Camassia quamash

Native to the Northwest of the USA and liking that damp soil the Small Camas is useful for those places where other bulbs would rot. Mine are in the rain garden. At the Pitt County Arboretum they are in a damp section of the Wildflower Garden & in full bloom right now.

To read how these lovely little bulbs may have saved Lewis & Clark

check out this website

http://www.mnh.si.edu/lewisandclark/resources/Camassia_quamash.pdf

The Nez Perce Indians were a much hardier lot than us modern mortals

So, no Camas casseroles, Please!

Fringe Tree

Chionanthus virginicus also know as Grancy Gray-beard has been called the native tree that nobody grows. http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2013/04/28/fringe-tree-the-best-native-nobody-grows/
The botanical name translates to 'snow flower'.  It is in full bloom in my garden.

In my garden it gets morning sun & protection from afternoon shade. So unusual, fragrant too!

Wild Butterfly Rose

Rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis' is an old China Rose parent to some of the modern hybrid teas
but delightfully free of some of their problems. I am unwilling to deadhead, fertilize, water or spray but I still have roses. 
 The single flowered mutabilis rose blooms buff yellow changes (mutabilis is latin for changeable) to apricot to dark pink before finishing. You can have 3 flower colors at once.

I planted this one in the center of 3 Vitex shrubs. It has grown much taller than normal to reach the light seen here before the Vitex leafs out it is quite spectacular. My neighbors ask what kind of bush this is and do not quite believe me when I tell them it is a rose. The Vitex supports the long, light seeking branches. The whole thing has to be pruned to make it conform to driveway & mowing

Things I like about this rose. 
New foliage is dark reddish . Airy growth pattern , if not made to climb. Repeat blooming. Single flowers leading to it's common name. Fragrant

Amsonia hubrichtii

The Blue Star Flower is in full bloom this native adds lots of fine foliage to the garden.
In the fall the foliage turns bright yellow before dropping to the ground in a final hurrah.

A bumble bee visits

The Queen's Birthday

Today is Queen Elizabeth II's birthday so we are flying the flag.

Her Majesty is 88 and a new portrait has been taken to mark the occasion.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/10776952/David-Bailey-unveils-new-portrait-of-The-Queen.html

The Lady Banks Rose (Rosa banksiae lutea) is in full bloom above the porch.

Flaming Parrot Tulips

The bulbs cost about $1.00 each.
 Planted in November you can have this fabulous bouquet in April.

Three make an outrageous arrangement

 Growing in raised beds
 in the old veggie garden
they seem a bit more sedate.
The tulips have lasted quite well this spring 
owing to a few cool days & nights recently

Sir Winston Churchill in the 'Fireglow'

Here are the last daffodils of the season. Sir Winston Churchill a sport of Geranium and just a sweetly perfumed. Chosen just for the name as he is my countryman.

The Japanese maple 'Fireglow' was a house warming present from our friends

 Nelda & Charlie

Acer palmatum 'Fireglow'
I moved this tree from one side of the house  to the other a  few years ago. It now has a complimentary background for it's spring foliage display. Something to think about before you plant a tree!

 

Spanish Bluebells, Comfrey & others

Hyacinthoides hispanica was also known as Scilla hispanica, wood hyacinth or Spanish Bluebells.There are some pink ones around but why get (the rather insipid) pink when it's a BLUEbell? Blooms in quite a bit of shade and in our climate likes that and a moist soil will get the best results. Multiplies and naturalizes nicely.

 With Comfrey (Symphytum officianale)
mine blooms white, by the compost.
Comfrey produces a wealth of leaves , is a great compost booster and owing to it's high potassium content a marvelous mulch for peppers & tomatoes. Plant it carefully it is difficult to remove and spreads but if you use the leaves & flower stalks it cuts down it's progress.
You can see from it's botanical name it was used for medicinal purposes BUT it contains toxic chemicals you can die from ingesting comfrey concoctions. Keep it in the garden.
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/comfrey

Bluebells with Red Twig Dogwood at the entrance to the rain garden 

More Viburnums

Liking afternoon shade here the Double File Viburnum has been touted to trump Dogwood.

Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum not a tree but a very large shrub I love the way the flowers sit on top of the layered branches.

 I had the varieties 'Shasta' & 'Mariesii' at my last place and these are propagated from those but I don't remember which they are now.




Viburnum macrocephalum sometimes called Chinese Snowball has enormous flowers.

With Carolina Silver Bell

The flowers change from lime green to white
on this tall deciduous shrub. Prune after flowering to keep it in check.
Give this afternoon shade and some moisture in the soil and you will able to use these huge flowers for all your April wedding table arrangements or maybe even a bouquet.

Fiddleheads

The croziers or fiddleheads of Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) are just coming up.
You will need to cut back the old foliage to see these well.

Above with the "Tahiti" late blooming double daffodil.
This fern is now in a lot more sun than when I planted it.
Hopefully it will adjust, only time will tell.








Here in the little wood with spanish bluebells in the background

Two More Natives

We called this the May tree in England.
 Blooming earlier here the Parsley Hawthorne (Crataegus marshallii) is native to the warmer parts of eastern USA.  It attracts so many insects with it's vast number of flowers.
But beware this native comes bearing huge thorns. Birds have nested in this tree I guess liking the protection of the thorny branches.

Carolina Silverbell ( Halesia tetraptera)

Blooms for short period in spring otherwise I am sure it would be more popular.

Pollinators love climbing inside the bells. This year the tree, in the shadier slightly wetter part of the garden, is covered in flowers.  The dark pods enclose last year's seeds.

Native Trees

The redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are in full bloom. This one is a seedling from the huge one in the main garden that I planted out in the front lot a few years ago.

On the old tree some of the flowers just sprout out unexpectedly on the main branches

 Horse sugar or sweet leaf (Symplocos tinctoria) is all over my little wood. the flowers are sweetly fragrant and the leaves eaten by horses & deer hence it's common name.

Dogwoods (Cornus florida) get a light & airy  form when grown in the woods.
I wonder if the good rain last year has made them so beautiful this year

Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'

My Kerria is in full spring bloom. 
In hurricane Irene (2011) a sweet gum tree fell on it but it hasn't slowed it down. It just grew both sides of the large branch which we have left in place  on a rise at the side of the garden.

Found in China in the early 1800's  by William Kerr 
(who also found Nandina domestic)
 Kerria became so popular it was found "even in labourers cottages"
according to Mary Keen a British garden designer and writer.

Many garden writers are derisive about this double flowered species saying it is too garish in color and prefer the single type. I have a large garden and this cheerful suckering shrub whose stems stay green through out winter and which blooms sporadically all year suits me to a tee. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/donotmigrate/3326869/How-to-grow-Kerria-japonica.html

Late Daffodils

After a few days of very hot weather all the late daffodils are out.

This sweetly scented all white
triandrus daffodil 'Thalia"has more than one flower per stalk. Blooming after the 'Ice Follies' it helps to extend the bloom period. Great for an area where yellow would clash with other spring bloomers.

Here is 'Baby Moon' a miniature 
the foliage is cylindrical and flowers are only the size of a quarter but lots of blooms per stem and multiplying nicely they make a great show

Geranium is so fragrant it fills the air with it's perfume so put it where you will pass by often. Several flowers clustered at the top of tall stems.
Blooms after the large cups that I have in the circle dead head those to show off this delightful 1930's selection.

Viburnum carlesii

After 3 weeks away the garden and the weather are bursting with warmth and fragrance.
I wish you could smell this early spring bloomer the Korean Spice Viburnum.

The buds are pink on the outside
when they open the blossom ball is
white flushed with pink.

Afternoon shade in our hot climate suits this shrub well.

After several years it has become a nice size.

Just a green shrub the rest of the year.