For several weeks I’ve been prowling about the garden, repeatedly scanning patches of ground where something should be showing up. All the while having to count on a handful of the earliest Spring Bulbs to satisfy my plant-lust. The up’s & down’s of SE Michigan’s transition from winter to spring is close to reaching the tipping point, brought on by just a couple of 70 + degree days.

The winter aconites & snowdrops, along with Cyclamen coum, Hellebore tibetanus, and Adonis, have thrilled and delighted for almost a Month now. Each opening flower pushes the winter-blahs further to the back of my mind, while stoking a near-burning desire to see what comes next. Gradually, the once brown, almost blanket-flat mulch of last years leaves, had started to bubble from the push of activity beneath, and now that activity has boiled into an eruption in a colorful blooms and vibrant foliage.

Corydalis solida’s and Iris reticulates have appeared almost everywhere in the garden.

Over the past decade, Corydalis solida seem especially determined to occupy every vacant space they can find. There are several other Corydalis species in bloom but none can match the nearly rabbit-like fecundity of C. solida.

Corydalis ornada has slowly and steadily, increased for us. Sadly we haven’t been successful in keeping any of the electric blues or rich, saturated rose-pinks.

For reasons unknown to me only the white flowered forms of C. ornate seem happy in various locations to the garden. It’s really a shame as this species (if you can keep them) come in some of the most spectacularly- saturated, colors that I have experienced within the genus.

All across the garden Hepaticas are popping out.

Over the years we’ve amassed a number of good color forms.

Although they are not usually the earliest hepatica to bloom, I believe these (pictured above) are all H. nobilis. A species that in this garden are easy to please and happy to seed about.

Several trillium species are up as well. The clay-loam soil that covers nearly all of the property (except for the alpine beds built on-top of it), seems to suit most all of the species that grow . After T. nivale, Trillium cuneatum will be the next to bloom. Although several other trillium species are up including T. recurvatum, T. sessile, and T. stamineum. No doubt. there are another half dozen species whose noses are just beneath the leaf litter, waiting a little longer.

Abeliophyllum distichum as it grows here, spreads slowly by lower branches rooting in where they contact the ground. The thousands of tiny white blossoms flood the lower garden with their sweet perfume.

This early flowering and frost-proof shrub is commonly referred to as White Forsythia.

Among the multitude of plants now coming up, most have not only settled in but have increased themselves to the point of becoming (almost) common. Then there are others that, while they have persisted, have proven to be more reluctant.

Many species of Erythroniums have proven to be difficult to established in my garden (I’m sure this failure is entirely mine) though there have been successes. E. caucasicum seed (from Joseph Halda) sown back in the early 1990’s, yielded two plants that made their way into the garden. It was probably 5 or 6 years before I stopped collecting the seed they set (to try and grow in pots) and simply allowed them to self sow. Three to four years later, their pale pink-violet blooms (the first erythronium species to flower in my garden), were multiplying nicely.

That was before the flower of this Erythronium opens, usually about a week ahead of E caucasicum. Around 2015 I had transplanted the entire contents of a seedpod that contained several, second year seedlings without dividing them. Sadly this is the sole survivor of that batch of Archibalds’ seed from the Kahem Valley, Tuva, Altai ex Russia sown in March of 2011. It’s Flowered every year since, and perhaps that’s a seedling leaf just to the lower right, If so It’ll be the first!

I expect the E. caucasicums to be opening in another week, followed rather quickly by thus Hybrid I have labeled simply as E. ‘Pagoda’.

The common Bloodroot have made their own way into this garden and have demonstrated a great ability to expand their range.

That is not the case with this form of bloodroot. I believe it came from Garden Visions, and its a lovely form that has shorter, wider, petals and appears to be a clumper which sends up bunches of stems. It does seeds about, but only lightly!

In the 90’s I had a not-so-mild Narcissus addiction, One of my favorite dealers who supplied my “fix” was Grant Mitsch Novelty Bulbs. For a host of reasons (none of which were theirs), many of the treasured daffodils they sent are no longer with me. This is one of the exceptions that always makes me smile when I see its mature flowers.

While one might think these Cardiocrinum (widely scattered thru the garden) have a death wish by coming up so early. This form (that I believe came in a Chen Yi order) has proven to be very resilient. None the less, they will all be getting a small pile of dry oak leaves on them this weekend, as the low temperature, forecasted for Easter Sunday, will be in the low 30’s!

There are a dozen more things I could show in flower, and masses of other things coming up. Vast patches of Anemone nemorosa and A. ranunculoides, along with dozens of ever-expanding, mats of Geraniums are greening up chunks of the garden, while Scilla biflora, S. tubergenia and S. siberica, create lakes of blues. Hundreds of Crocuses (the “Chippies” have somehow missed) in a rainbow of colors, Spring cannot be held off any longer.

We are all about to be so very busy in our gardens trying to keep up. So I hope you are as ready, cause ready or not… Here we go!

