Month End Views & We Have a Winner

mystery mini Daffodil

I haven't done any end of the month views (as suggested by Helen the Patient Gardener) for several months because the garden looked exactly the same at the end of February as at the end of December: snow covered. But what a difference March has made. Like Cindy, at From My Corner of Katy, I show the garden warts and all. (See her "Through the Garden Gate" series.) The view from atop the playset shows the pieces of a project I'm working on with the girl.

We're making a twig sculpture, the parts of which can be seen in the lower left corner. I should have moved the blue pot, as it's blocking the view of some Crocuses in full bloom. The watering can signals how dry it has been. I've finally used up the last of the water I drained from the rainbarrel last fall.

The view of the southeast corner, with the 'Pink Lady' Hellebores just starting to bloom.

It doesn't look like much from above, but at ground level, the Anemonella (Thalictrum thalictroides) is in bud. (One of these days I'll get a good shot of it.) It's one of my favorite wildflowers, maybe one of my favorite plants. Its deep maroon foliage fades into the mulch from a distance. So much of the March garden needs to be appreciated close up and personal.

The view from the patio shows another project on which I'm working.

I'm using the chunks of concrete I dug up last year to make a path.

So far, so good. I have lots of material with which to work.

That's concrete from a different hole near the end of the long border. The Narcissus 'Ice Follies' will probably start blooming this afternoon.

The woodland garden is coming to life.

The Hepatica nobilis var. acuta is in full bloom, and the Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) just started blooming.

I think it's going to be a good year for them.

The photo doesn't do justice to the back of the woodland garden, where the Mertensia virginica (bluebells) have started budding and the Stylophorum diphyllum (Celadine Poppy) has leafed out.

There's even a Daffodil, but why only one is blooming is beyond me.

On the north side of the house, the Hellebores are starting to bloom and the Pulmonaria is forming buds. I lost one of the Pulmonarias over the winter.

There's also Sanguinaria in there too, and lots of Asarum canadensis, the wild ginger, just starting to come to life.

I'm ashamed of not cleaning out these containers yet.

I put them there after we put the fountain away for the winter. We'll take it back out in May. Those little Daffodils are in bud, but probably won't be in bloom for several days.

On the other side of the front walk,

the Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) is forming buds, as are the Daffodils and the Scilla are coming into full bloom. I already cut down the grasses so the Pulsatilla vulgaris will be visible when it starts to bloom.

That's it for the views, now on to the news: congratulations to Benjamin Vogt, of The Deep Middle, the winner of the Seed Keeper Kit. For everyone else, thanks for participating, and if you want your own kit, visit their website. I'm already using mine.*

I forgot to mention that thanks go to Kerrie and Carol of the Seed Keeper Company for donating one for the contest, and thanks also go to the boy for doing the drawing.

*Freebie alert!! I was given a Seed Keeper Kit.

Helleboremania!

Helleborus x hybridus 'Red Mountain' April 2009

Is it possible to have too many Hellebores? I've concluded the answer is yes, at least it is here at Squirrelhaven. There are Hellebores scattered throughout the woodland garden, on the north side of the house,

in the southeast corner, even out front, where one has seeded itself like a weed.

Looking at all the emerging Hellebores, I decided to count them. (Don't worry, I don't have Obsessive-compulsive disorder; I don't usually count things, and I never count the cars while stopped at train crossings.) Including seedlings, I counted 61 Hellebores on my property, which is less than a half acre. That's just too many. I don't know how I let them get so out of control. I've been deadheading them for several years now.

I've even weeded out seedlings and composted them. This Hellebore is in constant peril of being trodden on by my large, clumsy feet.

I can't imagine how this one under the log is managing to grow.

For their own good, the madness must stop.

I'm going to keep most of the ones I've got, and what a selection it's turning out to be. I started off with Helleborus niger. I bought and planted three plants. Two died. One flourished and seeded about.

Then I bought two different hybrids, three plants of each. Most of the hybrid Hellebores for sale are from seed strains, so while the three plants I purchased were all labeled 'Pink Lady,'

pink 'Pink Lady'

there is variability which results in these dark flowered forms.

red 'Pink Lady'

dark 'Pink Lady'

I've also noticed that the flowers change color over time, probably related to the temperature. They get lighter as it gets warmer, as can be seen from this photo from last April of these same plants.

Note all the seedlings surrounding the three original plants.

