Ku'ulei 'Aina

I've been thinking I should advertise private, socially distanced garden strolls. Go.

The Native Stinze

First come the bulbs. They wake in early to mid-March. April is when the forest floor natives and the long since naturalized truly begin to wake up. It is a verdant green carpet full of the tiniest of flowers. For most this would all be weeds.

For me it is the native stinze. For rising from the verdant carpet of tiny flowers are a host of larger, meadow plant forms, both the native and the planted.

Trilliums are an April bloom.

Sometime in May the first mowing of the paths will be done. For now it may bloom and grow.

Since I neglected to get a lot of flower pictures and it is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, I give  you Uvularia grandiflora, Large Flowered Bellwort. No one else at headquarters is bound to have it.

We have been doing the hovering around 32 Dogwood Winter again this week. I saw snow up high this morning.

So far ....... there has only been the lightest nip of freezer burn. That is not always the case.

A garden was planted directly into the green carpet of what was there. There are no mulched beds. I can do that where I live. I can have a garden's edges defined by what is mowed

The forest itself also begins to stir and bloom in April, in subtle shades of autumn.

It is spring in the wild cultivated gardens. The forest floor and the trees above are waking up.

On Easter Sunday

Spring continues to advance in the rain of an approaching storm. The Mayapples have risen.

The cold damage of a Dogwood Winter was minor. The few Hydrangea macrophylla on the mountain were the biggest losers, obviously the least spring cold hardy plant up here. It is probably time for me to give up and find the one lace cap macrophylla I have a new home in a safer location. The year old canes have never survived a winter to bloom the following year. One always has such high hopes.

Saturday was spent walking the entire three acres of wild cultivated gardens editing. There wasn't much to eliminate in my garden. Burning Bush was pulled in the sunny utility meadow and lamium was the primary target in the ridge top garden.

Sunday was spent power lounging in intermittent rains.

The Easter Buddha remains guard.

The Freezing Point

A perfect spring of warmth has turned cold. The extra warm made many plants leap into May like growth. Now they are very susceptible to lesser and greater extents of freezer burn by the normal return of an April bout of winter. I should be used to this by now.

This bit of winter in April has a historical name. It is called the Dogwood Winter. Having a name should tell you something. There are even named winters after this. I should be used to this by now.

Being used to something and feeling disappointed and helpless when the plants you love are about to get damaged and have the season's bloom frozen out of them or worse are two separate things. This particular Dogwood Winter is hovering right around the 32 degree freezing point which is certainly better than a wicked killer cold.

Yesterday morning it dropped down to 29 after sunrise. This morning we have 31. The depth, duration and quality of freezer time are critical to the outcome. Any freezer burn from this one will be minimal.

Too many shrubberies still look like it is May. Next week has cooler spring temperatures in the diagnosis. That might help get the plants back on seasonal track. This is still early April. Blackberry Winter, if it comes, is next. I should be used to this by now.

More Spring At The Posh Estate

The 2020 Haywood County Extension garden tour scheduled for July 11 was cancelled due to a virus. I am annoyed. My handiwork at the Posh Estate and the Inn at Tranquility Farm were going to be on display. I was expecting the best in show ribbon as a fitting end to a long career as a peasant gardener.

One day in July doesn't tell the whole picture of any garden though. I like to start show time much earlier than July and run it all year long. In July, the Creeping Phlox is a non-descript green groundcover.

Bleeding Heart, Celandine Poppy and Hellebore will all be finished blooming well before summer.

This is the spring show.

And it has been a most excellent spring show this year with all the warm weather. It has been so nice, a lot of the shrubberies are looking like the middle of May. That has me very afraid. April has been known to turn polar. That would make me very sad. It could be a show killer.

We are well past bud break.

While early spring is still underway.

Spring Days

We can start at the Posh Estate. The hillsides are blooming.

With Creeping Phlox

And Celandine Poppy.

With Cherry Trees on top.

The shrubberies are joining in.

That is Korean Spice Viburnum and Pearlbush.

The Celandine Poppy were brought home to the mountain top.

And turned wild.

The PJM Rhododendron are in full bloom. This would be the time we regularly get another blast of cold and snow. It would be nice if that did not happen.

The Puschkinia have started to fade.

The bulbs are having a good warm spring so far. That makes for happy bulbs able to store energy for an even better bloom next year. Last year they got cold smacked.

Anemone nemorosa.

There has been progress in returning Solly Kitty back to the wild. Her world is about to change again when her new mama and a roommate arrive next week. She is getting a new pride.

I come home to rest.

The Under Garden had a most excellent winter.

High on the low spot of a North Carolina mountain top.

The blush of spring is in the trees.

In the land of the Crooked Shed.

Spring Trees