Catching Up in the Labyrinth

If the Redbud bush is blooming, then Spring must be on the way!  This is a Cercis Candensis 'Don Egolf' that I bought from the National Arboretum several years ago, and it is finally getting to a significant size.  Not that it won't get a lot larger.  This year, with the sudden shift to warm daytime and night time temperatures, it is blooming at the same time as the Serviceberry tree next to the shed.  Usually the Serviceberry is several days ahead. 

A few of the hellebores are visible at the base, and it looks like there is room for more.  I do have some that need to be moved out of the North Garden, and this spot has potential.  Of course, once the Redbud leafs out, they won't be able to be seen.  But that is the why they will fit - seen when blooming, blending into the background the rest of year.

I will be happy when the Redbud will be visible in this view, across from the other side of the labyrinth.  As it is, if you look closely, behind the tree trunk, the very tips of the branches.   Lots of the bulbs are up, including the new grape hyacinths and anemones in the front, pink and blue Dutch hyacinths, yellow and white daffodils.  We scattered the bulbs, hoping and expecting that they will multiply over the years, to become large clumps over time.  That is already happening with the daffodils that were put in a year ago, and it is very satisfying.

You can see the zoysia grass is just beginning to turn green.  I also hate to admit it, but some of that green is wild onions.  I need to mix up my nasty blend of RoundUp with dish detergent.  Using a cotton rag and wearing gloves, I wipe the leaves a few times, and the detergent strips off the waxy coating, allowing the weed killer to penetrate. It is slow, but over the years, I have radically eliminated most of the onions with using extensive amount of chemicals.

 Here is a close-up of one of the hyacinths behind the new growth of the false indigo, with a bright yellow/green ground cover.  The early spring colors for many things seem so much more intense than later in the year.  The fast growing foliage has a flush of color once the plants attain their full height and harden up for the intense heat and light that is coming up.  Very soon.  There will be turning back once the cold air is gone, and the sun become more intense.

Finally, there is a Spring ephemeral making its first appearance in bloom, planted last year with the hope it would match the catalog description.  This is a Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy.'  Bought from the Plant Delights Nursery I am particularly delighted that it was introduced by Christopher Lloyd, whose garden, Great Dixter, captivated me many years ago.  I have learned a lot from his books, and am pleased to have a plant that he introduced into broad use in horticulture.

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Catching Up

I admit it, I have been delinquent in keeping up with all that is happening in the yard.  It is not out of any lack of interest or desire, but because I have been away both for work and for rehearsals in Boston for an upcoming trip.  Then, when I finally got to the house last weekend, the day was rainy.  I only got in a couple of hours, if that much, of work before the weather got in the way.  Again.  It has been raining most weekends when I have been there.

So, here are some pictures from the North garden.  The first shows the ever expanding clump of Mayapples with their broad, multilobed leaves at the back, with Narcissus, in front.  In the very front are the emerging Day lilies and Celandine poppy.  A nice mixture of textures at this early stage.

The Speckled Wandering Jew, which I wrote about last November, is also coming up out of the ground.  You can see the remains of the old stems that I left at the base so I would know where to look for it again.  This was an impressive ground cover for a shady spot last summer, and I am tempted to see if I can get more plants either by rooting the stems or division.

It is very good to see it again, since a number of the Zone 7 plants I have bought over the years have not survived the winter.  I don't understand what all of the factors are, since the new USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map shows the whole area to be 7b.  I am concerned about a new Agapanthus  last year, that is looking like it is killed back. I am pursuing a hardy Agapanthus for my garden, but it must be a blue one.  I had high hopes for that one last year, since it both bloomed and was putting on significant new growth.   I just have to wait and see.

 Finally, the shrub in the corner is beginning to bloom.  I don't have my records of the different plants with me, so I cannot identify this one.  If my sister, when she reads this blog, would remind me what this bush it, I would appreciate.  She is my one regular reader, so thanks in advance.

That is the beginning of the catch-up.  I will add more photos later.

