Daffodil Tour Part 2

Daffodils backyard as of 4/21/19

 I can tell were getting into the thick of spring because there has been long hours being spent both at my job at the garden center but also around yard. I have been busy adding a new garden in the front and extending the woodland garden in the back yard. I think I planted over a hundred plants over the past two nights! This week in the garden Daffodils have continued to be beautiful and full of flowers. I have a couple of peak bloom times because the ones around the house come into blooms 1-2 weeks before the rest of the yard and because of this more types have come into flower. I also have a few very late ones which wont flower until closer to May. So here we have it, Daffodil tour #2

Daffodil 'Wave

Daffodil 'Rosy Cloud'

Daffodil 'Tahiti

 I have added a number of double blooming Daffodils into the new garden spaces. Doubles are cool however one must be careful in choosing certain types because sometimes the extra petals make the blooms floppy from being so heavy. Tahiti and Rosy Cloud don't look at all like the packaging showed. Rosy was supposed to have a double cup but is just a standard double, I still enjoy the blooms non the less. Wave was the exception that is exactly as pictured, but the question remains if it will remain that way next year as I have had daffodils un double themselves in year two in the garden, we will find out.

Daffodil mix

Daffodil 'Dinnerplate'

Daffodil 'Brooke Ager'

Not sure what type of Daffodil is in the mix to the far right but the flower on this little multi headed daffodil has flowers that are incredibly fragrant in a sweet way. Dinnerplate looks like Ice Follie but has huge blooms and Brooke Ager has blooms which are the closest to red I've ever seen so far. The blooms are on the small side but suits it well.

Daffodil 'Holland Sensation'

Daffodil 'Scarlet Gem'

 The final Daffodil to show is another multi headed Daffodil called Scarlet Gem. The blooms on these are small but like this in all flowers there are more flowers to enjoy. I have begun to notice Daffodils like these have some of the absolute best fragrance! Holland Sensation is a traditional Daffodil with white petals and yellow centers but the blooms are the largest I've come across so far.

Dwarf Rhododendron 'Rampo'

Magnolia 'Ann'

 I also wanted to show that there many other things starting to bloom in the garden as well including Rhododendrons and Magnolias among others. I have Rhododendron 'Rampo' and PJM 'elite'  both are the same kind but Rampo is a light purple dwarf type and elite is a standard sized one with rich dark blooms. I like them for their evergreen leaves but they have to be protected in winter or rabbits will eat them to buds. More importantly to me Magnolias are also showing off their blooms at this time and I think there is nothing better then a beautiful Magnolia tree with their fragrant large flowers. In fact Magnolias are my #1 favorite tree and would be my only tree if I had to pick just one. They really are special and a sight to see when in flower. I struggled for a long time to choose a variety as I only had room for one tree so I had to find one that was small enough and also had bright colors blooms I enjoy. After more then a year I settled on Ann as the final choice.

Daffodil Tour 2019

Daffodils are officially my favorite flower ever and as such I have plenty of them throughout my gardens. I estimated I have about 600 and I will certainly be adding more in the fall which is planting season for those. The reason why Daffodils are my favorite stems mostly from my childhood, every year when it was time to clean the gardens for spring I would help my aunt Ruthie clean hers gardens out as well and one of our favorite things to see the Daffodils coming up and blooming it was always an exciting time and it was quite a sight to see after a long Wisconsin winter. Now that I have gardens of my own I still have the excitement of spring color but its also very nice because rabbits, deer and all other critters leave them alone! I don't have to worry about fencing them or coming home to eaten stems. I can just sit back and enjoy the blooms! Whats even better is that they come in hundreds of different shapes, colors and bloom times I find Tulips are just not necessary to have anymore. Below you will find a few from my collection. Above are the Daffodils around my house with my dinosaur statute I've named Spike The Stegosaurus. These Daffodils near the house always bloom a couple weeks before my gardens farther out into the lawn. I have several more new varieties I have not even seen yet that I'll have to show later.

Daffodil 'Pink Parasol'

Daffodil' Peach Swirl

Daffodil 'Winter Waltz'

Daffodil 'Pink Charm'

Daffodil 'Jake Snipe'

Daffodil 'Tete a Tete'

Daffodil 'Scarlet O' Hara'

Daffodil 'Trepolo'

Whats interesting about this Daffodil is that if you google its name you will see its supposed to have a split center that folds back like a star and the petals should have two toned colors. Well it did look like this last year but this year it has reverted back to a normal orange cupped Daffodil. I still like it and the fragrance from this particular Daffodil is one of the best I've come across.

