Perennials Have Finally Come Up

5/18/14

rhododendron

     It has continued to be cooler than normal here.  Last night it was in the 40's.  Everything is late.  The azaleas are just done blooming.  The rhododendrons have just bloomed all over the neighborhood.  And I noticed a few iris are blooming in some yards.

     Here are some photos of my perennials that have finally come up in all my gardens.

The three Asiatic lilies are getting taller by the day. 

My Japanese iris has buds and will be blooming soon.

This balloon flower finally emerged from the ground.

The Midnight salvia is the only perennial blooming right now in the side garden.

This coneflower was slow to make an appearance.

 This is a digitalis plant a gardener friend gave me last fall.

I was worried about this gaillardia plant.  But it finally put out some green leaves.

     One of my plants, a coreopsis, did not survive the brutal winter.  I have seen nothing in the spot where it was growing.  I had damage to other plants which I will show in another post.  I hope it gets hot and stays hot here soon.  We have had a cold fall, a brutal winter, and a cool spring.  I think everybody is ready for some warmth here.

Been Waiting For This

5/4/14

tulip garden

     The warm weather finally arrived with May.  It has been on the cool side, with one day at the end of April where the high temperature was 49 degrees!  That is the day the flooding rains (five inches!) arrived.  We had no flooding in our neighborhood, but many streets in the area were flooded for several hours.  But the first of May, the air changed it seemed to me.  And the bitterness of the cold spring disappeared.  The sun suddenly seemed like a summer sun instead of a weak, lukewarm spring sun.  I had to get out the sunglasses and sun lotion and take the winter blankets off the beds.  Hooray!  I long for and live for this time of the year.  The trees are just coming into leaf.  But my tulip garden is in full bloom.  Here are photos of what else is blooming.

The beautiful Brunnera macrophylla plants have all bloomed.  I love their color and lacy look.

The hostas and asiatic lilies broke through the soil about a week ago and now look how big they are.

Sweet woodruff just flowered.  I have three patches of it at the edge of the backyard garden.

The azalea bush at the front of the house burst into bloom a day ago.

I planted pink whopper begonias and alyssum snow crystals along the front of the house.  The whopper begonias are very showy.  Their blossoms are two inches across when they reach their final height.

I put in some petunias and marigolds in the center of the side yard garden.  The perennials are coming up around them.

     I also planted annuals in my deck railing pots and my large tub pots on the deck.  I will show some photos of these and all the perennials that are coming up in the back and side yard gardens in another post.

It's Finally Here

4/22/14

    

Yoshino cherry

     We had two 80 degree days last week and everything that had been holding back suddenly bloomed.  Here is what happened in the yard this past week.  The Yoshino cherry trees in the yard finally opened their buds.

All the hyacinths bloomed.

Then we had two nights of below freezing temps with rain/sleet and wind.  All the hyacinths were blown down. 

The cherry trees lost half their blossoms.  They were beautiful for two days.

The pink dogwood tree buds looked like this a week ago.

Now the pink dogwood is in bloom.

The grape hyacinths just bloomed in the tulip garden.

And three tulips just opened today in the tulip garden.

     I am waiting and watching for the rest of the tulips to begin opening.  There is much more activity in the back and side gardens which I will tell you about in the next post.  So much happening at once.  The garden centers finally opened around here on Easter weekend.  They are bursting with gorgeous flowers.  I went over today to my favorite garden center just to look around and get ideas.  I just couldn't leave without buying some flowers.  I ended up with 18 plants when I left there.

Just Getting Started

4/12/14

tulips

     I was so tired of the cold and snow after that last unexpected snowstorm two weeks ago that I bought a pot of tulips at the grocery store.  Finally all this week we  have had warm weather in the 60's and 70's.  What a treat!  Blooming is slowly getting started here.  Everything seems to be two weeks or more late.  The Bradford pear trees and magnolias in the neighborhood  finally bloomed about five days ago.

      Here are some photos of what has emerged in my garden so far.

My first daffodil bloomed a week ago.

The first hyacinth bloomed a week ago also.

This primrose is in full bloom.

The Brunnera macrophylla are coming along nicely.  I have four of them in the garden.

The sweet woodruff has emerged.  I have three clumps of these in shady areas of the back garden.

Also appearing is the first fern.

The tulip garden is taking its time and still not in bloom.

This branch on one of my Yoshino cherry trees is just about ready to burst onto bloom.

     In the next day or two,  the cherry trees will bloom, most of my daffodils will open, and hopefully a tulip or two will show up.  I am hoping that the possible frost/freeze for the middle of this week doesn't materialize.

