What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

Nice, Mark! It is always a pleasure to welcome the first crocus in spring!

Just come back from England early this morning (about 1 AM) to a very wet but snowfree garden (been on job, no holiday and no time to visit gardens  :( ).
Rain all day and although the garden is full of flowering snowdrops, crocuses and spring snowflakes they do not open fully in the rain and I didn't bother taking pictures. Also the mahonias and witch hazels are in bloom.
Sadly no rest however, as we set out for Oslo early tomorrow!

Mark,
glad you like the Eremophilas, they are a very varied clan.
Not in our garden, but not far away in a vacant block is a great flowering of the South African Amaryllis belladonna,

cheers
fermi

It looks like we may actually get some winter this coming week.  I guess this would be the start of it: last night about 3 inches or so of wet snow.

Unlike many (most?) Euonymus, this one holds its fruit all winter.
    Euonomys bungeana 'Pink Lady'

Thuja occidentalis 'Pumila Sudworth' on the left, and Pinus ponderosa.  The Ponderosa pine is from the Black Hills disjunct population's seed.

The Wintergold White pine (Pinus strobus 'Wintergold') continues to delight.

Neither Carex nigra (Black Sedge) or Fibigia clypeata have been discovered by birds...yet.

The Amur chokecherry (Prunus maackii) displays well against the white background.

The Chinese Dragon spruce (Picea asperata) demonstrates its rubbery branches, only slightly weighted by small snowfall.  Also shown is its normal summer habit for contrast.

At home from the wintery mountain landscape (Rick, still winter at your place?)

- and back to spring! This morning was very promising although the temperature dropped barely into the freezing regime the sky was clear blue without any clouds. However it didn't last - when I went out to take some pictures the sun hid itself behind a thick layer of clouds suddenly appearing from nowhere. The weather has cleared a bit now some hours later but the sun is setting fast. The air is warmer too so no frost tonight.

Crocus tomasinianus is among the first bulbs to flower and almost as early as the snowdrops and snowflakes.
           

C baytopiorum is early too and a lot of others will follow soon - with a little more sun in the afternoon (my garden faces west).

Lori wrote:

Beautiful pictures, Trond!  (And you keep trying to convince us that you live in a place that has real winters... ppffftt!  ;D ;D)   The blue crocus is really special.  I guess I need to start trying some bulbs from seed, as it doesn't seem that bulbs are very available around here for anything but the mass-produced crocus varieties.  How long ago did you start planting?

Lori, thank you! The pictures aren't quite good - my camera has a damaged lens. A new lens costs the same as a new camera :-\
I started planting when I bought this property about 25 years ago but the C tomasinianus has really started spreading the last few years. Now I get 1000 new seedlings every year. If want to try sowing I can collect seeds.

The special blue one is C baytopiorum. Haven't seen seedlings of it yet.

Hoy wrote:

(Rick, still winter at your place?)

The snow that fell to make my last pretty photos is half gone.  A week ago they were predicting a 6 inch snowfall for today, then the "storm" was downgraded, and downgraded, and downgraded.  Today we receive a trace of precipitation.  :(  More snow is in line for Tuesday-Wednesday, 6-10 inches, but I am not holding my breath.  We have been in a drought since the first of September. 

Trond, you do have nice crocus lawns!  I remember admiring them last season, too.

Thanks, Rick!

cohan wrote:

Really nice, Trond! I like the image of the Galanthus, especially.. great to see those swathes of flowers.. as Lori  mentioned, all white here, about 15cm of new snow at leastin the last day and a half (and a few recent snowfalls before that), and I'm not sure its done yet, though sun is out a bit.. high of -12 for today, -27C tonight, -20's next couple of nights, though temps will go up (and down, and up) after today.. spring is still a distant idea...

Are these Crocus patches in your woodland? How much sun do they get and what grows there later?

Cohan, you can call it patches in the woodland! Actually it is my one and only lawn situated between the "woods" and shrubbery at the forest edges. It is a very steep bank and difficult to mow anyway. From late February the spot gets some sunshine in the afternoon just before the sun sets. Later it has more direct sun from about 2PM till sunset. Crocus tomasinianus seems very shade tolerant and I find flowering specimens all over the place, even in dense shade beneath shrubs and on the north side of the house. I believe the seeds are transported by ants as the seedlings pop up in crevices a long way from the source.

Later it is some grass growing there in between the weeds ;) I don't mow till all the bulb leaves are wilted.

Here are some of the colour forms of Crocus tommasinianus (and some others hiding between them - all are selfseeded here). Nice sun here today, had coffee in the garden after dinner ;D

Great looking crocus explosion there Trond!  Nice to have so many lovely clumps of Crocus seeding around and naturalizing in the garden. 