In our garden, the cool (if not cold) early Spring weather seems to be the domain of the “little bulbs”. Cyclamen coum, Eranthis, Galanthus, in addition the the early bulbous irises (histories and reticulata) all command the opening of the Spring Gardening Season.

However, there is a little vignette in this garden that never fails to captivate my attention, not so much for it’s well planned construction (because it wasn’t), but instead for the serendipitous success of the plants sited therein.

The star of this little corner is Trillium nivale, commonly referred to as the snow trillium. This minute Trillium makes its appearance in the garden, along with last of the Eranthis blooms, as well as Galanthus nivale.

Most years this petite trillium is joined by Corydalis and Iris histroides ‘Katherine Hodgekins’. This unplanned pairing never fails to delight me. The fact that these little treasures thrive here has more to do blind luck than any forethought to this particular bed’s construction. The area of lawn that preceded this site was first covered over, first with sections of wet newspaper, the edges overlapping each other by roughly 20%, and then I covered the newsprint with the day’s grass clippings, until I could bring home a load of wood chips that were then applied in a 6-8″ thick layer. It was an effective method for killing the grass & weeds without resorting to a chemical application.

Later on when I decided to construct the Limestone Bed here, I simply hauled in the large chunks of limestone from a local quarry, backfilled between the larger rocks with coarse sand, and mulched everything with crushed limestone gravel. For the paths in and around this bed I utilized the same crushed limestone gravel 5-6″ in depth.

My first encounter with Trillium nivale, was in the magical garden of Roberta & Fred Case, known for their extensive collection of Trillium. It was by no means my first visit to this special place, though it was the first time I was there early enough to experience this earliest flowering of the trillium species.

I noticed that these diminutive gems were growing at the base of a low, broken ridge, made up of Limestone rocks. I don’t recall if the word calciphile was used, but it was made plain that a higher alkalinity it what they really desired.

It was sometime before I was able to attain my first plant of T. nivale (which happened to be the Indiana Form ), at a Great Lakes Chapter Spring Plant Sale. The Indiana form sports larger blooms than does our native Michigan Snow Trillium.

I thought I had a suitable spot (though it was technically in the edge of a path) and the medium was basically just crushed limestone gravel, so I worked in a bit of my heavy loam soil before planting, as well as into the gravel I used to backfill my new prize. Little did I realize how fortuitous was the site I chose.

That plant bulked up quickly, allowing me to divide it on several occasions. Clearly delighted in it’s new home.

Several years later, a fellow GLC member imported a goodly number of new T. nivale plants from Indiana and I acquired several. The following spring I cross pollenated them all by hand. (Obviously I failed to capture all of the seed that was set).

Only in hindsight do I realize the unique conditions of this site which enables such success. For they hold far more importance than simply the limestone.

Over time the continuous activity of ants and worms had transported the heavy clay-loam soil (enriched by the heavy application of now decomposed wood chips), which underlays all of my beds, and throughly infused it within the limestone gravel.

Another factor is the ridge of Limestone which backs them has a SW exposure. At this time of year the spot is bathed in hours of afternoon sun. In combination with exposure is an Amelanchier canadensis (the first tree I planted), located to the WSW (on the opposite side of the path), now leafless, but in a couple of weeks it will leaf out and offer relief from the hot sun of late spring and summer.

It’s been a happy accident and I didn’t think that I could be more pleased.

Then four years ago something quite new appeared. Among the stems of the largest clump of T. nivale, was one that had a bloom made up of four petals rather than the usual three. When I examined that stem further, I noticed that the leaf contained a complement of four leaflets as well. Now this is not unheard of, and while oddly intriguing, this anomaly is rarely stable (as I was often reminded). As the size of that clump had gotten quite large I decided to remove a division which comprised nearly 1/2 of the clump, but I left the half containing the 4 x 4 stem in place.

The following year the 4 x4 stem reappeared, looking as healthy as all of its sister stems in the clump. I made mention of this, and was reminded of its dubious stability, as the blooms opened, the four petaled bloom was there, and returned once more in the Spring of 2020, that made three years running!

Then last year this happened. Yep that’s a second four petaled flower with its full complement of four leaflets. Now that’s enough to make one sit up and take notice! What would next year bring? Well…

The short answer is a third 4 x 4 stem, but wait there is also another odd stem, and this one has a five petalled bloom and five leaflets!!!

Now I don’t know where this is going to lead, but for the past week I’ve been cross-pollenating the 4 and 5 petalled blooms with each other. If these unusual stems are offset from the same clump and not one of many seedlings, then they may not be self compatible (hence no seed). It has been so cold and dreary nearly all week I haven’t seen a single pollinator anywhere in the garden, so who knows. All I can say is I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Now, about dividing this clump again…

Spring may have come but winter hasn’t quite left, not just yet. Last week’s glorious weather had stoked the urge to get out and begin the early spring gardening chores. I started (off as I usually do), by removing last year’s foliage from the all of hybrid hellebores, followed by the peonies. Next I had started in on cutting down the ornamental grasses in the lower garden, as I also burned off the little prairie that’s down there. I tossed the removed grass foliage onto the patches of the prairie that were still a bit too damp to burn without a little extra dry fuel.

