6 on Saturday – 24MAY2025 – 3, 2 & 1

Chris Mousseau

Holy macaroni it’s been cold this month! The coldest May since the 1960’s, in fact. Not that we’ve had snow or even frost (unusual in itself) but that daytime highs have struggled to reach double digits and nighttime lows have consistently been between plus four and eight – not conducive to planting tomatoes or most other annual veggies or flowers which prefer warm soil. Add in the non-stop rain this past week (continuing into today) means spring gardening has been paused and the photos for today’s Six (joining Jim at Garden Ruminations) were taken on Wednesday morning, before the skies opened.

The three in my title refer to three Camassia’s now in bloom – think of this as the first of my Six:

Deep blue Camassia Quamash – native to western Canada
Mid blue Camassia leichtinii in front of red and yellow Berberis
Pale blue Camassia cusicki in front of Goldflame Spirea

The two is about two small trees: Acer griseum (Paperbark Maple) and Aralia spinosa (Devil’s Walking Stick). The maple is the last of the various maples here to break bud; I was worried this year, as I am every year, TBH, that this small tree had bit the dust. It’s just marginally hardy in my zone and it tends to loose main leaders/branches with regularity. But here are the leaves finally making an appearance! I also wanted to throw in the Aralia to demonstrate why ‘Devil’ is in its common name. Those thorns! Much like the honey locust from last week I imagine they exist to ward off nibblers. I planted this clump quite a few years ago and have been waiting patiently for flowers to appear…apparently they bloom in mid summer, July and August…will this be the year? Here are numbers two and three of the Six:

Acer griseum – emerging leaves the same cinnamon colour as the peeling bark
Aralia spinosa – thorny even on leaf petioles

And then there was one. Three one’s, in fact. Another small tree, Cercis canadensis, Canada Redbud, which my camera has a very difficult capturing well in a photo; a variegated Solomon Seal – Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum ‘Variegatum’ – which is spreading nicely and remaining pleasingly shorter than the species; and a favourite Hosta, name unknown but I love its thick leaves that are quite slug resistant and how it has heavy almost pure white margins which are a fabulous contract to the rich green centres.

Cercis canadensis at the edge of the lawn, shaded in the afternoon
Heavily flowered along each branch and twig.
Variegated Solomon Seal, not that much variegation, just a titch along the leaf edges.
Hosta

Have a great weekend everyone – and to those south of the international border, happy long weekend!

33 Comments

  1. My blue Camassias were over a while ago, but the white ones have just started which is nice. Love all the flowers on your Cercis canadensis, such a pretty tree. Your hosta looks very healthy and robust!

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  3. The Camassias are pretty in color & very pretty flowers…not familiar with them. Redbuds are such unusual and gorgeous trees. Lovely Hosta…the contrast is great. We got over 5″ of rain …some towns near here got 7″ ! & ‘felt like’ 37°…absurd. I’d brought my oversized Basil inside, for an almost two day protection from the rain & wind…two large buckets of twigs & branches & about 60 ends of new oak twigs were scattered.

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    1. Oh the rain! We’re up to just 4″ at the moment, which the grass is very appreciative of, I’m sure, especially since the ground is so soggy we cant get the mower onto it!

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  4. Cercis canadensis is my favorite. I don’t think the name redbud suits it but oh well. Camassia such a delicate flower. Devil’s walking stick is found in our parts and just as dangerous with those thorns.

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  6. Common Eastern redbud has become even more rare than it had been now that ‘Forest Pansy’ is such a fad. Western redbud is native near here, but is no more popular than Eastern redbud.

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      1. Western redbud is more common in the wild than in landscapes. Although their foliar color is spectacular, individual specimens do not live as long as Eastern redbud. Those who know the species allow a few seedlings to grow before the parent plant dies out, but mot landscapes are maintained by so-called ‘gardeners’ who’d do not know or care to do so.

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  7. Lots of good ones this week, but the top one for me is the Solomon Seal. We dropped to a near frost on Wednesday and we have also had hot days, in fact it has been quite a hotch potch of weather.

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    1. Yikes! Near frost near the end of May – that would be rare (and disastrous) eh? No hodge podge here – just cooler than normal and wetter than normal. At least the rain barrels are full, ready for the summer drought that will surely follow…

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    1. Thanks Eliza – we had a glimpse of sun about a half hour ago and I still see small patches of blue in the sky, but mainly overcast again this morning with rain again after lunch. Have you been under this same pattern?

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  9. A superb redbud, a very pretty hosta not nibbled by slugs, and 2 photos of pretty trees with the acer griseum (the bark is magnificent, isn’t it?) and the dangerous thorny aralia spinosa. You made my day with your choices

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  10. I especially enjoyed seeing the hosta and the solomon’s seal, but I learned something interesting about our redbud trees. Your Cercis canadensis does appear as a native here, in the more northerly parts of the states, but we also have C. canadensis var. texensis in central Texas, and C. canadensis var. mexicana far to the south and west. All have those glorious flowers, of course; leaf shape and texture and other such differences are used to distinguish the three species.

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    1. That is interesting! V. texensis has ‘smaller, glossier and thicker leaves’ than the northern species – I wonder if it evolved to cope with the heat, maybe reflect sunshine off the leaves…

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  11. I had wondered why I had never seen Camassia! now I know why, they are pretty, though. I think we have Devil’s Walking stick here, certainly did in Georgia, so another plant with amazing range. When does summer start?

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  13. Quite the contrast with our spring then. My Camassia Quamash have just started flowering along with the white Camassia leichtlinii ‘Alba’. Your hosta looks like the one I eventually composted as it was being shredded every year. I hope you get some warmth soon.

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    1. We’re usually into the 20’s right now but for the next two weeks there’s not a single day above 18…at least the nights are getting warmer, double digits as well…I might get those tomatoes in at some point 🙂

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  14. Hope there is warmer weather in sight Chris. Love the three Camassia… mine only flower when we have a damp spring. Don’t like the look of those thorns though! They even look as bad as those on the wild Robinia bordering our garden where the ‘butcher bird’ shrikes hang out!

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    1. I’ve seen Robinia thorns and they’re also pretty fearsome! Camassias are definitely having a good spring here! We have a reprieve at the moment but the rain is due to return this afternoon…

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  15. We’ve been cold here in the Upper Midwest U.S., too. I’m not a fan of the cool weather in May, but the plants seem happy enough. And some of them are blooming longer than “normal” as the cool temps hold them in place. For example, I don’t remember the Korean Lilacs ever lasting this long…a couple of weeks in full bloom! My Camassias are just about done, but they’ve been lasting a long time, too. Great “six,” and your photos are wonderful!

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