Spring, Perhaps?
Rather to my surprise, since I hacked everything in the bog to the ground about ten days ago, this never-wet (Orontium aquaticum) has started blooming. The bog was designed as a homage to a ditch in Okefenokee, a reminder of possibly my favorite place on earth, and it is full of unglamorous natives. Never-wet is so-called because its leaves are very waxy and repel water more than most leaves.
Viburnum tinus is in full flower in the front hedge. This particular one is a very slow grower, only about 5 feet tall at 5 years from a cutting.
Lady Banks is in full flower on the pergola. So is Lonicera sempervirens, but I can’t get up high enough for a photo. I know Lady Banks blooms only once a year, but that’s NOT a problem since there are 7 or 8 other vines on the pergola that bloom at other times. And what’s not to love about a thornless rose that is such a glorious yellow.
Chionodoxa luciliae is just beginning to flower. There’s probably something I can do to the camera to produce a better blue than this washed-out affair, but I don’t know what. I should really take a course or get a better camera, or read the instruction book, or something.
After considerable debate about various species of jasmine, I am convinced that this is pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum. I moved it to the veg garden fence about 18 months ago and it is doing just as I hoped, working toward an imitation of a gorgeous fence I saw on a Charleston garden walk:
Your garden looks like spring to these eyes! Everything was beautiful, but the Lady Banks rose is stunning. I would like to start a bog type garden, maybe more of a rain garden, always wet but not standing water. Love the viburnum also, is it scented?
Frances at Faire Garden
Comment by Frances — February 19, 2008 @ 3:27 pm
I had a lovely Lady Banks which died during a drought and which I still miss. I’m like you. So what if it only blooms once a year? So do a lot of things. When it blooms it’s gorgeous. But that pink jasmine. Wow! That’s a real eye-catcher. I notice that the redbud behind it is in bloom too. I saw my first redbud here in Austin on Valentine’s Day…which is right on schedule according to my records.
Comment by mss @ Zanthan Gardens — February 19, 2008 @ 10:24 pm
Frances: The camera lies! The garden in general looks very gray and wintery still, with just a few touches of color. No the viburnum has negligible scent. Its main virtues are early bloom and healthy, dark, evergreen foliage. The bog garden is an extension of the pond. I’ll put up a proper post about the pond and its structure when a few more things are in flower there.
mss: That Charleston photo was taken at the end of March. My pink jasmine is very early this year. My redbuds still show no sign of blooming.
Comment by karen — February 20, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Your description of your garden to Frances is how mine still looks also, but I still count it as spring because our earliest flowers are blooming. I love Lady Banks rose too. I had one in my last garden but not this one, alas.
Comment by Pam/Digging — February 20, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
No redbuds yet in my part of Austin, Karen, but there are a few flowers on the coral honeysuckle… mine is planted on one side of a metal arch with the ladybanks on the other side, but she’s still sleeping.
Native plants have such interesting names - love that ‘never-wet’.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Comment by Annie in Austin — February 25, 2008 @ 3:59 pm
Annie: That’s fascinating. Following the Austin blogs, I have thought that Austin was further into spring than we are, but it appears it’s not as simple as that. Lady Banks is earlier than usual here, although we’ve had what I would describe as a fairly cold winter with more than a dozen frosts. We average about 6 freezing nights.
Comment by karen — February 26, 2008 @ 8:24 am
For me it looks definitely like Spring. Lucky you!! And the Lady Banks looks stunning. I like this rose very much!
Comment by Barbara — February 26, 2008 @ 11:58 am
Indeed,it is true, it’s always true. Comments ain’t even necessary.
Comment by samarth — April 11, 2008 @ 12:37 am
Hi
Enjoyed your pond works, having just done something similar but much smaller here in UK. Your Chionodoxa photograph is not actually that, but it the onion-scented Ipheion uniflorum. It’s quite variable in colour, usually a rather washed-out blue, but there are darker blue and purple selections, too.
Comment by Peter — September 30, 2008 @ 6:29 am
I always confuse Ipheion and Chionodoxa. They flower at the same time, and obviously look much the same to me. I’d never noticed the onion scent. Yes, mine are a washed-out blue, but they are reliable and pretty, especially when flowering around a Rosa mutabilis, which they do.
Comment by karen — November 11, 2008 @ 6:00 am