After January-February being virtually snowless here, and unusually mild too, several crocus species started to flower mid February, including chrysanthus cultivars, the earliest bloom ever in my garden after 25 years.  But with the arrival of March, snow also arrived, nearly a foot of snow yesterday, couple more inches heavy wet snow and ice last night.

cohan wrote:

Philadelphus- ... one plus: twigs don't seem to be juicey enough to tempt moose...

Never thought about that before, but now that you say it, Cohan, those twigs are one of the driest and seemingly least nutritious.  They certainly would have me gagging (!)

I am sure any fruit wood will have an irresistible fragrance.  Anything belonging to Hamamelidaceae is a perennial favorite, too.  The American witchhazel is very rare in Minnesota and I have been to one of the colonies.  They are all "ancient" plants there, at least 30-40 years old with aged multiple trunks 2-4 inches in diameter.  Every plant desperately resprouts from the base each year, only to be feasted upon by deer.  And no wonder that there is no regeneration.

Rain during the last week has brought about another explosion of Habranthus and Zephyranthes and spurred on more Lycoris!
Zephyranthes "Grandjax"

Zephyranthes "Ajax"

Zephyranthes candida

Lycoris elsae

Rhodophiala bifida

cheers
fermi

I find a nest in my yard most years.  Fortunately, I have always discover them before the babies get too big to catch.  Rabbits love witchhazel too, and the really love sassafras.

Jandals, have you tried a cut apple to bait them?

cohan wrote:

Nice flowers, Fermi and Tim!

Still growing only snowbanks here! ( http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=930.msg15658#msg15658 )

Here's the mock orange/Philadelphus again.... amazing how much snow those thin branches can hold! followed by Lilac/Syringa and an apple/Malus

Amazing, Cohan,
reminds me of the soap suds scene from "The Party"!
cheers
fermi

I'm glad to say I have no rabbits! (The slugs are out BTW and have started destroying some of the early plants >:( )

At my mountain cabin we have European elks (and some stray sheep) and at my summerhouse we have deer and sheep. Small rodents are everywhere of course.

It's as you say, Cohan, the Philadelphus is never scratched by any critter nor broken by heavy snow!

Nice bulbs, jandals Fermi! I'm sorry I can't grow them outside here - I assume. . . . .

Jandals wrote:

RickR wrote:

Jandals, have you tried a cut apple to bait them?

Not yet Rick but I will do when all the seeds are done . Winter is the best time to try food based traps . Will keep you updated and thanks for the tip

Trond - It's Fermi who grows all the lovely bulbs but I know that you knew that

Oh yes, of course :-[  . . . I was a little too quick there, Steve!

Some pictures from today's walk. It is mild but cloudy as it has been for several days now. On the other "side" of the country (along Oslofjorden) they have started planting salads and other vegetables outside now but farther north they still have snowstorms!

I have planted several forms of Corydalis solida in my woodland. The earlier have bloomed for some weeks now! The very first rhododendron is Rh dauricum(??). It set off in early February but was damaged by a spell of frost. Another early is Rh moupinense. I think the flowers unfurl tomorrow! Also Hepatica transsilvanica is in flower now. Thisone has a lot of flowers but they are far apart! One plant covers about 1 sq meter!

Looking for signs of spring yesterday and this is what I found. Not much, but it keep my hopes up that most things have made it through this freakish winter!
1-Corydalis solida...a pale lavender one from a gardener in MA who sells divisions of her garden plants in her front yard to raise funds for local charities. Some of her plants are quite rare such as the double bloodroot, Trillium of all sorts and many others for extremely low prices! Needless to say I visit her yard every spring!
2-Cyclamen coum...From Brent & Becky's Bulbs in Virginia. Stopped by there last March on a nursery tour down the east coast. Their tubers are huge!!
3-Another C. coum from the 2010 seedex, just about in bloom!
4-The first snowdrop to bloom for me this year!!
5-Helleborus niger 'Josef Lemper' purchased at Pine Knot Farms last March. This has had buds above ground since last December.

Wim, that Pulsatilla has a very striking colour!

The crazy northeastern weather continues.  Plants seem almost a month ahead.  The Everett, Wa NARGS Meeting was great but cold.  It was warmer at home!
The daffodil is usually 2nd week in April and the douglasia the 3rd or 4th week, yet  here they are.

Palustris - you have some really nice primulas!

Yesterday and today we have had sun and the temperature reached 14C! We have not seen that since December!

Cardamine enneaphylla has been out in several weeks already but today they stretched their legs substantially! Also the daffodils (probably 'Tête à Tête') and Narcissus cyclamineus opened fully - notice the slug damage of some of the flowers :(

The lungworts also come forth in strides now! And for the first time in my garden - Pteridophyllum racemosum in flower! I managed to get hold of some plants last year ;D ;D

A month ahead in Reno! ;D

Viola beckwithii
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Ranunculus glaberrimus var. glaberrimus
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Fritillaria pudica