Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Monday, March 18, 2013

Spring is my favorite time for blooming exotics

If you've visited here before you know that I grow mostly Central Basin natives that can take the difficult growing conditions that this garden throws at them. (Plant More Natives) They just make sense for a garden that's wet, wet, wet all winter and dry as concrete most of the summer. But, tucked here and there are spring blooming exotics that make me smile.  Exotics are welcome here if they have charming good looks, provide pollen or nectar to visiting pollinators, and behave themselves! Like this sweet Magnolia stellata 'Centennial' (above) with its delicate and fragrant flowers.

Here's a few more that make me happy...for my very late Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post

Daffodils...I have forgotten the names of many of them but, love inviting the different divisions into my garden~trumpet, jonquilla, split-cup, large-cup, small-cup, triandrus, Cyclamineus, poeticus and even a few wild ones.


 Today, these bright orange cupped beauties and





 the gentle yellow small-cupped ones have caught my eye.

Crocus tommasinianus
Crocus! I only grow one crocus in my garden~ Tommies~ which are reported to be squirrel proof. They are, but, here the chipmunks delight in digging them up and carrying them away, I presume to eat, because they haven't popped up anywhere else in the garden. 
I love the Tommies. Every fall I order 1000 and plant them in a river in a sloping bed on the side of the driveway and each spring they delight me from late February until the too early heat or torrential rains take them out.

Aren't they fabulous spilling down this hillside.




Summer snowflake! If you live in the Middle South and dream of Galanthus blanketing your garden then you must plant Summer Snowflake instead. You won't be sorry, it is not particular about soil type and even thrives in my heavy clay soil!  Thank you Leslie (Growing A Garden In Davis) for these delightful Leucojum aestivum. They make my heart smile.

If you come back later this week I'll share the natives that are blooming! Here's a sneak peak!

Now, please have a wonderful day.
xoxogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

27 comments:

  1. Who wouldn't like all of these exotics. I especially like the spillage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lisa, I think the Tommies look especially now this year!

      Delete
  2. Goodness, gracious girl, those tommies spilling out of the clay pot are the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time.~~Dee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They turned out especially wonderful this year! Thank you.

      Delete
  3. What a great picture of those tommies... I love that idea and flowing down the hillside...lovely! And you are welcome for the leucojum! I am glad they like your garden too:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the Leucojum...They are spectacular.

      Delete
  4. How delightful are those tommies running like a river down the hill? So sweet and those are some mighty fine daffodils, too. The magnolia is a charmer, and the snowflakes from Leslie are sublime.
    xoxoxo
    Frances

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I love the Tommies spilling from the container..What else can one do with a broken pot!

      Delete
  5. Gail...these are so beautiful. Those Tommies are breathtaking. Wow, 1000 bulbs...that's hard work, but they sure are worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christy, I dig a large hole and pour them in then I set them upright! It couldn't be easier, but it is time consuming.

      Delete
  6. I love your tommies spilling down the hillside. Mine are tightly closed having emerged and then sitting in suspended animation waiting for warmth. I hear they may get a blanket overnight. Of snow. Time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can see why you love the Tommies so! That Magnolia is stellar!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I also like the tommies and am planting them in my back lawn. So far the chipmunks seem to be leaving them alone, but we'll see what happens in future years. Thanks for joining in for bloom day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I only did 400 crocus myself, and that was plenty. That's the best use of the spilling out of the pot trick I've seen. Spring is beautiful in your garden.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So many beautiful blooms!
    Someone suggested I should make a river with my Muscari Grape Hyacinths. (They are scattered all over the place. I want to get them all together). Now I see from your example with the Tommies what it should look like. Thanks!
    Really the most beautiful crocus I've seen! Lovely magnolia, too!
    Happy Gardening!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

    ReplyDelete
  11. how charming to live up north in the spring!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, it's all beautiful, but the Tommies cascading along are fabulous.

    Happy Spring ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
  13. WOW...that river of purple Crocus is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very beautiful. I agree about d'affaires and crocus, but would add muscari and species tulips.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fantastic! And by the way, the Verbesina virginica seeds you sent me have germinated. Looking forward to watching them come along. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love my exotics in early spring too...the voles like the crocus so they get some of the Tommies.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Looking at all your lovely spring bulbs is making me impatient for our spring to move along. Love the crocus.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love the river of Tommies! You're the second person to mention snowflakes instead of snowdrops; I'm going to try these this fall, since my single snowdrop hasn't multiplied in three years:)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wish I could have met you
    when I lived so close to you
    my short time in the city.
    Now very happy on my country property
    near Kentucky
    where I plant to my hearts content...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Spring is the best as planting is more successful because rainfall is more consistent.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I see spring has arrived in your parts! I love all your blooms!

    ReplyDelete
  22. "Who wouldn't like all of these exotics. I especially like the spillage."

    Couldn't agree more..

    ReplyDelete

"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson