Spring Brings Daffodils!

Warm spring almost summer-like temperatures have been in place for the last several days. Every day has been in the 70s with this final day of warmth being in the middle 70s! Of course as expected this put all the plants on a fast track to blooming. We went from Snowdrops all the way to Daffodils in just a week or so. 

Snow Iris 3/10/21

Snow Iris and Early Sensation Daffodils make a nice combo in the front garden beds! 

First Daffodils bloomed 3/10/21

Here are the very First Daffodils. This variety Early Sensation technically was the first to bloom in the gardens and it has been since its addition. It only bloomed a few hours before Tete a Tete so while first it almost lost to 2nd place. You’d think the variety February Gold would be before but it still has yet to show!   

Daffodils as of 3/10/21

Another interesting fact. So I planted the bulbs in the photo above right along the south wall of the house thinking the warmth there would make the blooms happen a couple weeks earlier then this path in the middle of the front lawn but apparently it really doesn’t make a difference. Even though the ones at the house started growing earlier by like a week and a half they bloomed at the exact same time as these ones way out in the yard. 

Here at the Tete a Tete Daffodils which are a really fun Mini. They smell super sweet and are always among the first to bloom. Ahead of them are dark purple Snow Crocus. 

The Lenten Rose has started to bloom as well. This Dark one was the very first one I added to the garden, I am unsure what the variety is because it was a gift but it sure is pretty!

This one is part of the Winter Jewels mixed so unfortunately I also don't know the type on this one either but I its a rather nice two-toned double. I have 5 Lenten Rose throughout the gardens since they are a rabbit resistant nice garden plant. 

That garden as a whole shows plenty of Daffodils to be seen. They certainly rushed up since I cleaned things off a week and a half ago! I have around 1,200 Daffodils bulbs and 12 different varieties ranging from Yellow, Pink and Orange, Double and Single flowers. They are my favorite flower! 

Zero to 60

Daffodil sprouts 2/28/21

Zero to 60, literally! That’s what the weather has done. The door of cold air has closed and it’s been in the 40s and 50s every day and soon heading for the 60s. The snow has melted off, you can tell we’ve had a hefty snow year though because some shady parts of the neighborhood still have high banks, normally with the amount of warmth we have had it would all be gone by this stage. Record winters of 50+ inches will do that though. What has melted off has reveled lots of sprouts and I kinda had to rush to get things cleared off. 

Snowdrop Elwesii as of 2/28/21

Snow Crocus 1st bloom 2/27/21

Snowdrops are in full bloom this week which is right where they should be this time of year. Oddly though are the Snow Crocus! When I took the leaves off flower buds were already appearing and they were opening as soon as the leaves were taken off. That was strange and the first for me. Also weird they bloomed before the usual second flower which is normally Winter Aconite. 

Lenten Rose 2/27/21

Lenten Roses were also really desperate to be coming out. They were pushing up the leaves. I noticed them really sprouting around the end of January before the big cold snap. I made sure so covered with lots of leaves and snow luckily they made it. I have 5 of these throughout my yard and really enjoy them. 

Garden view 2/28/21

Not much to see here yet but you can see a bit coming anyway, soon my gardens will be filled with thousands of Daffodil blooms! Don’t you just love spring? 

Getting through an "Extreame Winter"

 

Magnolia Grandifloa 2/21/21

 

This year winter started off fairly "average" in the temperature department, we had really no big cool offs or huge warm-ups either. Snow wise however it was actually pretty snowy as it seemed like all the snows we did have which were infrequent came with high amounts each time like 6-12" in 3 or 4 storm spread throughout the season so we were on our way to one of the top snowiest winters ever recorded. THEN February arrived and the ball dropped, temperatures plummeted to the 10s and even below zero and it did rise again for 2 strait weeks. It went from "average" to extreme in just those two weeks according to the Midwest winter severity index.  It was one of the longest-lasting cold snap of this decade. 2 days didn't rise above zero and 11 nights nearly in a row were well below zero. It was part of the same cold snap that greatly effected parts of the deep south by Texas and Oklahoma. Lowest temperature seen was -18.F which was near the record low since the year 2000 which was -20. 

The winter damage is really showing on my experimental Magnolia Grandifloria this year most of the leaves have browned and its likely it will loose all of its leaves. The winter before this I got really lucky, with a maxed out low of -9 barely any leaves browned and the remained on the tree throughout the following summer and it even bloomed! My hopes is that the tree survived and it will leave back out in May and June.

