Show Us Your Landscape/Gardens - A Photo Thread - April 2022
Welcome to the New England Gardening "Show Us Your Gardens" Photo Thread.
This is a place to post photos, and to discuss, what is in your New England garden. This is the thread for April 2022, and since it's officially spring, I expect that we will soon be seeing more flowers in this thread. However, all New England indoor, greenhouse, garden, and landscape photos are welcome. If the photo was taken in New England, in the month of April, feel free to post it here.
Here are the links to last couple of years’ threads:
I have more early bulbs emerging now, plus a few of my earliest daffodils. I guess that the soil was just too chilly farther from the foundation last week.
Comments (38)
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MANHBabs z4b-5a NH
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoYou are ahead of me, PM2. My very earliest daffodils are only starting to open, and it turns out that there were more of the small bulbs remaining than I expected. I just needed to be patient.
Related Discussions
Show Us Your Landscape/Gardens - A Photo Thread - April 2019
Comments (55)I recently posted about damage on my new rhododendrons planted last year, which is severe, on the Az/Rh forum (and this one, I think?). This response from akamainegrower seems to sum it up: "This past winter was the most difficult I've experienced in what is now close to 40 years of growing rhododendrons. Large rhododendrons, some of which were planted at least 30 years ago, were very badly damaged and some, including two large Percy Wisemans, appear to have been killed outright. The 2018-2019 winter followed another very hot and dry summer, so rhodendrons were first stressed by that despite attempts to provide enough water. Then we experienced unusually cold temperatures in November before rhododendrons had fully hardened off. Almost every snow storm ended up turning to rain which then froze into solid ice which does not provide the insulation of snow. Heavy wet snow and ice also collapsed many fabric shelters. Temperatures also fluctuated dramatically from near 0 to well above freezing time and time again. By far the most damaging aspect, however, was the repeated instances of unusually high winds." His summary is what we experienced here. Lots of wind, temps were not dangerous but ice was common. I would never have known that those conditions were so bad. But, I will certainly say I was worried in our dry summer, and very grateful for the rain in fall. If we have a third dry summer, I'm thinking I need to do some deep watering of the established rhododendrons. Interestingly enough, NONE of my older rhododendrons seem in the least bit phased by anything, and they are old. It is just my new ones that are suffering. At last three are outright dead (but I was zonal pushing with those, I'll admit), and several more on the edge, waiting to see what will happen. The non-evergreen azaleas are fine, I hope. Here is the link to my original post. NHBabs, I know you posted on that original thread. Do you have any thoughts? P.S. I think a third dry summer won't be too friendly to my hostas planted in late 2015 and summer of 2016. I assume they're not reaching potential without adequate moisture. Empress Wu still looks more like a eunuch than an empress....See MoreShow Us Your Landscape and Gardens - A Photo Thread - February 2022
Comments (18)Babs your sunrises and sunsets are just lovely! Today I was returning from the gym early this morning and suddenly realized as I pulled in the driveway that it was somewhat light out! Yay! I've definitely been noticing it in the evening but not so much in the morning, so that was a nice revelation (even though I did have to scrape my windshield this morning). The photos of the stream are very interesting. Does this flooding happen often (like, every year?) I maintain a garden for a customer and she has a creek at the back of her property. One year we had a lot of rain, and then a big storm, and SEVEN trees along the creek bank just toppled over. The ground was just too wet. So that was one of the things I thought of when I saw those trees of yours in the standing water. Weather here has been bizarre. Went to work Saturday, it was partly sunny, supposed to be that way all day with temps in the high 30s. Around noon it was snowing unexpectedly. Rather heavily, but not much sticking. By 2 or 3 the sun was out. I drove home at 3, had a quick bite to eat, and was putting on my coat to run out to my daughters. Noticed it was snowing a bit. A BIT. In about three minutes we had a white out. I could not see the front of my yard, the street, the neighbor's house. It was insane. We got about 3/4 inch of snow in about ten minutes. And then the sun came back out lol. The snow stuck around on the ground for a few days though! And tomorrow? 60 degrees. Then snow. Crazy! :) Dee...See MoreShow Us Your Landscape/Gardens - A Photo Thread - May 2022