Feast for the Birds

So, there I was stuck inside with bad weather - rainy, cloudy, windy.  I had noticed the berries were disappearing from the large holly tree growing behind the house.  But I had yet to see any of the birds enjoying the feast.  Several years ago, there was a flock of Blue Birds who started at the top and devoured the berries within a day.  Last year, in the middle of the heavy snowfall, the tree filled up with about two dozen Cedar Waxwings.

As I started eating lunch, birds started flying into the holly, moving so fast it was not clear they were.  I did notice a robin who was sitting still, but not really eating anything.  Then, one Cedar Waxwing arrived, then a few more.  They were working their way from the other side of the tree, as if they knew I was watching.  So, I got my camera, and even though I was shooting through the window, and there were heavy clouds at the time, I sat and waited.

The Cedar Waxwing was the first to strike a pose.  Then, to my surprise, a Blue Bird flew in - only one, but that was all I needed because he stopped in a wonderfully open part of the tree.  He did not stay long, and I didn't see any others the whole time.  They never stay around very long, but they know about this holly tree. There are a half-dozen other hollies that I have planted (which still survive I might add), so there are more reasons for more Blue Birds to come.

Then, another bird arrived that I did not recognize.  David told me he has seen them around several other times.  So, first I tried to get a good picture. 

Once I had something I could use as a reference, I pulled out the guide book.  So, here is a new bird for me, the Northern Flicker, an Eastern Yellow Shafted, along with a Cedar Waxwing. 

Many wonder why we haven't cut that holly down, because it blocks so much of the view of the water.  But every February and March, when I see all of the birds eating the berries, and learn to identify new birds, I know I will never cut it down.  It is such an important part of the natural habitat.

Hellebores!

What can I say, but that I love Hellebores!  When everything else is sulking in the ground, waiting for warmth, they push their way up, and give their best.  The variety of colors is not wide, but the differences from one plant to the next are part of the party.

So, here are photos of five different Hellebores. For some of these plants, this is the best they have done, having been bought as small plants.  None of these have fancy names or plant patents.  But all make me smile.  So, rather than try to fill this out with words, let me just let the pictures say it all.

February views

So, here is the promised picture of the blooming Hellebore "Winter's Bliss."  It sits slightly under the large viburnum at the edge of the road, and you can see the remains of last year's long stems of the pink hibiscus in front of it.  This is a great place for a Hellebore, where it can jump out of the bare soil with leaves and flowers, but then retires back when the larger and more dramatic hibiscus upstages it. This is easily seen from the entrance of the labyrinth, and provides a pleasant welcome at a bleak time of year.  The other Hellebores are being much slower in blooming, but I will let you know when they come through.

There have been short periods of mild sunshine over the last week, allowing the occasional views like the ones below.  If you look carefully at the bottom edge of this first shot, you can see the yellow of Winter's Bliss glowing in the sun.

Here is where the seasonal change of zoysia grass into a soft tan color is really effective in my opinion.  This view just wouldn't be the same if the grass were solid green.  The more neutral soft tan color is so much more distinctive than green would be.  This is the view of people walking their dogs down the road or hiking into the county nature preserve, but don't tell the county that our neighbors regularly go in the nearby unofficial entrance. 

The last photo is just another 15 feet down the road. 

Wintry Mix

This mild winter has brought along the common weather report of a "wintery mix" of rain, sleet, snow and whatever other forms and shapes water can make in between.  So, what have I found the labyrinth showing its courage?

Near the entrance of the labyrinth, underneath the front edge of the viburnum is this bold Hellebore.  I confess I don't have my journal with the variety written down, so I cannot name it.  I promise to take another photo of the flowers and name it then.  I just bought it last year, about this same time in January, and kept it on the dining table for several weeks to enjoy it close up. 

The next beauty is actually in the North Garden, on the other side of the house.  This plant is budding much earlier than any of the others in that area, which gets no sun in the winter and the only warmth is from being close to the foundation of the house. 

