Thanks to everyone who identified the goutweed. My neighbor does have a carpet of it along her fence and does not dig it out. So it’s a battle for me always! Lindalana, I think I know how you know! 😝😝

Here are some photos from today:

debra

Finally have time to read full thread. It was raining again today so got late start . Appreciate everyone e posting pics, there is nothing like spring gardens full of hope... Indianagirl, rain was good for you, loving how it looks! I did not know that Texas can flood, somehow I imagine that as all water just absorbs right away.

Sandyslopes, hopefully it was your last frost? I have decent damage this year too but they are growing out. Nicholworth , you and me both on weeding. My knees won't be the same ever. I just bought a bit of cedar mulch and pine needles and will start applying judiciously. Peren, I love those red ferns! I think I need to look for it.

Debra, that garden looks immaculate! How are your GL hostas doing?

Skywriter

Very pleased, I thought I killed my War paint.

Amalia as always looks like a painting.

Lindalana yours are looking beautiful. I can’t wait for my Amalia to look like yours.

Here are my 3 GL hostas:

GL PEEPS

GL Elegance

GL Blue Banana

debra

One of the Pieris japonica ??

Thanks peren and floral

Strange things are happening on Houzz again.

A post suggesting Enkianthus was posted, and my reply wondering which of the 2/3 species with white flowers it was, have now disappeared, along with the image I added showing the leaf structure.

Not Pieris. Wrong racemes and bells too open at bottom. Enkianthus. No idea which cultivar.

Grief no (to smyrnium) - horrendous spreader...but remarkable as an early coloniser of damp banks and ditches - that fresh green and shining leaves... I love wildflowers - especially when I acquired a bit of woodland, I fell right into a deeper ecological rabbithole...not that I garden there exactly, but I do record the local flora and fauna (have several copies if Keble Martin and Francis Rose (first time I have ever used a key for ID). Not really any sort of botanist though (because I am a dithery dilettante)...an unserious person, I am afraid.

But yes, our island diversity is very limited indeed because of glaciation and isolation...and again, the shaky boundaries between native and naturalised...I will say that I do think there is such a thing as a genius loci and have been trying very hard to grow plants which are fully at home with my climate, soil and general ambience - different to Floral's part of the world. Not sure what parts of the US would be similar...dry, open, huge skies, flat, yet very watery (just not from the skies). Fen, marsh, large open fields, very little industrial anything (apart from (increasingly) farming (mega farms). I no longer love my hometown (Cambridge) but it is still an undeniably beautiful place with a lot of green and no real delineation between urban and rural.

Also interested in the wildflower group you have joined but am a facebook refusnik (and shy recluse).

I also have bad feelings about any sort of plant purism and have huge reservations about the native plant movement because life does not obey categorisation and tidy boundaries. We are never going back to some prelapsarian age of pre-European purity...plus, there is a whiff of xenophobia and suspicion I find deeply uncomfortable. I get the desire to grow plants not just as aesthetic adornments because we share our world and have responsibilities to be stewards of the environment but the language of invasions, aliens, and detestation towards certain species is...horrible and makes me feel very uneasy.

Oh, how nice that so many people enjoy it! I know where I am heading early tomorrow morning...lol. I saw some newly displayed pots at the local nursery all in bloom. Thank you! ALL GREAT photos!

This is the Basket of Gold I am going to pair it with....

Rouge and Laceyvail, Thanks to all, for the explanation for how to keep it from looking ratty. I don't have deer to worry about so that's a good thing.

Went and bought them first thing this morning. It is the variety 'Tahoe'. Very good looking plants....hope to get them in the ground today.

Today

Wow..that's an early Heavenly Blue morning glory! Your method worked! Will be interesting to see what it does this year. They do take forever to get blooming. I have some babies of it in the ground this year.

Those are all beautiful pics above.

I've been mostly happy with my clems this spring but am seeing some wilt or else maybe it's too much water lately. We've had more than 3" this week. Here's Henryi next to rose Teasing Georgia. I really didn't think this out when planted. I had no confidence Henryi would grow. I have a blueish clem , Jenny, planted under this rose too and it comes out from under it but isn't blooming with the rose.

Pillu or Piluu

Vyvyan Pennell - some very double ones this spring

Omoshiro and Petit Faucon

These are the early birds.

Natacha...this one seems to be wilting. Waaah!

i have some lovely flowers but i feel jealous that rabbits dont decimate Rouge’s lathyrus or that spring comes earlier to zone 7 and that Erasmus has such stunning clems while i am digging up dead ones.

Here are my early May offerings:

Epimedium Cupreum

A Polly Hill azalea i call ”Katie’s” because former poster here ”runktrun” (Katie)

gave it to me. She died about a year ago. Beneath it is lovely epi Pink Champagne.

how’d the garbage cans get into the photo.?

This year has been great for me and looks like everyone else’s too!

