... and this month's Bloom Day pics look like they were taken in a whole new garden! Here's a green-flowered hellebore, underplanted with silver lamium:
And a burgundy-flowering hellebore, shown against the "Coffee" brown fence:
Two 'Ivory Prince' hellebores, which sweetly show their faces to the sun, in comparison to the graceful drooping you see on the hellebore flowers above:
A detail of an 'Ivory Prince' flower, wet with rain on Wednesday--I just can't stop gushing about how beautiful this hellebore is:
But it's not all hellebores. I have some smaller spring bulbs in bloom right now, too. The little frittilary that springs up through my 'Chubby Fingers' sedum and bergenia:
And here's the brightest of my species tulips:
... along with two views a softer species tulip, whose petals are streaked with a peachy gold:
You also know that it's been too long since you've posted when your Mom tells you that your father has resorted to reading some of your old blog posts... which of course makes me wonder whether I shared a little too much information in any of them. :)
No time to worry about that right now, though. It's 60 and sunny with bluebird skies, and as you can tell from the photos above I still have some grasses to cut down, leaves to rake out, and mulching to get done. I also need to run to the bike shop to get some oil in anticipation of the first bike ride of the year (tomorrow) and swing by the paint store for another 5gallon bucket of "Coffee" opaque stain. The neighbors have volunteered to spray/paint their side of the fence, so I'm a little excited about crossing that chore off of my list... I need to go buy them the stain before they change their minds!
I also should be getting back to blogging more regularly now, and look forward to catching up with all of my favorite garden blogs. Happy spring!
23 comments:
Ivory Prince was a magnificent hellebore last year, Kim - but this spring may have upgraded to King. What an unbelievable number of flowers there are on each plant!
I've heard very few success stories about growing Hellebores in Austin but your photos tempt me to try it...love the expanded photo with one tiny ant.
And the Coffee fence looks good, too. Happy Blooming Day,
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Sometimes life (or the garden) just get in the way of blogging. It's good to see what's going on in your garden. It's funny, I have the same Hellebores, but my Ivory Princes are still not in bloom yet. Lots of buds, I don't know what they're waiting for. I love the color of the Frittilaria with the stripes on the Tulip foliage.
Happy Spring!
Welcome back...Your IP is gorgeous...especially in the enlarged photo! I may have to move mine...he doesn't look anywhere near as fantastic as yours...Thanks for the reminder...I am supposed to stain my fence to match the new bird house poles...there is always something to do that keeps us from blogging! have a good weekend...
Gail
Happy Bloom Day! I totally spaced it, and I had some blooms (on orchids I just bought :) Enjoy the nice weather, and welcome back to the blogosphere!
Hi again Kim, great to see you back again. Hope this finds you well :-)
Time, and spare time, does fly by but we can all pick up again on ‘what’s what’ in blogland. It’s like meeting up with old friends again :-D
I too, love your Ivory Prince! Happy Bloom Day ;-D
Hi Kim, I am glad you are back for this GBBD. Your Prince is handsome no wonder he coaxed you out of the house. My hellebores are still blooming up a storm. I just love them.
Your hellebores are just gorgeous! Love the burgundy one and it goes so well with the Ivory Prince. Are the tulips a native kind that blooms every year?
been missing your posts, I should venture forth into my garden. many weeds seem to think it is home.
That Ivory Prince is beautiful - I've found that hellebores are wonderfully photogenic...isn't that odd? Some flowers are definitely more photogenic than others. I can't do hellebores well down south - even though I've heard some of the new ones might do better. I'll have to try them again...
Love the chocolate stain on the fence. Congrats on getting the neighbors to 'buy in'!
It's good to see you back, and just in time to show us great blooms in your garden!
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
I'm glad you finally found time to fit blogging into your busy schedule again. It's good to see what's going on in your garden.
I'm completely green with envy over your hellebores, especially Ivory Prince, which is truly spectacular with all those blooms. But I love all the colors. The burgundy is so pretty.
Love the frittilary too, and those species tulips are gorgeous glowing in the sunshine.
Isn't it wonderful to be able to get out into the garden again? Happy Spring, Kim!
I have so missed your posts but life does sometimes get in the way doesn't it? Happy spring indeed!
Welcome back, Kim. I've missed hearing from you.
