Oh my, Steve, that magnolia is gorgeous! It's such a rich yellow. On line I see hardiness to zone 4, zone 5 and -15. That last is definitely not hardy enough, but I could probably manage to keep something alive that's hardy to -20. Do you know how cold it has weathered in your garden?

I don't know the lowest temps, probably to -10, definitely not -20. I would have noticed that! This is 5b and it has survived the past two difficult winters with no dieback and no special protection. Here the major winter problem is drying winds. I bought it from Rarefind Nursery in NJ. They list it as Zone 5 and that's probably right.

Steve

Wow. Such awesome stuff blooming for everyone.

Claire, your Pieris are always gorgeous. And that 'Mary Fleming' is a beauty. Really like the two photos of the gold bleeding heart with shade and sun. What a difference.

Bill, what an example of the snow line on that camellia of yours. Will you prune it back? Or do they send out new leaves? I should know this since my folks have a gazillion of camellias in NC, but they never have this issue! I was recently at the Norfolk Botanical Garden and their camellias took quite a hit. It did look like new growth was coming out from the "dead" brown areas.

Steve, those close-up photos are excellent. That last lilac photo is just glowing.

VTGirl, That Claytonia is so adorable. I'll have to Google to see if anyone sells it. It is quite special. That is an amazing bloodroot! I think I just ordered some that look like that. I have the double and I do have a single, but it's doesn't look like that!

Barb, I really like that third photo of yours with the white daffodils. Almost monochromatic except for that splash of pink. Lovely.

Nekobus, I had a 'Pink Frost' hellebore but the voles got it! It was my favorite. I'll have to pick one up if I see it again. Do you know the name of the anemonella? I have a handful of them, but have never seen lavender? I "need" one of them! LOL!

Here are a few from the shade garden:

Double Trillium--my biggest splurge on a perennial so far, and probably ever.

Glaucidium--so glad I wound up with a white one by mistake.

View from deck of most of the shade garden. Soon all that bare ground will be covered. There are a number of tree peonies in here that will take over the show just as the early-bloomers are finishing up. Then hostas and foliage plants in general keep the rest of the season interesting.

Jack never disappoints!

Lots of viburnum are starting to get ready to pop. This is such a great time of year!

Thyme2dig, I will probably need to prune back the camellias some, but I did a scratch test and most of the browned areas still have green under the skin. The protected areas have just finished blooming and are showing nice shoots, and I think the damaged areas will send up new growth too, but it will take a little longer, so I'll be patient before I prune.

Steve, your lilacs are just gorgeous!! "Sensation" is especially pretty. The lilacs around here won't be blooming for some weeks still, but the buds are starting to form.

Crabapples and apples are the big thing here right now.

That's a beautiful property, Bear, and I love the crabapples in Vermont. Bear those look like Olga Mezzitt Rhody's in the front of your porch. There should be plenty of Bumble Bees on them.

Here's a few more things as the blooms just keep on coming.

Clematis montana 'Mayleen' It's supposed to be a Zone 6 plant, but this one is about 25' onto the pergola in my back deck. It's fragrant.

The Azalea's are blooming here too. This is the standard Delaware Valley White.

Polygonatum variegeta, the bees are on this also.

My neighbor calls them the lollipops. Allium giganticum.

One of the new smaller Lilacs that reblooms. This is Bloomerang.

I'm watering regularly here. We haven't had rain in over 3 weeks.

Steve

Steve
Your right they are Rhody's, I don't know I keep calling them Azalea's must be old age, these are the small leaf Rhody's there call Aglo. I planted them 12 years ago when I moved into the house.
I love your lilacs, mine are just now setting buds. I'm waiting for rain to help them bloom.

So much beauty, I'm not sure what I can add. I must, however, pay tribute to my very old, lovely crabapple that is in bloom this week.

It's a dwarf, hence the horizontal habit. It gets it's gnarly charm from us having to cut off dead limbs every year.

