Wildflower Wednesday - May-Apple

My contribution to the Wildflower Week Fest the May-Apple or known as Polyphyllum peltatum by you Hortheads. These plants usually have one or two leaves but they colonize as you can see in this photo

taken at the local park.

You can see the pretty little bloom that you usually find at the base of the petioles.

I have a small colony on the north/west side of the house. It is covering the down spout nicely.

 

I am not sure where the apple part comes in its name. It is listed as a perennial herb. Maybe someone else knows a little more about it.

If you want to see more wildflowers do go to Gail's Clay and Limestone blog. She is hosting a Wildflower Week. It is so important to preserve the wildflowers that we can. The bees and other wildlife will thank us for it.

Foliage Follow Up - April 2011

When I had a little book buying spree a few weeks ago one of the favorite books I purchased was Debra Lee Baldwin's _Succulent Container Gardens_.  This book is chocked full of container ideas. It fits nicely with my situation here. I love succulents and most of them, at least the ones I am drawn to are not hardy in my zone 6 garden. Containers of these beauties are a way I can enjoy them most.

I had an Echeveria that I over wintered this year. By this spring I couldn't tell which of the rosettes was the original large one of last summer it had made 10 pups. I don't know if the Momma plant died and the smaller ones took over or if it just shrank or what but I was pleased as punch to have all these little fellows to work with. I had a blue strawberry jar that I planted up. It looks a bit monochromatic right now but the tips of this echeveria has pinked up so I am hopeful that it will look quite nice in this pot when it fills. If some of them don't make the transfer I will look for some complimentary plant to fill its slot.

The rest of the pups I placed into this pot with some wooly thyme, black grass and Sedum hispanicum minus 'Purple Form'.  I had some rocks that I thought would compliment this arrangement so they were added.

In this chicken planter I planted a taller succulent. I am not sure what it is but it survived the winter in a sunny window here. I like the way it looks like the chicken has a fancy tail. This tall thing is green and has those red leaves so I played off the red leaves and added a Sempervivum that is red and Sedum lydium that has red stems. I think when it fills in it will look nice. It can grow a long time in this pot as it is so big. 

If you have some foliage that you would like to follow up the Bloom Day with please do so. Pam at Digging is the hostess for the Foliage Follow Up.  For more foliage inspirations go to Digging.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - April 2011

We have had a wonderfully warm April so far. The garden has responded to the warm wet weather. I have lots to show you this month. There aren't many daffodils blooming at this time due to the unusually warm weather.

Epimediums are abloom. 

I took this picture during a rain this week. The dogwoods are blooming nice. 

These sweet blue blooms of the  Brunnera.

This is  a new addition to the early spring blooms in my garden. A Iris cristata 'Powder Blue Giant'. 

The White Lilac has many blooms this year. Mmmmm can you smell it?? 

One of the last daffodils to bloom in my garden each year. Sorry I don't know the type it is.  

One last Hyacinth. Not the pure white of the ones growing out front but it is still a smeller. 

The old fashioned purple iris that never fail me are beginning to bloom. Hopefully I will have some for the Easter dinner table decoration. 

Virginia blue bells are blooming up a storm. 

Purple carpet phlox is blooming.  Now, if you have stayed with me long enough you get a bonus...

When I looked out my window this morning something caught my eye. It was a Nessus Sphinx Moth at the Virginia Blue Bells.  WHooo Hooo. I have never seen this moth in my garden. I am so happy I can share it with you. Luckily my Dearly Beloved strolled by my room right when I spotted it. He grabbed his camera and got this shot. Thank you Dear.

Happy Garden Bloggers Blooom Day to you all. If you want to see more flowers blooming in gardens around the world go to our GBBD hostess's blog, May Dreams Gardens,  for many more participants showing.

Spring Gifts

The weather has been the greatest gift of spring lately. I realize I have complained a little too much about all that so I will try to refrain from whining any longer. Besides there has been nothing to whine about with this warmer than normal weather. Today we are getting one of those lovely spring rains that soaks in and makes things grow.  The rain has knocked off all the doubl blossoms of the blood root but I will still have plenty of flowers blooming this Friday the 15th when it is time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

 It seems that every flower that is a spring bloomer is responding to the warm weather. It is such fun.

 Not only are the flowers responding but the local resident hibinators are out and about. This Eastern Garter snake was not particularly happy to make Luna's acquaintance.