Daffodil 'Ice Follie'

Daffodil 'Marieke'

Above are two old fashioned favorites, Ice Follie and the typical Yellow trumpet, which is still one of my favorites. The Hummingbird Moths have been enjoying all these flowers the past few nights. They especially like the Hyacinths. I've had hundreds of other pollinators of all different kinds visit as well. They seem to be seeking out my yard from all over because it has so many flowers to choose from and most yards have little to none.

Hyacinths 4/9/19

 Hyacinths are also in full bloom this week and they smell fantastic. I love to sit on the porch during the evening when the scent of their blooms slowly drifts across the yard. They really add the final piece of the puzzle to a spring garden and they are just as critter resistant as Daffodils. Hyacinths have very full blooms in their first spring since they are bulked up by the grower when you buy the bulbs. The following years the blooms are a bit more loose but I like smaller more spaced out flowers better because they hold up better and look more more natural. Daffodil Fortissimo can be found in the farther backround.

Lenten Rose as of 4/9/19

Lenten Roses are also very nice looking right now. These have really quickly made the list of one of my top favorite flowers because of their spring blooms and their short leaves all summer and well behaved clumping manor the rest of the year. I tried a few more this year including a couple of doubles. The above isn't named because it was a gift from a co-worker and I am unsure of the variety but it is still my favorite for its blueberry-black colored flowers.

Lenten Rose 'Apricot Blush'

Lenten Rose 'Cherry Blossom'

Lenten Rose 'Wedding Party'

Forsythia 'New Hampshire Gold' Bloomed 4/8/19

The Forsythia just started  to bloom in the last day or so and its a beautiful addition to my spring garden. I remember my grandma in Alabama always talking about them when they were in flower. If your Forsythis isn't flowering or is flowering poorly and only on the bottom its because you have the wrong variety for our area. Most Forsythias unless you choose correctly are only flower-bud hardly to -8 but the leaf buds are unharmed leaving you with just a green shrub unless we have very rare warm winters. Do not get Lynwood gold variety for Iowa. Instead get New Hampshire Gold, Northern Gold or Northern Sun. These varieties were bread for colder areas. Spring is full swing in Iowa more plenty more flowers starting to pop as well. Magnolias are beginning and I'm seeing signs in my native woodland garden of flowers starting to emerge. I will have to make another post soon just to stay caught up! The 70 to 80 degree weather has put us much ahead of where we were at this time last year.

Spring continues to March on

Daffodil Rijnveld's Early Sensation March 27th 2019

Spring continues this week, we've had a couple of good rains since the last time I've posted. Temperatures have mostly been in the 50s, however yesterday the 27th it was all the way up to 72.F and the need to wear something to keep cooler was strong for the first time. In the garden there is plenty of action to be seen. Snowdrops and Crocus continue, Winter Aconite and Snow Iris have joined in the show and the first Daffodils of the year opened. I have over 2,000 Daffodil bulbs throughout my yard which makes spring a very colorful season. Also to add to the list of firsts I planted the first plant of the new year and it was Magnolia 'Genie' I had one previous but it didn't make it through the winter I believe because it was a little too young and planted too late in the season. This ended out being a good thing because I placed they new one in an area where it is more likely to do well.

Snow Iris Bloomed 3/20/19

Winter Aconite Bloomed 3/19/19

The flowers of early spring are typically small like the above but they are very powerful in the colors they provide. Flowers like these stand out like jewels in an otherwise dull brownish landscape. I really like Snow Iris and Crocus but the blooms only last days for me because something always comes each night to eat them, and you can probably guess what they are.... Rabbits, again with the rabbits. Snowdrops are supposed to be resistant to that however I still find some of the blooms nibbled off from time to time. I combat this by planting lots so a few missing blooms doesn't get as noticed. I have Tulips but I wouldn't normally if I didn't fence them off immediately when they sprout. The good news is they have never touched the Daffodils or Winter Aconite which is why I only plant those from now on. You would think this might limit me in sticking with just those but there is a multitude of colors and bloom times that Daffodils come in. The blooms typically last two and a half weeks but with as many cultivars as I have currently there will be blooms of different sizes and shades for the next 6 weeks.

Front Garden as of 3/28/19

As you can see there are plenty of Daffodils about to pop. I have one cultivar blooming now and several more that are starting to nod and showing color that will likely start to flower in the next few days. You can also spot the rabbit cages on the Tulips. I also noticed the Forsythia is starting to show color as well with just a bit of yellow starting to show.