Comments (36)I'm just tickled that a hummingbird actually visited your Weigela, Dee, because I really wanted to add one to my plans for a Hedgerow and I do like every plant to earn it's keep on my small property. Pretty spring flowers, polinators, easy care AND hummingbird attractor. That is going on my list for sure. I do love that 'Beverly Sills' Iris and I could actually be a big Iris fan except for the amount of work they require because they have to be divided so frequently. Or should be I've thought. The Iris I have now, was a NOID and it has turned into a great plant. It hasn't been divided and instead has spread out and increased. And I've not seen rust on it at all, which is the second reason I cooled off on the idea of a lot of Iris. It would be nice to pick up another Beverly Sills at least. I am happy to grow a few and see how they do, as long as I don't have to be too invested, in case they become too much trouble. They're also out of bloom so much of the year, I forgot that. I do have a variegated one that at least makes up for that too. I'm working on a new plan to add those to a corner of my front bed where I am taking out a grass that became way too aggressive of a reseeder. I'm reluctant to add another grass now. I already have a Nepeta right there, so the Iris would go with it and I can move the poppy in that corner too. A little late to do anything about it now, but maybe in the fall. Deanna, I just took a walk around the garden this morning and I'm so excited because the roses are full of big fat buds and starting to open. June 1st is the date I expect them and they are right on time. Penelope a small flowered one time bloomer is the first bloom open. But the rest are right behind that. Last season we had so much consistent rain that the garden seems to be better than usual this spring, especially the roses. So, I feel the same way, some of my plants are getting ready to all bloom at once. The end of May beginning of June is a busy season for my garden. I'm going to try to clean up the front bed this morning and put down new mulch to make sure nothing detracts from the display. I made a spreadsheet once called Six on Six. I used it to develop a gardening plan that chose 6 main plants for 6 months of the growing season. I lost track of that and didn't finish it but I'm reminded of it and want to pick it back up again. I felt it helped me to spread the bloom season out over a longer period of time. Deanna, I came across a bulb blooming in my vegetable bed and don't know what it is yet either. I'm going to have to take a photo and figure out what it is. Your Star of Bethlehem is very pretty and a very pretty name too! For me Nepeta usually grows pretty quickly into a larger size. Don't you just love the buds on the Oriental Poppies?! As for being dry - this season has not been enough rain yet at all. I've been watering some. I do have my rain barrels up and thankfully we finally got enough to fill them this weekend. I had one filled early and used that all up. I cut my water bill in half last year, but I think it was mainly because we had so much rain. But the rainbarrels are really making a difference for me. I'm planning to add more....See MoreShow Us Your Landscape and Gardens - A Photo Thread - August 2022
Comments (34)Babs, I think you are right - they should be all set now if we don't have a heat wave and drought the rest of the Fall. [g] No, I never get concerned when they report possible flooding because we don't seem to be in an area that gets that. I've lived here for 30+ years and never saw water even collect in the street. I'm very thankful about that. I did see a weather report warning of flash flooding yesterday, but I never pay attention to that. There is a community about 4 exits down the highway from here that gets their downtown flooded pretty frequently in a heavy rain, because they are in a low lying area. But as far as a river overflowing it's banks 2 towns north of us there is a river that overflows it's banks and floods neighborhoods, so I hope they haven't had that problem. We'll have to see what the news has to say by the time all the rain stops. And in NH they have that issue in neighborhoods along the main river that runs through the state. We have family that just moved to NH, but thankfully, not along the banks of that river and they are on a lot that is the high point of the neighborhood, so that works out very well. How about where you are - anyone here that is affected by flash flooding?...See More
nemiractfairfieldcountyzn7a
9 months agoIt's such a beautiful spring morning today here where I am in Fairfield County, little dashes of color popping up all over the place.
This is probably the most exciting thing: the flowers on my camellia (April blush, i think?) has finally opened. This is its second spring and there are many, many more flowers than last year.
Here is a lemon glow camellia which I just planted, less than a month ago. I'm impressed that with being transplanted it has still managed to flower!
The pink splotches next to it are corydalis Beth Evans. I find they have an amazingly vivid color/presence for such a small flower!
Another new planting is this illicium, I think it's called sunshine. Even though it is still only small it just illuminates the area of the garden where it is planted, and I love how the yellow looks with the pinky heuchera and the blue of the chinodoxa. I'm excited for when they all fill in.
