Spring-Blooming Plants

May 2, 2023May 2, 2023 ~ Loreeebee ~ 1 Comment

Spring is my favourite season. I love the fact that the plants in gardens, roadsides, and parks start strutting their stuff, with changes every day. My own gardens don’t disappoint me every spring. In fact, I am known to just wander/putter around enjoying the new growth on a daily basis. If you too love cheery blossoms in spring, here are a few spring-blooming plants to consider for your yard and gardens…

Magnolias

My spring starts off with the star magnolia in my front yard. From afar, the blossoms look like pom poms, brightening up my yard even before the leaves emerge. Up close they are even more spectacular. This tree gets more gorgeous every year. I have complete strangers stopping to take pictures of this spring-blooming favourite.

Another magnolia blooms a bit later in my backyard. This beauty is the Ann variety, with blossoms that change in shape as they progress…

Forsythia Plants are Spring-Blooming

After my white star magnolia blooms and drops its flowers, forsythia bushes brighten the neighbourhood with their striking yellow blossoms. My neighbour’s is especially pleasing to me as I enjoy this view from my front windows:

I have a forsythia shrub in my backyard too, but it is still small and not as effectively placed as the beauty above.

Plum Trees

Next to bloom in my gardens are my plum trees, usually. This year their blossoms were barely there thanks to the birds. This is what they are supposed to look like:

Plum trees are very fragrant when blooming too, another sign of spring. Unfortunately, my husband suffers from seasonal allergies, so he does not find them as appealing as I do.

Apple and Crab Apple Trees

Next up in the spring-blooming parade are my McIntosh apple trees. This year they are particularly gorgeous…

…perhaps because the plum trees were not. The apple trees are loaded with bees too; I’m doing my part to keep them thriving!

Around the same time as the apple trees in my backyard, the crab apple tree in my front yard and in yards all across this city is in full bloom, ranging from the palest of pink to light pink to my own darker almost-wine-colored version. Whatever the variety, they are all beautifully spring-like.

Lilac Trees and Bushes

While most lilac trees and bushes are in bloom by now, with their distinct and fragrant blossoms, mine does not bloom until early June. After the plum and apple trees have shown off. These lilacs are still spring bloomers by calendar standards, but not quite a harbinger of spring in my yard.

Shrub Roses

Shrub roses (usually) bloom earlier and for longer than rose bushes, but of course, there are exceptions. My favourite shrub rose, with pale yellow five-lobed petals and lemony yellow centers, is just starting to bloom now while my crab apple tree is still going strong.

A few other varieties of pink shrub roses throughout my gardens will wait a few weeks before they decide to bloom.

Roses of the climbing or bushes type wait for the hotter days (and nights) of summer to perform.

Spring Bulbs

Spring bulbs are planted in the fall to provide early spring colour in your gardens. Early tulips and daffodils are currently blooming, with allium still working on their strappy leaves and tall stems. The alliums will be blooming soon too, with the later variety of tulips. With summer still a month away, these later tulips and allium are still considered spring-blooming bulbs.

Rhododendrons

Another spring-blooming shrub is the rhododendron, fast becoming one of my favourite for all of my gardens including my own. They too range in colour, including white, pale pink, hot pink, red, and purply pink.

I have a story that I tell anyone who will listen of how I was introduced to rhododendrons. Currently, I choose them for most of my clients’ part-sun gardens, especially east and northeast-facing ones, their preferred exposure. I have two in my own backyard too, ready to burst out in blossoms any time now…

Other Perennial Plants Blooming in Spring

A few perennials bloom in spring too. A few examples in my gardens are garden sage with pale purple flowers and Jack Frost brunnera which sports green and white heart-shaped leaves and tiny blue flowers:

Groundcovers

There are also several groundcovers that bloom in spring. In my gardens that includes sweet woodruff with delicate leaves and tiny white flowers, as well as lamium with variegated leaves and pearl pink blossoms:

Fiddlehead Ferns

These ferns don’t flower as such, but their fronds are fascinating to watch unfurl. Apparently, fiddleheads are delicious to cook and eat, although I have not tried them. This bed is full of ferns, turning into a lush, green focal point in summer:

Conclusions

There are lots of plants to choose from for spring colour in your gardens. Plant bulbs in the fall or perennials and shrubs anytime the ground is warm enough to dig in.

Groundcover, the Good, Bad, and Ugly

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 ~ Loreeebee ~ Leave a comment

Groundcover is an integral part of most gardens. Groundcover is self-explanatory, basically plants that cover the bare ground, usually between larger (taller) plants. The use of ground cover in gardens helps to minimize the appearance of weeds, which is always beneficial. There are thousands of varieties out there, some good, some not so good (in my opinion) and some downright ugly! Let me help you decipher some of my favourites and others that I encounter on a daily basis in my gardening business.