 I was wondering why Luna was hanging around the water feature. She even proceeded to dig trying to get the snake. I don't know what she was going to do with it when she caught it. This snake was sticking it's tongue out as if to say "nah nah nah nah nah" to Luna when we came to the rescue. 

 Other winter hibinators are trying to take over the mail box. I don't know how it got in there in the first place but it is taking care of the one cell of their nest that they managed to build this weekend while we were away. Today with the cool rain falling it didn't even want to move when I opened the door to retrieve the post.

 This weekend we had our first Falcate Orangetip butterfly in a long time. Unfortunately it wasn't in our garden but along a roadside where we were birding. There were several along this road. It was amazing to us because this isn't a butterfly that we get every year.  There were 6 flitting along the roadside. None but this one lit for even an instant for a photo op. My DB was very patient in trying to track this down.

 Another great sighting was a Trumpeter Swan. We don't often see these beautiful swans. It was hunkered down in the wind until we came upon it. Then it stood to take off. We saw no tags or bands on this bird. It must have been a wildling, young at that. It is amazing that these huge birds can fly.  Just look at the size difference between it and the Ring-billed gull standing in front of it.

I hope you all have been enjoying the spring weather.

A difference in a few hours

What a difference just a few hours makes in the garden. The snow had melted and the Narcissus doesn't look too bad for what they have been through.

With the sun coming back out it makes me want to get out in the garden to do some little jobs that are on my todo list. I can't quite drag myself outside yet. Today I received a new book _Garden Up_ by Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet.  This book is chock full of ideas for either a small or large garden. I have found so much inspiration here. Not to mention that I have a head start on some projects since I won the Succulent Living Picture. I don't know why I was surprised to see it highlighted in the book. You will have to forgive me for being a little slow on the uptake. Rebecca is a friend of Pam's. I can see why Pam was happy to promote her friend's book. It is a must have if you have any desire to Garden UP. The how to instructions for some unique plantings and the after photos are just marvelous.  Did I mention the beautiful photos??

Pam and Rebecca are in the round table group that gives advice about different garden related subjects. It is so much fun having some of these great ideas in a book you can peruse over and over again.

No, no one asked me to promote the book. As a matter of fact I waited until I had it and had a chance to peruse it to say one way or the other. I can say that it is a keeper. Now you will have to excuse me while I go look at the walls around my garden in a new creative way.

Spring Snow

We woke to 2.5 inches of snow on the ground this morning. Not exactly an unusual sight for March but it does make one hope it is the last snow of the year.  My Dearly Beloved and I got out to take some pictures of the snow covered garden.

For some reason it just didn't seem right this time.

We had already got the Casa put up for the summer season. This is the first time it  had been snowed on. I am glad the roof didn't fall. It looks a little wonky on one side. We will have to straighten that. 

The snow won't last long. The sun is to come out and it will get to 40F today. 

I just hope that all the blooms that were exposed will not be ruined. 

Some of them look pretty sad. 

Some of them look like they might be protected from the cold of last night. 

The birds weren't deterred from the feeders. They just dove right in.

Anyway I hope you all have had a nice weekend.

Succulent Gardens

When I got home from work today there was a package on the front porch. I asked my DB what he had ordered and he said nothing. So he retrieved the box from the porch and when he said that it was from Succulent Gardens I was thrilled and surprized that the Succulent Picture Kit that I won on Pam's blog Digging came so quick.

I ripped the box open to find everything that I needed to put the Living Picture together. There was a bag of succulent pups, a sack of soil and the picture frame of course. The frame is made of recycled redwood with a 1/2"grid of hardware cloth for the succulent roots to grow through and entwine. This way they will stay in if you decide to use it as a vertical hanging.

 There was more than enough soil. When I looked at that sack of little starts I wondered if there would be enough. It was just perfect. I was so pleased that I didn't have to go out and get soil and extra starts to fill in. As you can see in the picture below, not only were there enough but an intersting variety of succulents to make this picture look lively even in it's infancy. I can't wait until the little starts begin to puff up. As this beauty grows I will show you how they fill in and puff up.

When I went to the Succulent Gardens web site I discovered that they have several sizes of these living picture kits. They have other kits, such as a wreath too. This was so easy it could become addicting.

I want to thank Pam for offering this give away.  I want to thank Succulent Gardens for sponsoring this give away. If you like succulents you should go to their site and see some of the wonderful succulents they offer. I know that if their speed of response, quantities and quality match this give away you certainly be as delighted as I am.