Wow, the coastal Lake Erie area really is about three weeks ahead (in blooms) of northwestern coastal Lake Michigan. All that's open so far in my garden are indigo primroses and one early bird stand of daffodills. Enjoy your writing very much, and the photos, the more often the better! Happy Earth Day and Arbor Day this week. -- cheers, michigangardenmuse.blogspot
Beautiful snake's head fritillaries, stunning red tulips and fantastic hellebores in amazing shades...wonderful :)
Beautiful flowers!
As always, I love your color schemes - the those hellebores are wonderful!
Loving the orange tulip as well.
Chloe M.
love your hellebores. I just have one, and love it. love the burgundy one esp!
Annie, that's just the way I feel about him, too! I'm just hoping that he is as sun-tolerant and he's supposed to be, though... he may have a little challenge to his reign coming up, thanks to the removal of the treelawn tree. We'll see!
Mr. McGregor's Daughter, mine are in a fairly sunny spot--maybe the sun and relative warmth makes a big differenc ein the timing? And yes, sometimes life--and sometimes the garden--just gets in the way of blogging. :) (But I'm not complaining!)
Thanks, Gail! I can't wait to catch up with what's been going on down at Clay & Limestone, too. What color are the new bird house poles?
Lisa, oooh... I bought an orchid, too. A, um... hmm. Speaking of spacing, I can't remember the variety--one of those that are almost hardy here, maybe paphiope-ulums?
Shirl, nice to see you checking in! I need to make a visit across the pond to see what all you've been up to, both birding and garden-wise. :) And I love the idea of picking back up again!
Greenbow Lisa, I love my hellebores, too--all shades, colors and sizes! (Okay, but IP most of all... lol.)
Hocking Hills Gardener, thanks for stopping by! Your neck of the woods is a lovely part of Ohio--can't wait to check out your blog and see what you've been up to there in the gardens. :)
Stratoz, funny, but there are lots of weeds who are calling my garden home these days, too! I need to get out there, probably tomorrow... :)
Pam, I can photograph the white-flowering hellebores very well, but the dark-flowering ones escape me. (I was just telling Craig @ Ellis Hollow how much I admired his photo of a dark-pink-flowering variety for just that reason!) I think that a few of these ones that are more heat- and sun-tolerant might be worth a try for you.
And yeah, I'm a little excited that the neighbors are "buying in" to the fence painting! Maybe they'll let me borrow their sprayer so I can finally get my side done, too... lol.
Carol, that does seem a little too convenient, doesn't it? But the Prince needed to be shown off on GBBD! :)
Kerri, I wonder if he'll make some good seed pods? If so, I'll collect them and send them over your way... the good thing about this treelawn tree removal, by the way, is that it's given me some space in which to grow a few of your lupines and larkspur! Yay!
Layanee, that it does... but in a very good way. :)
Thanks, Pam/Digging! I'm so looking forward to checking in with everyone else's blogs--and see what you're up to this spring in that BRAND NEW garden of yours!--too. :)
Em, I wonder if the difference is partly due to the fact that we're further south... and partly due to the fact that Erie is such a shallow lake and warms early? I work about a 30 minute drive south of where I live, and it's funny to see that "home" is always a couple of weeks behind "work," even. And I can be shivering in a sweatshirt when I walk to the car in the morning... but have to take the darn thing off by the time I arrive at work. Crazy!
Thank you, wildlife gardener. :) Hope all is well in your lovely garden, too!
Welcome, notsocrafty! And thank you... :)
Chloe Marguerite, what a lovely name... and thank you for the lovely compliments to match! I got very lucky with how well these 'Ivory Prince' hellebores are doing, because I didn't know much about them when I picked them up, but I definitely recommend them!
Muum, just one? I wish I had that kind of willpower! lol. But keep an eye out for baby hellebores around the base of that one... I did find a couple of those this spring. :)
For whatever reason, I'm not a big hellebore fan myself, but I think Ivory Prince is probably the most appealing.
Happy Spring!
Oh aren't hellebores the best? so subtle and gorgeous. And, love your coffee fence! I am obsessed with fences right now as we will be building a giant one this summer....
Oh darn it, I should have bought that Ivory Prince. I got the White Elegance; it's coming from PDN. Upward facing just about makes a hellebore perfect--though I like the downward maroon ones too.
I haven't tried hellebores yet because I heard that they can be invasive; but... I might just have to try them now!
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