What's Happening In My Gardens

I think since I have so many plants coming now I’ll just do half. I don’t want to bore everyone with too many little sprouts and tiny blooms all at once. They’ll get bigger cause we’re getting sun this weekend to make everything grow.

I was very excited to see some new growth on my Hardy Fuchsia Santa Claus. I already had spotted some on Double Otto. Now I have 2 more to check on and hope they come back. They are on the graves of our two little dachshunds Prissy and Schatze. Up there I have Phyllis and Brutus. Phyllis has the slightest bit of growth starting to show so I'm pretty confident that Brutus will too. They are in a lot of shade up there so they take a little longer to bloom. But this was their first year so I was especially anxious to know if they made it through our harsh winter. I've also planted Columbines around our two little friends graves and they are doing well. We lost Schatzee last year and I wanted to make changes to the flowers up there.
Hardy Fuchsia Santa Claus

Another plant I was concerned about was not having seen any Hostas yet. Guess I was needlessly anxious about them because they are all peeking through in three different places. One we moved last fall and it wasn't looking good then so I'm happy to see it's back.

The Calla Lilies are finally peeking through and there's a viola that popped up next to them. I eventually plan on having Callas line the whole front of the house to cover the foundation and they will make a nice backdrop for other flowers.

My Japanese Painted Fern is also showing now.

Around the corner from them still in a shaded area I have Brunnera Jack Frost he's getting bigger but his leaves are still a lot smaller than usual when it's blooming. Usually they are around 6" long or more but this year are only half that size. Hopefully he'll be full size soon.

Pulmonaria Smokey Blue

Jacobs Ladder Blue Pearl

Dicentra Spectabilis or Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart

The Columbines in here are looking good and so is my Heuchera Plum Pudding - just a wonderful wine color with silver in the foliage.


Down a little farther where a little more sun comes into the bed is an Armeria loaded with blooms.


Down that side of the house are also some other plants I started and planted last year that are showing green. A Weigela, Abelia, Red Valerian, Sedum Linda Windsor, Sedum Autumn Joy.I was concerned about my Spirea Little Princess because she looked brown and pretty lifeless but she's got new growth on her so I can relax now.
Spirea Little Princess

How Exciting - A Ladybug In My Garden

A couple of days ago I finally got out again to walk around and see if anything else was sprouting or could I possibly hope for a bloom? Not likely around here as we're usually a couple of weeks later than everyone else because of being higher. But I do have a friend whose flowers are even later than mine - that'll teach her to live 5 miles straight up. But it's worth it - you should see the view she has!

Ok back to my stroll. Right out the door I checked a few containers on the deck and found some Sedum Tri Color, Bertram Anderson,
Vera Jamison,
October Plant
and some life showing on the rose my husband put in a container as the deer were chewing on the main plant. We don't often get to see roses bloom so we moved them closer to the house and we got to see a few but now the deer are checking there too.
Then I saw some little Johnny Jump Ups with the yellow tops. I had already shown one with the purple top on an earlier post that had bloomed all winter through the rain, snow and freezing weather.
In a bed next to the deck is some Spiderwort - I love this flower and I have it in 2 different colors. Now that it's good and established I plan on putting some everywhere to fill in and keep the flower buying $s down.
and some Columbine that is a really tall purple one I don’t know the name of as I think it was given to me.
Next, up to the greenhouse in a flowerbed I started on one side of it last year I found some Purple Coneflower,
Sedum Linda Windsor,
and Siberian Irises. This is a mauve one I bought about 5 years ago and it has had the hardest time getting going. It was blooming the year I bought it and then quit until last year. Hopefully it will continue to grow now. I have lots of purple and lavender ones and I give them to everyone I have so many. But this little guy hasn't done well.
I went into the greenhouse and decided to take a picture of one of my Lacecap Hydrangeas that I started last summer. It looks great so I hope it makes it.
And there was a little pink viola blooming – I have one blooming outside too but it was hanging it’s head down so I grabbed this picture.
Back outside I have a little pot of hyacinths that were in a bed last summer but spread out everywhere and didn’t look so great so I stuck all of them in this pot last spring and will replant them at a later date. I took this inside to force a bit since I didn’t have anything for the experiment I posted about forcing bulbs and trees.
In fact look how much they’ve grown in about 3 days. And there's 3 little blue blooms you can see if ya look really close.
Then I looked over and was really happy to see some color up by the pumphouse where I have some Crocuses blooming.
3 days ago they looked like this when I took a picture and didn't get it posted.
Then I headed back over to where I had been by the greenhouse and was looking at a bunch of starts I have in 5 inch pots and there sitting pretty as you please on my Wormwood plant was a little ladybug. That had to be the thrill of the day to see her and get a picture.
Over at another bed I found some Phlox peeking out
then across the yard some Hardy Bachelor Buttons – is it Cornflower,
some Lupins
and Autumn Joy.
Around the corner where it’s a bit shadier I found Heuchera Plum Pudding, and as you can see we have lots of needles from all the fir trees around our place.
Bleeding Heart
and Brunnera Jack Frost.
I hope this wasn't too long, drawn out or boring for you but I didn't want any of my flowers to feel slighted for being left out. They are, after all, part of the family!