The Best

For Part Sun

My favourite groundcovers for part sun to shade include sweet woodruff and lamium. Each perky stem of sweet woodruff sports six shiny green leaves and tiny white flowers in spring. Even after flowering this groundcover remains attractive all summer long. Sweet woodruff requires no deadheading either, which is an added bonus.

Lamium’s flowers are flashier, either pale pink or lavender in colour. Its variegated foliage (green and white) also remains attractive all season. Deadheading after blooming will create a second bloom time too.

I guess that’s what I like most about these two groundcovers; even when not in bloom they look great. Although both spread, they do so in small clumps but are not invasive. Both are shallow-rooted, so easy to remove from areas you don’t want them. I use both of these as edging plants in my gardens as well. I have also used lamium in shady hanging baskets as it trails nicely as it grows.

Groundcover For Full Sun

For hot, sunny and dry spots in the garden, including tucked between or cascading over rocks, or even in containers, you can’t beat sedums or stonecrops. Both come in a wide variety of bloom colours. I especially love the dragon’s blood (red) stonecrop and the cute rosettes of hen and chicks. This picture shows stonecrop in a container but it makes great groundcover as well.

stonecrop and sedums in a hot, sunny container

Invasive Groundcover

Violets, creeping thyme, and periwinkle make a successful groundcover as well, but they can all be invasive…

My Least Favourite Groundcover

Some of the not so nice (looking) groundcover that crops up uninvited in gardens are clover and mosses. Clover is cute looking too, some people actually confuse sweet woodruff with clover leaves. However, clover is much weedier and more invasive. I don’t mind clover in my lawns, but pull it out of my gardens. Some people encourage moss to grow between their stonework patios and walkways, not a look I am fond of.

Conclusions

The only time ground cover in your gardens does not work well is if you prefer mulch between your plants. Not that you can’t have both, the problem is that most groundcover is low growing so the mulch can overpower and even smother it. For this reason, I don’t usually recommend both mulch and ground cover in the same garden.

As I was snapping pictures of these varieties of groundcover the other day, I spied a garter snake peaking out at me from the cover of a hosta. As a kid, I used to think they were called gardener snakes, most likely because I saw them mostly in gardens. I probably (unintentionally) disturbed this cutie’s sun bask. By the time I focused on him, he was off, slithering away down the stone path to safety…

Succulents For Full Sun

June 5, 2015February 4, 2023 ~ Loreeebee ~ Leave a comment

If you follow this blog and gardening website, you will know I love succulents of all shapes and sizes. At the top of my list of favourite perennials, they tolerate hot sun and require little to no maintenance. Not only do they tolerate full sun but they also thrive in drought conditions. There are so many varieties to choose from too, with the options increasing each garden season.

I love them so much that I even included one tiny succulent in each of the party favours for guests at my daughter-in-law’s baby shower.

Propagating Succulents

I’ve also decided to try my hand at propagation recently. All I did to encourage propagation was tuck a few leaves from various types of succulents into houseplants around the house. Especially the ones in a sunny location. I also tried placing a few leaves in a small, shallow, clear container into which I added a tiny bit of water. The container sits on a north-facing window sill.

The leaves withered up, but tiny new plants emerged at the base of the leaf in each propagation attempt. Just be sure to keep the soil moist around the leaves inserted in soil as well as a tiny bit (just enough to keep emerging roots wet) of water in the bottom of the container.

Hen and chicks (sempervivum) are especially easy to propagate, simply by removing the ‘chicks’ from their ‘mother’ and inserting them into the soil in a new location right in the garden.

Sunny Containers

Succulents look great and thrive in my urns that are located in full sun. I had two coco liners filled with soil left from last summer’s hanging baskets. I turned them upside down over my cast iron urns, tucking the fiber into the edge of the urns to make them fit and to prevent soil and water from leaking out. I then cut slits in the fiber and tucked slips of succulents (sedum and stonecrop) into the slits. For the top, I used a large sermpervivum rosette (the hen part of the hen and chicks succulent plant). I am hoping the succulent slips will cascade over the sides of the urns as they grow. I will rotate the urns occasionally as the sedums grow toward the sun, so they will cascade evenly around the perimeter of the urns.

These urns of mine sit in front of my garage with a hot, dry, full sun, southern exposure. Over the years I have not had much luck with any other plants growing there. They all start off well but quickly lose their appeal as they get leggy and dry out. Hopefully, the succulents will do the trick to keep my urns looking great all summer.

succulents in containers for hot dry conditions

propagation — succulents in containers for hot dry conditions

Succulents in Garden Beds

Perennial succulents are also an excellent choice for a hot, dry location in your garden. There are many varieties to choose from; sedums and stonecrop are two of my favourites. Choose a variation in color for a spectacular display. Once established succulents require very little water, and in fact, too much water will cause them to rot. In garden beds, succulents can be used in whimsical containers or as beautiful edging plants or groundcover.