Spring 2012 blooms

11 years ago

I spent some time tonight going through pictures from this year's gardens. Here are a few from spring. I still have to get through most of the pics, so will post more later this week. (I took more pictures than I thought!)

All of the these were taken in April and May 2012.

Sorry about the column. I was doing some repair and painting work on it this spring.

My new strawberry bed (excuse the toes, DH took the pic)

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Comments (13)

luckygal
11 years ago
Mary Lu, I always love to see pics of your garden! So pretty. I especially like your Bridal Wreath spirea and have always wanted one altho my zone is too cold. Roses, peonies, and strawberries also wonderful! TFS
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Jacqui-UK
11 years ago
Your garden looks lovely, Your Bridal spirea is great. I have one in my garden in the UK (mid south) - it never looks as gorgeous as yours. We usually clip it for the winter, so it looks neat. Are we going wrong there? How do you get yours to flower so profusely? I'd love to know.
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It is the freakish climate changes we are having. I am in Pennsylvania. We had a foot of snow in October and it was in the 60's the past few days and this is February. Very freakish. Different plants have different triggers as to when they break dormancy and start spring growth and bloom. For some it is the length of day. That is the most reliable to give a reproducible date of bloom. For others it is a cold spell which puts the plant into dormancy followed by a warm spell that will bring it out of dormancy and start it to bloom. Woody plants use a combination of the two. Most rhododendrons are not tricked too easily into early bloom, but it is the norm with most crocuses. There is nothing you can do about it. One word of caution, pruning trees in winter can decrease the amount of shade and trick plants under the pruned trees into early bloom. Our October snow storm pruned our trees for us and this has caused some plants to come out of dormancy early this winter.
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Most of the fruit trees are blooming. There are pinks, red, and white blossoms, and with the early flowering shrubs, it is just beautiful. There are still a few more shrubs that haven't started to bloom yet. The white blooms on the two Red Plum trees are filled with thousands of honeybees. It is wonderful to hear the sound of them humming and buzzing about in the branches overhead. There are so many of them that they are bumping in to one another and knocking off blooms. The ground is white with Plum flowers. Looks like snow! The cherries haven't started blooming yet, but the wild Sand Plums are in full bloom everywhere throughout the countryside. I hope we get lots of those wild plums this summer. They make the best, tart Jam. I especially love it on fresh baked bread with butter. Yum. The Redbud trees are just beginning to bloom and there are new leaves popping out on all the hardwood trees. But, it's 81 degrees out today. I have to get a hand on the weeding before it goes to seed. There is much to do in cutting back dead wood caused by last year's drought. Lots to do to clean up the garden. Had to come in and cool off for a bit. (puff, puff). It's going to take a week or more to get all the weeding done. The purple flowering Henbit is so pretty. Every flower has a busy little bee sipping nectar - I hate to pull it out, but it has really gone bonkers this year. It has to be hoed or pulled out - at least around my flowers. I will start the mowing and trimming later today. Gads! I am so out of shape for all this gardening! Going to take a while to get my back and legs back into it.
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Well Nate my favorite is Malaysian Marketplace and I got excited thinking yay I have that one on order. But alas as I went to look at my order it is Malaysian Monarch not Marketplace. And BTW you have so many blooms I saw no weeds! ;) That's what I tell my husband when he comments on my weeds. "What weeds honey?" "All I see is flowers!" Your gardens and flowers are beautiful! Thanks for sharing! Rena'
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Hello, Marie. Dried out looking stems CAN leaf out (sometimes they leaf out half way thru only) so it is good to wait a while to give them a chance. Waiting until late May or early June is fine. Alternatively, you can prune them in 1" or 2" increments but stop when you see green or get to the bottom. You can deadhead at any time that you like. Some people like leaving the blooms thru winter but it is your decision and it does not affect the plant. You can wait until late Spring to deadhead but I find that the blooms will usually disintegrate and fall by then. Annual pruning (like people do with roses) is not needed provided the shrub is growing in a location where it can grow to size estimated size at maturity without crowding other plants or getting in the way. Flower buds for Spring 2012 develop between mid-July thru August and stay hidden until Spring. So if you prune now -for example- you could loose Spring 2012 blooms. Any pruning that you have to do can be done after the plant blooms (so you enjoy the blooms) and before July (so you do not prune off the next year's flower buds). 2/3/4 year old branches continue to produce blooms but winter damage on cold zones (Nigra is hardy only to Zone 6) and moisture problems (between July-Spring) can kill some flower buds so I would never expect a bloom covered bush. Luis Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning and Deadheading
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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
11 years ago
I NEVER get tired at looking at pictures of your garden, new or old. If you only know what a lift these pictures of yours are giving me today. It's stormy with torrential rain at times and my garden looks like a drowned rat, thank goodness we are on a bit of slope or we'd be sitting in the middle of a lake right now. Thanks for brightening up my day.