Pulmonaria, with the orange new foliage of spirea behind it
And the buds of this Daphne (eternal summer? Endless summer? Something along those lines) are swelling and about to open
(I planted the Daphne last fall and it was annoyingly leggy and sort of gangly when it arrived ... hoping it can be fixed with some judicious pruning?)
Finally, my army of milk Jugs... :)
I really enjoy this board and seeing all your pictures! Thanks for allowing me to share 😊NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked nemiractfairfieldcountyzn7aprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNot looking as exuberant as other years, in the garden this year. Except maybe for the lilac Avalanche that has about 4x more flower buds than last year. Oh, and I have noticed that I have a lot of reseeding from Penstemon and Monarda. But I do like how each season provides it's own surprises, with reseeding, you never know what the composition is going to look like.
I also noticed rabbits munching on plants. I saw two of them in the yard the other day. I sometimes cover plants over night with a milk crate that I know they show interest in and that seems to work well. But I just noticed two plants I never noticed they eat before - Virginia Blue Bells and Alchemilla. This year a lot of my milk crates are full of fire wood kindling. [g]
Here's the Alchemilla that looked great a few days ago.
And here is a new Hellebore just coming up in mid April. I don't understand why they are reported to be early growers and bloomers. I do have some that show a few blooms in March but the whole plant is never all the way up.
Does anyone recognize this, I can't remember what it is?
Clematis was pruned back to new growth only at the base and it's coming up strong.
Sedum 'Black Pearl' - I divided mine last year, I really enjoy how dark the leaves get, so now I have two. [Edit: It's 'Blue Pearl' not 'Black Pearl']
Hyacinth 'Jan Bos' almost filled out. LOVE this color and hope to plant more in the Fall.
More Hyacinths, not quite full yet....
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAnemiractfairfieldcountyzn7a
9 months agoThankyou for the lovely welcome, Prairiemoon. The trick with camellias, i think, is to plant them in a sheltered location. I say this because I planted another camellia the same year I planted that one and by the end of the winter it looked like... THIS!
The difference between them was remarkable, and I can only chalk it up to the fact that the successful one was tucked away in a corner near a big Rhododendron, protected from the winter winds and sun.
Yes there are actually sprouts in all my milk jugs at this point i think! Very exciting to see so many plants come from so little.NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked nemiractfairfieldcountyzn7aprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNemira, You could be right about Bleeding Heart. Thanks.
I've had a number of dark leaved Sedums over the years, but this one is my favorite at the moment. I bought it from Bluestone Perennials and while the flowers are not spectacular, the foliage is worth it.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MANHBabs z4b-5a NH
9 months agoprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAbrdrl
9 months agoIt is so exciting to see everyone's gardens start to pop! I am also Fairfield County, 7a. The native pollinator garden I put in last year (with mostly plugs) is off to a great start. And I just got my "Monarch Waystation" sign - a bit early for them yet but the milkweed is peeping through the soil. I'm slowly expanding it to get rid of as much "lawn" as possible. And i just put out this to alert the neighbors that it is intentional:
Golden Alexander (which had faint blooms all through the winter, odd?)
Blazing Star just coming out of dormancy, the purple spikes of this was a favorite of mine last year:
Solomon's Seal which has done a great job taking over shady areas:
Surprised to see a bloom already on climbing hydrangea:
Bleeding heart, one of my faves, not quite open yet:
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked brdrlprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAdiggerdee zone 6 CT
9 months agoNot a whole lot going on here. I haven't been able to get out in the garden due to an unexpected surgery - nothing worse for a gardener than to have two weeks off in spring and not be able to get out in the garden lol! I have lots of stuff poking up through the ground and breaking into leaf and bud, but not a lot of blooms. Some quince in bud, and my Quail daffs, which I love so much, are in bloom, but that's about it.
I did notice with some alarm this... laurel??? ... that I planted a few years ago looking awful this spring. Bad photo - in full sun so kind of washed out - but I will have to post a thread to see if folks can tell me what's wrong. I still can't even remember exactly what this is, lol, and now it's looking terrible! This is about two and a half feet tall, with the photo looking down on it; hard to get perspective, I know.
