General Subjects > Flowers and Foliage Now
February in the Northern Hemisphere
ruweiss:
Eranthis hyemalis in a meadow near our meadow garden.
ruweiss:
Some photos from the meadow garden:
Robert:
Hi Rudi
Is your Viburnum carlesii blooming earlier than normal this year? Here in our part of California Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is among the first Viburnums to bloom each year. The Viburnum carlesii and V. x burkwoodii types follow shortly afterwards. Viburnum carlesii is such a beautiful species and I enjoy the fragrance immensely. Do you get berries on your Viburnum carlesii? Our Viburnum bitchiuense produces beautiful and very striking red berries each autumn as long as there are two different clones growing next to each other. Anyway, thank you for sharing the photographs. It appears that late winter – early spring plants are beginning to bloom for you.
Here in our part of Northern California the weather has turned cold and frequently stormy with rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Our first Primula (Dodecatheon) hendersonii are starting to bloom. These accessions are from the northern inner Coastal Range Mountains in Colusa County from an elevation of ~ 1,500 feet (457 meters).
A nice pot full of Narcissus bulbocodium types is coming into bloom.
The early blooming miniature small-cupped Narcissus are also beginning to bloom. I am still waiting for the next generation of hybrids to start blooming. Some of the later blooming types may still bloom this year. Next year for sure! I have been making many crosses each year, so when new hybrids start to bloom, there will be a new crop each season. This gives me something to look forward to.
The first of the Iris reticulata are starting to come into bloom. I purchased this variety years ago as Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’. It has proven to be the most persistent variety in our garden.
[Jasmin]: I prefer the stronger indigo color of this Iris reticulata to another we have that appears more “cinnamon”, for lack of a better color description. I am always enamored of the small-cup Narcissus. The Narcissus cantabricus came and went during the erratic weather, which was unfortunate. It is interesting to watch Robert’s hybridizing experiments. It is one of those passions that requires patience, a long-term vision, and an enjoyment of process, because a focus on results alone would not sustain the enthusiasm of anyone who longs for any instant gratification.
Right now it is 3˚C, and foggy, a pause between storms. At least it has been clear enough to proceed with the winter pruning. Although we pray more rain comes, I personally am craving more sun—something to bask in and feel warm. This spring’s explosive flower display is swelling in readiness throughout the garden, so their day is around the corner, to delight our eyes and spirits.
Mariette:
It´s the same here, though temperatures are mild - we´re longing for calm, sunny weather! Rudi, Your eranthis look so happy, here the early ones are badly weather-beaten. Snowdrops fare better, and the leaves of Arum maculatum ´Bakovci´ are perfect in that sheltered corner.
We had a lot of rain, recently.
I didn´t know that crocusses are aquatic plants, too.
Perhaps 30 years ago I bought white Crocus tommasinianus, which turned out not to be pure white, but showed tiny lilac spots - perhaps seedlings of ´Eric Smith´, which looks like that. Over the years, pure white seedlings popped up in borders and lawn. :) A pic from last year, of course.
This is Crocus tommasinianus ´Pixel´in the green-house.
Mariette:
When a more knowledgeable collector of that species visited me some years ago, he selected some seedlings to test them in his garden and asked me to name that one last year. I had been looking for a similar one to choose for years, but couldn´t make up my mind. These are just three dug from the garden on Sunday.
The seed-pods of Hedychium gardenerianum in the green-house look very exotic at this time of the year.
Snowdrops and cyclamen stand the bad weather better than crocusses and eranthis, fortunately.
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