The bittersweet chronicles: spring 2010 edition

Not only is the American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) no longer puny, it’s in bloom!  Both plants have overtopped the trellis, and it’s only May.  As Monica predicted, there were some sprouts from the old invasive bittersweet C. orbiculatus, but the darker and glossier leaves are easy to spot and I’ve been rooting them out as soon as I see them.

The female plant is blooming…

…as is the male plant.  One can only hope that this means that there will be berries this fall, if the bees and/or wind do their pollination job.

Bloom Day – May 2010

After a warm and dry April, May has been wet and cool so far.  The flowers in bloom now are pretty much the ones that were in bloom a two weeks ago.

• Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)



• Blue false indigo (Baptisia australis)



• Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
• Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)
• Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum) – photo at top of page



• Wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides)



• Shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia)



• Prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum)
• Common violet
• Lilies of the valley
• Chives
• Thyme



• Raspberry ‘Caroline’
• Strawberry

The bearded irises and the peonies look about ready to pop, so any stretch of warm weather should bring them out. No water lily buds yet, alas!

Many thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for having Bloom Day.

Postscript: forgot that the American bittersweet & red baneberry are blooming too.  I’ll have to add another post to my bittersweet series.

Bloom Day – April 2010

All sorts of things are in bloom – we’re way ahead of last year:

• Forsythia
• Serviceberry ‘Autumn Brilliance’
• Koreanspice viburnum
• Purple-leafed sand cherry
• Hyacinths
• Muscari
• Tulips
• Scilla siberica
• 
  Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)
• 
  Labrador violet (Viola labradorica)
• Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)
• 
  Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pennsylvanica)
• Dandelions (before I take a Cobrahead to them…)

Blooming soon: crabapples, prairie trillium, lily of the valley, & Virginia bluebells.  Thanks to Carol for getting everyone looking at flowers on Bloom Day!

Essay in Yellow (and Goldfish)

I was very happy to see the forsythia in bloom this past week. Last year, it hardly bloomed at all, and in 2008, it didn’t bloom until late April. This year isn’t the earliest the forsythia has bloomed, though; my first photographic blog post showed it in full bloom in late March 2007.

Both the large King Alfred and the tiny Tete-a-Tete daffodils have joined the Rijnveld’s Early Sensation in bloom. (The crocuses withered away in the first warm day.)

As usual, the marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) is putting on a spectacular show in the pond.  The fish have gotten over their winter skittishness and are following all visitors to the pond, hoping for a treat.

More blooms after bloom day

It’s been relatively mild since the mid-March bloom day, so flowers continue to come up. Rijnveld’s Early Sensation always lives up to its name – the other daffs are barely budding yet.

Both the big blue and white volunteer crocuses in the backyard and the smaller yellow/violet crocuses I planted last fall in the front yard have emerged.

And the scilla are in bloom already, which seems awfully early. With temperatures in the 70s predicted for this week, I don’t know what will be blooming a week from now!

Bloom Day – March 2010

There have been plenty of changes since the snowdrops first came up a week ago, but not a lot of them are flowers.  The garden is full of green shoots, but it will be a while before they’re any more than the promise of flowers to come.  The snow is almost completely gone, but it’s a good bet that we’ll see some more before the next bloom day.

Big thanks as always to Carol for encouraging us to get out and see what’s blooming!

In bloom:

Crocus (only one for now)

Snowdrop (in several different places in the front lawn)

Chicago Flower & Garden Show

I went to the Chicago Flower & Garden Show for the first time this past weekend, thanks to Mr. Brown Thumb who got press passes for several garden bloggers.

As a native plant fan, I was compelled to spend much of my time at the “Jeckle & Hyde” prairie restoration, complete with Mr. Hyde’s buckthorn and garlic mustard.  I saw Beth Botts there, but she was deep in conversation so I didn’t interrupt.

While looking at the “Spring Awakening” streams and potagers, I ran into Kylee and her mom from Our Little Acre and just happened to conjure up the mobile number they were looking for (my Spring Fling organizing experience pays off!).

Aquascape had quite a presence at the show, so when I wasn’t looking at prairie plants I looked at all sorts of different water features.

The show was interesting, but I was hoping for more plants and less hardscaping.  I think I needed to stop at the Garfield Park Conservatory on my way to Navy Pier so I could get my fill of greenery before the show.  I definitely did not visit the Fern Room enough this wintertime!

First bloom of the year!

The snow has been slowly receding here over the past week.   A couple of the snowdrops I planted last fall wasted no time in popping up as soon as the snow was gone from where they are planted.  They are still rather pale and frail-looking, but any sign of spring is very welcome in early March.

I will post soon about my trip to the Chicago Flower & Garden Show, but seeing a flower in my yard gets precedence over seeing them planted indoors!

A foot of snow and an earthquake

Not only did we pick up a foot or so of snow last night, we also had an earthquake.  Unlike the last magnitude 5.2 quake, our earthquake indicator – a small action figure of Jean Alesi standing on my framed diploma – did not fall over.  Like the last one, this one didn’t wake me up.  My hypothesis is that the tipping point for M. Alesi is somewhere between a mag 3.8 and a mag 5.2.

There’s no animal prints in such a deep snow, but the previous dusting did leave some interesting ones:

One of the local feral cats jumping up on the fence to visit another yard.

Check out those little fingers! I’m guessing this is from one of the many raccoons in the area.

Here comes the hawk

A hawk decided to visit our pond today – I wasn’t home, but a neighbor alerted The Spouse, who took some pictures.

Apparently, it wasn’t hunting, but rather looking for a bath in the pond.

Any birdwatchers out there able to ID this from these photos?