what’s blooming this week?

Published on by Quandie

Good morning from my zone 4b garden!

It feels like we’ve gotten a bit of a late start this year, but then again, I’m pretty sure I say that every year.

As you can see above, most of the hostas are starting to fill in, although there are still a few that are only pointy shoots just coming out of the ground …

While I wait for all of the foliage to fill in, I’m enjoying lots of early spring flowers.

The tulips were still looking great earlier in the week, but they’ve pretty much gone over by now.  I’ll be cutting off the flower stalks this week, but leaving the leaves to store up energy for next year.

I planted Darwin Hybrid Pink Impression tulips, and I specifically chose a Darwin Hybrid because they are more likely to naturalize, ie. they will bloom again next year and even potentially multiply.  Overall though, daffodils, scilla, crocus and muscari are better at naturalizing than tulips.  So we’ll take a wait and see approach with that one.

Speaking of muscari, I added some this year.  Here they are with some lovely Maidenhair Ferns (one of my favorites, I love how delicate they look) behind them, and the pop of a small lime green hosta in front (I wish I knew the name of that one, but I’m not sure which one it is).

Normally I would plant the muscari as a bulb in the fall, but I found these for sale in pots and decided to see if planting them now would work.  The employee at the nursery where I purchased them said it would, but I’m not sure she knew her stuff.  I do hope they come back next year though, because they are lovely in that spot.

It’s interesting to see how much of a difference in bloom times there can be even in a garden as small as mine.  The daffodils that I planted on the east side of the house in a very sunny spot that is rather protected from wind started blooming two weeks ago, while the very same variety planted in a spot with less sun only just opened this week.

This fabulous rich, wine colored dwarf iris is blooming this week too.

It’s hard to tell from that photo, but these are only about 8″ tall.  I love them for that reason, the other bearded iris in my garden often require staking.

Someone gave these to me, so once again I don’t know what variety they are, but they certainly look like ‘African wine‘.

Another favorite of mine that is blooming right now is the Brunnera.  I have some Jack Frost which has the silver veining on the leaves, but I also have some that have solid green leaves.  The thing is, I’m pretty sure I planted all Jack Frost but some have reverted back to solid green.  Do any of you have any experience with that?

Either way, I just love the delicate froth of pale blue flowers that shoot up this time of year.

Speaking of blue flowers, my wild blue phlox is also blooming now.

I purchased this plant at a garage sale, and I didn’t know what it was.  But I posted about it here last year and one of you identified it for me.

It will eventually be overtaken by those hostas, but for now it looks rather sweet.

Now, I know I’ve called a number of the plants in my post today a favorite, and everything can’t be a favorite, but I do love the lilacs too.

They have just come into full bloom, and I think our cool weather this week is making them last (it was 44° when I woke up yesterday).  Even the flowers I cut and put in that watering can have stayed fresh looking for days (and usually I have trouble with preventing lilacs from wilting in a vase).

If you’ve followed me for long, you know that I have struggled for years to create a lilac hedge along our back property line.  In fact, earlier this week I dug out two more spindly, pathetic looking plants and replaced them with new ones.

However, the center of the ‘hedge’ has gotten to at least 8′ tall and is covered in flowers.

Now, if only either end would catch up.  I suspect it will be several years yet before these lilacs provide proper privacy, but I’m feeling optimistic.

That’s about it right now for blooms.  But before I go I thought I’d share my fern glade.

I’m fairly sure these are Ostrich ferns.  I planted them at least 25 years ago or more.  At the time that patch was under pine trees and it was only good for growing weeds.  The pines are all gone now, but the area is still in full shade from nearby trees.  It’s also a low spot in our garden, so it gets very wet in spring.  In other words, perfect for ferns.  These will take over and become almost impossible to eradicate though, so keep that in mind if you decide to plant some.

They are  are presided over by St. Francis.

It’s always amazing how fast these ferns shoot up out of the ground.  They look just gorgeous this time of year.  I wish they would last through to the first freeze, but they usually start dying back to the ground in late August, especially if we have a dry summer, and then start to look quite awful.  Also, in recent years, they’ve been plagued by the Japanese beetles too.  According to the internet, Japanese beetles aren’t attracted to ferns.  But they sure do like mine.

