Winter's Return

A dusting of light snow covered the ground early this morning.  Once again NOAA's forecast was accurate.  Sharply bitter winds coming at us from the Northwest meant that no outdoor work would happen here today.  This quick look at emerging plants was all that we did.

The slightly out of focus green blob is a newly emerging Trillium.   I had to perch on a curved rock to get this photo and my balance is far from what it was in the past causing the camera to shake.  So far four have pushed above the soil.  Trilliums take me back to my childhood home located in Newfield.  A section of woods contained a large patch of these flowers.  My habit was to snap off an armload for my Mother.  Unaware that I was killing plants by also removing their leaves, I now plant more here every year.  One simply must have a huge swath of these pure white flowers.

This may not look like much but three tips from a Yellow Lady's Slipper have made an appearance.  More will follow.  It is planted just across the path from the bench.  We will make many trips to sit and enjoy these unusual flowers.  The tiny red spheres are sumac seeds.  It seems that every seed germinates requiring a great deal of time to pull the newly emerging trees.  For now we leave this ground alone to prevent damage to the soon to appear Lady's Slippers.

Squirrel corn's pale yellow flowers are easy to miss.  This early native has a growth habit that seems to doom it to failure.  At the end of its growing season, a mass corms each of which resembles field corn kernels mark the location of the crown of the plant.  They appear to be an open invitation to small animals to dine there.  Somehow enough remain to present new growth the following year.  Having seen the remains of this plant, no imagination is required to see the origin of its name.

Last Fall Wild Ginger was transplanted near the Maidenhair Ferns. This Ginger is the first plant to appear here.  There is still no sign of growth from the ferns.   We have read that this combination of different plants will create a stunning picture.  A future picture is sure to follow.

Robin's Plantain was discovered growing in one of our meadows.  Also called Blue Spring Daisy, it has an  lavender and yellow composite flower similar to an aster. It has since disappeared from that spot but transplants continue to thrive in our gardens.  This one was moved adjacent to the developing shade garden where its location will receive generous amounts of morning sunshine.  It appears ready to grow.

Welcome Back!

There is a lot of interest in Native plants now.  I say wonderful, more choices for me.  But please don't ask me or the bees to give up my Glory of the Snow.  Seeing them come up and flower in early spring makes me happy!

I let out a squeal of delight when I first spotted this sharp lobed hepatica flower.  Today there are two lovely pale purple flowers!  Around here this native wildflower is blooming now.  Our first drive by Irma's Woods found countless hepaticas in bloom.  It seems that the brightness of the flowers fade as the blossom matures.  Boy, can I relate to that!

The Squirrel Corn that we moved to the new woodland garden last year shows its lacy leaves. The funky flowers will be along soon. This is a spring ephemeral will not be visible above ground very long.  Now is the time to get out there and see them while you can!

These are stinging nettles. This plant is armed and dangerous famous for burning skin, but it is useful.  Red Admiral butterflies are among many that use it as a food source for their caterpillars.  When properly prepared it is a valuable food for humans.  If the color green has a taste, this plant has it.

Here is a Johnny Jump Up coming up from between Helen's Herkimer diamond rocks.  These  stones are native fifty miles to our north.  I like to eat Johnny Jump Up flowers and like their little faces.  Native or non-native I'm glad to see them both again.  The truth is I have to rip some of these plants out as  weeds while leaving some that flower.  Welcome back to another year in the Stone Wall Garden everyone!

Many Happy Returns!

It is a very April day here!  Rain, thunder  and minor flooding in the usual places are all part of the spring experience here.  Yesterday was different.  It was so nice that spending time outdoors was simply irresistible!  

One of the things on our long, long list of outdoor activities was to clear out the rest of the bluebird houses.  This house had bluebirds in it last summer.  You can tell from the grassy nest.  The little balls of chewed up milkweed fluff indicate a mouse nest.  It can be quite exciting to evict these unwanted winter residents.  No one was at home here so it was easy to just flip the contents into the trug.  I have been seeing bluebirds so it's great to have this done!  In several of the other houses the rodent residents were at home.  Those evictions were far more exciting.  There was a lot of dancing around and squealing going on but Ed and I have been together for a long time and he is used to it. I might have terrified the mice.    Boy, those furry little critters are fast!