I hope we never have to cut it down. It's the first place our bluebird fledglings go each year. Location, location, location.

Another nice crabapple (Harvest Gold), which will produce fruit that the birds love in the Fall.

Christmas Cactus moved outdoors, refusing to give up. Just one more bloom.

Susan

Your azaleas and rhodies are simply gorgeous, Gardenbear! You have a very cute house and lovely yard. I hope the bees decide to revisit your property because your shrubbery is putting on a smorgasbord for them. Very pretty! I love the colors!

Your old crabapple is beautiful too Susan. Besides color, it has a lot of character from living so long!

spedigrees
When I moved here back in 2003 I had no bees what so ever. Onces I started to plant and have flowers I had more bees than I knew what to do with but in the last 5 years I've seen less bees, now if I'm luck I will see one or two, I still get the Bumble bees but its not like having my honey bees back. I'm hoping that when the Peonies start to bloom they might come back.

One of my tree peony has started to bloom, this one blooms before my yellow tree peony, Its like 90% of my other peonies no name. Most of my peonies are rescued from older gardens with names long forgotten. but I still love them I think they were happy with the rain.

The beautiful ladyslippers are starting to show up. Also looks like poison ivy in the background! Fortunately, none where I was kneeling.

We'll be putting in our vegetable garden in a few days, weather permitting. Most things are direct seeded in the garden, but my heirloom tomato seeds were started April 3. Plants are doing well and ready to go.

Susan

We didn't "inherit" much of a garden, but somebody must once have plopped random flowers in. There was a tulip growing up through the hydrangea bush, and some free spirited beauties in the lawns. The hydrangeas are showing buds. Sorry for the rotation...

..

As an orchid enthusiast, I am obsessed with those lady slippers! What do you know about them? Did you plant them? I must know more, LOL!!!

suzabanana, no they are wildflowers, They show up every year in the woodsy parts of the property (in acid soil under pines and other trees). They are hard to spot until they turn pink! Many think it is illegal to pick or disturb them. That's not true in NH, but perhaps that myth has helped them to stay around. I've read that they almost never survive transplantation.

Gardenbear, I love your Tree Peony. I saw a Tree Peony at the Elm Bank gardens yesterday that looked a lot like yours. The label read Tree Peony Yachiyotsubaki. It's probably the same one you have, since they are blooming simultaneously and have the same look. Here's a couple of pictures of the one I saw.

Steve

Like HG603, I have pink lady's slippers growing wild on my property, including one spot that has about 20 in a small area. I've read that there is some type of soil mycorrhiza or something that they need to grow. I have successfully transplanted a few (taking lots of soil along) from a spot on our property that was being cleared for a building to another similar woodsy spot closeby, but I don't think that usually they are able to be transplanted.

I have purchased nursery grown (be sure to get wild orchids nursery grown, not wild dug as often the wild dug don't do well and are contributing to rarity in the wild) yellow lady's slippers and have one blooming (small as it's only a couple of years old) now. I think that the yellow ones are less fussy than the pink. I'll try to get a photo.

NHBabs, I would attempt that transplantation too if they were going to be lost anyhow. Glad it worked. I would love to try the yellow. What was your source?

Susan

Susan, I got them from Hillside Nursery. They were tiny (I got the "almost ready to bloom" size) but one of the two bloomed after one growing season in my garden, and the several other plants I got are growing well except for one that's still tiny, but that's probably my fault.

This type of lady's slipper is smaller than our local pink lady's slippers (you can judge the size since the vole protection mesh is 1/4".)

I've been doing too much traveling lately and not enough gardening. Was planning to get back into dirt today but have an unexpected errand. It may be a little tricky with the tomato plants so I'll be sure to water them well with fish emulsion when I transplant. Darn, first it was too cold and not it seems it will be too hot. Still have planters to plant and probably more plants to buy.

Steve, have you been happy with the Bloomerang lilac? I saw it on the list at Uncanoonuc Perennials. This year is great for my young lilac but the rhododendron is in terrible shape. I thought it hadn't suffered winter damage but as the weeks went by, the damaged area looked browner and browner. It is blooming now but only a few blooms at the base.

