Rita's Spring Garden

April 9, 2011

Those of you who followed my blog last year, know about my dear friend Rita.  She is my garden mentor as well as friend.  Rita has taught me many things about gardening perennial flowers and given me many, many divisions of her beautiful treasures. 

This is a mosaic of photographs I took in her garden yesterday.

The First Bloom Arrives!

April 8, 2011

One of the happiest times of the year for me, is the day my first flower opens.  It's like a celebration of the first day of the season.  Today my first little 'Remembrance' crocus opened. 

Special photo credit to my long-suffering husband for shading the crocus from the sun, with his body, so that I wouldn't have to find the patience to wait until late afternoon to take the shot! 

And next up.........

What's Blooming in the Third Week of May

'Firespray' Tulips.  I found these in a mail order catalouge.  They are tulips for the shade.  And these are in my hosta bed, where they get very little sun....

.....I just planted this Oriental Poppy this spring, so I'm really pleased that it's blooming for this year.  There's a bud on the other one as well. 

When I was at Hampton Court Palace a year ago, I saw some of these blooming in a garden beside some purple foxgloves and fell in love with this colour....

...and my white bleeding heart has just started to bloom.

The Weatherman has Some 'Splainin' to Do!

May 8, 2010 - We had 10 cms of snow! This is kind of unusual for May, but not unheard of. It's also the reason we have a rule of thumb that we don't plant our annual flowers and vegetables until after the long weekend in May.

No harm seems to have been done to the perrennials. In fact, the hostas seemed to come up a few inches!

What's Blooming!

May 4, 2010 - The first of the tulips to come out! These are called 'Apricot Beauties' and were a house-warming gift from our former neighbour, Michelle. This is the third spring for them. I understand that some people pull the tulips out after they bloom and start with fresh ones in the fall. I just leave mine in the ground and let them rebloom each year.

The muscari is in full bloom this week. I cut some and made a little mini-bouquet for the house. I just love this flower!

I was quite pleased to see the little fringes along the edges of these petals. These tulips are appropriately named 'Fringed Elegance.'

These 'Yellow Emperor' tulips are a little brighter shade of yellow and a bit taller.

Except for the 'Apricot Beauties', I ordered all the tulips from Breck's. I've forgotten what they all look like, so it's fun to watch them open.

Bluebells, Daffodils and Other Spring Delights (April 2010)

April 4, 2010 - These little scillas (also called bluebells or squills - I never know which is the common name) came up in the clumps of larger perennials given to me by my friend, Rita. They are sweet and delightful little things. I see more of them coming up everyday.

I only have one of these, and I identified it from my perennial book as a puschkinia (or striped squill). According to my book it's a 'close relative of the bluebell and it's strange that it's so rarely seen'. It sprung up in a clump of fall asters, given to me by my friend. I'm curious to see if it will multiply for next spring. It's about four inches tall, about the same as the scillas.

At first I thought this was a scilla, until I noticed that there was only one flower on each stalk, as opposed to several, as the scillas have.

April 14, 2010 - My daffodils came up today. I don't know what variety they are - I bought them through mail order in a bulk pack. They are gorgeous and seem invisible to the squirrels and rabbits. They bloom for a very long time.

On April 20 I noticed that there is a white scilla hiding among the blue ones! These two came up (again as a surprize) in a little clump of daylilies that was a gift from Rita last fall.

Crocuses (March/April 2010)

March 25, 2010 - The first blooms of 2010. They are my 'Delft Blue' crocuses. We had a very early spring (three weeks earlier than last year).

The slightly paler, 'Remembrance' crocus, came into bloom just a fews days later.

April 15, 2010 - These pint-sized beauties, 'Prince Klaus', were quite a surprize to me, as I didn't realize they would be miniature crocuses when I ordered the bulbs. They look great in little clumps with their white centres and a touch of purple on their outer leaves.