Sunday, April 10, 2011

Dogwoods take center stage

This week the dogwood moves to center stage. Every week a new flower bursts into bloom and dominates my garden but is eclipsed each week by the next plant to burst into color in all its glory. What a great time to be a gardener. I have two white dogwoods that I bought bare root 25 years ago and are understory trees. The only pink dogwood that I have is in mostly sun and this is the best it has ever looked. (Double click any pic to enlarge)



Last year the crabapple was stunning--this year is an off year. It is about 25 years old so it may be taking a break but I did catch a few blossoms in the evening sunlight today which gives the white petals a creamy cast.
This is the last cherry to bloom in my garden and follows the others by a couple of weeks.
As you can see the Kerria had considerable winter die back this year but it is still blooming profusely.
A common shrub in shady areas in my neighborhood is Acuba. It wasn't until recently that I realized that there were male and female cultivars. This is a male in bloom since it never produces berries though a companion plant does.
I was happy to see the Lily's of the Valley emerging. They are not invasive in my garden and they never form the dense mat that I've seen in northern gardens.
A couple of new daffodils have opened this week and the creeping phlox in the backyard is now blooming.


The next photo is of a ground cover that I do not recall blooming in the past. The flowers are very small and delicate.
This woodland rhododendron is a beauty and so full of blooms this year.

Several months ago I planted packaged tulips that were supposed to bloom in sequence: early, mid and late. Here is a photo of all three--the early is fading, mid is full and the late is just showing color. This is the best succession bloom I have ever had. I will order tulips from these folks again.

4 comments:

  1. GENE!!! First, lovely blooms! Second....what is the name of your daffodil???? I have that one and don't know the name....please tell me you know!!!
    Inch worms have been eating my red dogwood blooms...rotten things!!

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  2. Janet--sorry I don't know the name of the daffodil. It was in a mixed bag that I got several years ago.

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  3. Who did you order those lovely tulips from?

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