Annette
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cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
11 years ago
Aaaaahhhhhh...

:)
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Calamity_J
11 years ago
WOW!!!!!!! So lovely!!! A LOT of inspiration for me!!!
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docmom_gw
11 years ago
Your gardens are incredible! I love the colors. So rich and clear against the green of the lawn. You obviously spend tons of time and love keeping your yard beautiful.

Martha
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christinmk z5b eastern WA
11 years ago
It's a wonder cars don't crash outside your house by breaking fast to get a better look at your fab garden!! That tree peony in the 6th pic takes my breath away (and I am not even a 'pink' person!).

Your garden is so lush and well-kept, shames me enough to say that I need to keep on top of maintaining things better next year (though if that will truly happen is another story, lol!).

What a boost! So glad you posted your pics...
CMK
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roseberri, z6
11 years ago
your gardens are always lovely and inspire me! Thank you for sharing!
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plantmaven
11 years ago
If my garden ever grows up it will be just like your's.
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mary_lu_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks everyone! Looking back at the pictures gives me hope for next year. No accidents yet, but close a couple times. Also one ticket for running a stop sign....does that count? :-)

I have so much work ahead this spring. The DL bed has been in place since 2005 and badly needs dividing. Just not sure what I will do with all the "extra" plants. Not many of my friends are into gardening. Guess I can always put a free sign and put them on the boulevard. Have done that before.

luckygal, the bridal wreath has really done well for me. Only problem is it wants to get bigger than I want it to. So I prune it back several times each year, but later in the summer I have to let it go if I want blooms in the spring!

Jacqui, don't prune in fall. You are cutting off the spring blooms when you do that. I always prune it back after it finishes blooming and then again about mid-summer.

Annette, glad my pictures brightened your day. I was actually surprised when I looked back through my pictures. I didn't remember the spring having that much color in my yard!

cyn, calamity and roseberri, thank you!

Martha, more time than I like sometimes. But like a child, once you have them you must continue to lavish love and attention on them.

CMK, as said above, sometimes I almost resent the time required. But then when everything is blooming I am again revitalized. (even to plant more....!)but no more new beds. We gave the rototiller to our son!

plantmaven, how can you say that? Your gardens are lovely! We have had drought as well, but nothing like you have had recently. Just lugging the hoses around can be quite a challenge! It can be so disheartening, to see gardens you have worked so hard and spent considerable $$ on, then wither and die in drought.
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Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
11 years ago
ML, I always enjoy seeing your pictures. You have such a talent for mass-planting where there's just enough of everything, and one particular variety doesn't overpower another. And your succession of the profusion of bloom is so well thought out. I still absolutely love your picket fence. So much more stylistic than the usual picket fences.
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mary_lu_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
thyme2dig, actually I am quite surprised at how well the DL bed does as far as length of bloom. I had thought that it would be a mid-summer blooming bed only. But "somehow" the iris, peonies and of course a couple roses just snuk in there! :-)The only time it really is lacking in blooms is late fall. But even then the roses are blooming.

Hard to believe we put the fence in during July of 2005. The plan is to build the fence up to the corner, but does not seem to be getting done very quickly, does it?

This is the same bed mid-summer. (sorry I could not find a shot from the same direction as the spring shots)
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hosenemesis
11 years ago
Ahhhh. My favorite thing, finding new photos of Mary lu's garden to look at on the Cottage Garden forum. Your spirea still takes my breath away.
Renee
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Spring 2012 blooms

Comments (13)

luckygal

Jacqui-UK

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Spring 2012 blooms

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