Crocus and Witch hazel

The first crocus has pushed up through the grass, just opening their petals at the top of the wheat colored zoysia.  They waited until the temperature got over 60 degrees, but will be followed by many others.  The different colors of the crocus bulbs bloom at slightly different times every year.  The white is always the first, followed by the parchment-yellow ones.  The pale violet usually overlaps those a bit, and the dark violet is usually the last.  I've never known how anyone gets photographs of all the different colors at peak boom at one time?  Perhaps some climates allow for that, but certainly not Southern Maryland.  The early ones will have finished their blooming and started stretching out their leaves to rebuild the bulb before the last will even show color.

At the same time, the small grove of witch hazel, which has been quietly building up their buds for the first warm day, have burst into full bloom.  There are two remaining Arnold's Promise trees, one died last year.  They   are covered with brilliant yellow clusters of short thready petals, and there is a rich, almost heavy fragrance that is noticible for quite a distance.    I paid dearly for those many years ago, only to find more at half price the following week because the flowers were faded.  I wish I had bought more of them at that time.  But money was tight. 

The flowers are distinctive, with a bundles of long ribbons for petals.  Individually they do not have a lot of impact, but collectively, spread out along the branches, they carry quite a punch in a period with little other color.

So, a year or two later, when I saw witch hazel at a cheaper priced nursery, I decided to buy more.  They were labeled at Arnold's Promise, but the price was suspiciously low.  I decided to take the chance, and what I got were 4 different, probably seed grown native varieties of witch hazel. 

They do not have the punch of color, each being a slightly different mixture of orange with bits of yellow, and the flowers are much smaller.  But they have all grown into much larger, multi-stemmed trees in a  tough location that needs everything possible to hold the soil in place.  So I came out alright in the end.  The one thing I wish I could changes is that a few of them hold onto their leaves from the previous year, right through the blooming season, covering the small flowers they have.

When the witch hazel is blooming, it is time to cut down all of the tall grasses, and haul the straw down the hill to one of the brush piles.  I did that last weekend - pictures of how different it looks will be coming soon.