It's Bluebell Time

The ridge top garden and the east end of the sunny utility meadow are a veritable carpet of bluebells just beginning to bloom. Eighty degree days speeds the process along.

Eighty degree days and crispy brown foliage that falls off in my hand when I caress the new baby Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crippsii' tells me something is amiss. It remained green through the winter, surviving -8 degrees just fine. After that last late winter blast with a low of 20 it got brown tips. This chamaecyparis is rated to zone 4.

The rated to zone 3 Emerald Green Arborvitae 'Smaragd' is even more thoroughly brown and crispy. It too remained green through -8 only to turn brown after that last winter zap. The same goes for my rated to zone 4 'Emerald Spreader' Japanese Yew.

Just goes to show ya, hardiness ratings are only so good once a plant has broken dormancy and gets hit by a cold snap. All I can do is wait and see how well they grow out of the damage. This kind of sucks big time though.

There are many much more cheerful sights in the time of the bluebells. I got some Trillium grandiflorum as hitch hikers when my neighbor gave me some seedling Calycanthus. Both have been getting bigger every year. The Calycanthus got zapped by the late freeze too. It has started to leaf back out.

The yellow Lady Slipper Orchid is back and looking fine. It waited until after the freeze to break ground. Smart orchid.

The pink azalea was allowed to bloom undisturbed this year. The warmth already has the bloom on the down side.

Not to worry. Plenty more azaleas are waiting in the wings and mountainous rhododendrons are covered in swelling buds.

The first of the Iris cristata have arrived. There are patches of this iris all over the mountain.

In the time of the bluebells.

The bluebells have hitch hiked their way into the garden becoming. It is inevitable when anything is transplanted from next door. I have already considered digging them up and tossing them. I like the diversity of the native wild things better. The bluebells seem to get so thick nothing else grows with them. That could be partly due to the editing habits of the gardener over there.

Still, I'd rather have an ocean of trilliums. That's what I am working on.