6 on Saturday – 11MAY2024 – A Watercolour Garden

Chris Mousseau

With so many bulbs, perennials and shrubs now in bloom, walking through the gardens is like being in an art gallery – room after room, scene after scene of colour, either deep and vibrant or soft and mellow. Microgardens framed by foliage, grass, stone or mulch that encourage me to pause as I wander distractedly through it all, to appreciate the form, texture, hue and fragrance or each scene. Here are six vignettes from my garden this week, joining Jim and others around the world for Six on Saturday.

If you’ve ever grown dwarf iris – Iris pumila – you know they spread easily and can also be easily lifted and transplanted. Lucky for me because I came across this gorgeous bi-coloured variety some years ago and now they’re blooming in several spots. I also have a patch of the more commonly found all purple and all yellow,

Also low to the ground is Phlox subulata – Moss Phlox. I have a small patch of a nice bi-coloured selection plus a huge (and growing) swath of this blue-ish one. Pretty boring after it stops flowering, but semi-evergreen here so it helps liven things up in November and December when the rest of the garden is mainly brown.

A vignette that’s a bit taller is this pair of Korean Spice Viburnum – Viburnum carlesii. I planted them five or six years ago and discovered that rabbits find their buds and young branches quite tasty in the winter, when nothing much green is growing. Last fall I had time to surround them with chicken wire and now, for the first time, I can smell the fabulous clove-like fragrance of the flowers as I stroll by. I’ll likely need to do the chicken wire thing for another few years, until the lower branches are too woody and the flower buds too high for the rabbits .

Narcissus poeticus is the last of the daffodils to bloom. Like other gardeners have mentioned in previous weeks, my clumps have lots of foliage but decreasing numbers of flowers. I guess that means I should lift and separate? This small flower is super fragrant so I wouldn’t mind spreading it around a bit…

Although I don’t spend a lot of money on tulip bulbs – squirrels and chipmunks love to dig them up and store them for winter munching – I couldn’t resist getting a bag of ‘Queen of the Night’ two years ago. They were gorgeous last year and look to be equally stunning this year, planted amidst the remaining stalks of similarly shaded ‘Pittsburgh.’ This shot was taken before the sun hit them early Thursday morning – when fully open, mid day, it’s a glorious sight.

One final vignette, perfect for a painting…a swath of Galium odoratum – Sweet Woodruff. I know it’ll need to be brought under some sort of control before it takes over completely, but for now I just enjoy walking through it…have a lovely weekend everyone!

25 Comments

  1. The bicolour iris is a looker, for sure. Your garden has jumped ahead, as they all seem to do in May. Lots of beauty to enjoy! A few years back, I started dumping a generous amount of liquid fertilizer on my narcissus clumps at the end of flowering and the result has been abundant blooms. Of course, as a added result, they’ll need dividing, but I’ve already found a new spots for the divisions. No problem, eh?

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  2. What a wonderful place to meander…and garden…so much to enjoy! The bi-color Iris is exquisite! Tulips are gorgeous, Spice Viburnum…mmmmmm. Lots of time/work but beautiful results!

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  3. Lovely iris. This time of year I have iris envy. I have thought about Siberian iris at the end of my mixed hedge, nice spiky leaves and deep purple flowers. It would look nice… The viburnum is very fragrant, I think. We have some growing near my workplace and the other plant addict always plucks a small cluster of flowers and it perfumes the office

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  4. That bi-color iris is the most unusual combination of purple and gold I’ve seen. Usually I have to depend on different plants to combine the different colors; here, one flower pulls it off. That said, the white daffodil with the red and yellow accents is my favorite. I’d be tempted to just sit around and admire that one for a good long time.

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  6. Your bicoloured iris is a winner! I also have Gallium odoratum, but have to be firm with it and not let it spread too far. My Narcissus poeticus are also in need of splitting, not many flowers this year after an amazing year last year, more work to do!

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  7. Moss phlox looks interesting. It seems to be popular in most regions. I know I have seen it in nurseries here, but nowhere else. That is why I was surprised to see other phlox perform so well here. I sort of wonder if moss phlox would perform better here than I give it credit for.

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  8. Beautiful, Chris. I love the phlox and wish I could grow it. I am reading a lot about Sweet Woodruff today and am not sure I have even heard of it, it looks great right now.

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  11. Your garden is becoming a magical place as spring progresses. The bi-colour iris is fantastic. I love the photo of ‘Queen of the Night’ – you’ve managed to capture the richness of the tulips in their setting.

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  12. I really enjoyed these glimpses of your garden Chris. I can imagine the sweet woodruff really is nice to walk through. It is so interesting to see that you have irises, viburnum carlseii and narcissus poeticus all at the same time. My irises started opeining today, a good three or even four weeks after the viburnum and narcissi. Your days must be quite a bit longer than ours. Enjoy all these lovely flowers!

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    1. Our days are currently 14 hours and 48 minutes long…lots of sunshine for things to catch up! It’s the time of year when flowers/flowering shrubs and trees are just buds in the morning but in bloom by the afternoon – I love it!

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