Tuesday, May 17, 2011

'SHOW ME YOUR GARDEN' (MID-MAY STROLL)

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

~ Alfred Austin


Unfurling Ostrich Fern 'Fiddleheads'
(Matteuccia struthiopteris)


Ivory tulip

Bergenia

Rock Garden

Columbine
(Aquilegia)

Double tulip 'Angelique'

Tulips

Tulip Princess Irene
(Tulipa)

Dwarf Iris

Flowering Crabapple Tree

Apple Blossoms


Bergenia and Sweet Woodruff

Wildflower Bed

Variegated Solomon's Seal
(Polygonatum biflorum)

Lady Fern, Trillium, and Sweet Woodruff

Yellow Lady's Slipper
(Cypripedium Calceolus L.)

Jack in the Pulpit
(Arisaema Triphyllum)

Gold Heart Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart')
Cowslip (Primula veris)
Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema Triphyllum)


Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Trillium

Ferns, Hosta, and Azalea





"All through the long winter I dream of my garden. On the first warm day of spring I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar."

~ Helen Hayes

25 comments:

Kathleen said...

Oh Joey ~ your garden is incredible. So much goodness it's hard to find a starting place to comment. The lady slipper photo knocked my socks off tho. Let's start there!
and I love your clock weather vane?? Not sure if it's a weather vane or not but it's very cool. I can only hope to have such lush full beds surrounding my home someday. You have collected an amazing array of plants. Very inspiring.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

According to that quote, I'm a disorganized, sloppy, weedy mess who's given up... so there may be something to it!

Love everything you have blooming. Wish I could grow columbine. I know. But it never comes back.

Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade Gardens said...

Joey, We do like the same plants only I can't grow bergenia (I guess I should try again) and someone stole my large clump of yellow lady's slipper (too traumitized to plant that again). Your spring gardens are spectacular. Carolyn

scottweberpdx said...

Beautiful post!!! I fell in love with 'Princess Irene' this spring at a Tulip festival...and now it seems like I'm seeing them everywhere!

joey said...

Thank you, Kathleen. The garden has been evolving for many years and May with azaleas/wildflowers/bulbs is my favorite month, although June/July are lovely too!

And there you go, Monica :) Sometimes this columbine doesn't return, unlike Aquilegia canadensis so prolific in my cottage garden up north.

Thank you, Carolyn, an honor after viewing yours! Very prolific in my cottage garden, my Lady's Slipper needs to be carefully guarded here by strangling lamium (I think we discussed this). Unless I missed it, I seem to have lost my Bloodroot this year, which makes me very sad :( Indeed we have great taste in our gardens and the men in our lives :)

Me too, Scott. As much as I hate planting them in fall, I so enjoy my spring bulbs.

tina said...

Your garden is so delectable! Especially the long shot of the hostas and ferns. I have never seen sweet woodruff in bloom but started some from seeds this year and it is looking good. So pretty in your garden. Is it an easy care plant? I've never seen it down here and would love to know more about it.

imac said...

The rewards everyone gets from your posts just shows how you and Nature - work as one.

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Joey, just beautiful spring photos. I had Berginia in my last home, your photos make me want to find a place for it again.

Eileen

F Cameron said...

Your garden is amazing! Your photography is so splendid, too.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it wonderful that spring has finally arrived? Rain upon rain, yet all this beauty as a result. God's blessings are many!

Kerri said...

Joey, your spring garden is a sight for sore eyes. How beautiful it is!
How in the world do you get Bergenia to bloom? I've had it for a couple of years now and still no sign of blooms.
I love all your photos, but that shot of the trilium and bluebells with a touch of yellow is absolutely gorgeous.
Happy spring dear friend! Isn't it wonderful?

joey said...

How kind, Tina. Wish you lived near. Sweet woodruff loves me so much it follows me everywhere! I share, share, share flats, often saying I have enough to colonize the world! In bloom, it's a breathing ground cover, perfect for my emerging wildflowers then huge drifting hosta beds.

A touching comment, imac! This is my goal :)

Thank you, Eileen. Bergenia looks fabulous in drifts and I am lucky to have room to make it shine. This time of year is my favorite! I so wait for spring and the look of this handsome plant with my emerging bulbs. It is a great all year round look ... fat like cabbage in summer and awesome colorful in fall!

An honor coming from your gifted eye, Freda. Thank you.

Indeed, Robin, God's blessings are many! (But do wish the rain would STOP so I could fine tune the garden.)

Friends for many years, delighted to hear from you, dear Kerri, and thank you. Bergenia is very happy in my garden ... most planted almost 30 years ago and still growing strong. I so love the look with my early spring bulbs ... makes my heart stand still!

garden girl said...

So beautiful Joey. How wonderful it must be tending the same garden for so many years.

Esther Montgomery said...

Good reminder that I'd like some Solomon's Seal. Now I know how delightful it would be to sit in your garden too.

Esther

Carol said...

Dearest Joey, I was drawn into your garden by your mysterious unfurling fern photo and the parade that follows is so bountiful and breathtakingly beautiful. I love your selection of the Helen Hayes quote, for it so perfectly paints the feeling one has looking upon your gorgeous garden and photography. Your Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Yellow Lady's Slipper are to die for. Stunning! Carol

Beth at PlantPostings said...

Wow, the Ivory Tulip and Angelique are awesome! I see your Trillium Erectum here. Too many amazing plants and flowers to comment on each one. Just gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Truly beautiful, Joey! Like the commenter before me, i can't comment on individual blooms or foliage. I'm in awe.....!!

Rose said...

Thank you for taking us on this stroll through your garden, Joey; it was the next best thing to actually being there! Your garden is just amazing; I love the shade beds, which look as if they go on forever. And the columbines are gorgeous! You have a little bit of paradise in your own back yard.

Pat said...

Like the quote. Looks like everything is is bloom. But if If right the Bergenia which I just got and the Trillium and Sweetwoodriff or Ajuga which now I'm stongely think about getting TODAY blooms late winter early spring. I need variety and think all of these are good choices for the edge of my new shade bed.
Glad you posted them.

Patsi

joey said...

Tending the old garden has indeed been a joy, Linda, at times overwhelming since so huge and often OOT. Like any evolving garden, it's face (as has the old gardener's) has changed so over the years. Thank you.

Delighted you like this handsome variegated Soloman's Seal, Esther. Have the old standard in my garden at the lake, which looks find in the true woodland garden. So do come and wander about (the garden changes every day) ... would so enjoy your visit :)

Thank you, dear Carol. I too so love the spring garden that changes from morning to night and gets a huge face lift every 2 weeks. Next week all will look totally different ... the joys of perennial gardening! But you well know the joys ...

How kind, Plant Postings. Thank you and do hope you return :)

Thank you, Kanak. You have been a friend for quite some time and have seen my garden throughout the seasons. Always a joy to hear from you and always a joy to visit you and your beautiful life.

Hi Rose! Thank you ... my shade gardens (easiest to tend) are also my favorite! Yes, for me a bit a paradise.

Thanks Patsi ... do hope you enjoy your bergenia. It's a stellar plant! Wish you lived near ... I have so much to share!

Kala said...

You have a fabulous garden Joey. Maybe one day I will be able to grow such beautiful flowers. For now, I must visit public gardens to see them bloom.

Anonymous said...

Your garden is full of so many gorgeous plants Joey! I love the Bergenia, Trillium and Lady's Slipper. :)

Marysol said...

Keep it up and you may find some of us camping in your magical garden!

Dirty Girl Gardening said...

perfectly pretty images!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Joey all of these gorgeous plants are so beautiful ! Makes me want to curl up under the ferns and nap there : )
I love the Lady Slipper and Jack-in-the-Pulpit ! I don't have either of them and I need to make that right!
I just noticed the subject header Lemon Verbena ice cream .. I totally love Lemon Verbena .. the aroma is exactly like that hard lemon candy that was so delicious ! if the ice cream is as tasty .. well, I am in real trouble now ! LOL
Joy : )