Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Thursday, April 12, 2007
More Blues
The little blue flowers keep on keeping on. The Siberian squills and Chionodoxa are basically finished, but the Muscari and Violas are still going strong. Well, that is, except for the store-bought Violas. They got frosted a bit, but they'll be back.
Some recent bloomers are Muscari 'Valerie Finnis', Ipheion uniflorum, and Ipheion 'Rolf Fiedler'. The Virginia bluebells are just starting.
I planted Ipheion uniflorum several years ago, and the ones that settled in are now nice-sized clumps.
I wish I had planted Ipheion 'Rolf Fiedler' years ago. These are only a couple years in the ground so there aren't nearly as many of them, but the color is so much more striking than the species. I had this next to some yellow Creeping Jenny, but that particular planting was a construction casualty. (Last year's picture here.) I understand there is some confusion about whether 'Rolf Fiedler' is a variety of I. uniflorum, or a separate species. Rolf's petals are more rounded and the foliage seems more prostrate, but you can definitely see the family resemblance. 
I can't make up my mind about Valerie Finnis. (And how does she rate having two plants - an Artemisia and a Muscari - named after her?) Anyhow, her Muscari is a pale blue thing that blooms after the Muscari armeniacum. Most of mine disappeared, but there are a few left. The thing I can't make up my mind about is whether I like the color. Up close and in bulb catalogs, it's very pretty. From a distance, it's kind of a washed out gray-blue.
But it's hard to find a prettier blue than the Virginia bluebells. These should have been a construction casualty, but they came up anyway after being trampled into the clay and having more clay thrown on top for good measure. I think I won't have a chance to get to Bull Run Park to see the bluebells this year, so I'll have to look at last year's pictures and pretend.
6 Comments:
Hurray for the tough Virginia bluebells, Entangled. We used to see huge drifts at Allerton Park down near the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana... one of the first places I ever saw Collinsia... I love those blues of spring!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Lovely bluebells! And the other pictures of all your spring flowers are good too. Thanks for sharing!
Are the Ipheions a wildflower? I never heard of them before, but I have something that looks identical to them coming up in clumps in an area where I planted snowdrops one year. I never knew what they were, but they look like the first picture.
Annie sent me over this way - I had photographed some Virginia Bluebells in my mother's Charlottesville garden a few weeks ago, but I had forgotten their name! They are so beautiful - and I agree with Annie about the blues of spring - they're just beautiful.
Annie: The bluebells must be tougher than I thought - I had a hard time getting them going in my dry woodland, but apparently they're now here to stay.
Yolanda Elizabet: Thanks for stopping by - your garden is so beautiful. Sometimes I think I should give up gardening for photography.
Lynn: I've read that Ipheion is natualized in some places (maybe it was Williamsburg, VA?). I believe it's originally from South America,
Pam: I'm thinking of starting some Virginia bluebells at our country/retirement house near Charlottesville. This is our first spring there and I was hoping to see lots of spring wildflowers in our woods, but so far have been disappointed.
OMG at the bluebells in Bull Run! (I must go!) I had no idea! Love your pictures! They are wonderful!
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