Six on Saturday – 09/05/2020 – frost and other surprises

Chris Mousseau

It’s been a sunny but chilly week. So chilly, in fact, that we woke yesterday to a touch of frost, while areas not too far north of here had snow – deep enough to shovel! This isn’t surprising given our normal last frost date is closer to the last week of May than the first week. Nothing was harmed in the garden, and the frost made for some quite lovely photos. It features, for example, in this first of today’s Six things in my garden. (Feel free to visit The Propagator‘s site to see other Sixes from all over the place.)

1 – Frost dipped Vinca minor
2 – These are emerging Canada Mayapple – Podophyllum peltatum. When fully open this is a large, low leaf that looks like an umbrella, sort of. Very cool to see them come out of the ground like this.
3 – Apparently ‘stump gardens’ are the latest garden design rage. Take a hollowed out tree stump, fill it with dirt and plant something in it. OK. Here’s a stump from a large basswood that was cut last year along our street front; it was cut because it was rotting so the hollow was there. I dug up some Christmas Ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides, an evergreen native fern I had growing in the back woodland garden area) and plunked them in the stump hollow. I hope they’ll live through the summer (with watering, I imagine) and I’m curious to see if they’ll survive the winter.
4 – White Trout Lily – Erythronium albidum – grows amongst the more common yellow trout lily throughout the wooded areas on the property. It’s a native spring ephemeral and forms huge colonies via creeping underground stolons.
5 – Fritillaria meleagris – Checkered Lily – Usually this small spring bulb has its blossom pointed firmly to the ground, making it difficult to get a good shot of its innards. I spotted this one yesterday afternoon, growing in the unmowed grass in the back field. The depth of field is too shallow to make this a very good photo, but I love how the late afternoon sun is coming through the petals, like it was stained glass.
Chipmunks are EVERYWHERE this spring! They seem to be getting used to me working from home, popping out into the garden at all hours of the day. This was not taken with a telephoto lens – I just happened to be walking through the side garden and heard a rustling. This little one looked at me for a long while while I snapped away, before it scurried into its burrow in the stone wall.

I hope all the mothers reading this have a lovely Mother’s Day tomorrow. Stay safe everyone.

36 Comments

  2. Nice to see Christmas fern in its native land. I got one last autumn. A bit rarer here and in a pretty miserable state but it’s showing signs of new growth.

    1. I had a huge one in my previous garden and dug it up, easy to break apart, when we built here. But they’ve been hidden away so hope to enjoy them more now.

  4. Stump gardening?! Seriously?! I have always grown Cymbidiums in stumps, primarily oak stumps that I wanted to get rid of without burning. The Cymbidiums like the rotten oak, but also accelerate decay. Of course, the Cymbidiums that do all the work need to be relocated as the stumps rot, but it is effective.

      1. The stumps were barely visible as the Cymbidiums grew. It worked well enough that, without stumps, I would do the same with sections of dead Ponderosa pine set on end in the garden.

  5. Chipmunks are an unknown variety here (fortunately considering the damage they do even if they look very cute).
    Apparently the cold is back for you … Nevertheless, very nice photos as usual !

    1. Thanks! I’m not sure what damage they do, to be honest….although I have my suspicions, and they do like to burrow away, leaving access holes here and there in the garden…

  7. The fritillaria are stunning. The Canada Mayappleook like people with cloaks on – unless I need my eyes testing. I’m going to have the theme tune of Chip ‘n Dale in my head all afternoon now…

  8. Beautiful shots as always, I especially love the fritillery. The mayapples look like little people with cloaks on, does anyone else see it? Very cute chipmunk, are they popular or a nuisance? Enjoy your week Chris, hope it warms up a little for you.

  12. Uh-oh, that chipmunk looks pregnant to me– more coming! 😉
    I’ve never seen a white trout lily – it’s lovely. Brilliant photo of the Fritillaria – it does look like stained glass!
    Thanks for the Mother’s Day wishes. Let’s hope my kids remember – ha!

    1. The Frit description should have been – stained glass – flannel shirt; the checkerboard edges are naturally blurry. Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

  13. The chipmunk is very cute indeed! Lovely markings on its coat. I also saw the little people in cloaks….I don’t know the Mayapple at all and would love to see what it looks like once it has emerged. Such lovely photos. Thanks too for the Mother’s Day wishes.

  15. Loved the photo of may apple – never noticed them at that stage, only when they were fully out. Just a few days ago, I was lamenting the numerous squirrel varieties we had in Appalachia when I lived there as opposed to what’s in the UK. I don’t remember chipmunks being particularly destructive to the garden but perhaps that’s nostalgia. Keep us updated on the fern in the stump. Looks really nice.

    1. Thank you Lora – I don’t think much damage, aside from holes in the gardens all over the rock wall where they seem to nest.

  16. we’re having a last couple of nights of light frost here, then that’s it now till end of October. i’m impatient to get the tender stuff planted out. your resident chipmunk is cute. do they eat your plants?

    1. I don’t think so, usually it’s just the rabbits. But now that grass is green and clover is plentiful even rabbits are not eating my garden.

  17. Pingback: Six on Saturday – 06/06/2020 – Whoas and Woes – County Gardening

Comments are closed.