Among the new plants I bought but shouldn't have because I don't know where I'm going to put it is a tall phlox with variegated leaves Becky Towe. A friend from CT called the other day while out buying perennials to replace all they had lost this winter. Fortunately, a beautiful dwarf iris in a dark purple has done well this second year after my inept dividing and planting in a wet place (dry now but wet in early spring). The friend who gave it to me moved and had to leave all her plants behind. She would like a division.

Last year the circle garden was edged with pavers to help the grass vs flower bed war. Can someone give me edging tips? I think I am planting too close to the edge. Right now I am not using any mulch. I also need to have my husband give me weed whacker lessons. I'm still afraid of it. The worst area that needs to be dug out and re-shaped is a kidney shaped bed. The mower can get close on the inside edge. If the circle garden pavers work, perhaps this bed should be edged, too.

Thanks for the heads up on the lady slippers. Time to go looking just to see and enjoy. We missed Mayflowers but the bloodroot that grows wild along some road sides was wonderful.

Anyone need some Lysimachia ciliata ‘Firecracker’? It has become invasive in another flower bed. I have enough space to put it off by itself but wonder if that is not a good idea. The single plant in 3 or 4 years has become about a 6 x 4 patch. I picture it taking over the entire property and then the whole town.

BTW Japanese knotweed is still rearing its ugly head by the road. We think it arrived here thanks to the town's roadside mowing. It is being treated with chemicals so it isn't spreading. I would just like to see it completely gone.

In the photo below you can just see my edging technique at the bottom right. I put in the black plastic edging with the rolled top which goes down 4", enough to keep most things out of the bed. Then I line the inside edge with either bricks (free from recycled sources mostly) or slightly wider patio blocks. We don't need to use the weed whacker since the mower wheels run on the brick, though you want to choose the mowing direction to have the grass outflow onto the lawn rather than into the bed. DH (who does the mowing) likes this type of edging since it's easy for him. I prefer the look of a V cut edging, but he hates having the mower wheels drop into the trench, and this isn't bad since the grass stays out of the bed and the grass hides the plastic almost entirely after the first season.

I forgot to say that sometimes I have to reset the brick when the voles have been active and the bricks drop down.

Thanks! and I appreciated Houzz option to enlarge photo so I could see better. Your bed is beautiful nhbabs!

My grass is the worst ever due to no rain in NH but my perennials are doing nicely.

NHWhazup, you've done create a stunning foliage garden! I really like your plant choices and the use of rocks. Can you tell me what your Japanese maple is in the first photo (I am assuming that it's an Acer shirasawanum, full moon maple) and what the red shrub is in the second photo? TIA

Thanks for the compliment. The Japanese Maple is an Autumn Moon that was all but given up for dead in 2012 - see below how pitiful it was. It only leafed out at the bottom. I thought it was a goner for sure. The branches literally all died off so I cut them all back and wished for the best. This year it finally looks good again.

The 2nd photo has an Orange Rocket Barberry bush. It's a bright orange red color. I purchased it online a few years back when you could still get Barberrys in NH.

I look for easy grow perennials with color and then work hard to keep the deer from eating everything. Milorganite is the only thing that works for me.

Defrost,

I planted Bloomerang just last Fall so it's still small. However, it bloomed it's little head off, and it's still going strong. Very fragrant. I will deadhead after it's done. I wonder if it will re-bloom as claimed.

Steve

Waaaah! My snowball virburnum looked like this last year, and for at least 30 years before that.

Today, I did a double take. It looked fine a couple of days ago.

Blech.

Is this virburnum leaf beetle larvae? Anyone have this unpleasant experience?

Sorry, I'll post something pretty next time.

Susan

Looks like it, Susan, but here is a page from Cornell (aren't they a great resource) that not only gives ID of all life stages, but also management techniques to reduce issues.

