Shrubs on steroids?

After 2 weeks away some of the spring blooming shrubs are in full bloom. 

At the park side in morning sun & afternoon shade the Viburnum macrocephalum 

or Chinese Snowball as it is know has 6 inch balls of bloom. It has grown far too tall & I plan to cut it back after flowering. This shrub, which is protected but trees & other shrubs, often opens a few blooms early in February. I haven't tried cutting this but it looks like total bridal bouquet.

The lime green color when it first opens is most attractive.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/viburnum-macrocephalum/

These dusky magenta flowers belong to  the hybrid Calycanthus "Hartlage Wine' developed at NCSU. They are big & beautiful but like so many hybrids no perfume is present. The native Carolina allspice or Sweet Betsy, it's parent, is renown for it's sweet scent. Whether this is an improvement depends on your sensibilities.

https://extensiongardener.ces.ncsu.edu/extgardener-jcra-introduces-hartlage-wine/

Carolina Silverbell

Halesia tetraptera is native to Eastern United States. The one on the edge of the garden I propagated from one I had purchased & grew in my last garden. The seed is doubly dormant & although it does have plenty of seed pods each year I have yet to find a seedling.

I never seem to get a really good photo but this morning just a the sun was reaching it I took these.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/trees/hgic1028.html

Here the hanging branches in front of Viburnum macrocephalum

Kerria japonica pleniflora

This fountaining shrub keeps it's green stems throughout winter. This spring it is spectacular!

It is up on an old dumping ground for large garden discards that has formed a berm. Now after several years & covered in leaf fall & mulch  it must be a fertile spot.

These golden pom-pom flowers appear again in fall but not as abundantly

Daffodils

The daffodils are so abundant this year. Must be all that rain we have had the last few months.

They seem taller & more robust. The trouble with daffodils is hiding the rejuvenating foliage until it dies down. It has been determined that tying the leaves in knots & other neatening methods is unhelpful  for feeding the bulbs. On the driveway Miss Huff lantana ( you can see the stems I left for winter interest) is now starting to grow & will soon cover the daffodil foliage.

Barrett Browning & February Gold are happy next to the concrete driveway.

Anemones & Christmas Tree

In the fall I found a seedling red Cedar tree (Juniperus virginiana). For years I have cut branches of one of these, that is growing into the Black Gum tree on the property line, for our Christmas tree.
I have concluded that I will run out of cedar branches in the next couple of years so potted this seedling for future Christmas decorations. Yes, I could buy a tree but since moving to North Carolina 20 years ago I have embraced the idea of these somewhat prickly country Christmas trees.
The squirrels, of which I have many, regularly dig into my pots. My solution was to cover the bare earth in the pot with pine cones. Then I went to Terra Ceia & found some irresistible Anemone coronaria bulbs. So, I pushed those into the soil around the future Christmas tree. I read these are not too good in containers, but never to be put off by someone else's opinion, I planted them anyway.
Here is the result

Lady Banks Pulled Down the Trellis

Huge wind storm on Wednesday, even a tornado watch & the garden sustained some pretty significant damage. The Lady Banks Rose that had grown huge finished off the trellis that had become rotten.

I am cross that this happened before it bloomed but it was getting out of hand & I am sure the landscapers on the other side of the fence will not miss it's whips across the face as they mow by.

I took some cuttings as this is the white version so a bit more scarce than the normal "lutea' or yellow one.

The daffodils in the spring border underneath might better now.

Also the Parsley Hawthorne Crataegus marshallii was blown down & looks rotten at the base as if the area is too wet for it. It suckers but I had pruned it to a tree form. This plant has vicious thorns so a shrub version is not really welcome. We shall see what happens there. I will miss those flowers too just starting to swell.

Hairy Bittercress

After the recent rains & temperatures up & down my earth is very loose so Monday I spent most of the  day weeding in the circle. Easy pulling even of the multitude of tree seedlings came out with all root attached. It seemed as if I pulled  3,000 of the hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) but probably only 300.

This weed goes to flower, & then seed of course, when it is so tiny you almost don't recognize it. If left to produce seed as you pull it the seeds scatter far & wide.

I was somewhat amused (but only somewhat)  to find this website on edible weeds from New Zealand. Julia recommends eating the darn stuff, apparently in the brassica family, & others do too. If I have complete failures such as my Brussel Sprouts this winter, which did not produce sprout one, I might have to consider this as a veggie too.

If you want to read about weeds as veg & get the recipe here's the website

http://www.juliasedibleweeds.com/general/bittercress-a-warming-winter-weed/