Some Pics to Get You in the Mood for Spring...

Look What is Blooming!! Varigated Angel Trumpet

I have had this Varigated Angel Trumpet since early spring. It spent a few months in the house and outside for many more than a few months. I was so excited to see the blooms today. It really just bloomed out of the blue. The buds were there for a day, maybe if that.

Looking Up From the Side of My House

This is my favorite time of the year. This is my favorite place in my garden.. Lilies are my absolute favorite. This garden spot is dedicated to my Grandmother Bessie. She is where my dirty fingernails began!

Lilies

Roses

Finally Foxgloves

I have tried desperately for the last nine years. YES NINE years to grow foxglove. This is the first year they bloomed for me. While I was pondering why it took so long, something whispered in my ear, "The kids are now old enough". AH yes, they are very poisonous. They are where we get Digoxin, a potent cardiac medication from. It was God's will to keep the little ones safe from harm, until they were old enough to understand to stay out of them. Not having them for that long only made them sweeter and more enjoyable when they did bloom.

New Nursery to Order From

I decided to give this place a try. They are in Tennessee, so not too far for shipment purposes for me. I also needed some more drought tolerant plants so I ordered:

Fancy Frills Echinacea
Frosty Morn Sedum
Razzmatazz Echinacea

Summer Sky Echinacea
Sunrise Echinacea
Sunset Echinacea

Twilight Echinacea

Shipping and Handling: FREE (This is the best part)
www.summerstonenursery.com
©2008 summerstonenursery.com

Update and pictures to follow when order arrives. Excited to see and didn't spend too much on them.

The Mystery is Solved..

Across the street at Miss Terri's house, these strange leaves started to pop up in her woodland garden area.. Neither of us knew what they were. We figured it was a bulb since it was spring, and the leaves looked like mounds of larger lirope leaves, but only more succulent. I searched my garden magazines and finally came up with the name. Spanish Bluebells. I had never seen them before. What pretty flowers that pop in the woods.

Scilla

There are over 100 species of Scilla, but only about half a dozen are widely available commercially. Probably the most commonly cultivated are the Scilla hispanica, or Spanish Bluebells:
Spanish Bluebells

As the name suggests, these flowers are native to Spain (and Portugal) and have beautiful blue, bell-shaped blossoms. What the name doesn't tell you is that they grow and multiply very easily, even in shade, and in almost every type of soil. What ever the opposity of "finicky" is, that is what Spanish Bluebells are. They will even grow where grass won't!
The wild variety is a violet-blue, but cultivated varietes are available in several different shades of blue, as well as pink and white.
Spanish Bluebells are among the tallest of the Scilla. Try them planted behind some of your shorter, earlier-blooming spring bulbs to extend your spring blooming season, and in the more difficult spots in your garden. Just try them; you won't be sorry.
Flowering time: late spring
Plant height: 10 - 18" (25 - 46 cm)
Minimum planting depth: 4" (10 cm0
Hardiness zones: suitable for zones 3 - 8
Colours: cultivated varieties are available in pink, white and various shade of blue wild variety is violet blue
Shape/form: flowers are shaped like a broad bell with a flared rim about 12 to 15 flowers hang from a sturdy, round stalk 5 to 6 strap-like leaves per plant
Alternate names: Wood Hyacinth, Scilla campanulata, Endymion hispanicus

Correct Latin name: Hyacinthoides hispanica
Notes: good for rock gardens, beds, borders, among ferns, in woodland gardens, ground covers, or as mass plantings wild variety is fragrant; cultivated varieties are generally scentless when planting, add sand or gravel to ensure good drainage, if necessary
Example varieties:
Blue Queen (soft blue), Danube (dark blue), Excelsior (blue-violet), Rosabella (violet pink), Rose Queen (rose-pink), White City (white), White Lion (white), White Triumphator (white)

thanks A. Steinberg

Forget Me Not (Myosotis alpestris)

Forget me not, has been around for years. This year is the first year I planted and am kicking myself , trying to figure out why I haven't planted it sooner. It blooms so early and nothing can match it's dainty blue clusters of flowers. My neighbor Miss Terri tells me it can be invasive here in the South, because of it self sows, rather proficiently. Here is considered a herbaceous perennial. I put down more seed in hopes of more flowers. Other areas like Southeastern Idaho where I grew up my grandmothers had to plant it every spring. My grandmother Eva had a magnificent garden, that was featured in the local newspaper many times. I remember as a little girl on the back of the garage a small garden of just forget me nots. Blue as the eye could see. It matched the brisk days and bright blue skies of springtime in the Gem state. Everytime I see the little blue flowers it makes me think of the previous green thumbs in my life.

Who Doesn't Love Spring Flowers

The daffy's and the hyacinths are almost over and done for. Next are the azaleas, bridal wreath, planted annuals such as the blue moon torenia I got from the growers outlet and clarkia. The forget me knots, ice plant, primroses are still going strong. What is going on in your garden..

I Hit the Jackpot!

I decided to stop by the Growers Outlet on the way home from my oldest child's double header , just to see what they had as far as cool weather plants. To my delight I got there a half an hour before they closed and the inventory truck had just arrived, with new plants. I strolled over that direction and my jaw hit the cement. The coveted Variegated Angel Trumpet. I snatched one, without a thought. The owners said they were accidentally shipped too early and they only get 6 of the big ones in a year.. I was destined to have one.. However I have to keep it in the house until it warms up a good deal more.. What a bargain for Ten Dollars.

Neighbors.. Miss Terri

Havoc performed by the Pileated Woodpecker. It took off all that bark in less than 48 hours. She said it sounded like a jack hammer and the bird was the size of a hawk.
Me (left) Miss Terri (right)
Moon Vine Seeds and instructions from her huge plant last summer.
Frog Pond

You have read about Miss Terri in my blog over the past year. Here are some pictures of her yard and of her and me this past week, while it was so warm outside.. We both have the spring fever bug.