Elusive spring weather

Scylla in mid-April

 

It's been a very cool few days with rain predicted tonight. I'm ready for warmer weather, but remind myself that some of my former homes have already seen 90F. So patience. And sweaters.

For some reason I forget many of the early spring perennials that grace our land every year. Maybe it's a subconscious desire to be surprised each year? 

We have a carpet of these little blue scylla flowers in the shade garden under our Copper Beech. I love them.They're actually a little on the invasive side, and are currently moving into the lawn with amazing density. "Lawn" being the poly culture that covers what cultivated land isn't in beds or trees.

White Anemone

 

 

 

 

Some other favorites are a white anemone that appears every year. It is not quite open yet, but even the buoy-shaped buds offer interest. 

 

 

Chives, ready to eat

The chives are the earliest starting herbs, though the creeping thyme overwintered well enough that I can use some of it if I need it. 

French Tarragon peeping out

 

 

 

 

And! The French Tarragon is just getting started, but it's always a relief to see that it's made it through the winter.

Bunnera

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera) is just starting to show. Her leaves are so lovely, but later in the season she'll also give us little blue flowers reminiscent of Forget-Me-Nots.  I'm really pleased that this one is starting to spread after 2 years in the ground.

Daffodils threatening

Daffodils are well on their way to flowering, and the Hellobore is giving me wonderful flowers in spite of the fact that the turkeys have trampled most of her leaves. We've been having some discussions with the turkeys. I've talked about them before. I do love them, but will do everything I can to hurry them on when they approach this bed.

Lenten Rose (Hellobore)

 

 

 

 

I have a tale of woe regarding the planting of a pear tree. After a lot of research, I found one that is an older cultivar (found as a seedling in a Pennsylvania orchard) called Kieffer. It is attractive to me because I only have room for one tree, and most pears require pollinators.

Kieffer Pear (now potted)

I was excited to find this tree at Fast Growing Trees. I'm not familiar with this nursery, but the reviews were pretty good. What an idiot I can be sometimes. John and I had removed the old apple tree where we were planting this new one, dug a huge hole for it, amended it with half peat moss, and waited for the tree to arrive.

The top of the tree was a little worse for shipping, but I could manage it with a couple of pruning cuts. But the roots. Oh the roots. Bare root trees are just that, but they are supposed to have a root system with a lot of the fine fibrous roots that do all of the heavy lifting for water and nutrients.

When we opened the plastic bag that had mulch and roots in it, the image below is what we found. I told the customer rep at the nursery that it will be a miracle if this tree survives. I took it out of the ground and potted it so I can keep a close eye on it. 

Kieffer Pear "roots"

What are they thinking? 

They are sending me a new plant, but I told them not to if there are no fibrous roots on the plant. It will just be another one that I try to save, and is likely not save-able.

On the other hand, I received my raspberry plants from Nourse Farms. It's a yellow primocane fruiting cultivar called 'Anne'. A colleague of mine developed it at the University of Maryland.

They are beautiful plants, and I got them in the prepared soil a couple of hours after they arrived. Sorry I didn't take a picture. I am grateful that the between a knowledgeable nursery, and a knowledgeable me, these plants will likely survive.