How Exciting - A Ladybug In My Garden

A couple of days ago I finally got out again to walk around and see if anything else was sprouting or could I possibly hope for a bloom? Not likely around here as we're usually a couple of weeks later than everyone else because of being higher. But I do have a friend whose flowers are even later than mine - that'll teach her to live 5 miles straight up. But it's worth it - you should see the view she has!

Ok back to my stroll. Right out the door I checked a few containers on the deck and found some Sedum Tri Color,

and some life showing on the rose my husband put in a container as the deer were chewing on the main plant. We don't often get to see roses bloom so we moved them closer to the house and we got to see a few but now the deer are checking there too.

Then I saw some little Johnny Jump Ups with the yellow tops. I had already shown one with the purple top on an earlier post that had bloomed all winter through the rain, snow and freezing weather.
In a bed next to the deck is some Spiderwort - I love this flower and I have it in 2 different colors. Now that it's good and established I plan on putting some everywhere to fill in and keep the flower buying $s down.
and some Columbine that is a really tall purple one I don’t know the name of as I think it was given to me.
Next, up to the greenhouse in a flowerbed I started on one side of it last year I found some Purple Coneflower,

and Siberian Irises. This is a mauve one I bought about 5 years ago and it has had the hardest time getting going. It was blooming the year I bought it and then quit until last year. Hopefully it will continue to grow now. I have lots of purple and lavender ones and I give them to everyone I have so many. But this little guy hasn't done well.
I went into the greenhouse and decided to take a picture of one of my Lacecap Hydrangeas that I started last summer. It looks great so I hope it makes it.
And there was a little pink viola blooming – I have one blooming outside too but it was hanging it’s head down so I grabbed this picture.
Back outside I have a little pot of hyacinths that were in a bed last summer but spread out everywhere and didn’t look so great so I stuck all of them in this pot last spring and will replant them at a later date. I took this inside to force a bit since I didn’t have anything for the experiment I posted about forcing bulbs and trees.
In fact look how much they’ve grown in about 3 days. And there's 3 little blue blooms you can see if ya look really close.
Then I looked over and was really happy to see some color up by the pumphouse where I have some Crocuses blooming.
3 days ago they looked like this when I took a picture and didn't get it posted.
Then I headed back over to where I had been by the greenhouse and was looking at a bunch of starts I have in 5 inch pots and there sitting pretty as you please on my Wormwood plant was a little ladybug. That had to be the thrill of the day to see her and get a picture.
Over at another bed I found some Phlox peeking out
then across the yard some Hardy Bachelor Buttons – is it Cornflower,
some Lupins
and Autumn Joy.
Around the corner where it’s a bit shadier I found Heuchera Plum Pudding, and as you can see we have lots of needles from all the fir trees around our place.
Bleeding Heart
and Brunnera Jack Frost.
I hope this wasn't too long, drawn out or boring for you but I didn't want any of my flowers to feel slighted for being left out. They are, after all, part of the family!