April is busting out all over


Life is good. I, like most easterners, am reveling in an extraordinary spell of warm weather this week. I am also congratulating myself on planting iris reticulata and eranthis in the fall; their bright blue and yellow relieves the otherwise rather dull look of the early spring garden.


It’s the power of suggestion—Anna Pavord inspired me to take another look at reticulata (they are her new obsession), while fellow bloggers have long been growing early spring bulbs I never bothered with before. One reason was that the April frosts and freezes made me less than anxious about flowers outside, though I've always had snowdrops.


But here we are: the hellebores are lush, the erythronium are emerging, and the iris and eranthis are more than living up to their word-of-mouth.


You see here Katharine Hodgkin. Pavord says “Close to, it is extraordinary, but in a garden you need to think carefully where to put it. It … certainly does not need noisy neighbors.”


Well, my early April Buffalo garden is far from noisy. Katharine Hodgkin can shine here—and will shine even more when I plant more in the fall.

Comments

Cindy, MCOK said…
Katherine is a delicate beauty. I wish the reticulatas would grow here.
It looks like spring has busted out all over your garden EAL. I want a whole bouquet of those little irises to go into the ground next fall. I have seen so many pretty ones in the blogasphere. I just love hellebores. The more the merrier I always say. Happy Spring.
Darla said…
The iris is so delicate looking.
Ramble on Rose said…
That's a great iris! I'm excited about my erythroniums, which are new spring additions.
love the iris... they are always something i grow, then forget about until they pop up and remind me. :)
Unknown said…
Sniff. It seems like everyone on the east coast is having warm weather but me, today. I'm having fog. Lots of cold wet clammy fog, not warm welcoming summer fog. Oh well.
The hellebores are gorgeous, but the little iris is also just a delight. Happy spring to us!
Gail said…
Very nice indeed! ....love the iris...I also tried iris this year...Miss Saigon, but I haven't seen any evidence of her yet! Perhaps it was too wet in the spot I chose. But I'll keep trying! gail
Don't you sometimes wish the entire garden would wake up all at the same time? I sometimes do but then I think I would miss the fun of spring planting. Those reticulata deserve to shine.
I can see what Anna Pavord means about that little Iris. It's lovely, but needs to be the star of the show. I don't think I could garden without the early spring bulbs, they add so much.
GardenerX said…
What great photo's. Love the hellebores shot
Commonweeder said…
I love looking at all the hellebores in the blog world. The husband of a friend said he would share some with me. I better give him a call.
Unknown said…
I see what your green carpet is doing for those snowdrops... *sigh* You now have me convinced that I either need to cut back the golden oregano in the fall and mulch instead for a better "spring carpet" effect, or else replace it with a better groundcover. Visiting your blog just reinforces that idea!
Anonymous said…
Greetings from that other coast (Oregon)!

We've had softer weather and the erythronium and hellebore has been lovely for a while, though in the rain. The trilliums are blooming too, and cherry trees are sprinkling their blossoms.

I love how I always forget where I have planted bulbs in the fall (just like the squirrels forget where they have put the walnuts so I have trees coming up in flower beds) and then suddenly it is spring and I see the little plant tips poking up and Oh ya! I remember!

I especially enjoy species tulips. They naturalize and they never abandon you, but rather always return, year after year. (I love the golden Batalini type.)
impressing...I wish that i could own a beautiful garden like yours.
niartist said…
Beautiful, and agreed. The warm weather has done us all, people and plants alike, very well. I've somehow lost connection with you about feature in the Buffalo Spree. Perhaps, if you're still interested, you could reply to my blog or my email. Thanks for sharing your garden beauty and it's progress.
Patrice said…
Very impressive photos of flowers. Simply gorgeous.
Amy G. said…
Just gorgeous, Elizabeth! I guess I didn't realize that hellebores bloomed so early in the season... I am going to get some this year. Is there a wrong time to plant them, though?

I agree with everyone... those little iris are so lovely.

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