early May bloomers

I love those Virginia bluebells.  Can't beat that vibrant blue.

I put in some Trillium the fall before last.  The leaves came up last spring but there wasn't any flower.  This year it looks like I'll get some flowers.

I'm still behind.  I've got some April pictures that belong between the last post and this one.  I'll have to add them later. The problem with a blog is that you can't fake it.  When I posted on a web page, I could put the pictures in chronological order regardless of the current date.

watching spring arrive

I love watching plants come up in the early spring.  Something new shows signs of life every day. 

(I'm already behind on my garden blog.  These pictures were taken April 12.)

Bloodroot showing its furled leaves and little tulip-like buds.  This is the first year I've had bloodroot, and at first I couldn't remember what it was.

Eastern Columbine with drops of dew.

Hepatica emerges with these fuzzy silver leaves.

Hepatica, April 7

The newly planted Hepatica are doing well.  The one from previous years is not yet in bloom, but it gets a lot of shade.

Starting my 2014 garden (native plant) chronicle

In 2011, I made a web site for my backyard garden, which I've developed with native plants to create bird and butterfly habitat.  Each week or so from April through November, I posted pictures and commentary on what was new in the garden.  You can see those web pages here:

http://home.ptd.net/~bcmalt/garden/april.html 

In 2012 and 2013, I didn't do any updates, mainly because my spare time was taken up with working on the revised edition of Birds of the Lehigh Valley and Vicinity.  (Now taking orders!  All proceeds benefit educational activities of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, a non-profit organization.  See http://tinyurl.com/bolvv-2nd  for ordering info.  )  

Now that the book is off to press, I'm going to try to do some 2014 updates throughout the growing season.

Here's the first!  The weekend of March 15, I was in Boston for a conference and had a chance to spend a few hours at the Boston Flower Show.  I bought several native plants there, bareroot.  The seller told me to keep them for a week in the fridge and then plant them.  I missed the window of opportunity when it was nice on Saturday the 22nd, so I decided to wait another week.  Then it was so rainy this weekend I thought I'd wait some more.  But I took a look at the bag in the fridge, and I found that the Hepaticas were putting out shoots and even some blossoms!!!  in the fridge, in the dark - and, as it turned out, with slightly frozen roots. That goes to show you what these early spring bloomers can handle. I went out and planted them in the cold, windy rain. Pretty miserable, but hoping it gives them a smooth transition to the warmer temps arriving soon.

 

The story of the RUHU visit, 2013

Back in late January, after my Rufous Hummingbird left town, I made up a short Powerpoint slide about her visit show to share with some friends. Belatedly, I am posting the picture sequence from the slide show here.  (As far as I can tell, it isn't possible to link a .ppt file to the blog post.)