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Monday, May 19, 2014
Garden Flowers mid-May
The garden is finally starting to have some colour around it, in spite of the fact that things are very late this year. The Primrose, our most prolific spring colour highlight, are out in several spots, and the rest of the garden is exploding in green. Soon the peonies will start blooming, adding a lot more colour. And we actually have some leaves on the trees starting to appear - only 10 days late!
We have yellow Primrose in a number of places, and at least some of them seem to be spreading. They add so much (along with the pink and blue ones) before there is otherwise much colour in the garden.
Another early bloomer, with beautiful hanging pink bell flowers and big fat round leaves, is the genus Bergenia, commonly known as Elephant's Ears.
We have a little bit of Leopard's Bane, which adds a bright splash of yellow where there is no colour otherwise.
And in several of the Primrose, the flower form is a little different, but I like this one that ranges from yellow to orange and almost red.
And of course all over the lawn are the Dandelions, perhaps our most widespread weed, but I refuse to spray it out of the lawn because it's good for the bees. In fact we use virtually no pesticides at all.
The early leaves of the birch trees in the yard are bright green in the morning sunlight, though still quite small..
And the leaves of the red and silver maple have just started to unfold, here backlit by the sun against the blue sky.
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Nice shots!
ReplyDeleteOur leaves are finally starting to show, some faster than others.
Oh my - such beautiful blooms - Those Elephant's Ears are fabulous! About the only thing blooming here are the dandelions.
ReplyDeleteSuch pretty flowers! Nice shots.
ReplyDeleteAh, how gardeners would love dandelions if they were harder to grow! Spring was so early here this year that we're into summer now as far as the plants are concerned.
ReplyDeleteColours galore, each one superb in its own way, even weeds. Your Bergenia is such a deep pink, mine was a much paler version, when it did decide to flower. Cheers, Jean.
ReplyDeleteLoved the tour of your garden. I've never seen a Bergenia. What a beautiful flower! Glad to hear that about the dandelions. I think they are under-appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWe let our dandys bloom too! You have some lovely flowers:)
ReplyDeleteYou are ahead of us. Doronicum is not yet open here. Yesterday I saw something I had never seen before - a field and the edge of a forest taken over by the European cowslip! There were thousand of them. I did not know they could be invasive!
ReplyDeleteOh such pretty spring colors. I love the pink bell flowers. I've never seen them before.
ReplyDeleteWonderful flowers! I love finding mew flowers blooming every time I go out walking.
ReplyDeleteSpring was really delayed in some places this year, I'm glad you're gettting some flowers now. Your regular and cowslip primulas look beautiful. I grew some cowslip ones from seed and some where even red instead of just yellow. Bergenia did not do well for me, but Saxifrage 'London Pride' does very well. Several bloggers were also defending the dandelion this spring, my problem with them is that they are not native where I live, so the native bees actually like other flowers better and have lots of other choices. Not being native causes them to be invasive and uncontrolled.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, dandelion is certainly invasive, but the most recent info I've heard here is that it's better to leave them for the bees than to spray. Ontario has banned cosmetic use of pesticides in any case, and there are quite a few active efforts to promote pollinator protection. I'd far rather have native meadow (which we do), but if dandelions are in the lawn, I think it's better to leave them.
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