Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Plants Know...

The weather has been undecided, but the plants know it's spring.  Just since Friday, lots more blooms have opened.  Each yard walk yields discoveries of more plants coming up, new growth on others, and buds and blooms.  Oh, this is my favorite time of year, and we are finally having some warm days!

I am linking this post to Carol, of May Dreams Gardens' Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, which is the fifteenth of every month, and to Tootsie, of Tootsie Time's Flaunt your Flowers/Fertilizer Friday.  I tried not to include the flowers I've shown already, but a few sneaked their way in.

Soon, the pasque flowers will become showy, fuzzy seed heads to enjoy.


The first creeping phlox blooms are peeking out.



The candytuft blooms are doing the same.


The Virginia bluebells are opening up, too.


I'm not good about saving tags and remembering what varieties I have of tulips and such.  I'll have to look at last year's posts to see if I had some of the names then.  This is the second or third season for these.  I have 2 clumps of them.



This lovage bloom is on a shorter stem than the rest will be.


I love leopard's bane, but it doesn't live many seasons for me.  Only one of the two I planted last year is up, and it just has one flower and one bud so far.


The first daffodils to bloom are about spent, but there are still some looking good.  Now I have to wait for the leaves to fade before cutting them back.


The tulips in the next 2 photos were given to me by a couple friends a few years ago.  I don't remember when there started being 2 kinds in this one spot.  I already showed the yellow ones they gave me that are in the same bed.





There is a carpet of blue blooms in the front of my garden across the street, and a few lovely dandelions.  I tried to find the name of the blue weed, and thought maybe it was henbit, but I don't think that's right.


I planted some of these violas in a pot, but also put some in the ground, hoping they will reseed.


Prairie smoke geums are blooming.  They will look even better when the seed heads form.


Bleeding heart is one of my favorite spring bloomers.




These tulips may have been planted by my mother-in-law.


I was sad when B&B Greenhouse told me Spooky dinathus seeds would no longer be available, and that they don't come true from seeds.  They sold them as 6 pack annuals, even though they frequently live through the winter.  The other day, when I was at Earl May Garden Center, I saw they were selling them as perennials.  I also noticed this, which I'm guessing came from the line of Spooky.  I chose it because I loved the color and scent of it.  (Added 4/15:  This is called 'Rainbow Loveliness' Lilac Pinks Dianthus.  The flowers are a touch smaller than 'Spooky'.)


This hellebore is on the east side of the shed, and has not been in the blog yet.  The color of the outside of it is richer than the others, and has some pretty reddish veining that doesn't show up well in a photo.  It is just starting to bloom.


These photos were taken April 12.  The double pink tulips that were so pretty their first year of bloom last April, looked to be white this year.  When I checked today (4/13), there was a little pink on the inside of the bloom, but it was pink through and through last year.  Oh, well, this one is still pretty.  Hopefully, the others will be, too.



I went ahead and took a photo of the same flower as above today (4/14).



The shorter money plant is blooming, and today, the buds on the larger plants are also opening.


Here's a view of the new bed that was started last summer when they resurfaced the street.  It looks like everything I planted survived the winter.  The frilly tulips are kind of weird, but pretty cool.  I put all these stakes and labels in the area when we had our kitchen remodeled because I saw 2 different delivery people walking though the planting area instead of using the path or sidewalk when we had our kitchen remodeled.  I think I'll leave them there until the plants get larger so no one else walks on them.


A closer view of some of the tulips:










One of my perennial geraniums is blooming.  When I was looking for the name of the weeds blooming with the dandelion, I found out perennial geraniums are considered weeds in some places.  I have several kinds, and enjoy them all.  One does spread more aggressively than the others. 



My son and daughter-in-law gave me this lamium a few years ago.  I like to give clumps of it away too, to keep it in check.


The violets are ready to munch on.  I have eaten a couple, and they were nice and sweet.


Larry saw this volunteer viola in the grass next to the wash tubs where I grow pansies and violas in wash tubs.  I hope your spring is going well!

