Some more of the flowers and foliage showing off now.
Polemonium ‘Stairway to Heaven’
Heuchera ‘Amethyst Myst’
Pulmonaria ‘Mrs. Moon’
Early yellow iris and Scilla hispanica just opening
Japanese painted ferns and Heuchera ‘Brownies’
Trollius (globeflower)
Viburnum burkwoodii
Mayapple flower
Wild violets in the Coreopsis
Isn’t that last one sweet?
Spring is here! A few flowers and foliage images to celebrate May Day:
The pinkish new foliage of Polemonium ‘Stairway to Heaven’ – this is such a great 3-season plant!
Chionodoxa forbesii – “Glory of the Snow” – love this blue!
Pulmonaria ‘Mrs. Moon’ – Lungwort – the spotted foliage is the thing!
Yup, gotta have daffodils!
Quince is almost open!
Primula vulgaris – primroses – terrible name, but such a lovely scent on these sweet yellow flowers!
Are you dancing around the maypole today?
The amaryllis my sister in Texas gave me all those many years ago is blooming again! This bulb must be at least 7 years old now and I first mentioned it here in 2009 when it was at least 2 years old then.
The cultivar is Apple Blossom and it has a very light, sweet scent. So nice when it is cold and there is still snow on the ground outside.
I also mentioned it on one of my Plantitude posts here and its care is very easy. I put it outdoors with my other houseplants when the weather permits, and there it sits, enjoying all the benefits of a life out of doors until I bring it in in the late fall. Then I cut off any leaves, put it on a windowsill, and stop watering it until a tiny green shoot pokes up from the bulb.
Isn’t it amazing?!
Plantitudes – plants with attitude, i.e., a new feature series with plants that I find interesting in some way.
This amaryllis was a gift from one of my sisters for Christmas way back in 2007. The variety is ‘Apple Blossom’ and, although it is a fairly well-known variety, it is definitely a winner!
The botanical name of amaryllis is Hippeastrum and it is a a flowering bulb originating in South America. My method of bringing it to bloom every year is to cut off the flower stalk after the blooms are done, give it a little bit of liquid fertilizer, and summer it outdoors. In late September-early October, I cut off any of the remaining leaves and bring it indoors. At this point, I stop watering the bulb and wait until it decides it is ready to start again with a little green leaf shoot poking up before watering it again, generally about 10 weeks or so.
Soon it will send up a flower stalk about 24″ tall. Sometimes the stalk will have up to 5 flowers on it. This year it has only three, but I noticed that there are a couple of new leaf shoots off to the sides so the bulb (s?) probably need a slightly bigger pot. The flower color is mainly pure white with a beautiful streaking and edging of pink.
It has a yellow-green throat
and the huge flowers soon explode with a beautiful sweet fragrance.
This is a beautiful easy-care flowering bulb that blooms for me indoors in the deepest of the winter when its beauty is so needed, and it keeps on blooming year after year with just a minimal amount of attention. Definitely a plant with attitude! Thank you, dear sister, for giving it to me!
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