'Red Mountain' (photo at top) has come remarkably true to seed, except for the white one, which I've dubbed 'White Mountain.'

I foolishly allowed both groups to set seed, resulting in some interesting seedlings, including a spotted one.

Two years ago, I was smitten with a Hellebore that is not a seedstrain, 'Kingston Cardinal,' a double from the old Heronswood run by Dan Hinkley. I purchased one mailorder (because of the price) from Plant Delights Nursery. It didn't bloom last year, but it's about ready to bloom for the first time.

I'm so excited.

I must have been firmly in the grip of Helleboremania in 2008, because I also bought a couple of Helleborus x nigersmithii 'Walhelivor' (Ivory Prince ™).

I don't know why I got only two of them.

Then last year, I was possessed by the Hellebores at The Growing Place garden center in Naperville, and came home with this beauty, H. hybridus 'Ballerina Strain.'

I'm still wowed by that color.

At the Chicago Flower and Garden Show in March, I actually picked up a double Hellebore at The Growing Place's booth. Before I could pay for it, sanity hit me like an electric shock, a voice in my head saying, "Put that Hellebore down and back away. There's no place for another Hellebore, no matter how ruffled and pink." While I don't usually hear voices in my head, much less listen to them, I put it back and walked away. I think I've finally recovered from Helleboremania.

Do you suffer from Helleboremania? Would you like to?

A Wildflower for All Seasons: Wildflower Wednesday

So many of my favorite Northern Illinois native wildflowers are ephemeral, but the earliest bloomer of them all definitely is not. Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (f/k/a Hepatica acutiloba), also know as sharp-leaved hepatica, is in fact evergreen.

It's called sharp-leaved or acuta because the leaves come to a point,

distinguishing it from another native Hepatica, H. nobilis var. obtusa (f/k/a Hepatica americana) or round-leaved hepatica.

(Photo taken January 2008.)

Notice the difference in leaf shape. The flowers are indistinguishable, but H var. acuta blooms earlier. Both are small plants with flowers that open in the sun, although H. var. acuta is slightly larger.

This plant shows half of the winter leaves trimmed off to better display the blooms. It is planted at the foot of a Cottonwood tree, so it clearly tolerates dry shade. The old foliage still shows a vestige of its fall coloration.

It's at its most vibrant in November, when this photo was taken.

The plant blooms before the new foliage emerges.

These flowers are mostly white, but they show traces of pink. Last year, they were more blue.

Photo taken April 6, 2009

The new leaves emerge green and remain attractive all summer.

Photo taken May 2009, shown with Trillium grandiflorum, Viola labradorica, Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), and shooting stars (Dodecatheon media alba).

If you have shade, why not give this little charmer a try?

Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (Hepatica acutiloba)

Zones 3-7

Partial shade to shade

Prefers moist soil but will tolerate dry shade

Height to 6 inches

Blooms March-April, foliage evergreen

Associates well with ferns, trilliums, and other woodland wildflowers

Native to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin

Thanks goes to Gail of Clay and Limestone, for coming up with Wildflower Wednesday to celebrate the beauty of our wildflowers.

Rites of Spring, Chicago Style

I apologize for having been a bit derelict lately about responding to comments and visiting other blogs. I've been busy earning my stripes as an Irish dance mom. The girl joined a dance troupe at her school, Trinity Irish Dance, the largest and most well-known Irish Dance school in Chicago.

St. Patrick's Day is a bigger deal in Chicago than it is in Ireland. For the past week, she has performed at restaurant bars, schools, churches, the United Center for the Chicago Bulls' pregame (fortunately, VIS drove her there for that one), a retirement home, and finally, yesterday at the Chicago Travel and Adventure Expo at the convention center in Rosemont.

(These are the most advanced dancers, not the girl's group.) It's been long days and lots of driving for the girl and I, and I haven't been able to be online because I don't have an iPhone or a Droid (yet). I've been reading a lot instead, currently fellow Chicago area resident Audrey Niffenegger's second novel Her Fearful Symmetry. I bless whoever came up with Irish Dance wigs, I'm eternally in your debt.

But that's enough of wandering off topic. When I haven't been driving or watching Irish dancing, I've been outside gardening as much as possible while the weather was fine. We had an incredible stretch of warm, sunny days (it was 65F/18C on Friday). I finished spring garden cleanup and planted my sweet peas. I used the sprout in the paper towel method recommended by Nan Ondra on her blog Hayefield because my previous efforts at growing sweet peas have all ended in disaster. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about this especially since the first day of spring brought snow. Snow in March and April is a tradition in Chicagoland, so it doesn't faze me at all, nor does it bother the Iris reticulatas which I planted last fall.