It arrived as an unnamed seedling I bought at half price when the Sunshine Farm and Gardens was getting rid of large quantities they had not been able to re-pot.  I lost half of them in the first 8 months, because they were not ready for the rough and tumble life of an ordinary patch of soil.  So much for any savings, and they still took a couple of years before reaching blooming size.  Always wanting to be forgiving, I almost forget my frustration about what happened when they are blooming.  Almost.  I have not bought anything else from that nursery because of the rude response when I complained.  There are gentler ways to say discounted plants are not guaranteed.

In the back loop of the labyrinth are the tops of the new stems for the Peony 'Kopper Kettle.'  This will be the second spring for it to be in the ground, and I hope it has finally gotten large and settled in enough to bloom.  I have been waiting patiently, but no longer!  I can already count more than twice the number of stems that grew up last year.  Even more interesting, though it is hard to see in the photo, is that there are also buds on last year's stems.  Two, though out of focus here, are on the upper diagonal stem in this shot.  This particular peony is a cross between a tree and a herbaceous peony, with the strength of heavier stems so they don't collapse under the weight of the flowers.  They are supposed to die back to the ground, but this one didn't want to do that. I wonder how many others are doing this, and what conditions permit it?


So, I will end with another Bay view.  While the weather is not all that enticing, it is still uplifting to look through the garden at that expanse of water, almost blending into the sky.

More January pictures

Look at those Juniper berries!  Only one of the varieties of junipers that I grow seem to get them with any regularity.  Unfortunately I don't have my garden journal here with me, so I cannot identify the variety.

Then there is the peeling bark on the Acer Griseum, or the Paperbark Maple, growing in front of the house.  We bought this with money given to us by our neighbors when Mom died, and planted it as a memorial to her.  She would have loved it.

The tree has been having a difficult time with the droughts the last two years.  We learned the hard way in 2010 that it needs to be kept moist, or the tips of the branches die.  So, it lost its leader, and seems to be in the process of trying to decide which way to grow next.  When I was in Seattle a few years ago, I saw it planted as a street tree, and figured it must be pretty tough.  But what I forgot to account for was the regular rain and limited number of hot, sunny days that Seattle experiences.  I keep thinking that it will eventually get enough roots down into the soil, and take off.  But for now, it still remains almost the same size as when we bought it. 

A group of evergreens that invite a close view are the Japanese Cedars, or Cryptomeria japonica 'Black Dragon.' This shot shows the buds that are packed on all of the branches.  Sometime in the next few weeks, they will open up, and there will be a yellow cloud of pollen that surrounds the bushes every time they are touched or there is a slight breeze.  If you look closely in the center you can see two of the 'cones,' if that is the right term for them? They are about a half-inch in diameter, and look like a tiny artichoke with a squashed in tip
 
I bought three of these probably ten years ago at the U.S. National Arboretum plant sale, which is sponsored by the Friends of the National Arboretum.  I was attracted by the dense, short needles and their label saying that they were compact, slow growing and 10 feet tall at maturity.

Here is one of the three planted in a cluster near the end of the juniper edge that separates the lawn from the beginning of the slope down into the ravine.  You can see a bit of the juniper at the bottom right, reaching to the base of the cedar.  While there is nothing to provide a sense of scale in the photo, these are quite tall, probably about 8 feet!  So what I expected to be much slower growing is almost to it's "mature" height in just 10 years.  I am not complaining, just surprised.  The problem is that they have grown up into the view of the bay from the labyrinth, but when they were planted, there was no labyrinth!  They stay very dense, as you can tell.  The bits of brown are sections where small branches in the interior die back, I expect because there is just too much jammed together.  I have never had a big branch die back. 

So here is one last picture, looking though the mixed hedge towards the Bay. I swear, I did not dramatically "enhance" the color on this shot.  What you see is what the winter sun created all by itself.  In the center, behind the Crape Myrtle, are the Japanese Cedars in all their glory.