A Quick Peek at Spring

Here are a few quick pictures I took in the yard last week. The tulips are done and the last of the daffodils are starting to die. On to more summery flowers. But since spring is so short, I try to savor it while it's here.

I finally succeeded at pairing two different kinds of bulbs together and having them bloom at the same time (though just barely). This is an allium 'Purple Sensation' and I am in love. I will have to plant more next year.

Last year we didn't bring the bird bath in quickly enough so it cracked and we had to buy a new one. In the background are some cute white daffodils in front of the contorted larch we planted last year. That's a clematis on the right. It is growing like crazy. That trellis we have it on is way too small. I think Adam should built another one like the one he built in the above picture.

These are the trilliums Grandpa had me dig out of the family woods. There were 5 or 6 blossom this year. Still one of my favorite flowers. It's surrounded by mayapples on the left, bloodroot on the right, and ostrich ferns at the back.

Lester's Tropical Garden

Last fall Adam put in a retaining wall/new garden bed alongside the driveway. This space was previously a steeply sloping hill that grew grass poorly and dandelions and crabgrass rather well. I spend our long winters reading all kinds of gardening books and I was inspired to put in a tropical-style garden. I actually have a short list of various garden styles i want to try some day when I have more space. But for now, I am thoroughly enjoying the fastidious level of attention to detail that a city lot-sized garden affords. If i have a true 'before' picture, I haven't looked hard enough to find it (this previously wasn't an area at all worth photographing). So you'll have to start with the 'early spring' picture. The pineapple-type things sticking up are Fritillaria rubra maxima. They are the one thing I planted last fall.

Last week I planted the bulbs i ordered back in March from my trusty bulb source, Brent & Becky's. I planted Canna musafolia and Canna 'Pretoria' along with various dahlias, Crocosmia 'Lucifer', and a couple Lanta 'Landmark Citrus' plants from Klein's (a trusty source of annuals, though this year they seemed pretty picked over).

 

Today I finished the planting, except for the red spider zinnias I plan to direct seed tomorrow. I planted several Geums; Hibiscus 'Lord Baltimore, Colocasia 'Mohito; an Echinacea 'Tiki Torch'; the Castor bean 'Gibsonii' plants, black eyed susan vines, Gaillardia 'Arizona Apricot' & 'Arizona Red Shades', and rooster spur pepper plants that I grew from seed (most seeds courtesy of Seed Savers, my favorite seed supplier), a few Margarita sweet potato vines, and a few serrano pepper plants. I really tried to plant things that I know rabbits don't like. This bed needs to be as rabbit-proof as i can make it, since it would look silly with a bunch of chicken wire. I've never grown Cannas or Colocasia before. I'm hoping that I'll figure out how to dig them up this fall and over winter them, though my attempts at overwintering my first dahlias this past winter were a dismal failure. Turns out that loosly stuffing them in a sack with some shredded paper wasn't sufficient.

 

I know it's currently more impressive in my mind than it is in a picture. Check back in a few months for a much larger, more impressive view. In the meantime, here's a view of my front yard. It changes every day. In fact, since I took this picture a couple days ago, Adam has removed the final two yew bushes and replaced them with the summersweet 'Ruby Spice' shrub he bought me for my birthday.