Ready or Not, Spring is Coming

3/29/14

tulip garden in the snow

     We did get the forecasted three inches of snow on Tuesday.  And the bitter cold.  On Wednesday morning, my husband asked what was wrong after hearing me shout, "Are you kidding me?"  Our thermometer read 19 degrees!  I almost felt like crying.

     But spring isn't waiting any longer.  I finally noticed that some tree buds are swelling.  My tulips, hyacinths, and other perennials keep growing through the snow and bitter cold.  After three days the snow was gone.  Here are a few photos from my gardens.

tulip garden after the snow melted

primrose trying to bloom in the snow

primrose after the snow melted

a brunnera macrophylla leaf just starting to poke its way through the soil

my first helleborus bloom

hyacinth

     The temperature forecast is for the mid 60's the rest of the week, so that should prompt a lot of quick growth.

Ficus Trees

3/23/14

Ficus drupacea commonly called Mysore or brown wooly fig

     I wanted to share with you some photos of two ficus trees that grow on the Edison and Ford winter estates.  I am not very familiar with ficus trees, and these two ficus trees were very large and impressive.

     Fig trees are part of the mulberry family.  There are 13 types of ficus trees throughout the estates.  The following four photos are different views of a ficus tree growing on Henry Ford's estate

root structure of the brown wooly fig

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     Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone, all friends with one another, worked on research at Edison's botanical research lab in Ft. Myer's, Florida  for a source of natural rubber that could be grown in the US in the event of a shortage in the foreign supply.  I am guessing that Firestone and Ford had an interest in this, not only for other industrial enterprises, but also because rubber was needed for the Firestone tires that went on Henry Ford's cars.

a closer view of the roots

     Although ficus trees, which produce latex for rubber, were part of the research he conducted, Edison tested 17,000 plants and eventually discovered a source for latex in the plant goldenrod.  Through his plant hybridization, Edison was able to develop a 14-foot goldenrod!  This could be grown much more quickly.

This close up of the roots shows how tall they are, about two feet

There is a hole in this trunk which is used as shelter by various animals

Ficus benghalensis

     This is the Ficus benghalensis, commonly called a banyan tree, that Thomas Edison planted in 1925.  The tree, originally four feet tall, now covers an acre of land on the estate.  It is considered the largest in the continental United States.  The word "Banyan" often refers specifically to the Indian Banyan Ficus benghalensis, which is the national tree of the Republic of India.

Ficus benghalensis, closer view of same tree as above

     This banyan tree shows the aerial prop roots that grow into thick, woody trunks.  Older banyan trees spread out laterally using prop roots.

same tree, closer view

     The effect is like a forest covering a large area, every trunk connected directly or indirectly to the central trunk.  According to Wikipedia, this structure of interconnection inspired the name of the hierarchical computer network operating system Banyan VINES.

last week's snowfall

     We got slammed again with eight inches of snow last Monday, the sixth snowfall in six weeks.  And now we are facing another snowstorm Tuesday.  Another week, another snowstorm.  The weather forecasters promise that this upcoming storm is the end of the snow.  With April on the calendar next week,  I believe them.  Finally.

Signs of Spring

3/14/14

crocus near the edge of my property under my neighbor's tree

      We had three days in the 60's this week that melted the six inches of snow we had last weekend.  An explosion of birdsong, bulbs emerging, and longer days (almost 12 hours of daylight) tell me its spring.

     But the weather refuses to fully cooperate.  We had wind chills in  the single digits last night with wind gusts up to 60 mph.  Luckily we did not lose power as a lot of others in northern Virginia did. We thankfully had no snow, just a little rain.  Every weekend it seems we have a snowstorm, and this weekend another one is to arrive on Sunday night.  I took a few photos that shows signs of spring around the house and yard.

my Christmas poinsettia with new growth

     About ten days before daylight savings time went into effect, my Christmas poinsettia suddenly sent up a new leaf that would stand upright during the day, reaching for the increased amount of light. It also sprouted a tiny, second leaf that can just be made out at the bottom of the large leaf.  The six inches of snow we had is visible out the window.

 The leaf would lie back horizontally when night fell.

The tiny, second leaf was full size about six days later.

Tulips emerging in my backyard garden.

The first helleborus bud on one of the plants that went into the backyard garden last fall.

This primrose that came from a gardening friend last spring is coming to life in the backyard garden.

Even the dog is enjoying the increased sunlight when it shines through this window in the afternoon.

     I hope we don't get much snow with this next storm, but already the forecasters are saying four plus inches.  I wouldn't mind if they were wrong this time.  I would like to get out in the yard and do so many things like cut back my oriental fountain grass,  pull the ornamental cabbage I planted last fall, and plant some pansies!