Oh, and I did see this yesterday. Have no idea what it is or where it came from
:)Dee
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked diggerdee zone 6 CTdiggerdee zone 6 CT
9 months agoTook a little walk today - always love to see the bluets in my lawn! They're scattered all over, many in little clumps like this
:)
Dee
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked diggerdee zone 6 CTNHBabs z4b-5a NH
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoDee, I don’t know what that first shrub is, but I don’t think that it is Gaura. Maybe compare to cherry laurel? There are some small versions and you would be on the edge of its hardinesss, so it might just be winter damage.I have no idea on the second.
You could try posting both on the Name that Plant forum.
I am visiting family, so I only have one photo from my yard, trailing arbutus just starting to bloom.
But a couple of cheats from the Denver Botanic Gardens, one of my favorite spots to visit and learn new plants when I am here, and it is wheelchair accessible which is a plus for us. I love the gentle arch of this bridge and the ceramic finials on the posts.
The Chihuly sculpture was another favorite.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MARTHawk
9 months agoRainy/misty spring day today - picture below taken from inside our house
My Garden 2022 · More Info
Pictures below are from last week
My Garden 2022 · More Info
My Garden 2022 · More Info
My Garden 2022 · More Info
My Garden 2022 · More Info
My Garden 2022 · More Info
Magnolia above has major magnolia scale problem - sprayed with horticultural oil in the fall and twice this spring just before the buds opened.NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked RTHawkNHBabs z4b-5a NH
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agodiggerdee zone 6 CT
9 months agoTook a stroll yesterday and still not much going on in the garden in terms of bloom. I decided to finally get a shot of my hellebores, now that they've been in bloom for two months lol. Not bad for two-month-old blooms!
Also, my pathway in between my cinderblock beds is starting to bloom - somehow ajuga made it's way over here and really likes the spot. I leave it - it's pretty tough, tough enough to get walked on and still look decent. Certainly looks better than the weeds and leaves that collect here!
Was hoping to get some clean-up done today but I'm hearing that wind howl (again? still?), so we'll see!:)
Dee
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked diggerdee zone 6 CTprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoWhy does Houzz swallow posts sometimes? I just posted with a few photos...only 5, so that doesn't seem like too many - and I hit submit - pause pause pause, then it looked like it posted, then I refreshed the page and it disappeared. Try it again....
Veronica 'Georgia Blue in a patch of phlox subulata...
Hellebores, Hyacinths, Daffodils underplanted with Leucojum....
A patch of vinca just blooming with Epimedium coming up and just filling out and blooming.
Late blooming 'Thalia'
Just planted pot of spring annuals.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked prairiemoon2 z6b MAprairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agodiggerdee zone 6 CT
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoI love creeping phlox and envy my neighbors who have swaths of it draping over walls! I have neither decent phlox nor a wall to drape it over lol.
So today I did something I've never done in my gardening life. I went to the garden center and bought some annuals before Mother's Day. I don't usually do this because it's just way too early here. But the last few years one can go first thing in the morning the day after Mother's Day and there is nothing left. I don't know if it's a supply issue or the supposed new hordes of gardeners since the pandemic, or a combination of both. So by the time I usually go, early June, there's definitely nothing left.
So I bought a few annuals for my pots, and then got home and tried to figure out how to keep them. This was my solution:
The frame contributes nothing lol. It was an old cold frame I dragged out, hoping to start my dahlia tubers early, only to find out after dragging a window from the very back of the garage that the window is too small to cover the frame. So the frame is there till I find another window or decide to move the frame back.But my setup is a plastic bin upside down. Right now I have it propped up on bricks, because the sun IS warm, although the wind is horrifically cold - worked outside in my winter coat and a hat today! Tonight I'll go remove the bricks (or pop them under and inside the bin for some radiant heat. I have a smaller bin all ready to go over that flat of impatiens, with two containers of water for radiant heat as well. I think it's probably overkill - it's supposed to be about 40 degrees tonight - but these babies were in a very warm green house so I don't want them going into shock lol. So hopefully I'll get them through next week and the danger of frost!
Also, here's a pic of my Quail daffodils. Love these late little bloomers!
:)Dee
NHBabs z4b-5a NH thanked diggerdee zone 6 CTNHBabs z4b-5a NH
9 months ago
diggerdee zone 6 CT