Flowers in the Snow

Tulips in the snow

The cold front that came in yesterday dropped a bit of very late-season snow overnight. Thankfully, it's supposed to warm up today to the 50s, so it won't be staying around. 

When I heard the forecast, I moved all my outdoor pots and seedlings into shelter.  I'm hoping the cold doesn't nip too hard on the perennials and shrubs that have been budding out. I have planted out only the hardiest annuals so far, such as the snapdragons and some sweet alyssum.

Favorite Flowers: Lungwort

Allergy Index Scale: 2
Perennial, zones 4-9

Trevi Fountain lungwort in bloom

Partial shade to shade, 6-12 inches

Lungwort, or pulmonaria, is a reliable perennial for the shade garden that blooms in early spring.  Depending on the variety, the foliage may be plain green, spotted with white, or nearly pure silver.  The flowers may be blue, pink, or white.  The specimen in the photograph is "Trevi Fountain," which has pink buds that open to a lovely clear blue. 



Welcoming the Orioles

Oriole feeder

Over the weekend I brought out my oriole feeder, and put out the first batch of grape jelly for this year.  Orioles are due to start returning to the area in a week or so, and it's good to have your feeders out as they come so that they choose to settle down and nest in your yard.  The males arrive first to find and stake out their territories, and then the females join them.  I have so enjoyed watching these colorful birds in my yard over the last couple of years, and all it takes is a constant supply of grape jelly, and an occasional slice of orange.  Orioles are attracted by the color orange, so feeders and nectar designed for them generally use this color.

April Ice Storm

Ice-covered flowering pear tree

This morning, we looked out to find that everything was covered in a quarter-inch layer of ice.  Every flower, every wire, every blade of grass was encased.  My flowering pear tree, which had been looking so lovely with the most flowers it's ever had, was weighted down so that the branches curved to the ground. 

March in the Garden

Leaf lettuce

This is a photo of the leaf lettuce I planted in my little plastic green-house back in December.  It's taken it a lot longer than a late spring planting outside normally would to get rolling, but now I've got plenty of fresh mixed greens for myself and my bunnies.

More March Flowers

Yellow Daffodil

Over the last week, it's been a delight to watch the spring flowers continue to bloom.  A few weeks ago, it was the dwarf iris, snowdrops, and crocus, now it's the daffodils and hyacinths that are coming into their season. Pansies have been blooming throughout.

Winter Flowers

Dwarf iris re-emerging from the snowdrifts

The day before the winter storm came, I saw some of my dwarf iris just starting to bloom for the year.  Then they were covered by over a foot of snow, plus all of that shoveled from the drive next to them.  As the snow finally melted off in the last couple of days, there they were again, and in greater numbers than before.

I was so glad to see that the crushing weight of all that snow hadn't stopped these pretty little flowers from providing their annual show.  They are always among the very first flowers to come up and bloom each year, generally just after the snowdrops, and I would have hated to miss them. This year, they even beat the snowdrops, as those flowers are still under snow.