Back yard 3/28/19

I did notice the grass is starting to have a hinting of green now, wont be long before mowing season starts!

Instant Spring

Crocus, bloomed March 16th 2019

It sounds like a perfect name for a scented candle or a laundry detergent but it actually describes how fast the season changed in the last couple of weeks. Since my last post and the snow has completely melted away and relieving the Snowdrops once again also allowing the first Crocus of the season to begin to bloom. This was the fastest snow-to-flowers I've ever seen and it seems like everything is super extra energized from an extended sleep this winter.

Tulip and Daffodil sprouts as of 3/17/19

Whats different about this spring is that as soon as the snow melted off the flower gardens around my house the spring bulbs were already several inches out of the ground. Typically I have a couple weeks to remove last season foliage before worrying about stepping on any plants. I had to be careful when I cleaned this this week with everything popping up. The growth throughout the winter was because it was warm to start Winter off and hefty snowfall kept everything insulated so well that it was getting a head start under the warm snow as we waited for spring to arrive. These Tulips will have to be fenced off or the rabbits will eat them for sure! I planted Tulips before I knew how bad the rabbits were in my area, I never planted more after that instead getting Daffodils which they leave alone.

Galanthus Snowdrop 3/17/19

Galanthus Elwesii 3/17/19

This isn't the first appearance of the Snowdrops this year but actually their second or third. They started blooming in early January but were covered up under snow until just last week. They are much happier soaking up the March sun. I noticed there is a bit of genetic diversity between some of the Elwesii Snowdrops, I found a patch that is extra special because the petals are rimed in a dash of green. Typically can expect a clean traditional white. Snowdrops are always the very first flower to appear in my garden followed closely by Snow Crocus. With the temperatures staying in the 50s this next week and heading for 60 by weeks end I have a feeling next weekend there will be many more flowers starting to bloom.

Spring Pansies as of 3/17/19

I took the plunge. I officially planted my flower pots with one of my favorite spring annuals! Pansies are super tough annuals that thrive in cold temperatures so I don't have to worry about them being damaged by frosts when it gets cold. They can easily tolerate temperatures way down into the teens and even colder if covered up. I've even seem them survive last year when we had single digit lows and lows of snow in late March and April after I planted them last year. It must be known that Pansies and Violas alike really do thrive in cool spring weather. It's all to common problem that people wait too long to plant, holding of until May when you could have had flowers for a month or more before. Not only this but you really cut down on the time you get to enjoy them because once our highs start to get in the 80s towards June Pansies will start to wilt and stop blooming because they need cool temperatures to preform well. So get these in confidence knowing they can handle just about any weather Iowa can throw at them in our March weather!

Spring Has Not Sprug and Sigificant Rabbit Damage Appearing

Front yard as of 3/3/19

It appears like a beautiful sunny spring day.... however it is far from. It's 4 lonely degrees right now with a wind chill of -14.F. We are in the middle of an arctic airmass of near record proportions. Ever since the weather turned in mid January we've had very little in the way of any breaks from cold or snow especially in the past month. February was the snowiest on record for Des Moines for a while there we could barely go 3 days without seeing several inches of snow but that finally broke last week after we got a half inch of rain then snow on top of that. Warmth hasn't been with us much either seems like we're lucky if it even reaches 30 for one day. The only thing looking like spring outside right now is the high sun angle. This week does not show much of any warm spells and melting snow in fact it appears like we'll probably add more snow.

Severe rabbit damage on Lilac

Rose eaten even after fencing

Rabbit damage has picked up substantially in the past couple of weeks. Damage from feeding rabbits this year is by far the worst I've seen. In fact its hard to find homes in my neighborhood with out at least a little damage. In houses near wooded areas its even worse, every twig and piece of bark on favored small trees and shrubs like Arborvitae and Burning Bushes is gone with in a 3 foot reach of rabbits. These plants wont come back well in the spring. When rabbits eat the bark off in this manner everything above where the damage occurs will die and shrubs have to re-grow from that point to recover. Since this is the case, shrubs that bloom on old wood will not produce blooms for many years to come. The reason why the damage is so severe this year is because the grass has been snow covered for an unusually long period of time. Grass is the main/preferred food source for Rabbits. When that's covered up they switch to eating twigs and bark normally off young trees and shrubs, but the longer grass isn't available the more they will source out other food sources. Since its been a month since we've seen grass, I've even noticed well established shrubs be badly damaged this winter. I anticipated this damage so I took measures and fenced most things in November but in the last 2 weeks I've had to fence even more things I wouldn't normally need to because damage has started. Still not sure how it happened but my fences proved not enough for Early Wild Rose because they got through and ate a 3 foot tall shrub to the ground in one night. They definitely favor certain plants over others, besides roses I know rabbits will flock towards Arborvitae, Burning Bush, Lilacs and Azaleas among others. Once the favored ones are gone they will go for less favored like Weigela and Forsythia. The only shrubs I have seen them having no interest in so far are Boxwood, Juniper and Hydrangea, so they must taste the worst of the worst. If you have a favorite shrub especially young I would check on it and if it doesn't already have damage don't take any chances. Get it fenced off as soon as possible.