I haven't grown them since I moved here. Why was that? They are terrific little troupers, shrugging off snow easily and providing some much needed dark color to the early spring garden's yellows and whites.

I wish I could say I'll have more time for blogging this week, but the kids are on spring break now, so I'll be busy with them all week. And then the garden centers will be opening....

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Don't forget to enter the drawing for a Seedkeeper Kit; it ends March 31, 2010.

Awakening: March Foliage Followup

I'm combining Foliage Followup, brought to you by Pam of Digging, with Gardening Gone Wild's Picture This photo contest for March. The theme is "Awakening," which is what my garden is doing now that the snow has melted. My entry for the contest is the above photo, Stylophorum diphyllum, the native Celadine Poppy.

Here's a sampling of foliage, most of them showing how things made it through the winter under the snow, except where noted Top row: Hepatica nobilis var. acuta, new growth of Pumonaria 'Roy Davidson,' Tiarellas 'Pink Brushes' and possibly 'Iron Butterfly,' new Tulip sprouts with Heuchera 'Cintronelle,' Helleborus x nigersmithii 'Walhelivor' (Ivory Prince™).

Middle row: a chartreuse suite of Aquilegia Vulgaris, Campanula garganica 'Dickson's Gold,' and Campanula persicifolia 'Blue-Eyed Blond'; sprouts of Mertensia virginica, the native Bluebells; Penstemon 'Pike's Peak Purple'; Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa; Aquilegia vulgaris seedling; new sprouts of Hylotelephium (Sedum) 'Matrona.'

Bottom row: Daphne x burkwoodii 'Silver Edge,' Symphyotrichum (Aster) laeve 'Bluebird' in need of cleanup, variegated Lavender with Dianthus 'Cranberry Ice,' Veronica prostrata, 'Verbrig' (Goldwell™), new growth of Aconitum fischerii (?), and a repeat shot of Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (sorry, I didn't notice it until just now).

Finally,

Emerging daffodil sprouts, the amazing, incredible Geranium 'Bob's Blunder' (I had no clue it was evergreen, or ever dark purple), the same shot of Hellebore foliage as the last collage (which I just now noticed also), a mystery Sempervivum, and a sprout of Allium aflatunenense 'Purple Sensation.'

Obviously, I need to be a bit more careful making collages, but I am just so excited by how well so many plants came through the winter and all the new sprouts popping up all over the garden.

What's sprouting in your garden today?

Spring Begins: March Bloom Day

While Capistrano has its swallows, the return of the Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets to Squirrelhaven signals the true beginning of spring. By yesterday afternoon, all the ice had melted from the pond and only a small mound of snow remains by the front curb. The balmy weather last week (50s and 60s (13-17C), with lows above freezing) has woken the flowers from their long sleep, although the weather will turn nasty again as the rollercoaster of spring continues its run. Despite the extended period of snowcover, the garden is right on track.

Galanthus elwesii (giant snowdrops) are at their peak of bloom.

These early bloomers have been joined by the blooms of Hamamelis x hybrida 'Sunburst' (witch hazel).

They've finally opened fully.
The little crocuses

here C. chrysanthus in the shade garden, and Crocus tommansinianus out front, have just started blooming, as have the little winter aconites.

I'm confused about the identity of this plant, whether it is Eranthis hyemalis or Eranthis cicilica. The latter plant has more finely divided leaves, which leads me to believe that mine are E. cicilica.

The hellebores are about to open. Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose, is usually the first to open.

Helleborus 'Walhelivor' (Ivory Prince™) isn't far behind,

but Helleborus x hybridus 'Pink Lady Strain' rebloomer is still acting very strangely.

When the snow finally melted from on it a few days ago, there were a couple of tattered blooms on the plant and this fresh bud. This plant is in the last group to emerge from the snow because it grows in the shade of the south fence. The other 'Pink Lady Strain' hellebores are just sprouting new growth.

Finally, another surprise:

This pansy emerged from the snow with a bud. I've never had a pansy make it through the winter before, much less do so ready to burst into bloom.

Has spring come to your garden?

Visit Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, the hostess of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day to see what's blooming all over the world on the 15th of the month. Happy Bloom Day!

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Don't forget to enter to win a Seed Keepers Kit.