Bloom Day May 15, 2013

Waldensteinia, barren strawberry and daffodils

Last spring was early and hot and on Bloom Day there was a lot of bloom. Things are moving slowly this Bloom Day. This is an  area of my lawn reduction project. Waldsteinia has spread over the past three years and I’m underplanted with daffodils.

Barren strawberry close up

Waldsteinia is a beautiful plant and it is just coming into bloom. It is not  any kind of strawberry plant.

Miniature daffodils

These miniature daffodils are some of the daffs growing amid the barren strawberry

Miniature white daffodil

Some daffodils are growing in the grass. I haven’t gotten the groundcover this far.

Flowery Mead

My lawn is not fine turf. I call it a flowery mead. Right now it is blooming with blue and white violets, and of course, dandelions.

Forget Me Nots

Many of the spring bloomers are small, like these Forget Me Nots.

Grape hyacinths

TI can see these pale grape hyacinths from the house. The familiar blue ones are growing in the grass by the miniature daffs.

Yellow epimedium

I am so  glad I gave epimediums a try. They are NOT too tender for Heath.

Primrose

This primrose  did so well in a shady spot in back of the house I am planting more in this spot this year.

Forsythia

My forsythia is looking much better than usual, but that isn’t saying much.

Red orchid cactus

And my orchid cactus has gone wild!

I thank Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom day and giving us all a chance to see what is blooming across our great land today.

You will also see what is (mostly) Wordless this Wednesday.

The Little Cyclamen That Could on March Bloom Day

White cyclamen with Guan Yin

This little white cyclamen on my bedroom windowsill has been blooming and blooming  for two months. At least. Our bedroom is very cool, down to 55 degrees at night so the cycalmen has been very happy here.  I really need a cold bedroom to sleep well. My husband tolerates it. I might turn the heat up during the day while I am working on the upstairs computer, otherwise I spend my of my day downstairs near the woodstove – where most of the housework lives. Not to mention my laptop. The cyclamen and Guan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compasion with all her magic tools, is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. Easy to start off the day in a good frame of mind when I can carry these images with me all during the day.

Pink tulips

This pot of pink tulips is still blooming even though they were planted at exactly at the same time as my round pot of tulips which I wrote about recently here. I treated them just the same, but when the round pot began to bloom so much earlier I started keeping this pot in the sitting room which is cooler room than our main living space.

Pink tulip close-up

The tulips are just beautiful in the early morning sun.

Paper whites – dried

It would be fun to say that the paper whites from Brent and Becky are still in bloom, like the cyclamen, after two months, but alas, it is not so. Still, I haven’t gotten rid of these flowers just because they have dried so beautifully. I don’t remember ever having this experience with paper whites before.

Carol of May Dreams Gardens has been hosting Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day for years. I love having the chance to what else is in bloom on the 15th of the month all across the land, and Bloom Day had given me a record of my own garden through the months and years. Thank you Carol!

Bloom Day February 2013

Paper White Narcissus

On this Bloom Day the ground is covered with snow and the plow drifts are still  substantial. My indoor blooms are modest. These paper whites, a bonus from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, have been blooming for over a month. A couple of the stems collapsed, but I cut the blooms off and they continue in a little glass vase.

Primroses

This little pot of primroses was a door prize at the annual meeting of the Greenfield Garden Club. I will plant it  outdoors when the snow is gone. We’ll see if it has enough vigor to survive after  all these indoor days.

White Cyclamen

I found this little pot of white cyclamen in a forgotten corner of the piazza in the fall when I  brought the houseplants in. I began to water it again and that is all it needed. It began to bloom before Christmas and will continue for a little while longer I think. They are beautiful on my bedroom windowsill.

I thank Carol at May Dreams Gardens every month for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and giving us all a chance to show what we have blooming. This is a great gift for us all, especially those who have so few winter blooms. Click here to see all those other blooms.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day December 15,2012

Christmas cactus

I never have much in bloom at this time of the year. but on this Garden Bloggers Boom Day I have something to show. My big Christmas cactus sits in the corner of our bedroom and thrives with no care at all. A smaller Christmas cactus sits on the kitchen divider, the only blooming plant in public space. Lots more blooms to come on both.

Cyclamen

This little pot of cyclamen , bought last February, spent the summer forgotten under a shelf on the piazza where it had fallen. When I brought plants indoors in September, this little plant was showing new growth. Brave little plant. And determined.

Succulent in bloom

I brought the two hypertufa troughs I made into the house in the fall, not because I was worried about the plants, but because I was worried about the troughs. The troughs, and my potted bulbs are resting in  our unheated, but sunny, Great Room. Some of the succulents are hibernating, but this mystery plant is blooming, and has been blooming for over a month. If anyone has any ideas what type of succulent it is I’d be happy to know. The garden shop where I  bought it, could not name it.