 

Extreme Rabbit Feeding Damage

 The other sign of a harsh winter? Even though extra steps were taken with the fencing as you can see. At least a dozen of more of my shrubs were severely damaged by rabbit feeding. Unusually the snowcover isn't as persistent as it has been this month and the hungry rabbits have no where else to turn but the bark and twigs of shrubs. It's nice to see the rabbits remaining well fed but I'll say its proving pretty costly. Unfortunately these wont recover and will have to be replace. Sure they will try to grow back, but they will be the perfect size for more rabbit feeding next year and it will keep going in a vicious cycle. This isn't the first year either, so I'm going to rethink my landscaping choices going foreword for sure.

Snowdrops as of 2/20/21

 

How about a little good news now? The Snowdrops are showing again! I have to say how impressed of the insulating qualities of snowcover. These spent all that 2 week of below zero weather happily protected under the snow. The past 2 days have been in the lower to mid 30s re exposing these again. Next week when its in the 40s there really going to be happy. I've also see snowdrops blooming as well.

Winter burn free

More great news, Thuja is looking find and dandy! Sometimes Arborvitae can get winter-burn when the sun hits it during extreme cold spells especially when its un established and this being the first winter I will admit I had my concerns. However I checked it out real close yesterday and everything is looking good. It will be really nice to get some spring growth on this one to start filling out that hole from last year.

Blessed or Cursed

 

So I'll be the first to admit snow isn't really my "thing" so to speak. Don't get me wrong its something that's easily tolerable, we live in the "north"  its something that just happens and you deal with it right? Well something I saw on facebook sort of made me look at it in a new light. It was a weather post for a Dallas, Texas news station that was predicting snow in that area. I found myself reading the comments section and surprisingly, not only were the commenters okay with the snow they were hoping and wishing for it! Apparently it had been years since they saw snow and from the way some sounded they would give anything to see the white stuff. 

 

 

Now as a person living in a climate where snow was abundant and plentiful like many people in Iowa- we get it, its easy to want snow if it only comes once every few years and it melts the same or the next day.  However it does make a person wonder, is it curse or a blessing? It is nice to look at and there are even quite a few benefits as well like protecting plants from extreme cold, replenishing soil moisture and even fertilizing as minerals are collecting on the snowflakes as they fall through the atmosphere. Either way this is Iowa and you know what they say S happens, in this case through the S word means snow. Besides it could be worse we could be living up by the Canadian boarder region! 

Little Lucky doesn't mind the snow & cold, he's got a nice warm scarf to keep him warm and besides winter brings low humidity which is great for metal Dinos!

 

 

First Big Snow of Winter

Just like that fall has slipped into winter, I really should be saying, finally it's gone into winter though because actually been quite mild this season with lots of warm, sunny days. In fact it was nearing 70 just two days ago! So It's more like we had this coming. So what does the winter season and this snow mean for the gardening season?

 

Well some people may say the winter season is the most anti-gardening season of all of them. While there isn't much work to be done in this season I find it's the only season that forces one to take a step back and just enjoy, unlike the warm season which is demanding that all the time be spent working or "getting things done" It's also a season of rest for the plants so while its not the most exciting gardening season it is a necessary one. Guess you can say I was ready so to speak. Being originally from Northwest Wisconsin, a climate much colder then Iowa, the beauty of snowfall can still be appreciated in my eyes and it does bring a totally new perspective not any other season can show. We will see how long the snow lasts however I have a feeling it will be gone before Christmas.

 

 

 

As for the Dinosaurs..... its their favorite season! Low rainfall and very low humidity is the perfect rust-stopping weather and any metal Dinosaur would say ( if it could ) that's the best thing about it! Besides they got their scarfs, what more do they need?

There is one single winter bloom to show off. This Snowdrop flowered at the very beginning of the month! It's been a very mild December, with really no cold days and even many of them in the 50s even 60s, giving the reason why it can be said "we had the snow coming" Enjoy the winter season while we have it and remember, spring is the next one and it will be here before we know it!

Last Remaining Flowers, Getting Ready For winter

Leaves of Hardy Cyclamen

 

It's not even yet Halloween and we've already had two bouts of winter in the form of snow although my area was missed by the epic 9" that the north metro got during the middle of this month we did get the record cold highs barely above freezing. Since then it has warmed back up into the 50s and next week its supposed to get near 60 so at least there will be some fall left. The warm up came just it time as there are still some flowers to enjoy! The season started with Crocus and also ends the same, couple of patches of these Autumn Crocus still showing off their nice deep purple flowers. Flowers are always nice for color, but we all know there isn't much more time before we will have a break from them. So I like to look for other things to be excited about and that's leaves, seedheads and structure. The beauty of these features are often overlooked during the rest of the year. One such example are these Hardy Cyclamen- the flowers were great but so are the leaves! Their circular patterned leaves hug the ground and are hardy enough to survive some pretty harsh temperatures. So get out there and look for beauty in some of the other things the garden has to show.