So tell me, what’s blooming in your garden this week?  Are your plants way ahead of mine?  Leave a comment and let me know.

 

 

25 thoughts on “what’s blooming this week?”

  4. Love all this spring color. I need to up my bulb game for sure. The peonies and lilacs just finished up here and they were spectacular this year. We had a mild winter. The irises are amazing. And my veggie garden is growing quickly. So fascinating to see what difference there is in planting zones. Love the Sunday garden feature and I’m so glad you kept it up.

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  5. Your gardens are just beautiful! The color variations are spectacular. I got back to Washington from Florida on Monday. I will have a quite a bit of gardening to do. I have overgrown roses and ivy. I missed the spring bloom. Oh well. At least we came home to some sunshine 😊

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    1. I’m sure you’ll get caught up with the gardening in no time! Be sure to enjoy those things that you’ll eventually miss when you move to Florida full time 😉

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  6. I’m with you…loving the Spring flowers and watching the Hostas slowly unfurl and then suddenly be in full ‘bloom’. I love the greens you have! Happy gardening…jealous of the ferns, we have clay and they aren’t happy in that! Sandi

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    1. Oh, I have ferns alright! I have one spot in my garden that is pretty sandy (probably because there was once a kid’s sandbox in that spot), but otherwise my soil is pretty good. I have been amending it with compost for decades so that probably helps 😉

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  7. What’s growing in my garden: coreopsis, sunflowers (volunteers from feeding the birds), gladiolus, marigolds, pansies, lambs ear, artemesia, clematis, pinks, and balloon flower.

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  8. Your yard is beautiful! I have hollyhocks blooming! I’m so excited to see them. My oak leaf hydrangeas are green leaves no blooms 🙁. My other hydrangeas have started blooming. My Easter Lilly is blooming ( missed the Easter mark 😉). All my irises have finished blooming. I bought a blackeyed Susan hanging basket it’s doing well so is my lemon scented geranium.
    Over all I have a good start before our brutal summer. ☺️
    Smiles, alice

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    1. Oak Leaf hydrangeas aren’t quite hardy enough for us. I do know that some people deep in the urban bubble of the Twin Cities will attempt them and have some success, but I’m not really willing to baby a plant. And I’m amazed that you already have hydrangeas blooming, but are they the macrophyllas? Those gorgeous blue and/or pink ones? If so, I’m super jealous!

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  9. Hello! Thanks for sharing your lovely garden! I am pretty sure the muscari won’t have much trouble returning next spring. I planted a small amount last of muscari 20 years ago and it has multiplied into a carpet of bright bluish-purple every spring. I do love it although now I have to weed some out every year.

    Lilacs, wild geranium, nepeta, and a few tulips are blooming right now. The daffodils, Virginia bluebells, and tulips just faded last week; 😔 looking forward to peonies, though!

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    1. That’s my hope for those muscari! Although I don’t know that I’ll still be here gardening in 20 years, when I’m nearly 80. But hey, maybe!

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  12. Oh, your spring garden is lovely! I love the mix of colors, shapes, and textures. I, too, have many ‘favorites’, and lilacs are right up at the top of the list. I love the fragrance and usually attempt to bring some into the house but most of the time just end up with wilted blooms. If there is a trick to avoid the wilt, I’d sure love to know what it is! Thanks for sharing your lovely garden and hope you will give updates as it progresses thru the seasons.

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    1. I used almost all of the ‘tricks’ for preventing wilting lilacs this time. I cut them in the early morning, used sharp pruners, removed the leaves, put them immediately into water, and kept them out of direct sunlight. However, I did not split the bottoms of their stems. You can do this by placing them on a hard surface and giving them a whack with a hammer. I’ve done that a lot in the past and it doesn’t really seem to make much difference. I think the reason they did so well this time was our cooler weather. We had already turned off the heat in the house, so it was somewhere in the mid-sixties inside. But unless you’re willing to live in an icebox, that’s not very practical advice 😉

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