Thank you Carol for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens. Click here and see who else is celebrating – and with more energy that I am showing at the End of the Road.

Happy Fifth Blogoversary to Me – and Giveaway

Purington Pink Rose in full June bloom

Today is my fifth blogoversary. Five years ago, on the Feast of St. Nicholas, with  a lot of help from my husband, I gave myself the gift of the commonweeder blog. I had no idea where it would take me or the gifts it would give me. Because of this blog I joined 60+ other fascinating garden bloggers in Buffalo and Seattle for Flings that took us to amazing gardens, meetings with creative gardeners, and gave me lively and instructive conversations with other bloggers over meals and while in the bus travelling from one great garden to another. I have ‘met’ many gardeners through the comments they have left on the blog and the emails they have sent. All have added to my horticultural education and horticultural pleasures.

The blog turned out to be a wonderful record of what is going on in my garden.  One of the special people I want to thank for prompting my monthly record is Carol over at May Dreams Gardens who has been hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for more than five years. Now just by checking my Bloom Day posts I can see the changes in my garden from month to month and year to year. A great gift.  I have also gained a new awareness of the richness of my own local gardening/farming/eating community  over these past five years as readers have come to me with news of their own projects.

Henhouse #7

On this fifth blogoversary I can count that I have written 1190 posts and received 4274 comments.  Some of the most popular posts have been Whither my Wisteria, and Henhouse #4. I have never understood why Henhouse #4 was more popular than Henhouses 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 which was a work of art. The Hawley Woodpile has been a favorite in every season and brought me a reader from France. Mirrors in the Garden – A Trend? was one of the many gifts of the Buffalo Fling.

To help me celebrate Timber Press will give a copy of Beautiful No Mow Yards by Evelyn Hadden to a randomly chosen reader who leaves a comment below. This Giveaway will end on Monday night at Midnight. December 10.  On Tuesday morning, December 11, I will announce the winner.

Beautiful No Mow Yards is a beautiful and useful book about the various ways we can cut down on the amount of lawn we have, or even eliminate it altogether. Even if we want a lawn, Hadden shows us that  there are eco-friendly alternatives to plain turf. Alternatives that will require less work. It could be yours! Just leave a comment below.

Another part of my celebration is that I can also Giveaway a copy of my own book, The Roses at the End of the Road,  which one commenter once said described ‘the life of my daydreams’. It’s got stories about roses, of course, but also about life in the country and the delightful characters around us.

Leave a comment, I’ll randomly choose a winner on December 11 and notify you by email. Then we will arrange to have both books mailed.  Good luck!

Glory in the Morning on Bloom Day

Good glory in the morning on these August days. Things are looking a little fresher after the 2-1/2 inches of rain we had this past weekend. And another inch last night.  At first I didn’t think I had much in bloom – and then I took another look.

Aconite and Moth Light hydrangea

I didn’t expect the aconite would be embracing the Moth Light hydrangea – or vice versa.

Acidanthra

I bought a bag of acidanthra bulbs on a whim and them forgot where I planted them, and even that I had planted them

Arizona Sun Gaillardia

Arizona Sun Gaillardia are doing well – after a slow start – and so are the Oranges and Lemons gaillardias in the other bed.

Shastas, echinacea, Russian sage

The Switzerland shasta daisies are really just about gone. Deadheading needed.

Other plants in bloom: an occasional rose, Cana agastache, bee balm, daylilies, phlox, Black Beauty lilies (much smaller this year I think because of the drought), impatiens, and pots of million bells,  petunias and fuschia. Tigridia bulbs in pots also still putting out a bloom a day.

For views of what is blooming in other gardens across our great land visit Carol, our host, at May Dreams Gardens.

If you want to  look at other beautiful photographs check out Wordless Wednesday. I am only mostly Wordless.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 15, 2012

Daylily Bank

It’s Bloom Day and this is the big show in my garden right now, the daylily bank.  I have records of the names of these daylilies, but I’d be hard put to identify them all now.

The Fairy rose

Many of the roses just have a bloom or two, but The Fairy will go on and on. I have one in each of the Lawn Beds.

Purington rambler rose

The Purington rambler rose, an old un-named rose, has been and will be exuberant for some time. The Rose Bank is one place where I am really glad for such a vigorous grower.

Folksinger

I planted Folksinger, one of Griffith Buck’s hardy rose hybrids, this spring and didn’t expect any bloom, but here it is.

Linda Campbell rugosa

Linda Cambell rugosa is a survivor of the Sunken Garden. When I discovered her struggling along among the weeds two years ago I moved her to the new  Rose Bank. She is still struggling but what a bouquet at the end of its single cane.

Ghislaine de Feligonde

Ghislaine de Feligonde, one of my favorite roses, is still putting out a few blossoms which makes me so happy.