Thuja "in Jail'

This looks sorta like a certain Dinosaur might be in trouble, but in reality its help keep rabbits away from gnawing at my sculptures toes. As the grass slowly starts to become dormant and eventually gets covered in snow the food supply for rabbits goes down drastically and damage begins to happen to woody trees and shrubs. In some cases with this damage, I've seen it become severe enough to kill off the tops of plants or create bald spots on evergreens. So to combat this, this seems to be the only nearly full proof way to preventing it is to fence off like shown. Unfortunately, there are so many throughout my gardens its a big job- so my future garden plans are to slowly reduce those favored plants- and so far the only two plants I've seen rabbits never touch are Boxwood and Junipers. Now is the time to be out there starting to add protection because half a a spirea that was planted in my back yard was already gone this week so be sure to get out there and protect your young trees and shrubs!
 

Flowers of Fall

Autumn Felice Goldenrod

We're more then half way through September and the days are getting shorter. Fall is surely upon us now even though as of current the upper 80 degree highs don't much feel like fall. The weather this month has been very floppy, it was hot and very dry to start out the month, then it was cold and wet for about 5 days when we got 3" of rain all at once, then for the past 2 weeks hot and dry again. The erratic rainfall along with the prior severe drought is causing a few trees to turn earlier then normal and start dropping leaves. I noticed this on my own Sugar Maple with dropping about 1/10th of its leaves, and its more normal for it to turn closer to Halloween. Hoping the early drop wont spoil the would-be show later on. Currently the main show are the many flowers of early fall. Asters and Goldenrod are bursting into bloom along with other fall favorites

Fireworks Goldenrod

Ohio Goldenrod

Showy Goldenrod

Goldenrods

 

 

 

One such fall favorite are Goldenrods- a very under-used plant in the garden world. They get the blame for being a weedy plant that caused allergy issues even though the pollen isn't the type that effects that and unknown to many there are quite a few types ( actually likely hundreds ) but that also means many don't have runners and don't spread.  Now I'm not saying I have not removed a Goldenrod type because it being aggressive because there certainly are, however the majority of the ones in my gardens have not spread at all. The benefits of Goldenrods include beautiful late-season flowers that last a long time and the pollinator habitat they provide is significant. There have been several different species of butterflies and bees both that adore these plants. Including Monarchs on their way back to Mexico!

 

 

 

 

 

New England Aster 'Purple Dome'

Smooth Aster

Smooth Aster

Heath Aster

Asters

 The next  important fall flowers are Asters. There are many different kinds although New England is the most common type widely available. I chose 4 or 5 different kinds to add the highest chance at seeing color since unfortunately rabbits are a common feeder on these plants. In fact I often have to fence off to have any chance of long term survival. It's worth it now however because the fall color they provide is phenomenal and they pollinators are all over this just like the goldenrods.

Mammoth Mum Yellow Quill

Mammoth Mum Red Daisy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hardy Mums

 

 Of course the fall garden would not be complete without at least one mum. I actually have 2 both are Mammoth Mum series which are a type developed by the University of Minnesota meaning you know they are hardy. I noticed some types bloom rather early, like the yellow quill starts blooming in Mid-July and lasts through fall. Red Daisy just started to flower now, which the plan was for fall color so the later bloom tends to be favored for me.

Gentian Flower

Bottle Gentian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Odd

 

 Now going into the more uncommon types here we have two different types of Gentian, one is called Bottle Gentian which always have the appearance of being "closed"  it has specialized flowers that only allows certain bees to are are strong enough to access its pollen to ensure little chance of cross pollination with the wrong flower types. The other type is a open-flower variety kind which I cannot remember the kind. This is another flower which I intended for fall color but it actually starts blooming in July and keeps going until now.

Hardy Cyclamen

Toad Lily

& Unique

Here are some fall bloomers for more-shaded sites. Cyclamen which is not known to be extra hardy for our area mine had done very well the past few years and has multiplied well in its shady location in rather poor- dry soil its in. I've since added other types of fall blooming Cyclamen and also trying some spring-blooming types. I'm just a real fan of their little delicate blooms. They other flower here is called Toad Lily and it blooms well in the shade. It takes a very long time for the flower to appear but its very worth the wait because the blooms are quite unique and not like any other fall blooming flowers.

Fall Displays

 Final stop is the fall display on my front porch which includes Kale and Pansies in the pots because I feel I never know what fall weather will bring and these two plant types will survive any frosts or freezes weather can throw at it and make it easily into November sometimes all the way to Thanksgiving. Also added some fall pumpkins to finish it off much a fan of the golden one, such a nice warm creamy color and not so "traditional"