February Gardenbloggers' Bloom Day

There's not much showing in my garden right now. By not much, I mean any of my wildflower loves, but there are a few delightful non natives that have been in the garden since it's earliest days. Like the golden yellow daffodils that came with the yard. I've added more over the years and I'll have them in bloom until the temperatures soar into the 80s!

The rivers of Crocus tommasinianus that I planted every year have been eaten by hungry chipmunks and voles/mice. Mr I Don't Garden says I don't get to complain since I have invited wildlife into the garden. He's right, I do have a very welcoming sign posted in the front garden, but that doesn't mean, I want them to eat all my plants!

But, being a non-gardener, he doesn't understand how brokenhearted a gardener can feel when she waits all year to see crocus blooms on chilly winter days and instead of a river of the thousands she's planted there are less than a dozen. I know you all understand.

Did I say there were no native wildflowers blooming. How could I forget, Hamamelis vernalis! She's  still in bloom. I do love this beauty. It has the loveliest small orange/yellow/reddish crepe paper streaming petals that furl and unfurl as the temperature falls and rises. They perfume the garden with their sweet clove vanilla scent on warm days. I planted them for the earliest visiting pollinators and for that unforgettable fragrance. Once you smell them, you will, want them in your garden, too.

I love that not only do winter blooming shrubs and trees flower for months, they almost always have some fragrance. How clever of Mother Nature to give winter bloomers that something special to insure that a little fly, gnat or bee will follow the scent and pollinate the flower.
 

 Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' is also in bloom. She's unfurled her spidery crepe paper petals like solar collectors. and they're in full sun receivership, waiting for any early pollinating visitors. Even the marcescence leaves do not detract from her red flowers against the nice blue winter sky. There's speculation that the leaves that cling (until after the last flower petal folds up for the season) actually help protect the blooms from foraging mammals, but, I wonder if they might protect the delicate looking flowers from the bitter cold winds that often arrive when they begin to bloom.

In a few weeks the earliest spring ephemerals will be shining heralds of spring's arrival and I will be back on GBBD to share them. In the meantime, head over to May Dreams Gardens to see lots of other posts celebrating blooms.

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.

Nashville In Bloom: July GBBD

Sunday morning we headed to downtown Nashville to walk. There's a great pedestrian bridge that crosses the Cumberland River and it's a good place to view the city skyline. The bridge always lives up to its promise of marvelous views and photo ops!

But, we weren't there to just see the Nashville Skyline, we were heading to someplace special.

Just below the bridge on the edge of the river is Cumberland Park.

According to Metro parks literature "Cumberland Park is an innovative play space for children and families incorporating unique play structures and water features to create an exciting new attraction along Nashville’s riverfront.  The park is designed to engage children and adults in a variety of creative play settings and contains a series of play zones that offer a range of both active and passive recreational features such as natural play equipment for children, spray-grounds and water jets, bridges, climbing walls, walking paths, picnic areas, a stage with an open lawn, and a river walk."
 

Echinaceas, spent Coreopsis, emerging Rudbeckias, grasses and sedges

That is certainly true, but, the main attraction for me are the plantings along the Explorer Trail.

Echinacea and native trees

The crushed-stone trail weaves through tree, shrub and meadow plantings that are designed to attract butterflies, bees and other wildlife.

Joe-Pye weed

I think the natives are perfect to share with you for July Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Above is a Eupatorium dubium. I've written about the Joes here.

Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice' is mass planted along one curve in the trail and not only looked spectacular, it was covered with pollinators.

Right now, the Echinaceas are the dominant plant in bloom, but, the Black Eyed Susans, Butterflybush and native grasses are beginning to strut their stuff.

move over Lurie, Nashville has a pretty garden with architectural punctuations!

There were really cool sedges and grasses that I couldn't id in this hillside planting, but, next time I'll take my books with me!

Although, there were many bumblebees all over the plants, there were no butterfly to be seen.

Little Bluestem, a delightful native to Tennessee prairies and prairie remnants,  was planted throughout the trails and walkways. I promise to bring you back here this fall when the late blooming wildflowers and grasses are in full bloom.

Thank you for coming along with me as I explored Nashville's very own little pollinator haven along the Cumberland River.  Now popover to Carol's at May Dreams Gardens to see more gardens and blooming plants from all over this great big beautiful world.

xoxogail

PS Lest you think my garden is bare~Here's a peak

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.

Bloom On for May 2013

Practically Perfect Pink Phlox pilosa is blooming on for Bloom Day~It's my favorite spring plant and I am happy to say it's made a marvelous comeback from the last years droughts.

Although, it's an adaptable plant it needed more moisture than we have had the last many summers to set seed and spread around the garden. This year has more than made up for those disappointing years.

Next up is Penstemon. I am having a marvelous love affair with P 'Prairie Twilight' and P 'Prairie Dusk'.  Both plants rescued from a big box sale rack last summer. Experts often tell you not to buy late in the season or off the sale racks because plants are root bound, etc. That has never stopped me, I've gotten my best bargains from the racks and I am careful to choose plants that can take a good root pruning. I rinsed the potting medium away from the roots, trimmed the roots, making sure none were circling the plant and then planted them in good soil (or in this case, a fast draining rocky soil that these penstemons require). (Go here to read more about Penstemons and Bumblebees)

Also blooming are Western Daisy/Astranthium integrifolium~I discovered these cutie pie daisies in my way back 'meadow' many years ago...and they have been moved all over the garden. WD is a winter annual that blooms heavenly in the late spring and on and off all summer. The flower is small by daisy standards, but, it carries a lot of wow factor when allowed to naturalize in your native plant lawn or as a ground cover beneath later blooming perennials.

