Guess this post should be called “the past three weeks in the garden”. Sorry about the delay; work and a cold have kept me from writing. OK, I am fully aware that those are just lame excuses, but they’re my excuses and I’m sticking with them.
The past (three) week(s) in the garden have seen weather conditions of biblical proportions. Temperatures in the 80’s followed by a couple of days of heavy rain (including softball(!) size hail) with heavy snowfall to round out the week. Fortunately, the Vintage garden was spared the hail but it did take a heavy shot of snow. The following week brought more temperatures into the eighties followed by more heavy rain and snow. Ah, Spring Time in the Rockies. All four seasons in a single month. Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!
In my last garden post I mentioned my concerns that the heavy snow might break off the branches of trees that have already leafed out. While the snow was heavy it had been so warm the previous week that the snow really didn’t accumulate, thus the tree branches were spared. Yay!
The bad news is that the temperatures then dropped down into the mid-20s. I have two honeylocust trees in my yard that were just starting to leaf out. The tender leaflings(?) on these trees got zapped, as you can see by this photo.
Zapped
This is really no cause for alarm, because almost all trees have a secondary set of buds for just such a situation. The concern now is that the temps dropped down to 30 during this recent snowstorm, and the honeylocusts were once again starting to leaf out. Here’s hoping the secondary leaf buds didn’t get zapped as well.
As for what is is currently in bloom here in the Vintage garden: because of the unseasonably warm temperatures, several of the plants in the border are blooming early. Seen here are Turkish Veronica (foreground) and the Brunnera (background), commonly known as Siberian Bugloss.
April showers and unseasonably warm temps bring way too early May flowers.
I love the Brunerra because it looks a little like a Hosta. And like a Hosta, the Brunnera prefers shade or light sun. Unlike most Hostas, many varieties of Brunnera can tolerate dry shade and drought conditions, making them ideal an ideal shade plant for the Colorado Front Range.
Name that plant!
This plant here usually blooms in early June. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it. Cleome? Anybody have any ideas? I should start a regular post – “what plant is this?” – in hopes that somebody out there can tell me what the hell I have been putting in my yard. I suppose I would get more responses if I offered a reward. I’ll give this some thought.
Brief moment in the sun.
Finally, here be an early blooming Iris. The most recent snowstorm took the burgeoning bloom out. Well, at least it had a few days in the sun.
Most front range garden experts say you should be able to set tender plants out after Mother’s Day. This year has proven to be an exception to the rule. I got rid of my veggie garden, but I am planning on putting tomatoes in a couple of planters. I think I will wait a week or two before I do just so, just to be safe.
Until the next time, happy gardening my friends!
