6 on Saturday – 04MAY2024 – More and More

Chris Mousseau

It’s been a mainly sunny week, with enough rain to satisfy dandelions and daffodils, and warm enough to encourage growth with typical mid spring joyful abandon. More daffodils, more joyous colour combinations, more spring ephemerals…many more than the six things normally presented each Saturday as part of this long running garden meme, hosted by Jim at Garden Ruminations. But after culling a bunch of photos taken yesterday, here’s what I’ve come up with:

More spring ephemerals. County trucks and bushhogs were dispatched to my quiet side road a few weeks ago to clear away shrubs and tree branches crowding in too close, all in preparation for resurfacing this summer, I was told. The cutting back didn’t bother me since there’s nothing but buckthorn and sumac growing along the road frontage. They provide a lovely deep screen, especially in summer when there’s an increase in traffic (visitors to the winery down the road). Don’t worry, there’s still a lot of growth left – I won’t be seeing any road traffic this summer! All this to say that the clearing away made it easy to see what was growing underneath it all – turns out to be a massive Erythronium albidum colony. If you’ve ever wondered what a Trout Lily (aka Fawn Lily) colony looks like, here’s a good example. Pardon the blurriness – the photo was taken in the early morning before the flowers had opened.

On the other side of the hydro pole (with the yellow plastic enclosed guy-wire) is a different colony – Canada Mayapple – Podophyllum peltatum and, just beyond, is the start of the yellow trout lily colony (Erythronium americanum) that runs several hundred feet up the side of the driveway.

More daffodils. Narcissus hawera have now opened. This is a very pretty dwarf daffodil that, as I’ve discovered, easily gets lost if planted in wide open spaces. They look great close up though, in rock gardens or other spots where you can get up close and personal.

More combinations – colour and otherwise. I love how the orang-ey cups of this large daffodil is set against the emerging orange-red foliage of Goldflame Spirea:

And also how daffodils planted in front of emerging, dinosour-evoking Solomon Seal can make both look quite striking:

More cowslips (Primula veris). A neighbour gave me one six or seven years ago – they spread quite easily and are now a cheerful part of the semi shaded island garden:

More blue…My favourite easy to control ground cover is Veronica ‘Whitley’s Speedwell.’ It’s semi-evergreen here and really shines in May, with masses of tiny sapphire blue flowers drawing focus from anything else growing near. I think I should transplant some of my poorly situated Hawera daffs into the middle of this sloping rock garden…

Finally, a bonus wildlife shot. Robins have built a nest much too close for comfort – in a young pine tree on the edge of the kitchen garden. I’ve been constantly disturbing the occupants with my traipsing around. Here’s mamma (or papa…who can tell?) standing guard late yesterday. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

30 Comments

  1. Dear Chris,

    I’m Martha – a friend of Jan and Mandy’s. I was at your place with them a few years ago for lunch. (Smokey made a delicious lasagna!) Love your spring gardens and share your passion for daffodils. I have hundreds along our roadside that are just fading now.

    The combination of the orange spirea and those daffs is lovely! And your primulas blooms are very tall! Mine seem to hug the ground. Do you think that’s the variety I have or possibly a shot of fertilizer would help?

    Also a big fan of trout lilies. We have masses in our bush at the back of our property – along with an amazingly huge swaths of wild leeks. They’ll be ready to harvest anytime now. Yum.

    Anyway, loving your blog. Keep it up.

    Give my regards to Smokey…

    Best wishes, Martha

    >

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    1. Thanks so much Martha – I was thrilled to see you ‘subscribed’ to my blog! I have the low growing primula as well, and I’ve read that cowslips, Primula veris, have tall stems with downward facing, bell shaped flowers. The low ones, with open, upward facing flowers, are primrose, Primula vulgaris.

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  2. What a pleasant surprise, the trout lillies and mayapple! I love seeing native flowers out doing their thing without much help from us. Glad they didn’t go crazy with the cutting back. Just enough to expose the flowers!

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    1. Well, they stopped at the property line. It’s often surprising how much of the roadside is owned by the municipality, and not the property owner! I’m not looking forward to the ‘resurfacing’ – it’ll likely be a mix of tar/oil/gravel that will stick to your feet…ugh!

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  3. Hundreds of flowers to enjoy! I hope the Trout Lilies continue to thrive, now being exposed to more sun. I think Robins enjoy human company. At my daughters’ they have built nests for years, in Kiwi vines that grow around the deck. And they have a dog…This year in a Pussy willow, where there is a lot of foot traffic…4 blue eggs & are building more nests in the rafters of a roofed area over a pizza oven. All I can think of associated with ‘Cowslip’ is that a Cow is wearing a slip to cover her udder.

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  5. What a huge joy and pleasure to see your colonies of Erythronium and the Podophyllum. You are blessed … I’ve never been lucky enough to see that in real life, so thanks for sharing. A lovely six, Chris!

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    1. Yeah…and the roots must be pretty tough…I’ve transplanted a few things from the woods and, even though dormant, Erythronium will appear in a year or two.

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  14. How nice that pretty vegetation naturalizes like that. A few species do the same for us, but then become invasive. We need to be careful about what we put out there. Some species only migrate as far as they can get water, so, even if they are aggressive within a landscape, they are no threat to the outside ecosystem. Mayapple looks interesting, in a weird sort of way. I have seen it in nurseries, and I suspect that it is marketable (because I continue to see it in nurseries), but I never see it in home gardens. I suspect that they would only be happy in well irrigated gardens or riparian situations within the chaparral climate here.

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      1. Your standard of ‘dry’ is different from ours. Our rain stops about now, and may not resume until November, with minimal humidity during the dry season.

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  15. The trout lilies and dwarf daffodils are splendid! Did you have any idea there was such a spread of lilies underneath that growth that was cut away? If it were me, I might feel like it was Christmas in May! But my favorite are the cowslips. One of the first bits of Shakespearean poetry I learned was Ariel’s song from The Tempest:

    “Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

    In a cowslip’s bell I lie;

    There I couch when owls do cry.

    On the bat’s back I do fly

    After summer merrily.   

    Merrily, merrily shall I live now

    Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.”

    There’s a wonderful musical setting of it here, with bees doing the backup vocals!

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  16. The cutting back of vegetation on your lane was a revelation! Lovely spring flowers which we don’t see here. Great daffs too. I have Hawera in my Herb Bed and it is one of my favourites. 😃

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