Just Wow!

  Never in my wildest dreams did I think the rock garden would look so good in this first year after the recovery effort. The color doesn't show up as much in the picture as it does in real life. Or maybe I took the photo too late in the afternoon.

Anyway, here are some more goodies. The bronze ajuga is blooming, joining the various colors of moss phlox. It's very happy, and it spreads easily. I'm going to move some farther out from the wall this year and see if it will tolerate the sunnier place out there because the foliage is nice all season.

Here's the moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia again. I can't believe how happy it is since it's never done anything before except be scraggly and barely survive. Near this patch, it's found a place to hide itself in a crack between two rocks and that looks especially nice. I hope it does more of that. You can just barely see a sedum friend beside it. That is also a sedum that I didn't think was going to survive. I bought it last year, and it was not very happy. But I guess it just needed to get better established. Soon, I'll do a sedum picture day, but I want some of them to get a little bigger first.

And I have two more daffodils for you, but I think these will be the last different species for this year. The first are some tiny Tete-a-tete in the rock garden. Another one I did not know was still alive.

Now, we'll move out of the rock garden. I should have pictured these yesterday before the rain. But I still have some Pheasant-Eye Narcissus. These came from my childhood home.

The 'Stewartsonian' Azalea was a bit stressed from being transplanted when it was in serious bud, so some of the buds just withered. But enough of them opened that you can see its color. This is now planted near the forsythia and the Flowering Quince (that doesn't often flower, but the bush is looking the healthiest it ever has, so there's hope). I like it. I used to have a sand cherry there, but it died.

But this is the real stunner. I had no idea these would look so great together in the spring. This is the 'Frostbite' Brunnera and the 'Peach Flambe' Heuchera. I'm pretty sure the 'Jack Frost' Brunnera has died. But I'm seriously liking the Brunnera that the deer won't eat. Their real beauty is later when the leaves get big and are colored. These ones will be mostly white. I'll probably get another.

Much was accomplished today. I only have 86 miles of campsites done, but I'm pretty sure I'll get to 100 yet this evening. And huge progress happened on other fronts. Stay tuned.

See Much Nicer Than Expected

Old Flower Friends, New Flower Friends

 I'll start with the new flower friends. This is the very newest. Sue gave it to me for my birthday! It's an Azalea, variety 'Stewartsonian,' with deep red flowers. I'll take its picture again when more of them open. She said the color I got was pot luck, but I like it.

This isn't actually the flowers. These are mostly grown for their foliage It's one of the Heuchera I bought last year, and it's really happy. The variety is 'Peach Flambe.' I like this a LOT. It will add bright color all season.

This is one of the two Brunnera I bought last year. This one is 'Frostbite.' The other one is either dead or not up yet. There are a lot of things not up yet, so who knows. I'm so happy to see it bloom. I knew the flowers were small; it's more of a foliage plant. The leaves will get very big after the flowers are done, but I love the delicate blue for spring.

Now for the old friends. I show you these most years. However, last year I divided and moved most of these, so I'm happy to report that I now have multiple puddles of all of them.

First is the traditional English Primrose. Three clumps in bloom! It was quite breezy when I took the pictures.

This is the Cowslip Primrose. It seems to be very very happy for me. There are three puddles of this now, also.

And I also split the purple Corydalis, possibly 'Berry Wine' variety. Both clumps of it are blooming.

It's pretty early to be digging around yet- too easy to cut plants that aren't quite emerged. But I need to get my fencing up. The deer love azaleas, so it will have to go in prison, and I now have netting for the front garden and the rock garden. I think I'll need to get those up next week.

I worked on the book today, and spent some time with Cathy. We took a tiny walk. Did about 90 miles of campsites and some editing. Might do more yet tonight.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 210.9 of which 70.6 is North Country Trail.

See A High Probability of Naughtiness

Alabama Garden Flowers

 
I have arrived safely in the Indianapolis area, but my host family has a meeting this evening, so you'll have to meet them in tomorrow's post. Tonight, just enjoy some of the pretty plants from Alabama gardens.

I think my favorite is the pink water lily in the pond at Loretta's place.



But I'm also really partial to this caladium (elephant ear). In the south, you don't have to take these in every fall. The leaves are always brightly colored, but I particularly liked this one with spots. The colors usually follow the vein structure, so this is different.



Azaleas are gorgeous, no matter where they grow.



Roses are not my favorite, but they are colorful.



This shrub was new to me, and still partially a mystery. It appears to be holly-leaved barberry or Oregon-grape, genus Mahonia. The flowers are generally yellow, so I'm not sure what these red things are. The blue berries are large- like small grapes, and in clusters, but oval like a barberry. I think you could plant this under windows for security!



See you tomorrow!

	See Actual holly See Actual barberry
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Fruity?

 
Lots of lovely blossoms right now. It could be a good fruit year. Of course, it's only the second week in May, so we could have a hard frost yet.

And in deciding what to picture this afternoon, I learned something new. If you had shown me just these blossoms, I don't think I could have identified them. Even if you'd given me the three trees, I would have had to guess as to which is which. Now, maybe I'll recognize them better.

The three all have white blossoms: sour cherry, Bartlett pears, and edible crabapple (possibly Ralph Shay variety).

Let's do the easy one first. This is our crabapple. It's an old-fashioned one that you can eat the apples, not an ornamental one. It's so old it should be long dead, but it continues to be wonderful every year. The flowers have long twisted petals with a spray of yellow stamens and anthers.





The other two are harder to tell apart. Here is the sour cherry. The petals are nearly round. The filaments are white with greenish anthers (the two parts of the stamen).





And the pear. The pear petals are nearly identical to the cherry, and maybe it's easiest to distinguish them by looking at the longer view. The filaments are white, but the anthers are darker, looking as if there is a spray of dark dots surrounding the center of the blossom.





If we have a good fruit year, it's hard to do enough with it all to keep me from feeling wasteful. This is especially true of the pears. Although, I have now collected quite a few recipes of things to do with them that we like, and can be frozen.

Last year, I didn't manage to do much at all with our fruit. Even though it wasn't a great year, I didn't do a single thing except with some apples. Hopefully, I'll do better this year.

	See Red, Lovely Crabapples
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Blooming Trees

 
I am just feeling like I'm in temporary heaven with trees blossoming! [updated ID info in brackets]

Always so busy when visiting people that I'm too tired to say much at the end of the day, but I don't think you'll mind. The pictures speak for themselves. There is not a snowflake in sight.

This is a row of trees across the street from where we are staying. I think they are crabapples, but they are awfully large so I could be wrong. [I am wrong. The white ones are Bradford Pears- which produce no pears, but are often used for landscaping trees in this area.]







This looks like some sort of tree rose. [This one has been IDed for me as a red camellia. I didn't even know they came in that color!]



This is an azalea.



And a weeping cherry.



Sigh... you'll never see every wonderful thing from this week. There's just too much. It's wonderful already and I've been here one day. Took a five mile walk this afternoon, too.

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