Tangled Branches: Cultivated

happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Last Day of April Pictures

April is one of the best months for the northern Virginia woodland garden. We began with daffodils and the little blue bulbs I love so much, and now we finish with azaleas and dogwood and more.
Azalea 'Herbert' blooms along the back of the lot.

The Spanish Bluebells have been outstanding this year.

Pink tulip-of-the-woods.
Unlike the red one, I remember planting these at one time.
I don't remember planting it in the woods, however.

This old dogwood was here
at the edge of the woods
when we bought the house.

The coral honeysuckle is finally climbing
through the viburnum as I always thought it should.

Not all our azaleas are elegant.
This screaming coral-pink-red one is in front of the house
right where the builder put it.
Most of the houses here have similar ones.
It's been with us so long now I can't think of getting rid of it.

Labels: azaleas, bluebells, dogwood, honeysuckle, tulips

Monday, April 14, 2008

Spring Surprises - Good and Bad

Surprise! It was 86 degrees (F) on Friday. Not springlike, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Tulipa clusiana 'Tinka'
Tulips are blooming in my garden! I planted these very close to the road in hopes that the critters would find it an inconvenient place to eat. The strategy worked long enough to take a picture, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Salvia patens is springing back. According to Thompson & Morgan, this is only hardy to zone 8, and I'm in either zone 6b or 7 depending on which version of the hardiness map you use.

Verbena hastata 'Pink Spires' has not sprung back. Supposedly hardy to zone 3. No sign of Eupatorium purpureum yet either.

Agastache foeniculum volunteer seedlings
Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubliee' produces golden babies, even when planted next to the plain green species.

I'm learning to know the frogs by their sounds. The earliest ones were Upland Chorus Frogs. Now we have Spring Peepers and Gray Tree Frogs, as well. Did you know that frogs start singing very early in the morning, even before the birds? We slept with the windows open on Friday night, and before the dawn was perceptible to me, the frogs began calling.

The march of the branded plants continues. This isn't really a surprise, but Saturday I discovered a new (to me) brand - Hort Couture. I have to grudgingly admit that their packaging is very attractive and the plant selections were interesting. The very idea of branded plants still makes me a little queasy though. When I got out of college I worked at a wholesale/retail nursery where we dug customers' desired number of plants out of wooden flats and wrapped them in newspaper. They were just beginning to move to plastic cell packs. Geez, I feel like a garden geezer....

Labels: branded plants, frogs, tulips, weather

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Tangled Branches: Cultivated

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Last Day of April Pictures

Monday, April 14, 2008

Spring Surprises - Good and Bad