what’s blooming…

The blooms keep coming and it’s a game to catch all that’s blooming in the camera lens.  There are some things that are so familiar that I might just pass up the self-seeded columbines, the Viburnum opulus, or the lingering flowers of Korean Lilac in the presence of their more unusual counterparts.  I don’t mean to downplay their beauty and their role in the garden.

And among the new blooms that come every day, we still have tulips and narcissus just opening!  The poeticus narcissus bloom later, as do several variety of tulips, especially Tulip clusiana.  I’ll post some photos of them, but I may not be able to give you all the varieties at this time.

Rock garden plants- alpines- are in full bloom with flowering Saxifrage, Armeria, Iberis, Phlox subulata, Iris pumila, and Dianthus among others.  Primulas are still blooming well as are Epimediums, Dicentras and Phlox stolonifera and divaricata.  We have beautiful Tollius blooming amid the forget-me-nots, and Alliums, Poppies, and Iris are all opening up.  In woody plants, the deciduous azaleas are blooming and they fill the air with a spicy fragrance.  Viburnum plicatum, and Viburnum opulus are blooming as are the large-leaved Rhododendrons.  Our Weigela ‘Korean Sunset’ is full of soft pink blossoms and the Calycanthus floridus and Calycanthus floridus ‘Athens’ are flowering as well.  Of course lilacs and flowering crabs are reaching the end, except for the later blooming varieties of lilacs which are just opening up.  Conifers are blooming too, and their showy cones will be appearing shortly.

This week, I’m coming to you from Minneapolis, where I am tending to work on some of our projects out here.  I’ll take some photos and blog about those projects later, so you can see what we’ve been up to in this part of the country.  Where we’ve had rain in Vermont, it’s been very dry here.  It may be the driest May on record if it doesn’t rain soon.  It’s odd to see lawns browned out this time of year.  Let’s hope for rain here soon.

Following are some images of things that were blooming before I left Vermont on Wednesday.  Enjoy!