Exciting News Flash!

Pardon the hyperbole, but it is mostly true. Something has happened, and I find it very exciting. Never mind that this has happened before, because it has never happened so spectacularly. Okay, enough with the tease, cue fanfare, here it is:

the tree peony has finally bloomed. I say finally not because it is late (it is, in fact about a month early), but because I have been watching one bud in a state of suspended animation for over a month.

March 25, 2012

Normally, when a tree peony bud shows color, it opens within a day or two. A week ago, I was convinced that was the day, but the cool weather has held it back, but no more.

Last year was a great disappointment, with only two buds surviving to bloom, but this year a quick count reveals an unprecedented and record setting (for Squirrelhaven) 18 buds and blooms.

The identity of this plant is still in question. It is either Paeonia suffruticosa 'Chojuraka' or Paeonia rockii 'Ofuji Nishiki'.  Both are similar, but reputedly not the same. Whatever it is, the blooms are big, blousy, lemon-scented things.

my hand serves as a measure of comparison

They are a delight and a highlight of the gardening year here at Squirrelhaven. All the extra effort put in to protect them from frosts and freezes has paid off, and it is time for celebration.

In any event, I'm not the only one excited about the blooms.

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The Variability of Wildflowers

darker pink flowered seedling

The Geranium maculatum are blooming in the back garden. They started with three tiny plants and have spread by seed. The above photo shows one of the seedlings, the blooms of which are a darker pink than the original. The Squirrelhaven Geranium maculatums present a good example of genetic diversity in action.

species' standard bloom color

I prefer the darker pink to the paler lilac pink that is standard of the species.

This year, I noticed a new seedling, at a far remove from the original, near a couple of clumps of the dark pink.

The plant in the foreground has smaller blooms of pure pink.

Genetic diversity is important for species' survival. It allows for adaptation to changing environmental conditions and attacks by new pests. While buying cultivars has advantages of consistency of form or color, or other desirable traits such as dwarfism, gardeners should try to include species wildflowers in their gardens when possible. Aside from helping ensure the future of these plants, gardeners can enjoy nature's creativity and variety.

This post is part of Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail of Clay and Limestone.

Color Names

Syringa vulgaris

With the lilacs oddly in bloom now, I started thinking about the word lilac. Not all lilac blooms are, in fact, lilac. I recall fondly the big trusses of lilac, white, and deepest purple wafting sweet scent above my head at a property down the street. So of course, it doesn't bother me that lilacs can be another color.

Why, then, do I find myself convinced that lavender blooms should be lavender, not pink, not white?

Lavandula 'Hidcote'

I feel the same way about gentians, they should be gentian blue. Yet, I don't need roses to be rose colored.

Canadian Explorer series rose 'John Cabot'

I can handle differently colored pinks.

Dianthus

I'm crazy about primroses that aren't primrose,

Primula hybrid

 and I don't need my fuchsias fuchsia.

Fuchsia hybrid

I'm worried about being inconsistent, but then, as Emerson said "[a] foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

My Sweet Lady Jane -- NOT

Have you ever had one of those moments where you're looking at pictures in a magazine or catalogue or reading a blog and you suddenly wonder why you never appreciated a certain plant before? I had one of those when I was reading a post by Jenny of Rock Rose in which she posted photos of her clusiana tulips. I had seen pictures of it before, but these somehow struck me, and I knew I had to have them. Instead of the straight species, I planted Tulipa clusiana 'Lady Jane' 'Peppermint Stick'. And now, I'm enjoying the payoff.

'Lady Jane' 'Peppermint Stick' isn't stiff and upright. She twists and sprawls in a charmingly casual style.

'Lady Jane' 'Peppermint Stick' has a mercurial character, looking mostly red when closed.

But on blooming, the petals open wide

photos taken one half hour apart

then wider and start to reflex, showing the inside white with a red violet heart.

Unpretentious, small and utterly charming, I am smitten.

Edited April 20, 2012 3:45 p.m. 
My mistake. I could have sworn that I ordered 'Lady Jane', but I just looked at the tag, which says 'Peppermint Stick'. In my defense, I plead a nasty cold verging on bronchitis resulting in sleep deprivation. I apologize for the error.

May Bloom Day in April

Malus 'Prairiefire'

If you didn't look at the calendar while out in the garden, you'd swear it was mid-May. The scents of crabapple, Phlox divaricata, bearded Iris and Calycanthus floridus 'Athens' mingle and waft on the breeze. As the above photo shows, the crabapple is in full bloom. The girl saw a hummingbird visiting it yesterday (of course I was too late to see it).

There is so much in bloom right now, I wish I could share all of it. The redbud (Cercis canadensis) is still in bloom, while Daphne burkwoodii 'Silver Edge' is in full swing.

I'm not sure I like the scent, but the ornamental qualities are outstanding.

Also loaded with promise are the little blueberries I grow in pots, 'North Sky' and 'Northern Blue'.

I can't wait for the fruit.