We did get some chores done, but I spent some time looking for signs of my returning plants.  I was so happy to see my pink trout lilies poking up through the leaves.  Red now, the leaves will turn green with spots one they have been in the sunlight for awhile. That is a Johnny Jump Up leaf to the right.  Soon happy little purple faced flowers will make me smile.

The shooting stars have broken through. One plant has been pushed up by frost or pulled right up out of the ground by deer  and is showing its roots.  Next time I am out there I will  replant it.

I'm always delighted and a little surprised  to see my squirrel corn come up in the spring.  Perhaps it got its name from the unusual flowers, but the name conjures up an image of the red and grey squirrels quarreling over who gets to eat my plant first!

I think this bright red plant is my single peony emerging.  I could be wrong, but I sure was happy to see it yesterday!

This is a Sea Holly plant.  This plant spreads by self seeding.  It attracts an amazing variety of pollinators to the garden and the lavender flowers last for a very long time.  I don't like to thin these out unless I have to .  This one can stay.  The tiny sedum plants you see here are from seed.  The original plants were given to me by Thelma H., a good friend of my mother. They are another reason to make me smile.

Last but surely not least are some of my Pickwick crocus flowers. April showers bring May flowers, but they bring April flowers too!

Sure Signs Of Spring

As we come to the very last day of March, it's a delight to be out in the garden.  There are certain signs of spring everywhere.  I wondered if this winter would mean the end of many of my perennial garden plants.  Here to my delight is the Virginia bluebells that I planted last fall just emerging.  A spring ephemeral, this plant comes, blooms and disappears  again in the Spring.  I might not look like much, but it's cause fore celebration for me!

This is my Twin leaf plant. It blooms in the spring, but the beautiful butterfly like leaves flutter in the breeze all summer.  Boy was I glad to see it return!

The squirrel corn is coming back strong and it is several weeks ahead of last year.

Soon these lacy green leaves will be joined by dark pink bleeding hearts. It does my heart good to see them again!

Here the desirable plant is the Toothwort.  I will have to decide how much to tidy up around this plant and whether or not I should bury the roots.  John Burroughs called it Crinkleroot and talked about chewing the roots.  To my way of thinking you should have lots of plants before exhibiting that
kind of behavior. I want these to grow!

Last year when I visited Catskill Native Nursery in Kerhonkson, NY, I bought this Heartleaf Alexander.  I had never seen it before,  but it was an adorable plant with heart shaped leaves. With the kind of Winter we had without snow, I was concerned about frost heave.  It looks fabulous! No wonder I brought it home.
 

My pink trout lilies are coming up.  Beautiful speckled leaves and the beginnings of buds give me a thrill.  Ed carefully removed the cage top and teased the dandelions away from my prized plants.  Ed in the garden starting his war on dandelions is also a sure sign of Spring.  It might be my very favorite!

He wins a prize for the removal of the dandelion with its long taproot  intact. What could be better than that?

Forest Floor Springs To Life

It seems that snow cover was deep and continuous just a few days ago.  Unseasonable early warmth ended the snow quickly and perennial plants are now rapidly appearing.  Shooting star was purchased from cultivated stock several years ago.  Apparently foraging rodents have no taste for it as the emerging bright green shoots are numerous.  Its dried stalks were allowed to drop seed at will so we will be looking for more of these close by.   The three leaved plant is a wild columbine that grows here like a weed.  Its numbers will have to be kept in check.

Fringed polygala is evergreen but at this time of year its leaves are reddish.  The green leaves speckled with brown are new.  Trout lilies corms were inadvertently moved with the polygala and they are also highly prized.  We will see no lily flowers until each plant presents two leaves.  A number of years must pass as the corm reforms itself deeper and deeper in the soil each year.  Expecting no flowers yet, we were thrilled just to see the single leaves.  Another look is needed to see if we have twins yet.

