Once again the middle of the month has rolled around and it is time to participate in the ritual Carol over at May Dreams Gardens started, Garden Bloggers Bloom day. If you’ve never popped over to her place to see what is going on in gardens in the rest of the world, you’re missing a good time. There are so many bloggers with beautiful gardens that are participating in this meme, it is well worth a visit. One of my very favorite regular gardens to visit is Annie in Austin. Mr McGregor’s Daughter has a wonderful place too.
Once again, I am inundated with work that I should be doing right when I want to put together a post for Bloom Day. What I should be doing is weeding the little cherry trees out from under the forsythia that is out by the pond. That bush is the waiting room for the bird bathing facility provided by the little waterfall into the pond. Consequently, every kind of plant that robins like to feast on sprouts under it. There are at least two cherries that are over a foot tall now, which means I didn’t get them weeded out last year (probably because I was doing a post instead of spending time in my garden).
I long ago started breaking the rules laid out by Carol. Somewhere there is supposed to be a list of everything that is blooming right now, with a list of what just finished and what is coming on.
What just finished is the daffodils, the plum trees, the Korean spice viburnum and the forsythia. What is coming on is the wood hyacinths. What is blooming right now is the daffodils and the tulips, plus about every other flowering tree and bush we have, including the apples, lilacs, and spirea.
I have been doing “what is blooming today” posts all month, so feel free to scroll down in my blog and feast your eyes on the woodland flowers that are blooming in the park, or the Daffodil and Species Tulip border around the Rose Garden.
We have been enjoying some soaking rains lately, so everything is lush. Especially the violet seedlings that have sprung up everywhere. I wish I had never planted those things where they could take over a flower bed.
In the Hosta Dell, the big news is the primroses.
These have done so well. I ordered a group of six from Wayside Gardens several years ago, and they have increased and multiplied so I have established them in several places.
Out in front, there are species tulips going berserk. I just love these guys, and my goal is to have one of every variety McClure and Zimmerman offer.
Just in case you decided not to click over to the Daffodil and Tulip border, this is what it looks like today.
Now, just behind that is the rock garden. The candytuft and alyssum are really getting special.
Just to the right of them is the Dianthus “Firewitch” which I bought last year from High Country Gardens. I thought it had croaked during the hot part of summer, but look at it now. In a couple of weeks it is going to be spectacularly in bloom.
The rock garden with all the sedums and hen and chicks is performing better than my wildest dreams could have imagined. But today it is all about the Hens and Chicks. Look at this little cutie — all set about with tiny chicks. I had to stick my finger in there so you would get the scale of this.
Now I’m sorry. That has got to be the most darling plant in the whole garden right now. It is sights such as these that fuel my passion for gardening. I’m sure all gardeners have motivations like this. A full freezer is good, but there are things that are even more sublime.
Now, I really need to go. Come back and see me some time.
wow, primroses and candytuft! Since we still have snow (though it IS melting now) the only thing blooming up here is indoors. On my blog today the middle photo is of a bloom on my Easter cactus for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Enjoy!
It always amazes me to see how many plants are happy in gravel…I must find a way to get more here…because I love the sedums and dianthus. M&Z is my favorite bulb catalog and they seem to have many many species tulips to choose from…your goal to have one of every is admirable! I might have to copy you! Have a great day…gail
Hello Healing Magic Hands – came to see your Bloom day and saw the link- thank you very much.
Your bulbs are so lush and colorful and a treat for my Northern-bred eyes. We supposedly can grow species tulips in Austin, but my attempts at growing them failed completely…it’s good to see a tulip that’s happy!
It’s also good to see candytuft and alyssum saxatile grown as classic elements in a real rock garden, punctuated by the wee hens and chicks. Your design is really coming together.
I scrolled down to see the earlier posts – loved the intelligent robin, and was glad your frost did less damage than our hail, but your post on exercise and diet made me want spinach dip and rice pudding instead of becoming motivated to lose weight!
