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woodyoak

Seen in the garden today...

We're definitely behing gb's garden (I checked - no signs of Brunnera blooming here yet - they're barely producing leaves...)

Blue is my favorite color in the garden at all seasons so there are lots of little bulbs providing shots of blue like this:

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and blue is often paired with white as here:

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My hellebores are rather pathetic in comparison with gb's I'm afraid but I do like them and have them in

Christmas Rose white:

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With some softer tones added:

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basic green:

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and deep purple:

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I think hellebore breeders should work on developing outward facing flowers so you don't have to be a contortionist to enjoy them! Also, those dark pulple ones are very had to see!

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[You've probably noticed by now that I do not clean last year's leaves out of the garden.... :-) I prefer to let Mother Nature do the composting in place for me!]

I just have one drumstick blooming that I've seen:

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The trilliums are getting ready to put on their show in a few weeks (as are the marsh marigolds such as the one that seeded itself behind this red trillium):

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I'm impatiently waiting for the rhubarb to get growing so I can make a pie or two!

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The New Dawn roses on the south gate arbour have got huge over the past two years and it is now time to do something about them. I want to swag them down the alley. We put up a chain on the south fence to start training them along. In the next couple of weeks we need to put in posts on the house side so we can swag the other side too. Here is the start of the south side swag:

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There is less action going on in the front so far - mainly just some small creamy Mini Botanical Turkestanica Tulips:

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that have started to seed themselves into the lawn!

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And the Concerto tulips are flowering now too. This one is nicely hobnobbing with a Pasqueflower::

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Garden touring here on Saturday will be a bit boring in comparison to your place I'm afraid gb.

Comments (19)

  • triple_creek
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Woody,You have a nice collection of hellebores and early bulbs. I love blue too. It is such a welcome color after the grays of winter. I can't wait to see that New Dawn rose blooming along the swags. What a great idea. I would perfer to leave the leaves to mother nature too if we weren't knee deep in them. She tends to laugh at us for trying to clean them up and blows a ton more in. LOL

  • gardenbug
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Funny, I don't have a speck of blue in the house, but outdoors I love it!

    We'll have to share rhubarb recipes Susan! I'm going to have lots this year!

  • Marian_2
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am so happy to see spring coming to you! I love the swag. Wish I had a plece to use that idea. Blue and white are my favorite combos. I have envy over your rhubarb. It will not grow here for me. I wish I could grow that kind of tulip, but any that are not caged/fenced, are deer food here.

  • dodgerdudette
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So pretty Woody ! Many of these lovely woodland early bulbs are just not see in these parts- winters probably too mild and too wet. Am very taken by the drumstick primulas you and G'bug have posted. I wonder if they will grow here ?

    Kathy in Napa

  • ctlavluvr
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Perfect way to start the day! So pretty and natural. Love the tulips into the lawn. No harm done!

    Martie

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Rhubarb pies, crisps and cobblers are essential spring eating! A number of years ago a friend passed along his 'Aunt Marge's rhubarb pie' recipe. It is wickedly good and very different. The rubarb is covered with a thick caramel-ish topping and baked and then you put a meringue topping on it and bake again until the meringue is golden. It produces a mouth-watering combination of sweet, tart and airy fluff! I'm salivating as I type...:-)

    I have been hankering for a rose swag ever since I saw them in Queen Mary's Rose Garden in Regent's Park, London in the early 1980s. There, they are on ropes and ropes are the traditional thing to use although chains are fairly common too. I'm using a plastic chain as I'm afraid a metal one might cause more winter damage. Randy cut back the long rose canes in fall 2006 when the shed construction started. The long canes were a bit of a hazard because all the shed materials were transported through that arbour gate. But cutting back the stems delayed my swag plants!

    I really like the Turkestanica tulips. They are spreading nicely but I still want to add more in areas that don't have them now.

  • saucydog
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've never had rhubarb! I use the leaves for making impressions in my 'tufa pots though. I'm going to actively seek out some rhubarb pie this season!

    I can't wait to see the swag in action. That is going to be gorgeous!

    Mother Nature does her job very well without our intervention, Woody. I'm reminded over and over again that she does it best :)

    Saucy

  • Marian_2
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Saucy, you may want to start out with rhubarb strawberry pie. I am amazed that you have never had rhubarb!

    What color are your Trilliums? I was pleasantly surprised to see two large white ones( T.grandiflorum) blooming in the wild flowerbed this morning. I bought the original a few years ago. My Toadshade Trillium are in bloom also. they are spreading nicely. The Golden Seal is blooming and spreading too. Do you have Golden Seal?

  • gardenbug
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have Golden Seal Marian. It really spreads around too! I like it! I haven't seen it yet though. Would you like some Woody?

  • Lara Noles
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the spring tour Woody. You have many treasures there. I need to get out and search for my two trilliums that I keep hoping will multiply. I too love blue flowers and my favorite rhubard pie is rhubarb custard though I'd like to try the one you describe. Sounds good! Like you I too let the leaves stay in my gardens and decompose. I figure that's the way mother nature mulches her gardens right?

    Eden

  • chloehoover
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What a treat for sore eyes, Woody -- I could just relive spring in everyone's garden day after day... it's just my favorite time of year -- you have some treasures ....

    Thanks for the lovely tour -- I hope it gives you some peace of mind from the worry of other things...

    Cindy

  • chelone
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Notes to self:

    Anemone blanda
    How much I like Woody's gahden
    That I need to go back and actually read the insightful comments from fun people.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Woody...how beautiful! I really like that white Christmas Rose. It seems to hold it's head up better than some and it is really white! I agree with everyone else, the rose on the swags sounds like such fun. Can't wait to see what it will look like. :-)

    pm2

  • Jerri_OKC
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Woody, it's so nice to see spring! I am taking notes of things to add to my beds. I need early spring color. Thank you for posting the photos - such an inspiration!

    Jerri

  • deanneart
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wonderful spring pics Woody!!!! Everything is so pretty! I especially love the color of that dark purple Hellebore. (I don't think anyone's hellebores can compare to Marie's) How long have those mini tulips been in? I love it that they are migrating! Thanks for sharing your spring color.
    Deanne

  • michelle_zone4
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Spring in Woody's garden, how wonderful! You have lots of interesting things going on. Thanks.

    Michelle

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've missed reponding to a few things...

    I had to look up golden seal; I wasn't familiar with it. It seems to want damper conditions than I have so it probably wouldn't do well. And, if it did, it sounds like it might spread more than I'd like! So thanks for the suggestion but I think I'll pass on that one...:-)

    The trillium in the picture is a red one. Most of the trilliums in my garden are the big white ones but I have a patch near the shed that are red. They were the reason dark red was one of the colors I had considered for the shed door. (I ended up deciding against a red door because I figured I'd never be able to get the right color match....)

    Deanne - I think the little tulips have been there since 2002 - that's the first time I see them on my bulb buying lists. I have added them in a number of areas over the past few years but the sheaf of them in the picture are in the driveway border. That's the first place I planted them so they are the oldest ones. Those ones and are about a foot away from the one that came up in the lawn so presumably that's where the seed for the lawn one came from.

  • deanneart
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Woody thanks for responding. I really love those little darlings!
    Deanne

  • Full_Bloom
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful Woody! Don't you just love spring? I know that summer holds her full and lush beauty too...but there is just something so *magical* about spring...it is my favorite season. Your pics reminded me of this quote:

    "I love spring anywhere, but if I could chose
    I would always greet it in a garden" - Ruth Stout -

    What a lovely way you've captured spring Woody. Thanks for sharing!

    Ei

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