Thomas Affleck

Thomas Affleck, the only rose I make any attempt to deadhead for new blooms, is already beginning its second flush, even where I haven’t deadheaded. It is determined to bloom and bloom. This is an amazing rose bred at the Antique Rose Emporium.

Achillea "Terra Cotta"

There are a few other things in bloom besides roses, like  rusty gold Achillea “Terra Cotta” which is such a beautiful color. This is a wonderful addition to the Front or Early Garden in front of the house which is mostly given over to vegetables. And then the Daylily Bank, of course. Other achilleas are also blooming in the garden, “Paprika”, and a rosy red. Achillea ‘The Pearl’ is just about to bloom, and of course, there are the wild yarrows that grow along my drive. I love them all.

Scarlet bee balm

I put this scarlet bee balm (Colrain Red?) down in the Potager because potagers should have flowers as well as vegetables. The soil there is so much better than in the herb bed that the flowers are much lovelier than the ones in the Herb Bed. A lesson in the importance of good soil.

Datura

This datura has been one of the great surprises of the season. I only knew about the beautiful blossoms, and when I bought the small seedling early this spring I expected that the plant would be quite large before it bloomed, but it is blooming on quite a small plant and I think I have a good season ahead of me. A warning. Datura is poisonous in all its parts.

Delphinium, Switzerland daisy and Mothlight hydrangea

This is one of my favorite plantscapes – Switzerland shastas, Connecticut Yankee delphinium and the huge Mothlight hydrangea.

Other newer hydrangeas along the side of the road are putting out a few blossoms, oakleaf hydrangea and Pinky Winky. Other perennials in bloom are the gaillardias “Arizona Sun” and “Oranges and Lemons” from Bluestone Perennials,

There is more bloom in pots, osteospurnum, lobelias, petunias, annual salvia, and even the succulents are putting out blossoms. I moved these pots to the edge of the Entry Piazza, out from under the roof line where I put two chairs, and it changes the approach dramatically. I can almost imagine I am on a Tuscan piazza. All it takes is a glass of wine.

I thank Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting Bloom Day. For more about what is blooming across the country this July, in spite of all the weather difficulties, click here.

Bloom Day – June 2012

Applejack

End of the Road Farm is now officially Zone 5b, with winter temperatures down to -15 degrees. I think that is pretty accurate. When we first moved here I put us in Zone 4b, with temperatures down to -25 degrees. Thirty years ago we would have those bitter temperatures for days at a time, not just a day or two. Even allowing that winters are generally milder, we had a very early spring, after a mild winter. The result has been a very stop and start spring, but the roses are blooming a little earlier. It is a good thing that The Annual Rose Viewing which is always scheduled for the last Sunday in June comes a little early this year.  Applejack has been blooming for over a week already.

Leda

Other roses are following Applejack’s lead. Leda is the only rose blooming so far in the Shed Bed.

Therese Bugnet

The very earliest roses to begin blooming were the rugosas like Therese Bugnet.

Pink Grootendorst

Pink Grootendorst is a very different rugosa, with small dianthus-like blossoms. It keeps Therese Bugnet company on the Rose Bank.

Woodslawn Pink

Woodslawn Pink probably did have an official name once, but it has been living namelessly at Woodslawn Farm for many years.

Hawkeye Belle

Hawkeye Belle is suddenly full of blossoms, but I’m a little worried about the foliage. I hope nothing serious is  going on.

Ispahan

Ispahan usually has lots of winterkill, bringing it down to only five for six feet, but this winter was so mild that there was little winterkill. The bush is over 7 feet tall, bending over with the weight of blossoms.

Sitka rugosa

I could hardly get a photo of Sitka because it is buried underneath Ispahan.

Fantin-Latour

Except for a rugosa alba that jumped into the Sunken Garden, Fantin-Latour is the only rose left, of all those I planted, mostly David Austin Roses. The site is quite wet, but this rose doesn’t seem to mind too much.

Ghislaine de Feligonde

I will let Ghislaine de Feligonde, theoretically a climber, stand in for all the other roses that have begun to bloom: Blanc Double de Coubert; Mount Blanc; Rachel; Harrison’s Yellow; William Baffin; Dart’s Dash; Belle Amour; De la Grifferai; Double Red Knockout; Rosa glauca; Madame Louis Leveque; Madame Plantier; Purington Pink;  Thomas Affleck nd Scabrosa.

white Siberian Iris and lady's bedstraw

I’m weeding and clipping as fast as I can to get ready for the Annual Rose Viewing, but this area hasn’t gotten any attention at all.  The blue siberians have come and gone.

Campanula glomerata "Joan Elliot:

This campanula is beautiful and a strong grower. I have moved her several times and she thrives everywhere.

Peony

I’ve lost the names of most of the peonies. Several are blooming now.