Aconite frequently blooms while surrounded by snow.  This year the depth of the snow cover held the plant dormant until the snow was gone.  Clear bright yellow flowers like this lift my spirits now.

This bleeding heart has been modified from its natural wild form.  More compact and covered with deep bright flowers, we find it to be an improvement over its close by wild cousin.  The dark green oval leaves belong to a weed that remained unseen because of its early appearance.

This squirrel corn remains despite its inadvertent disturbance several years ago.  Now Becky is called in to closely watch my weeding activities here early in the season.

Many of these plants are woodland natives but appear here in our artificial shade garden.  A single locust tree provides both the shade and the fallen leaves and stems.  We will complete the filling of the wild shade garden with natural soil washed from the woods and diverted into a collection area near the lane.  The more demanding wild flowers will be replanted in this more natural soil.

Now This Is Spring In The Garden!

We did have frost this morning, but the rest of the day was perfect for being in the garden.  It's sunny, but not too hot.  Ed's lettuce that got zapped by hard frost before is making a comeback.  Even the plants that I cut back hard are making a comeback.  The plants are making new little leaves.

Ed's tomato plants are big enough to spend the nice part of the day outside. Soon they can be moved to bigger pots.

Ed spent the day working on a project he had hoped to finish last fall. Today he moved the clove currants. Tomorrow I think he will have the bed finished!  That  will be a great feeling.   Actually every thing that we can get done makes such a big improvement  a wonderful feeling of accomplishment comes with the effort!

Ed's bloodroot not only came back this year, but it multiplied over the winter.   We have to keep an eye on it. The plants flower and go to seed very quickly. Ed's watering after the plants went dormant paid off.

The frost didn't make much of an impression on my squirrel corn and in spite of its name it didn't get eaten either.  The plant looks great!

We have some gorgeous blue Siberian squill growing in a place where we did not know we had planted it.  It will take some patience to separate it from the weeds but who could not love those gorgeous blue flowers?

I saved the best surprise for last.  I had circle onions also known as curly chives for years.  Somehow in the last couple of years we lost them.  I was sure they were gone for good, but today I walked by this plant and stopped  dead in my tracks.  There way down at the end of one of the garden beds, growing in the stone path was a curly chive plant.  How it could be growing there so far away from where they had been planted before is a mystery to me, but I am thrilled to have noticed it.  Imagine if it had been pulled as a weed by mistake.  It will be moved to a nice spot and well marked.  Now that we have been reunited, I don't want to lose them again. Maybe if I'm lucky they will send up a nice purple flower for me come July.

Warmth, Wind And New Spring Arrivals

Today was warm and windy .   Flowers that were buds yesterday are open wide today.  The deep brilliant  blue of these scilla makes me sigh with contentment.  You do have to lie down on the ground with the camera  to get this view. I even managed to get back up without help!

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This patch of snow in summer went from bud to flower in one day.  Planted in a fairly large group, these look great even from a distance.

This large planting of Ducth iris is outstanding.  I think every bud is open now.  Some of the others that have been open longer have faded in the heat and hot sun. They were great while they lasted.   If the forecast is correct tomorrow will bring a return to cold.  These flowers can take that . If anything it will make them last longer.

Today there were 4 winter aconite flowers.  Yesterday  the plant was barely visible.  Their cheery yellow can also stand up to the cold.

I'm always delighted to see the emergence of my squirrel corn plants.  These delicate looking plants and unusual flowers sometimes get uprooted , I don't know that it is squirrels who do it, but they got their name somehow. This spring ephemeral wildflower is always short lived, but wonderful to see just the same.

So if tomorrow does turn out to be cold with sleet, these  flowers should brave the elements with ease.  I probably will not be as beautifully gracious about it, but I'll make it too.  I heard the peepers tonight.  Spring is here even the little frogs know it!