Very pleased with a few things in the garden right now:
The Black Celandine has successfully adapted to my garden by getting bigger, glossier and even more gorgeous, were that possible! Its proper name is Ficaria verna 'Brazen Hussy' (Bronze Celandine) and that right there is a link to an online seller still taking orders, if you want to get your own. It's a plant that gives a lot for very little care; highly recommended.
I bought an Epimedium with some trepidation - it looked too delicate for the roughness and high competition of my garden. I think this one is Fairy Wings but it's a good call to buy these in person so you can pick a form, shade and leaf colour you really love (that's a garden centre link). I picked mine up at a show, but it's gone native in a shady corner, and gave me fabulous flower spikes this year.
Then there were the Farmer Gracy Tulips, which you won't be able to get at this time of year, but is a bookmark-for-next-year job. I'm not a fussy tulip grower -- I'm happy to grow brassy basics and beautiful bargain rail items. But the Gracy bulbs were a cut above, and then a cut above that. Delicate colours, elegant forms, interesting markings. My garden is cool and shaded, so I'll have tulips into June -- these were just the very earliest.
Finally, the Forsythia. This was the first year the Forsythia had a bird feeder nestled into it, and the combination of yellow flowers and cheerful sparrows proved completely unphotographable (my sparrows are sensibly skittish) but very spring-is-here. I boosted the underplanting (currently Rip Van Winkle) with some more cheerful yellows (Hoop Petticoat and Jonquil) and that worked.
The Black Celandine has successfully adapted to my garden by getting bigger, glossier and even more gorgeous, were that possible! Its proper name is Ficaria verna 'Brazen Hussy' (Bronze Celandine) and that right there is a link to an online seller still taking orders, if you want to get your own. It's a plant that gives a lot for very little care; highly recommended.
I bought an Epimedium with some trepidation - it looked too delicate for the roughness and high competition of my garden. I think this one is Fairy Wings but it's a good call to buy these in person so you can pick a form, shade and leaf colour you really love (that's a garden centre link). I picked mine up at a show, but it's gone native in a shady corner, and gave me fabulous flower spikes this year.
Then there were the Farmer Gracy Tulips, which you won't be able to get at this time of year, but is a bookmark-for-next-year job. I'm not a fussy tulip grower -- I'm happy to grow brassy basics and beautiful bargain rail items. But the Gracy bulbs were a cut above, and then a cut above that. Delicate colours, elegant forms, interesting markings. My garden is cool and shaded, so I'll have tulips into June -- these were just the very earliest.
Finally, the Forsythia. This was the first year the Forsythia had a bird feeder nestled into it, and the combination of yellow flowers and cheerful sparrows proved completely unphotographable (my sparrows are sensibly skittish) but very spring-is-here. I boosted the underplanting (currently Rip Van Winkle) with some more cheerful yellows (Hoop Petticoat and Jonquil) and that worked.
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