Just coming into "bloom" (actually bracts) is the kousa dogwood, Cornus kousa 'Beni Fuji'

This is the reddest the bracts have ever looked.

Turning from woody plants to bulbs, it's surprising how much is still hanging on. This big mystery tulip (ID please?)

has been blooming for weeks.

Making its Bloom Day debut is a new bulb for me from my friend Leslie of Growing a Garden in Davis,

Leucojum, the so-called summer snowflake.

There are still daffodils in bloom and daffodils to come.

Narcissus 'La Vie En Rose'

Narcissus 'Stainless'

The woodland garden is nearing it's climax for the year.

Dicentra 'Bountiful', Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume' and Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly'

Phlox divaricata 'Lemon Slice' has the same fragrant flowers,

but the foliage makes it really stand out.

Still blooming from last month are Stylophorum diphyllum

and Mertensia virginica

The look-alike flowers of Pulmonaria are also in bloom.

P. 'Roy Davidson' is paired with a seedling hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus).

Opening just in time for Bloom Day are the Dodecatheons.

This is a disappointing year for Trillium. T. flexipes has no bloom, while one of the other white Trillium got damaged by the freezes. This T. grandiflorum survived just fine.

It is paired with the non-native Brunnera macrophylla 'Hadspen Cream'.


My new favorite Brunnera is 'Diane's Gold',

seen here with the labrador violet.

At the front of the woodland garden, Epimedium 'Lilafee'

and Anemonella thalictroides (Thalictrum thalictroides) 'Oscar Shoaf'.

Nearby, is a lone variegated Lunaria from seed my friend Helen Yoest of Gardening with Confidence gave me.

There was nothing wrong with the seed. The fault is mine; I accidentally weeded them out.

To finish, the newly opened blooms of the bearded Iris.

As always, thanks goes to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day.

Also in bloom:
Anemonella thalictroides
Anemonella thalictroides var. rosea
Anemonella thalictroides 'Cameo'
Arisaema triphyllum
Asarum canadensis
Brunnera 'Looking Glass'
Corydalis 'Blackberry Wine'
Dicentra 'King of Hearts'
Forsythia
Geranium maculatum
Geum triflorum
Muscari
various hellebores
Heucherella 'Burnished Bronze'
pansies, violas and violets
Polemium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven'
Pushkinia libanotica
Tiarella 'Pink Brushes'
Tiarella wherryi

Beware of Iris Borers

I've been keeping a close eye on my bearded Iris this spring. Not because of the precociousness of the buds this year, but because the irises suffered from iris borers last summer. It's possible to have bearded Iris without the disgusting insects, but I brought into my garden some irises from my mom's garden, and I knew that her irises had problems with the borers several years ago. I thought I was careful, only taking healthy rhizomes, but there must have been a hitchhiker.
To eliminate these pests, the gardener needs to remove all the old foliage in the fall where the little buggers overwinter, which I somehow failed to do. So now, I have to go on seek-and-destroy missions before the borers mature and make their way into the rhizomes. The tiny larva start out up on the foliage and chew their way inside.

Not a pretty sight, but there's still hope for this plant. A quick snip with pruners below the invasion site should do the trick. The infested leaves must not be put into the compost pile, but must be destroyed.

Yes, it's tedious to search every leaf, but it must be done and is much less unpleasant than digging full-fledged borers out of stinking, rotting rhizomes. Is it worth it? Here's my answer:

May 2011

The Other Shoe Has Dropped

Malus 'Prairiefire' (note the frost on the lawn)

Back in March, when the temperature soared into the 80s for days on end, I could not enjoy it. I knew, from years of living in Northern Illinois, that no matter how warm March may be, there will always be a freeze in April. And so I waited for the other shoe to drop. Weeks passed, plants continued to grow and bloom, albeit at a slower pace once the weather returned to normal. Then it came, the hard freeze with a frost.

Of course I protected the tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa).

I finally found just the thing for protecting it, the Shrub Guard. The tree peony is now so big, it needs two of them. At left, a Clematis is also covered. That was a mistake. I'm quite surprised at the resilience of Clematis buds.

These unprotected buds were unscathed. I should have used the shrub bag to protect the two Golden Spirit smokebushes (Cotinus coggygria 'Ancot') instead.

after the frost

Nearly all of the newest leaves and the flower buds got zapped. This is what it's supposed to look like.

before the frost

Just another lesson courtesy of the School of Hard Knocks. These shrubs are in the front, unprotected by trees. A Hydrangea in front also suffered damage.  In a similar vein, the buds on the covered portions of a Calycanthus floridus 'Athens' were fine, while the uncovered portions were not. Now I know, in case of a late freeze, cover the Calycanthus, the Cotinus and the mop-headed hydrangeas, not the Clematis.

Other buds and blooms that survived the frost include the crabapple pictured at top, the Tiarellas

and Polemium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven'.

Another freeze is forecast for tonight. I'm armed with Shrub Guard bags and increased knowledge. I am undaunted.