My Garden this Weekend–April 6, 2014

I’ve had two days in the garden in the past week and things are showing enough improvement to give an update. On Wednesday I transplanted roughly 3 dozen Sweet Betsy trilliums from the development site off Pleasantburg Drive (about a city block from my back garden through the woods). I also finally emptied the last plants from the holding area. Nearly all went in the woodland, with those needing the most sun being planted closest to the river or in little pockets of light, here and there.

Saturday was devine, with temps in the 70s and plenty of sun. Tim helped me move another dozen or so trilliums plus a few Christmas ferns and then I marked all the native plants (130+) in the woodland with new orange flags. Marking the plants is important, at least for now, so I don’t loose track of them when they’re dormant. Finally, I worked on pulling the little bits of ivy that show up in spring and other small tasks that always pile up but seldom get done.

Woodland garden with flags marking native plants.

Carolina silverbell (Halesia tetraptera)

The Carolina silverbell are in full flower, with their white hoop skirt-like blooms hanging in clusters below the braches. I counted roughly a dozen types of pollinators, mostly bees, among the blooms.

Bumble bee among the blooms of Carolina silverbell.

The second most exciting thing to happen in the woodland is the emergence of the mayapples. You can tell right from the get-go if the plant will have a bloom or not, as the shoot comes up with the flower bud at its tip.

Mayapple shoots, one with flower bud and one without.

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

In just a few days the leaves take on their umbrella shape and begin to rise above the bloom. In time, the flowers produce a fleshy, egg-shaped fruit that is edible when ripe, but all other parts of the mayapple are highly poisonous to humans and most other animals.

Flower buds on the sweet shrubs are roughly the size of an English pea. The honey-scented blooms of Fothergilla are beginning to form, and just above the retaining wall, the serviceberry are flowering. Best of all, I caught sight of a giant turtle in the river.

Sweet shrub (Calycanthus floridus)

Fothergilla major

Serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora)

Turtle!

And here are a few signs of spring in the front garden.

White dogwood (Cornus florida) and azaleas.

Fullmoon Japanese maple (Acer japonicum)

Blue starflower (Ipheion uniflorum)

Pink dogwood (Cornus florida rubra)

March Bloom Day–Part II

Home never looked as good as it did yesterday at 6:15 p.m. when I pulled into the driveway after a 500 mile drive from Washington, DC. The journey was not as mind-numbing as usual, however, since I traveled from winter into spring. In fact, just before I turned into the neighborhood, I noticed it was 72 degrees on the car thermometer. Incredible!

About half way through North Carolina I began to see Bradford pear trees in bloom. Bred to be sterile (self-incompatible), Pyrus calleryana readily cross-pollinates with other species and is an invasive nuisance in the South that grows wild along fences and under electric lines. Around here, they’ve also been dubbed a Walmart Indicator Species, or in other words, not a tree you want to grow in your garden.

Despite their ills, I wasn’t sorry for the pear’s cheerful flowers yesterday. To me, they appeared to be winter’s white flag of surrender.

When I got off the interstate and headed into Greenville, the landscape became decidedly more interesting. Within a few short miles I saw a host of tulip magnolias in flower, along with a wealth of forsythia and a few cherry trees.

Though my garden is too shady for these spring blooms, I wasn’t disappointed by what I found at home.

Ipheion uniflorum (Blue starflower)

Gelsemium sempervirons (Carolina jessamine)

Corylopsis pauciflora (Buttercup winterhazel)

Euphorbia ‘Ascot Rainbow’

Unfortunately, it seems I brought DC’s windy, wet, and cold weather with me to the Upstate. Today’s high was nearly 30 degrees lower than Sunday’s and a daylong drizzle became an evening thunderstorm.

But isn’t that just like Mother Nature?

She’s such a tease.