Paonia "Kansas"

Most of the peonies are pink or white, but this red is named “Kansas.”

Mockorange

Yesterday afternoon I sat in the Cottage Ornee (a brief rest from weeding) enveloped in the sweet fragrance of the mockorange. I arranged this. It was wonderful.

What else is in bloom?  Columbine, allium, yellow loosestrife, herbs like chives and sage, and annuals like Superbells ‘Grape Punch” petunias.

Thank you Carol for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Click here and see what else is blooming around the  country.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – May 2012

My flowery mead

Spring has come in starts and stops here in Heath, Massachusetts and so has the blooming season. The lawn, otherwise known as the flowery mead, is in full bloom. Here I show dandelions (of course,) white violets, and ajuga that has migrated into the lawn in a number of places. There are blue violets, too, and creeping ivy with its violet flowers.

Robin plantain

Colonies of this plant have come up in various sections of the lawn. I think I have an ID.  I believe this is robin plaintain, Erigeron pulchellus. At least that is as close as I get using my wildflower guide. The flowers are actually a little more of a gentle plummy lavender with a yellow center. My camera has not captured the color well at all.

Lamium

I don’t know what variety of lamium this is, or how it came into the garden, but there is a large spreading patch in the shady area at the wild edge of the peony bed, and going down towards the road. A very nice gift from Mother Nature. Or someone.

Barren strawberry

The barren strawberry, Waldsteinia fragarionides, was planted behind the peony bed, where there is (was) lawn. It has spread nicely, but there is still lots of lawn.  The yellow blossoms are just coming into bloom.This year I am planting three more big pots. This is a native groundcover that I bought at Nasami Farm where the New England Wildflower Society does its propagating. I am so lucky to live nearby.

Miss Willmott lilac

I thought the lilacs were a little slow this year, but since the Arnold Arboretum in Boston just celebrated Lilac Sunday yesterday, and their bloom season begins earlier than hours, I guess we are about on time. The other lilacs are also just starting, and will be gone by June’s Bloom Day.

Daffs, forget-me-nots and grape hyacinths

This little group blooms under a weeping birch. The daffodils are nearly done, and the forget-me-nots, blue and white varieties, have come up hither and thither in the Lawn Beds.

I have a long bloom season of daffodils, encompassing many varieties, but this is one of my favorites, poeticus, or the pheasant eye daff which is among the last to come into bloom.

When I first began posting for Bloom Day I was assured that buds count. This is the first fat bud on Guan Yin Mian, a beautiful pink tree peony, but all the tree peonies will have come and gone by June 15.

Cotoneaster

A couple of years ago I was stunned to find out that one of my two cotoneasters had come into bloom. Unfortunately, I do not know the variety.

Trollius

I love this sunny flower, Trollius, which blooms on the Bridge of Flowers as well as in my garden. A couple of these will be for sale on Saturday, at the Bridge of Flowers Plant sale in Shelburne Falls.

Sargent crabapple

The Sargent crab is the piece de resistence of this Bloom Day. The old apple trees in the field are almost done blooming, but the Sargent crab in the Sunken Garden is a glory.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Bloom Day, and I am so grateful for this nudge to keep a useful bloom record, and the opportunity to see what else is in bloom on the 15th of every month, all over the country.

And since I am almost Wordless today, do checkout real Wordless Wednesday photos.

A Surprise on Bloom Day

Forsythia

Bloom Day and I have the most respectable forsythia ever. Which isn’t saying too much. A little rain would probably have helped. We haven’t had any real precipitation since two inches of snow on March 8.

Van Sion daffs

The Van Sions, an old early blooming  variety were here when we moved in, have been blooming for a couple of weeks.

Daffodils

Now other daffodils are just starting to bloom as well. Lots more to come. Rain would help.

Glory of the Snow - Chionodoxa

I have little bulbs, Glory of the Snow, scillas, and grape hyaciths in the grass at the end of the  Rose Walk. The grape hyacinths are not blooming yet.

Scillas

Dandelion and ground ivy

Not all the bloomers are quite as welcome as welcome as the daffs. You can’t really see the blue ground ivy blooms. The dandelions began blooming three days ago.

The surprise came when I went to water a pot of annuals and prostrate rosemary that had spent the winter in our unheated, but very sunny, Great Room. Amazingly the prostrate rosemary survived with occasional watering and temperatures that did dip to 32 degrees. This morning I noticed that last year’s lobelia revived and is blooming again.

To see what else is blooming around the country visit May Dreams Gardens. Thank you, Carol, for hosting this great meme.

Orchid cactus

Another surprise. I went into the guest room, where this orchid cactus lives. I pay no attention to it. It is such a big plant I don’t really have a good place for it,. It is rarely watered and I am amazed it is still alive. And yet – every once in a while it bursts forth. One huge blossom and twelve more buds still to open.