Thanks, I use Cornell a lot, but I missed this page. Also, just whining a bit, I guess. :)

Yikes, that Viburnum Leaf Beetle looks awful. Looks like Spinosad will do the job, but don't spray the flowers.

Here's a few more blooms from the garden as May heats up.

Bignonia capreolata 'Dragon Lady' These are the first flowers I've seen in 3 years from this native cross vine.

Yes, it's back and bigger than before. Intersectional Peony 'Singing in the Rain'

The early blooming Clematis are beginning to open. This is Omoshiro.

And the Hostas are entering prime time for them. This is a seedling leaf I like.

And here is the back bed of the Hosta garden.

Watering regularly now.

Steve

The view this morning across the field was pastoral: an old style tractor with accompanying haying equipment, neat rows of cut alfalfa ready to be gathered up for silage, and off to the right, newly sprouted corn. I just hope it rains a significant amount soon.

We had just enough rain the other night to bead up on the lupines which are just starting to show color. The wind has been hard on the peonies and other delicate plants, though.

This afternoon the wind is pushing the trees around, and we are hearing rumbles of thunder, but the weather radar is looking like the rain may well miss us. Concord is currently on track for being the driest month on record, not just the driest May. I would be surprised if we've had a quarter inch of precipitation for the month.

That viburnum leaf beetle is a scary thing, Susan! I hope it stays away from here. I can imagine how awful you feel to have your old viburnum attacked.

Lovely pictures, nhwhazup, Steve and NHBabs!

This is my doublefile viburnum (rooted cutting from a garden club sale) as seen from my deck:

The Geranium macrorrhizum is blooming now and swarming over some hostas. I don't worry about it because the roots are very shallow and hostas are very fierce.

Spanish bluebells are opening. Pink and white came first with the blue a little behind.

And the Dicentra 'Goldheart' blooms on - here with some house sansevieria outside for the summer. Hosta, lilies and a rose in back.

Claire

NHBabs, is that your Farmall Tractor? Looks something like our 1946 "A". Doesn't get a lot of practical use these days, but still love it.

No, all that equipment belongs to the local dairy farmer who tends the field. I do love the look of them, though. I had to laugh last week as I followed my neighbor down the road; he took his old Farmall to get to the weekly volleyball game, so tractors are alive and well here in rural NH. There's another dairy farm on our road and he must have hay storage up past us since a couple times a week a tractor pulling a trailer of round bales goes by.

We do own a couple of small tractors, a Ford dating from the 60's, and a Kubota that is a bit newer but still is well on in years. Here are my niece and I on the Ford a few years ago (she's now almost 14!) The brush hog now lives on the back of the Kubota so that it doesn't have to be attached and taken off again whenever mowing is needed. (and to think that I made fun of DH when he bought this tractor! I've built garden beds with it, moved rocks and bricks and mulch, and DH uses it for moving cordwood, construction materials, driveway maintenance, snow removal when it's gotten too deep to plow, etc. . . . it is a real trouper and gets weekly to daily use.)

As a side note, this photo is looking at the spot where the shop shrub bed is now, with the tree closest to the drive still there, and the shed sitting right in the center of the bed, all before this area was cleared.

Below is the same spot in early May of this year, with the same dirt/manure stock pile to the right and the tree visible by the drive just off the end of the brush hog above is the same one next to the drive by the shrub bed in the photo below. The largest shed, behind the solar panels in the photo below, was present in the first photo but not visible due to the trees.

Last night's sunset was an unusual color as the sun worked its way through heavy clouds.

There's lots in bloom despite the dry weather, but the hot, dry wind has shortened bloom times of many flowers.

The rain this afternoon was lovely and much needed, but we could use about 10 more of these storms to get a reasonable amount of soil moisture.

Saying goodbye to May. It's been the driest May on record, but we've seen a compressed Spring during this month. Flowers came on fast, but didn't last long. I finally see some rain in the forecast. Let's hope June is more balanced.