Happy Blooming Day,
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I love this post. Your species tulips, and the goal of having every kind sparks a fire in my belly! I believe we are soul sisters, for that is exactly a goal I could work towards with gusto! Your species tulips look fabulous too. As does the whole garden. Happy bloom day! I too have to escape the computer and go out into the garden every so often, no matter the weather. It calls to me. And I answer.
Frances
Hello there,
The wine-coloured species tulips look lovely. A nice thing to collect. I have only lately become aware of the species types and am not familiar with their names yet.
My latest collecting craze is species roses, which take up a little bit more room than the tulips
Rock collecting, now there’s a thought…..
I enjoyed my walk through your garden.
Your gardens are lovely this bloom day. I love the species tulips and have decided I have to add some of these beauties to my garden this fall. Your little hens & chicks are so cute in the rock garden. Happy GBBD!
I love the mounds of candytuft and sweet alyssum. I grow the latter but have never tried the former. I’m very tempted to see if I can grow it here in Austin.
I always envy the gardeners who can grow tulips especially when touring around on GBBD this time of years.
Just a note of thanks….I really appreciate that your blog is so legible…that is, that you use black type against a white page. It looks so clean and fresh and lovely. Best of all, it’s actually possible to read it. (Lately I’ve commented on some sites I find difficult to read so I thought I shouldn’t be so negative all the time. Rather I should leave kudos on sites that are a joy to read. Kudos!)
Lovely blooms! I really like your rock garden, and I can see why you like those little hens and chicks. I don’t have nearly as much blooming yet, but I do have some primroses like yours. Aren’t they just the greatest thing? I planted them just last year and was pleasantly surprised when they returned even bigger and better this year. Go for the tulips–I’d love to have every variety, too:)
Gosh everybody, thanks for coming by! I so love getting comments!
Diane, I’m sure that spring will come to you eventually! Be patient. But isn’t the internet great? You can travel without moving from your desk.
Gail, that gravel mulch is a very good thing. At High Country Gardens they tell you which plants are happy in it. It makes the rock garden look so much more natural. I love it.
Annie, I was glad to see you here. Be warned, however. If I ever travel to Austin I am going to want to visit you. I want some of that spinach dip too.
Frances, it is imperative to answer the call. That’s why I haven’t responded until now. I hear the beautiful weather calling me and i still have to get those cherries out from under the forsythia. . .
Jo, you better watch out for the rock collecting thing. It can become an obsession. If you browsed around my blog at all you would have figured out that I am a sufferer from that compulsion in a big way.
Hi, Racquel. Glad you came by and hope you come back soon. Those tulips are very special indeed.
mss – thank you for noticing that my blog is legible. It is one of the things I dislike very much about some other blogs. I also very consciously have NOT loaded it up with a bunch of buttons, links, tags, ads, blah blah blah that make some blogs very slow to load and I never look at. Every zone has its wonders and trials. You can’t have tulips. I can’t have lantana or nine dozen other beauties you Austinites enjoy!
Rose, my husband will read these comments and start watching the check book like a hawk now that I have so many endorsements for my ambition to have species tulips. . . I love the rock garden too. It has developed so beautifully, and it is a great pleasure to see it performing as envisioned. There were a couple of disappointments, plants that did not grow they way I thought they should, or come back after winter. But with so many great performances going on, why focus on the flops?
Thanks for the kind words! Sorry it’s taken me so long to get over here, but like you, the garden has been keeping me very busy.
Your Primroses are so cheery. I keep seeing Primroses all over, yet I’ve never grown them. (What’s wrong with me?) Your Species Tulips look so happy. I’m wowed by the fuschia pink with the white & blue center. And I totally agree, that tiny succulent is the cutest thing!
Your garden looks very peaceful!
That Firewitch is going to look spectacular!
your photos are so gorgeous – it’s always a pleasure to visit the havens