Bordering my garden is a thicket predominated by black locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia, flowering below), willow seedlings, mulberry, and pernicious vines. Long ago I aspired to keep this area cleaned up to claim as part of the garden, though it’s outside my property. I’ve been mostly successful managing the long stretch of forest that borders the…
Too much moisture, too little, and just right
The dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata ‘Tennessee White’, below) is a vigorously spreading native to woodlands and along streams in the eastern and southeastern United States, so the gardener would suspect that it grows best with abundant moisture, and perhaps some shade. But, the iris grows best in nearly full sun, and I’m afraid that I’ve…
Sweetshrub and other April flowering shrubs
Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus, below) is native to much of the eastern United States. It’s not commonly found in gardens due to its unremarkable form and foliage, but I’m certain that it deserves greater consideration for shrub borders, and particularly for plantings at the partially shaded edge of wooded spaces. Sweetshrub’s April flowers are distinctive, though…
Here comes trouble
My wife took a break from her studies yesterday to take a stroll through the garden. Since she has gone back to school for a mid-life career change she doesn’t spend much time outdoors, which is fine with me since she usually has a few “suggestions” for me. She instructs me to prune this or…
A redbud seedling
In my garden I’ve planted a bunch of redbuds (Cercis canadensis), but none are the standard green leafed variety. I have nothing against green. There is a green leafed weeping variety (‘Lavender Twist’), but the others have variegated foliage (‘Silver Cloud’), or yellow (‘Hearts of Gold’). ‘Forest Pansy’ leaves emerge a glossy reddish-purple (below), and then…
More flowers this year?
There are many more flowers this year on the Carolina silverbell (Halesia carolina, below). I don’t see any reason that warm winter temperatures would have resulted in more blooms. I don’t expect that the buds are killed off in a normal winter, so it’s more likely that some weather phenomena at the time the flower…
Flowering trees for the native garden
I grow a bit sad when the rosy-pink blooms of redbuds (Cercis canadensis, below) along the highway finally fade and disappear. Left behind is the lush green of the forest’s edge, occasionally punctuated by tangled masses of floriferous, but invasive Japanese honeysuckle. In some years, dogwood’s flowers will persist for a week or two longer…
Lots of blooms, and a few surprises
What’s going on here? In all my years ….. I’ve never seen azaleas flowering in March in my garden, or in early April for that matter. But, today there are scattered blooms on a handful of azaleas, and swollen buds on the others. Autumn Amethyst (above) is prone to flowering a month or more after…
Matters of lesser interest
It’s spring! Flowers capture the full attention of gardeners, and all else is secondary. Indeed, as I wander through my garden I rush to the fragrant viburnums and daphnes, and redbuds and dogwoods that are now past their peak bloom when they should be just beginning. The early irises (above) flowered and faded in a…
Late March flowering shrubs
With warm winter temperatures several varieties of Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica, below) in the garden began to show a bit of color late in February. As the mid month heat wave of March has turned to cooler temperatures at the start of April, the blooms have persisted, though I expect they will begin to fade…
Trees flowering in late March
The latest of the early spring flowering magnolias in my garden is the pale yellow ‘Elizabeth’ (Magnolia acuminata ‘Elizabeth’, below). A year ago it bloomed exactly in the middle of April, which is perhaps a few days later than average, and why its flowers are rarely bothered by late freezes and frosts as the earlier…
It’s gonna be cold!
No good is accomplished by whining that the dogwoods (Cornus florida, below) are flowering too early, or that the Japanese maples are leafing prematurely and are in danger should an overnight freeze arrive in the next few weeks (or tonight). The gardener has no control over these events, of course, and no amount of talking…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 