Spring has finally arrived in my slice of suburbia. Officially, it has been spring for a month and a half, but it sure hasn’t felt like spring in all that time. As soon as the spring equinox arrived, the jet stream was kind enough to drop cloudy and dreary skies over my domicile for several weeks.
But all of that is behind us! Well, most of that is behind us. I’ve made no bones that spring takes the bronze medal as far as seasons go (winter fails to qualify). Spring weather in Colorado is manic; one day it’s 86 degrees with full sun, the next day the highs only hit the upper 30’s with rain/snow mix.
Nevertheless, it has become obvious that spring is now gaining momentum. I always find it amazing at how fast the yard and garden transforms in just a few weeks. Check out the two photos below to see what I mean.
Now see the dramatic transformation that has take place over the following five weeks.
Nothing says spring more than blooming daffodils and tulips. What I am about to say may sound like heresy, but I really don’t much care for spring ephemerals like tulips and daffodils. Don’t get me wrong, I do plant them because they welcome sight after a long and dreary winter. But in my view, their impact in the garden is practically negligible. Most of the spring flowering bulbs are small and sparse. For them to have a true impact, the gardener needs to plant hundreds, if not thousands of them.
Once they finish blooming, the leaves of the plants stick around for about a month or so and then wither away, leaving no trace of the plant’s existence in the garden. Hence why they are called ephemerals.
Yet, in spite of all that, you can be sure that I will be planting more spring flowering bulbs in the fall. Hey, like I said, they are a welcome sight after a long and dreary winter!
So let’s take a gander at a couple of spring flowering bulbs I planted last autumn.
First up, we have ‘Lemon Queen’ narcissus. I planted about 2 dozen of these beauties along a south facing fence in the backyard. Quite nice, if I do say so myself. I’ll plant another 2 dozen this fall, but I’m going to add a few solid yellow daffodils to provide a contrast with the predomintly white ‘Lemon Queen’.
Below is a closeup of ‘Lemon Queen’
Next up is ‘Princess Irene” tulips I planted next to the patio. I’ve never grown ‘Princess Irene’ before, but having seen Monty Don on the BBC show Gardeners World rave about them, I thought I would give them a try. As you can see, the flowers are orange with a touch of green Eventually the green streak changes over to a purplish color.
I put these beauties next to the patio so they would mingle with the blue flowers of the Brunnera and the yellow flowers of the Oregon Grape holly.
Here is a closeup of one of these princesses:
Speaking of Brunnera (or false forget-me-not), this hardy shade perennial continues to perform wonderfully well at the feet of the big-tooth maple. I learned something interesting about this plant this past winter. If the weather gets too hot and dry, and it doesn’t receive adequate supplemental moisture, it will go dormant for the year. I’ve seen this happen in the past in my own garden, and I was sure I had killed some of them. But they always return year after year.
Let’s take a closer look at those fantastic blue flowers:
So that’s some of what’s going on in the Vintage garden this first week of May. Once the tulips, daffodils and brunnera stop flowering, there will be a bit of a lull in the garden. But the irises, peonies and other late spring bloomers should start taking off in a couple of weeks. Hopefully by then the spring weather will become a bit more consistent.
Whatcha got blooming in your neck of the woods right now?