20 comments:

  1. Susan, yes the plants do know. I am still getting around with a jacket on, yet the garden is ablaze in color.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have some self seeded violas and they are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow you're bleeding hearts really are going too aren't they!!! Gorgeous! I just noticed my creeping phlox is getting ready to bloom too and I'm so excited. I bought them when they were done last season for a buck at walmart, so this'll be the first time I'll get to see it with flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my Sue ~ You have a wonderful array of beautiful flowers. I think my favorites are ~ Pasque flowers, Virginia bluebells and the spooky dianthus. I love all of your flowers actually but those three did something to me.

    Enjoy your lovely gardens.

    FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
  5. Springs visits Nebraska a lot earlier than it does Wisconsin. My goodness, you have lots of blooms for April. One prettier than the next. Your dandelion photo is outstanding and I like that you included it.

    Sue, what a sweetie you are to visit Phillip's blog and leave a comment. He'll be here on Sunday and to read all the comments. Thanks.

    donna

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think I say this every time I could here, but I love your Pasque Flower and Spooky Dianthus. I have a similar Dianthus (in form) that I grow from seed. Great fragrance and not the typical cotton candy/clove Dianthus fragrance either.

    I hope your violas seed in. They are such a lovely shade of blue/violet.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your plants sure do know it's spring...just love the tulips, wish they would grow here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow Sue, it really is pretty there. I think I need to find the Pasque flowers. I found a bloom on my Knautia yesterday and thought of you, you were the one that id'd them for me last year.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have so many flowers blooming--Lucky you! I love your fancy tulips, they are so pretty. You have so much variety blooming now I'm looking forward to seeing everything explode with the onset of summer. Oh, and sorry to hear about the Spooky not being sold. Maybe they'll bring it back again next year? We can hope. They are really cool, I can't imagine why they wouldn't continue to sell them. Say...do you get to see any of these garden pretties from your new kitchen?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love your spring flowers, particularly the tulips! I can only raise a few here in containers. We have so many moles that they don't even make it from fall to bloom time.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So many blossoms. They seem to know when the days get longer and it is time to come out.

    Love the bleeding hearts.

    ReplyDelete
  12. How lovely that dandelion looks. Your picture made me think quite differently about the many scattering our lawns.

    ReplyDelete
  13. You have a stunning array of blooms in April, Sue! I enjoyed all of them and especially those cool, frilly tulips! I want to get a Pasque flower...so pretty. And some white bleeding hearts-I meant to add some earlier but forgot. I have the pink and love them too. Thank you for id'ing my woodland phlox. I totally forgot what it was but do remember that was one of the ones I purchased last year. I wish all plants would come with labels and not just write the name on the outside of the pot! Happy spring;-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. such fun to discover new things daily nad like the coat of many colors so the yard of many colors unfolds- Loving the bleeding hearts and glorious tulips and well ALL!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sue I love your GBBD blooms..very pretty!

    I like Bleeding hearts as well..Their unique shape and delicate colors makes them so dainty!

    I like the shape of the yellow tulips that your Mother-in law may have planted..They look like little yellow bowls.

    Flowers with bells are always attractive...I like the Virgina blue bells too"

    Wonderful post...

    ReplyDelete
  16. wow, that's a lot of blooms! all quite beautiful
    : )

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow Sue girl. your garden has sure taken off. So many pretty blooms. I love your double tulip and geranium. That pasque is just gorgeous.
    Have a wonderful weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your flower pics are wonderful. jim

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow. Tons of stuff. I don't have much luck with violas, do you? Clay might be too heavy for them. I put in some shooting stars last year, they died-I thought--but are now leafing out. Turns out the go dormant. Do violas do that?

    ReplyDelete

I welcome comments and questions from anyone, including those who do it anonymously. Some people find my posts by doing searches, and I like hearing from them. I guess spammers won't even read this message, but I will delete spam as soon as I see it.