Golden Alexander has been in my garden several years, but this year it's been outstanding. I think I need to take a page from Fairegarden and plant a pretty purple flower to compliment the golden yellow and help it stand apart. In my garden it's made a lovely two foot mound and smells of  honey. It evokes memories of my childhood when my good friends and I had the freedom to explore neighboring overgrown fields in early summer. If you get a chance, lean into Zizia aurea and catch that delicious fresh summer fragrance.

Camassias continues to bloom on. I adore them and will be planting more this fall, in fact I have already put a reminder in my calender to order more. One thing I won't do is underplant it with the Tommies. The chipmunks have dug around trying to get the tasty Tommie corms and damaged several of the Camassia quamash.  (But true to advertising the squirrels don't touch it, which is perfect if you garden where there are no chippers))

Verbena canadensis is looking more beautiful than you can imagine. The plants survived our non winter and have been blooming their hearts out.

Phlox 'Minnie Pear' is new to the garden. Research reveals that Minnie is a naturally occurring hybrid between Phlox maculata and Phlox glaberrima. I've placed it next to species P glaberrima, it needs the same moist soil and I do want to see any offspring from this union.

Two-flowered Cynthia is still blooming. You can read about this dandelion imposter and pollinator attractor Krigia here.

Oenothera speciosa

Showy Evening Primrose is just working up to a big show~I love its colonizing ways. I'll pull up the spent flowers, but there's no stopping this plant once it's in your garden.

I fell head over heals in love with Monarda bradburiana while at Chicago Fling several years ago. It blooms faithfully each year and doesn't require a moist soil. Take that M didyma cultivars that tempt me in the nursery and fail to bloom after the first year.

The non-native alliums are gorgeous and as always a nectar treat for all the visiting pollinators.

The last Columbine bloom of the spring 

All in all the garden has enjoyed the long spring and extra rainfall and now, summer is coming on strong. There's a lot more in bloom, but I have to hold some flowers back to post about later! I know you understand.

Happy Bloom Day my dears,  now take the magic carpet ride to May Dreams Gardens and host extraordinaire Carol's links to gardens all over this great big beautiful world.

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.

Collinsia verna, Where Are You?

I've looked everywhere for you, crawling on hands and knees through the wet clay, pulling back the leaf mulch, hoping to see the small seedlings that have always greeted me in February.

 You are nowhere to be found!

Collinsia verna  is a winter annual that can be found growing in rich deciduous woodlands 

Blue-Eyed Mary is a native winter annual that blooms in the Spring, sets seed in the summer, germinates in the fall and then starts growing in February.  

I love it and have my fingers crossed in hope that it's better at hiding than I am at searching.

~Although, the Blue-Eyed Mary was a no-show I did see

False Rue Anemone (Enemion biternatum ), always one of the first Spring ephemerals to bloom.

Early blooming daffodils.

Tommies!

An array of beautiful Hellebores.

Aren't they worth mucking about in the mud!

A few  Dandelions for the earliest  visiting honeybees.

Hamamelis 'Diane' holding court in the understory, and 

Slippery Elm glowing above it all.

~~~~~

Really, not bad for a chilly few days in the garden...

xoxogail

I am several days late for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but don't let that keep you from popping over to May Dreams Gardens to see what Carol is up to...

 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.

January Blooms 2013

Hello yellow! Hello you beauties that brave the strange weather we call winter in Middle Tennessee. Hello garden bloggers and welcome to Clay and Limestone's itty bitty Bloom Day show!

I have a few blooms for Bloom Day, but this daffodil is by far my favorite. All my daffs have poked out of the ground, but, one little patch in the sunniest spot in my garden decided to take advantage of the unusually warm, sunny day between the rain events to say hello to the day. The sunny yellow against the blue sky makes me happy.

Helleborus Winter Jewels™ 'Cotton Candy' is new to Clay and Limestone. So new, she's still in her black nursery container safe on the porch from the frizzle (frozen drizzle) we had last night. I am sure she will be a beautiful addition to the garden and compliment the Helleborus orientalis that should be blooming any day now!

Everything is covered with a layer of ice and Helleborus x'Jacob' looks like a wax flower. 

He didn't look too beat up the day before after almost 4 inces of rain. This is a hellebore I've admired for a long time and when I saw him offered for sale at Trader Joes I scooped him up.  I should have scooped up three or five!  Woulda, shoulda, coulda! I've read that H niger hybrids are especially picky about soil conditions and thought that a container made the most sense. So contained he is. I like him a lot already.

Forlorn Frieda should be the name of my only blooming viola! She looks so downcast after pummeling rains and frizzle! She'll perk up when the sun comes back. I love that about violas!

Last, but certainly not least!

Frost Flowers continue to bloom on and off on warmer days that are followed by freezing nights. I've written about Frost Flowers here and about Verbesina virginica here.

Happy Bloom Day and thank you for stopping by.  Now head over to May Dreams Gardens and hostess with the mostest Carol's global bloom extravaganza for the magic carpet ride to more blooming flowers then you could imagine on this cold and gray winter day!

Keep warm and safe out there.
xxoogail

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.