Foreground, native columbine; right, May Night salvia; Knock Out rose; Siberian iris in the background. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Spring moved swiftly through the garden and only a few late-blooming tulips and alliums are offering a show in the bulb category. The orange-red poppies are blooming and just like every year, I think I should move them with some of the ‘Caesar’s Brother’ (Iris siberica), an early season favorite.
‘Miss Kim’ lilac (Syringa patula) was a fast floozie in the heat, but the ‘Bath’s Pink’ and Firewitch (‘Feuerhexe’) cheddar pinks (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) still perfume the air. The yellow corydalis (Corydalis lutea) floats through the east-facing perennial bed, showing up whever it wants, but never quite close enough to the Brunnera macrophylla. Still, I let it go. The ‘Wargrave Pink’ Geranium is blooming, too. May Night (Salvia ‘Mainacht’) is blooming beneath the red Knock Out (Rosa ‘Radrazz’) and near a stand of native columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).
Snow Storm spirea. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
I love the ‘Snow Storm’ spirea (Spiraea nipponica) a Proven Winners/ColorChoice plant, that is in full glory. Even when the large, white lacecap flowers are gone, I’m left with lovely blue-green foliage. ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta) is rich and full this year, it’s second in the garden. I’m also totally amazed by the Igloo series ‘Frosty,’ a white Dentranthema (or Chrysanthemum) that was planted as a slip last June and bloomed from July into November. Last year, we had a cool summer, which probably accounted for ‘Frosty’s’ long bloom cycle. It’s probably 24 inches tall now and, according to the breeder, I can either cut it back like a mum or let it go. I can’t decide! The Igloo series comes from Blooms of Bressingham.
The arrowwood viburnums (Viburnum dentatum) are blooming. I have several: Blue Muffin (‘Christom’), Chicago Lustre (‘Synnestvedt’) and Autumn Jazz (‘Ralph Senior’). I had Blue Muffin, another Proven Winners/ColorChoice selection, for several years, but it never had good fruit production. Then I read that you needed more than one and it had to be a different cultivar. This is the second year for all of these in the garden, so I’m optimistic that they will have good fruit. I also have a Brandywine (Viburnum nudum ‘Bulk’), another Color/Choice plant.
The astilbes are budded up amid the blooming foam flower (Tiarella) and sweet woodruff (Galium). All in all, quite beautiful.