in-the-dark look to it. You've made many lovely pairings of foliage.
Yay for the trillium (and all the other woodland treasures)! I especially like the Labrador violets and the way they turn up far from where they were planted. Ooh, and that Iris cristata is such a nice blue color. I have one (Vein Mountain) that's much paler and now I think I need this darker one.
Your shade garden is so lush and inviting you better put a lock on the gate. You might find a blooming looneytic sitting on the swing if you don't. While the flowers may fade away your shade garden promises a cool summer hideaway.
Hi, Brenda Hyde, thanks for visiting! Yes, I have Dutchman's Breeches, and no, I didn't take a photo of them in full bloom. You'd think I'd have made sure I did because they didn't bloom last year.
Monica/The Garden Faerie - too much to do around the house for a road trip. I've never had much luck with plant swaps, I seem to be trying to give things away more than get anything. (Wild Ginger, anyone? Anyone?)
Lisa - although I didn't post it, I took a photo of the garden from atop the kids play fort-thing because of your post about taking photos from a height.
Gail - Wait 'til you see the Spikenard, it's already about 3 feet tall.
Kate - Thanks! I decided to do the longer views because this is when the garden looks good enough to do them.
Entangled - Yes, get more Iris cristata. I've been thinking I need to add another cultivar to extend their season, as they don't bloom as long as I would like. A pale blue or a white would look good with this one. I believe I started with 3 Labrador Violets.
Wiseacre - that gate has a latch only on the inside, so you'll have to be clever to figure out how to get it open. (The kids haven't figured it out yet.) We'll be stocking up on the citronella "Patty O'Candles" (I'm not making this up), for sitting on the swing in those summer evenings.
Only a little late in getting round the GBBDers, but so worth waiting for. Have a great weekend!
Thanks for a wonderful tour in your woodland area, just beautiful.
Have a nice weeekend
Ken
VP - I'm so far behind on my GBBD visiting it's scary!
Ken - thanks for taking the tour. I've got to come visit your virtual garden.
Woo-Wee! I'd say you DO have flowers! Absolutely stunning! I have read three or four of your posts on this page and they are outstanding. The one about you and your mother is precious.
I love photos that tempt us through the garden gate. A wonderful explore. I felt just like a Girl Scout on the woodland path, identifying plants. Thanks for being our leader and the creator of the space.~~Dee
Really lovely, lovely woodland plants. You have created a wonderful shade garden something I think if I had to do it over again, I would try to achieve. I find myself looking for more woodland plants to fill my tiny shade garden and find great pleasure when rewarded by their blooms.
Barbee - thanks so much!
Dee - don't remind me of those hideous green uniforms! Girl Scouts today are so lucky they only have to wear a vest.
Ki - there's something so special about the little woodland wildflowers. It's too bad so many of them are so hard to incorporate into a small space because of their need for camoflaging plants.
MMD, wow, an explosion of blooms is right! It's all just gorgeous.
MMD! What a fun tour of your backyard/Shady Garden!!! It is absolutely beautiful back there! I loved the tour! Can I come visit sometime?? :-)
Cindy - thanks! This is as good as it gets.
Shady - just let me know when you're coming & I'll get the hose out of the way.
Great post. I bet that was exciting when you saw that trillium blooming! We have some of the same plants. I have the celandine poppy and I agree with what you said. I also have the 'Stairway to Heaven' Jacob's Ladder ( it is so pretty) and I just bought the 'Lime Ricky' huechera last week. I don't think I've seen the 'Sunspot' variety but it is gorgeous. I love the way you have combined them.
Oh, wow. Right now you have the kind of blue flower garden that I can only dream of.
Thanks,Phllip! I was doing the happy dance for the Trillium. Its blooming was so unexpected.
Lori - I've managed to plant something with blue blooms for every season. Summer's blue is Campanula perscifolia, & autumn's is 'Bluebird' Aster. I used to have Gentians, but they died a few years ago.
What a nice assortment for Bloom Day!
MMD, your garden is glorious! That woodland garden is a delight. You have some unusual and interesting plants.
Three cheers for the trillium! :)
You had a long wait!
Thanks, Lisa!
Kerri - yeah, I guess most people don't grow (or have even heard of) Caulophyllum thalictroides. I don't think it will ever become a trendy plant.
Lovely! I adore woodland, I always have that feeling of magic when I see woods. I like Iron Butterfly lots! A pretty plant.
Hi, Salix Tree - Iron Butterfly's foliage looks even better later in the year, when the dark variegation shows more strongly. So far it's my favorite Tiarella.
That iris is amazing!
Hi, Heirloom Gardener! Iris cristata may be little, but it is worth a close look.
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