Lamprocapbos spectablis ‘Valentine’
Every gardener I know seems to be saying this last week ‘Goodness hasn’t the garden shot up this week’ and yes we have been blessed finally with warmer temperatures which coupled with the rain has given plants a real boost. Needless to say having moaned about the cool spring for weeks and weeks those same gardeners are now moaning that they can’t keep on top of things! Personally, with my more lackadaisical approach I don’t worry too much about weeds or that the last bit of lawn needs cutting – they will all be dealt with as and when I have time. At this time of year I am spending more time looking and spotting familiar friends reappearing or studying new acquisitions to see how they grow. So for this month’s Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post I am going to showcase my favourite flowers this weekend.
Trillium albidum
Trillium grandiflorum
Unknown Trillium
I am completely obsessed with the trilliums that have reappeared this year, there are two more but they aren’t flowering yet. To be honest I had forgotten about two of them so did a ridiculous little dance when suddenly I spotted them in the border. I can’t work out what the bottom one is, it might be that the flower will develop more and be easier to identify over the next week.
Uvularia
Another woodland delight that took me by surprise but not for long and I soon remembered what it was. Such a pretty dainty flower and I do like the way the petals twist.
On a larger scale in the shady side of the garden the rhododendrons are flowering, these two are my favourites. If I ever am lucky enough to have a larger garden with the right soil I will definitely indulge myself with lots more rhododendrons especially those wonderful ones with furry leaves.
Sweet Cicely
Moving out of the shade into the sunshine the first of the umbellifers is flowering, lovely Sweet Cicely, such an pretty flower.
Allium cameleon
Allium cameleon is in its second year in the garden and already bulking up well. It is a short, front of the border allium, much daintier than alliums such as Allium Purple Sensation. I really like the way the flowers are blushed with pink.
One of those bigger blowsy alliums just starting to open; I can’t remember which but I suspect it is Purple Sensation. I do love alliums in all their varieties and have them flowering in the garden right through to high summer.
The sea of camassias which have dominated the Big Border creating a delicious blue haze for the last few weeks is coming to an end. It is only the very top of the stems which still have flowers and I can’t bring myself to remove them until they have lost every single flower.
My favourite Aquilegia, its a seedling of the mckenna varieties with the long spurs at the back of the flower which I much prefer to the more chubby looking aquilegias which I think are varieties of the native columbine, whereas the mckenna varieties come from the USA. I have lots of aquilegias, I went through a slightly obsessive period of growing them from seed and interestingly certain colours predominate. I think I will weed out the ones that don’t appeal so much and maybe try to increase the mckenna varieties. There are some who argue that over time all aquilegias revert to the muddy pink variety. This just isn’t true what actually happens is they loose their original aquilegias and the muddy pink ones are seedlings which tend to revert back.
So those are the stars of my garden this week for other gardeners blooms pop over to Carol at May Dreams and check out the links.