Prairie Garden as of 3/3/19

Besides dealing with rabbits there really isn't anything else to talk about in the garden. Everything is still covered in at least 10" or so of snow. I will share one item though as I was checking things out I noticed some Snowdrops and Daffodils poking through the mulch under the eve where the snow hasn't been able to reach. The Snowdrops were even trying to take a stab at flowering! I was worried about upcoming below zero weather so I covered things back up with snow. It's interesting how weather can work. Typically right now we would be basking in the spring sunshine with 40s being our average and its not usually to go to 50 degree this time of year. If I was posting in 2018 there would be lows more to talk about as by this time my gardens already went through their spring clean because we had no snow. Spring bulbs were coming up with snowdrops being in bloom for weeks at this point, Crocus were getting ready to bloom. There is some hope for this season, the week of March 11th may have a few days with highs in the 30s, its not much but its something!

Winter is Back With a Vengeance

Back yard as of 2/17/19

So the snow being gone in my last post only lasted 3 days and since then we've gotten 3 snowfalls and the one last night was a big one. We've gotten over 13" of snow so far this month which is twice what we should typically expect this month and on Wednesday we could see another 4-5" seems like every 3 days or so it snows. We are definitely making up for that 1st half of winter being season. Hard to even picture that last year this time I was cleaning the gardens off for spring season with spring flowers coming up and blooming.

Fence to keep rabbits away

Not much going on in the garden this week because of continued winter, however I did come across one issue that has come up. I live in an area that has rabbits and when we have harsh winters like they get very ravenous. Normally we have at least a week between snowfalls and its not usual to have total melt offs in between those snows especially in February. This year we've had snow after snow and its been piling up keeping the grass/their food source covered. When this happens rabbits turn to eating twigs and bark off young trees and shrubs.  This becomes very damaging because those plants can be taken down to nubs and even completely killed. I've notice damage happening to plants rabbits normally would not dare eat which is just a sign of how harsh its been. I knew not long after moving in I had rabbits so I took measures back in November to fence them off. The problem this week though is the snow has gotten so high they are almost completely covered and they can just get over them now to help with this I've had to add more fence over the top to make sure they say out.

The Big Snowmelt

Back yard as of 2/6/19

Okay so we went through that extreme record breaking cold spell with a -20.F low ( first time in 23 years ) and -19.F on my backyard weather station. Then 3 days later the temperatures slowly rose into the 40s and 50s where it remained for 2 days and 2 nights and all the snow melted. It's that simple. We had 13" on the ground Saturday morning and by days end Sunday it looked like the above photo. It was like magic watching it go and was the fastest I've seen that much melt. It felt like maybe spring wasn't too far off, then just as fast as it came we cooled off into the 20s where we have been ever since. It's also looking likely going to get most of that snow back because the forecast shows at least 2-3 snow events hitting over the next week. The good news is average high for February is 35 the bad news is mother nature doesn't care about that and has other ideas!

Daffodil sprouts 2/2/19

Snowdrop in bloom 2/2/19

When the snow melted it reviled not only have the Snowdrops made it through the cold just fine, they were completely unharmed by the polar vortex of coldness. They had the thick snowcover to thank for this, because if they had been exposed to cold without a thick blanket they would have been very sorry. What was interesting though are the Daffodils and Tulips. Back in early January before we got a heaping pile of snow from 3 snowstorms in a row there was only a daffodil or two barely poking out of the ground and no Tulips. Now there are many Daffodils and Tulips coming up everywhere! It looks like about nearly 30% of the bulbs are up and some are as much as 3" tall. Well, I remembered the ground never froze before we got that very first snowfall so apparently they were very happy under the blanket and kept growing never knowing the horror of cold temperature we were experiencing above. Since spring doesn't look like it going to show up anytime soon, it would actually prove very beneficial to get at least 5" of snow back to protect those sprouts again. It doesn't look like we will have any problem getting that and maybe more.