This gorgeous creature (below) showed up a couple of years ago under a random viburnum in a nowhere place in the yard, where no one would ever see it, and I told myself firmly that I would move it and of course I didn’t for two years. But this is the year! After it finished blooming I moved it to a small bed under a bird feeder where it can be appreciated. I’d like to find out what it is so I could get some more because they are really spectacular and rival snowdrops – pure white but bigger. Could be this maybe? I made a note to order some more because they are a ‘stop and stare’ early season bulb.
Yellow epimediums, below. I think ‘Sulphureum’, ‘Fronleiten’, and ‘Amber Queen’ are synonyms. They are sold under different names but I think those may be trademarks and not patents. I believe it is a straight species. Spreads happily.
White trilliums, native to the property. These are actually really easy to lift, divide, move around and is one of those plants you have to divide to get more — they won’t just seed around easily. And you have to do it when they’re just out of bloom, because they will go dormant and hide. Chinese ginger, the ground cover, has dividing requirements like that. You could stare it for years thinking it’s an under performer but really you just divide it relentlessly and then you have tons. Took me *years* to figure that out that some plants beg to be divided.
Another favorite epimedium. I like all epimediums, they are weird little creatures and very elegant, but they are not all prolific. ‘Rubrum’ and the yellow one above spread nicely.
Poet’s daffodil, I think. It could be pheasant’s eye but I think pheasant’s eye’s petals flare back more and come to a point. Both are top-tier daffodils, fragrant and piercingly white. In general, we have a lot of daffodils but some really are underperforming, not blooming, the leaves are getting thinner, and they will eventually disappear because I bought hundreds without paying attention to bloom time and whether they would have sun on them after they bloomed to recharge. So now I have to move around a couple of hundred daffodil bulbs over the next couple of years, before they disappear.
Epimedium ‘Yubae’ joined us last year. Beautiful color, and elegant and messy and actually pretty prolific, it turns out.
As amazing as black flowers are, they can disappear in a wooded setting and need to be planted next to something contrasting to be noticed. Here ‘New York Night’ hellebore lives next to Pulmonaria ‘Shrimps on the barbie’ which I like so much more than I thought I would and which has performed well above expectations. My mother commented that Pulmonaria look like they have a fungus and I’ve always been reticent to try them out because, well, what if they look like they have a skin condition? But I like this a lot. Another lesson learned: hellebores are droopy boys. They are best on a hillside or slope so you can look up at them instead of crawling around on the ground like a snake, as I did to get this image:
Woodland anenome. Cutie. Probably would be happier in a less dry spot. I can’t believe this is the same genus as the meadow rue that grows eight feet tall.
Another epimedium ‘Pretty in Pink’. Can someone please do something about that crack in the foundation and also paint the foundation so my plants look nicer? Thanks so much.
Hellebore ‘Potters’ wheel’. Again I have got to start planting hellebores on slopes.
Bluets or mayflower or Quaker Ladies. We are good about not mowing these down in the spring so the lawn stays covered with them in the mossy back yard.
It’s just as well Virginia Bluebells go dormant because no other flower could compete with this. Spectacular.
