Friday, May 15, 2009

Bloom time, Boom time

At long last, Spring is here in full force.  Take a peak at what’s been blooming in my yard this past month or so. 

It all started with my Prunus mume  or flowering apricot that did NOT bloom in February.  Rather, it waited until April.  This year, it has reverted back to it’s graft plant, a wild cherry.

 

Apricot

Shortly thereafter, my Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’ appear from nowhere amidst the Liriope muscari ‘Evergreen Giant’.  These daffodils do very well in the south!

 Icefolliesliriope2

These Narcissus sp. ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ bloom later in the month and are extremely fragrant!  They also have double flowers.

SirWinston 

Here is an Acer palmatum ‘Emperor’ that has just leafed out with Lychnis coronaria or Rose campeon.

Bloodgoodlychnis

The maple leaf. 

Bloodgoodleaf

And the Rose campeon flower.   This plant is extremely drought tolerant and produces seeds each year.  The magenta flower is a brilliant contrast to the pale grey/green leaf and stem.

Lychnisbloom

IMG_1571

Here is an Acer palmatum dissectum or Laceleaf Japanese maple.

DwarfMaple 

Crinum ‘Ellen Bosanquet’ will produce blooms in my garden from late Spring through mid-Summer.   I love Crinum lilies!  They have big beautiful flowers and glossy green strap-like foliage.  These are what I call a ‘Pass-along’ Plant as they are easily divided. 

EllenBosquetCrinum

Chionanthus retusus or Chinese Fringe Tree ranks high on my list of all time favorite flowering Ornamental trees!  See the sidebar entitled “May Plant of the Month.”

FringeTree

Here is the close up of its flower.

FringetreeFlower

 

Azalea indica ‘George Tabor’ grows so well in the south!  This is a plant for the mid-ground or back-ground.  It’s not a plant you want to put front and center because in the off-season they are rather unattractive evergreens.  However, when they are in full bloom, NOTHING can beat their showy habit!

GeoTabor

I love the orchard-like blossoms of the George Tabor azalea.

geotaborflower

In the middle of my Spring gardening, I came across this little creature.  It is called a Southeastern Crown Snake

IMG_1519

It really wasn’t much bigger than a large earth worm!

IMG_1526

Here is one of my favorite irises - Iris germanica ‘Blue Stellata’.

IMG_1541

And the Rosa sp. ‘Knock Out’ Redrazz variety always puts on a show this time of year.

knockoutspalm

Here is my Loropetalum chinensis ‘Ruby’ hedge.  This plant makes a wonderful architectural hedge and blooms twice a year.  First, in early summer and later in late summer. 

loropetalumhedge

And it’s flowers.

IMG_1491

A close up.  There is nothing like a tight dense hedge!

loropetalum

Prunus yedoensis or Yoshino Cherry blooms after the Okame Cherrys.  These trees have made Washington, DC king of the Cherry Blossoms!  They do very well in the south too.

Yoshino

… and a close up of its flower.

Yoshinoblossom 

Trachelospermum jasminoides or Confederate jasmine is in full bloom now and fills my outdoor room with sweet fragrance that makes me want to stop and just breathe it all in.

IMG_1575

Camellia japonica blooms from February through April here in the south!  Aren’t we lucky?

pinkcamellia

And finally, my Rosa sp. ‘Zepherine Drouhin’  or Zepherine Drouhin rose is very fragrant and thornless.  This is a climber and is very hardy in the south! 

NewDawn

Roses should always be bought bare root.  I get mine from Jackson & Perkins.

There you have it.  We are quickly approaching prime-time in the Zone 8  garden!  And I’m just now noticing how my garden overflows with pinks and burgandys in Spring!  Whatever colors are up in your garden now, enjoy!  Happy Spring!  To see what’s blooming in other gardener’s gardens, visit May Dreams Gardens Bloom Day.

8 comments:

  1. Nice photos, a lot of blooms. The rose campion looks a lot like the agrostemma flowering in our garden right now. That crinum looks nice. I planted 3 of them last week, and I've never actually seen them bloom, only photos. It's reassuring to see them looking good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice blooms and super cute snake! What a surprise, to wake up from a nap in your hand. Never heard of Chinese Fringe Tree, it's quite something! Wonder why your apricot reverted? Happy Bloom Day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful blooms. I have people encouraging me to get Rosa 'Zepherine Drouhin' and now seeing it on your post, I think that's a sign I should get it!

    Thanks for joining in for bloom day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd love to see where are your plants are in the plan.

    I'm must have been asleep for years. When did knockout roses begin to appear everywhere? Are there any yellow or white knockouts yet?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great photos - I can see we like a lot of the same plants. I planted a Chinese Fringe Tree in my backyard last spring, but if it got any blooms, they were over too fast for me to notice. I seem to recall they take a fair amount of time to establish before blooming, so I'll try to be patient (and admire your photo in the meantime.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow! Your back yard has a little of everything. Its nice to see how plants look in a maturing garden.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Chinese Fringe Tree is wonderful..., it's amazing what has grown around here too during my absence!

    ReplyDelete
  8. sorry to post this as a comment, but I don’t have your email.
    I am regular visitor of your blog..
    Sir i would request to write more about green architecture...
    architects as architecural know more about Green eco architectural designs are reusable materials, green designs etc.. ..… Create an Eco friendly Green design… Save Earth.. interior designers Bangalore as of natural materials interior designers in Bangalore with almost modern concepts architects bangalore
    aq

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! Let me know your thoughts.