Corydalis heterocarpa

Primula sieboldii

Menyanthes trifoliata in my pond

Epimedium ’Pretty in pink’

I love forgot me nots(myosotis sylvatica) when massed and grown right

Wisteria floribunda-brings out memories of woodyoak with this one

Aquilegia flabellata var. pumila in my rock garden-can’t help but post these same plants every year

Arisaema ringens

Pinellia tripartita-I love how agressive looking they are. I get this feeling they are going to eat you if you get close

Vaccinium vitis-idaea var majus-can’t wait to make jam out of it

Any more examples?

About 6 years ago, when I was having my large trees pruned, one of understory Japanese maples sustained damage to its central trunk. I was bothered, but let it be. Years later it has developed a beautiful multistem - you can’t quite see from the pictures, but there are three branches out. Ironically, this year I’ve started learning a lot more about pruning; whereas before I was of the school of leave the tree to grow as it wants. So that “damage” actually ended up being a kind of pruning I would have never been able to do at that time, if that makes sense…

Where there is a will there is a way, yes brilliant! Water can work as well especially if used pots were stacked.

I tend to clamp the bottom pot or bucket between my feet and twist off the top one. A hold on four points plus torque usually works. I'll have to try the stick, it would hold the two foot points more securely.

Throw them on the driveway to heat up in afternoon sun...and see if they don't expand and come apart easily.. crikey woman... you are in FL...lol...

Love the big bang reference

Ken

5-6-2024:

Noticed one of the Aesculus Glabra that was planted outside last Fall poking up this AM. ;-)

5-8-2024:

All 4 aesculus glabra that were planted outside are up (I had to dig a little to find the center one). 4 sprouts divided by 4 seeds = 1 x 100 = 100% ;^)

The Juglans nigra made its debut last night.

That's all for contents of the tote cold frame.

And we're up and running again!

Pieter

I don't know how I missed this thread, I have been a huge fan for years. I have

officinalis 'Tanna' & 'Little Angel', obtusa & obtusa 'Alba' and tenuifolia 'Alba'. If planted in a wet area the pink flowers of obtusa will lose color to be whitish.

Marie they are later to emerge and I don't believe mine are up yet. I will check today but the black flies have been bad so I have done only quick run throughs.

I grew some shorter varieties from seed last year. We'll see how they do at bloom time. I can't remember where I planted them!

these threads are good archives as it seems i dont remember what i did or reported!

ill stop looking near the birdbath and look around Litl’Kim. I ll replace Pink Elephant if it died but start the rabbit spray immediately.

I took a chance on veronicastrum 'Erica' when long ago spying it at the nursery, it's not exactly a common variety, but something every avid gardener should have! V. virginicum is certainly a highlight of summer. :)

UPDATE May 2024

So a houzz member with initials FB was beyond kind sending me a snippet of Erica (among several other wonderful plants).

Take a look at the Erica in question just before being planted.....amazing eh?.

It has been about a week of weeding and am at 50 % now. I think applying more phosphorus helped with slugs but they still there. Am thinking when I finish main weeding it will be June...

Thank you, I'm very happy with the new fence. The old one was falling apart. Birch branches, huh? I had so many branches down over the winter, I should be able to find something. I have rolls of wire fencing, too.

I used to have a lot on that fence and it took a long time to do it. I don’t remember having to make much effort to get it going. I had New Dawn rose and that grew so fast and vigorous that everything else was attaching itself to that. I really miss the combination I had going there. This is what it used to look like....

Would love to see your roses on your fence...

That's just gorgeous, Prairiemoon. It would have been hard to have to dig that up. It just has a graceful , soothing quality to it.

I like the birch branches because they're mostly thin enough for clems . The tree just sheds them in spring. I find that bamboo is a good diameter for clems too.

I'll post a pic from this year of my roses on the fence...it probably looks a bit unkempt.

Clems aren't yet a big part of it. You can see Snow Queen on the other side of it, and there's a Polish Spirit and Margaret Hunt and Rooguchi. Lower down there's another Polish Spirit and Emilia Plater.

From the left there's Blush Noisette, a big long Gertrude Jekyll, Parade, and one on the other side of Parade you can't see, The Generous Gardener.

Gertrude last year

Parade

Blush Noisette further down on the fence

and Paul Transon at the bottom

still trying to catch up with the weeding and get some compost down. Am considering to do some wood chip mulch this year for asethics and weed supression. I've only used pine mulch in the past but not real fond of it and expensive. Any suggestiions?

I think all of my hostas are now up and most doing good.

Sagae today

Love the bird pic…..crows are very intelligent and clever birds. I like them too Ann!

Not sure what that hosta is yet….time will tell. I agree that the leaf shape and border seem different from FF. Ann I thought the railroad ties were the neighbors….aren’t they the ones that should clear them up???

sandyslopes, you have been busy!! Thing are looking good in your yard though!

old_dirt, my Sagae is half the size of yours, but we have not had the amount of rain that you have.

So far, I have gone around and marked where everything is coming up so when Bert and I do the drenching we won’t step on pips. I also potted two hostas that I over wintered.

so this is what yard is looking like in back.