The fine spring weather continued and the garden responded. All of the early, spring flowering plants took advantage the warm sunshine, much to the delight of my neighbor’s honeybees

Down in the Pit-House (protected from chillier nighttime temperatures), the stock from this year’s early plant orders were really starting to take off. Out I the garden, the Eranthus and Galanthus were at their peak bloom. Several of the clumps of G. nivale needed dividing, and as I planted out the divisions, I figured I might as well get all of the new plants from Carolyn’s Shade Garden (as well as the new Eranthus and Galanthus I brought back from a recent collecting trip), into the ground as well.

And as if just waiting for me to make such a move, “Old Man Winter” rolled right back in.

Now, this sort of thing really doesn’t cause much of a problem for these early spring-bloomers. In my garden, anything that can’t handle this sort of treatment has perished long ago. However, I am unsure of how my new transplants will fare. Fortunately I have plenty of bagged oak leaves on hand, and so not to risk it, I went round the garden and top dressed all of the transplants with dry leaves to offer some protection during this cold snap (20 degrees F last night and 13 degrees forecasted for tonight)!

No idea if it’s needed but I’m not willing to risk doing nothing, especially with old favorites and new treasures.

While I was at it, I decided to cover other treasured plants (whether it’s necessary or not), it only took seconds and the dry leaves will simply to be brushed aside when the warmth returns come Wednesday.

Wishing you the best in your garden and looking forward to warmer days!

For the second year (of our two year obligation) the Great Lakes Chapter has completed filling the Second Round of the NARGS Seed Ex. In this phase NARGS members requested seed that was still on hand after all of the First Round seed requests had been filled.

GLC members filling orders would select a seed order request (which would ranging from 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100 seed packets). NARGS members requesting seeds indicated the number of seed packets they were interested in acquiring, by listing the identifying seed number as their first choices. If a desired packet of seed was no longer available, then a second choice (if listed) was selected in place of the missing first choice. GLC volunteers moved from table to table pulling designated glassine envelopes of seed (each species and cultivar marked with it’s own identifying number) from trays holding rows of seed packets, and dropping them into a berry box (for that order)

Between 15 to 20 of the GLC members donated their time over a 2 week period, to meet up at Tony Reznicek’s garage and fill a total of 247 Second Round Seed Orders.

Once a pass across all of the tables of seed trays has been made, pulling requested seed packets from the order list, a second pass may be necessary in order to replace first choices (not available) by pulling second choice seed packets (also listed on the order. If, after the second pass thru all of the available seed trays failed to meet the requested number of seed packets, the shortage would be made up by pulling substitutes (if requested). The seed packets were then placed into plastic bags with the order number written onto the bag and set on the staging table along with the order form, to be transferred into the padded mailing envelopes.

As this was our second year of filling these orders, this job will be preformed by another Chapter of NARGS next year. Something to consider when selecting a place to accomplish this task, is to have a heated space (especially for Chapters in a Northern locals), in which to work in. Tony’s garage was not and we had to make do with multiple space heaters. If your local NARGS Chapter has not yet taken of a project on behalf of the National before, the Second Round Seed Ex. is a great project to start with.

The loins share of the work accomplished was done by Holly Pilon (the overall director of this project and wearer of many hats), along with Lisa Quieggle, who took the seed order numbers from the on-line cart orders, and created the paper forms used to fill orders, and Colleen Mitchel, who’s duties included all things financial in addition to tracking and mailing. But all three of these ladies did a lot more than what I highlighted.

The Seed Ex is a big part of why people join NARGS. It would not happen if not for a lot of work most all of it unseen and unrealized. All NARGS members owe a great deal of thanks especially to Joyce Fingerut and Laura Sewowitz.

On behalf of everyone who donated seed, packaged it, filled the First Round Orders, and those of us in the GLC who filled the Second Round Orders,

Happy Gardening!

all photographs courtesy of Tony Reznicek.

Several months ago I posted about protecting newly planted conifers with paper Yard-Waste bags, I failed to include any mention about when to remove the bags. With the sudden jump in temperature this weekend ( despite the soil still being thoroughly frozen ), I’ve decided now’s the time to remove the protective bags. I usually wait for a forecast of 2 or 3 days of cloudy weather before I pull the trigger, however rain and snow moves in tonight and may last into Tuesday so I’ll uncover my plants today as I don’t want to be out in tomorrow’s weather.

Pinus virginiana ‘Wate’s Golden Broom’ showing it’s winter coloration. As today is quite sunny I’ll take some clothes pins and secure a piece of burlap fabric to the stakes to insure the sun light doesn’t scald any of the needles that were shaded for the past several months inside the bag. I’ll remove the fabric later this evening once the sun’s rays no longer reach it.

I hope you were able to get out and enjoy this weekend’s wonderful weather!