These are the buds of Epimedium Cranberry Sparkle, just beginning to open.

Clematis Serenata

The Kousa Dogwoods just beginning to bloom.

Sweet Woodruff which I've just begun to use in the white garden.

Steve

NHBabs: You have bearded irises blooming in NH! Just a few buds here in SE MA.

Great pictures as usual, Steve! I'm particularly interested in the Cornus kousa pic because of the timing and the shape of the flowers.

I have a volunteer dogwood that first appeared as a tiny seedling, I think in 2010. At the time I didn't know what it was but I liked it and kept it to see what it would become. It became a dogwood of some sort, with good fall color, but with unusual small wavy leaves, and I moved it to a prominent position while waiting for it to flower so I could identify it further.

It finally flowered a few days ago and I think it's a Cornus kousa based on the timing of the flowering and the pointy bracts. The bracts are green with pink tips and they've stayed that way for several days. I probably should wait for them to change to a mature color but I'm not sure they will and I wanted to show them to someone (when you wait five years for a flower you want to show it to someone, now!).

Does anyone have an idea which Kousa strain this is?

The old inherited lilac which I think may be Charles Joly is blooming well.

And the rugosa roses are opening.

R. 'Yankee Lady'

R. 'Blanc Double de Coubert'

Claire

Huge inherited Japanese maple (that I pruned!) which we call "Cousin It" - I will need help figuring out how to prune it again to give it better shape.

Lupine

Iris (also inherited)

My herbs are blooming - I have Thyme, Lavender, Sage, Chives and Oregano

I'm hopeful that after tomorrow's predicted rain, my peonies will pop. Fingers crossed!

Claire,

Here is the UConn database on Kousa Dogwoods. There are a couple of cultivars described that might fit. Maybe 'Satomi'.

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=125

Beautiful rugosa roses. I just can't bring myself to post rose pictures in the May thread. They will just have to wait until June.

Suzabanna,

I can't imagine trying to prune that JM. That just seems like a really tricky job. I love your stand of Lupines. They look like they self seed in that place.

Steve

Thanks, Steve, for that link. I need to give the dogwood some more time to develop the flowers, although the coming cold snap will probably stop everything for a while.

The rugosas are always the first roses to bloom here, which I greatly appreciate.

Claire

The rhododendron border is out (former site of the pines)

Salix integra ‘Hakuro-nishiki’Dappled Willow is really tall. In a garden with rainbow leucothoe and little henry itea, and Japanese styrax - soon to bloom. It's loaded with little bells.

And, my box of lettuce. (smile)

Jane - we all have such wonderful flowers and shrubs. We're all lucky!

Very pretty pictures of your garden, Jane, and it looks so well-tended too!

The little white flowers look a bit like Star of Bethlehem, or some other ornithogalum, so long as they're not coming up from those pretty green and maroon leaves.

Claire

Here's the 2015 version of my antique birdbath succulent garden:

Sunlight through the new leaves on the Japanese Maple:

Poppies:

This blurry photo is the most beautiful of all...rain! This is the first we have had in many weeks.

Susan

Quite lovely, and I enjoy Jane's updates on the rhodie border. It has really filled in, hasn't it.

This thread has been a delight this month!

A few final photos this month.

The Baptisia is starting to bloom all over.

B. 'Solar Flair' with Nepeta

B. 'Purple Smoke'

B. 'Carolina Moonlight' with Amsonia hubrichtii

I love this combination, but since both the Lupine and the Euphorbia are self-seeded, I can't take any credit.

This is a Viburnum, perhaps maresii? It grows in a mostly shady clearing along the driveway through the woods and blooms like this every year regardless of the low light levels. It has really nice reddish fall color as well, though not as good as if it were in the sun.

Claire, thanks, yes, it is Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, Star of Bethlehem. The chevron leaf is a persicaria. It is in my woodland garden.

Lovely, nhbabs. I just put a yellow baptisia in this year, screaming yellow it is named, and 6 new clematis, thanks to you, lol.