Striptease???

debra

Wow, I am glad those crows aren't in my 'hood'. Paula your hostas are doing great, looking forward to more pictures of them this winter. Peter your marigolds are amazing, I tried my luck with seeding them this year, they look sickly, maybe they needed more light. I grew them under grow lights in the basement. old dirt I received a load of wood chips from tree trimmers though https://getchipdrop.com/ the chips were good, the only problem is you get them when they deliver them, they came when we were away from home on vacation.

As fare as my garden I have been trying to clean up the mush of my hostas after a hard freeze (25) and many hours below 32. Some plants died totally to the ground, I am hoping they will come back. I am guessing they will be stunted this year.

On the bright side the crabs and the redbuds are blooming beautifully.

Likely, but it is a taxonomic tangle surpassing almost any other genus. If the flowers are not fragrant you can easily rule out odoratum. The number of flowers are not much help either.

Thanks, guys

As I suspected, this genus is a convoluted nightmare.

OK. Filed as Polygonatum spp.

I just found something that says Polygonatum x hybrida is P. multiflorum x P. odoratum.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygonatum_%C3%97_hybridum#:~:text=Polygonatum%20%C3%97%20hybridum%2C%20the%20garden,%2Dseal%20(Polygonatum%20odoratum).&text=The%20plant%20tends%20to%20be,either%20of%20its%20parent%20species.

Michael that is a relief in a way but quite disturbing that these lawn care companies are so careless. Lisa (sandyslopes) had issues as well this year.

Thanks again for your kind concern. I did speak with the lawn guys they were apologetic and reassured me they would be more care full. I was worried it was something that would spread, so I was happy to find out otherwise. This is a great group!

@mxk3 z5b_MI "I've seen a lot of red admirals here in MI over the past couple weeks." That's been my experience as well, which seems highly unusual this early in the year and must be related to the very mild winter. The small blue butterfly you saw was likely a Spring Azure, I've noticed a few in the last couple days around the stands of gray dogwood in my yard. Photo below from this afternoon (4/30/24)

Jay and four, "All fourteen of the Greater Fritillaries depend entirely on violets as their host plant". But as the article that four posted also notes, the Variegated Fritillary (one of the Lesser Fritillaries) "also eats violet leaves but will eat other things as well such as passionflower." So Jay, you may get Variegated Fritillaries visiting your Passiflora.

Consider Epimedium and dwarf Solomon's Seal, too.

Dianthus barbatus, Sweet William.

UPDATE: April 2024

I dug up this same "Pharoahs Mask" last fall, dried it out and then put it in a shoe box and put it in under the desk in a too cool empty bedroom.

I potted it up on February 12/24 and exactly 2 months later it showed signs of life!

And here it is today:

(What has your experience been as a 'usual' amount of time after potting it up in the early spring before it pokes through the soil...my 2 months seems like too long?)

Who cant like BH.

This one "White Gold", not yet in bloom, is striking with its bright foliage (see the contrast against the cedar hedge behind it).

They seem to reach blooming size in their second year.

That is my experience as well

This is a wonderful plant, I have two different forms of it, one is called 'Putnam's Blue' and the other is the regular species. 'Putnam's Blue' has slightly smaller foliage and has a darker stigma and ovaries in the center of the flower. My plants are planted fairly close together in hopes that they will cross pollinate and the seedlings will show some variation. I haven't found any seedlings but the plants always make plenty of seed pods - possibly ants or other insects are taking away the seeds and eating them?

One of the important things that I have learned about this plant is that it can not be divided for propagation. I learned the hard way many years ago when I had a nice sized clump, dug it up while dormant and carefully cut it into several pieces. None of them survived. Dividing this plant will kill it every time. The only successful way to propagate it is to grow it from seed. Maybe this year I will watch the ripening seed pods and collect the seed before it is dispersed.

The last thing about this plant is its name. Our native form, Jeffersonia diphylla was named after Thomas Jefferson who grew it at Monticello - I have an affinity for this plant because my real name is Jeff. For some reason taxonomists have changed its name to Plagiorhegma dubia which doesn't roll off the tongue like Jeffersonia dubia. It is still a very desirable plant, whatever its Latin name currently is!

These are my two plants of Jeffersonia dubia leafing out this spring, the 'Putnams' variety is in front of the regular species.

Jeffersonia is in the barberry family Berberidaceae same as Diphylea, Podophyllum, Epimedium and Berberis. Diphylea cymosa and D. grayi grow in cool, moist mountain forests in the Appalachians and in Asia. It's amazing that they can survive at all at lower levels in the midwest.

Im curious about how long the petals of Plagiorhegma dubia stay attached. The native Twinleaf Jeffersonia diphylla has a reputation for loosing it's petals quickly after blooming. Simply breathing on them can knock petals off Lol.

Twinleaf, Jeffersonia diphylla. 4/1/24

Fortunate to catch these with petals intact. Unfortunate to reach them in late afternoon when they had already closed for the day.

Here is mine from last spring ...

I see it this year too, showing signs of life even though the snow just melted off - I hope it continues to survive and grow like yours, it's so nice to have such an early charmer here! I bought mine from Plant Delights, maybe since it can't be divided I'll splurge and buy another one for my more protected areas.