Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum'

One of my spring favorites, Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum' or Variegated Solomon Seal. It is blooming in many places throughout the gardens and we will be giving quite a bit away this weeked in honor of Mothers' Day to moms and moms-to-be who visit the nursery on Sunday, May 8th. So if you're nearby, please stop to tour the gardens - and smell the lilacs.
Polygonatums are shade creatures, or at least dappled light types. They like woodsy situations with ample moisture, though I've not seen them happy in really damp places. There are many different types and maybe I'll do a post on some of the others some time soon. They range from tiny, 8 inch tall plants, to some that top 4 feet tall.
This particular one is about 2 feet tall, though in the right spot, it might reach 3 feet. It grows happily in gardens from zone (3)4 to 8. Blooming starts in late April here and last for a couple of weeks. The bell shaped flowers seem to attract lots of bumble bees, thought they don't seem designed to pollinate them and they are considerably larger than the flowers. If the flowers do get pollinated, you will see dark blue berries in the fall. Not that you need berries or seeds to get more plants. They spread by underground runners and will, over time, make a nice patch. They are easy to transplant, which is why we have small patches in many places now.
The stems are burgundy colored, though the color is more pronounced some years than others. This year it is especially good. Maybe it is all the rain we've been having. I've noticed that colors everywhere in the garden are really nice - and plants are getting huge. The leaves are edged in creamy white, a narrow margin but quite noticeable.
These are native to Europe and Asia, but have some relative in the U.S. They are commonly available from mail order nurseries and you might even find them in a small local nursery, though I've never seem them at any of the big box stores. They are easy to grow, so if you have space and shade, you really should try some. As I said, we're giving some away this weekend, so if you're in the Athens Ohio area, please stop by to get some.
Jane

Carolina Blue(pink)bells

Quick post today since I'm supposed to be working on paperwork (ugh!). This is an oddity that I discovered in the garden this spring. Our Virginia Bluebells had seeded around a bit too much and so I decided to dig a few and transplant to a sort of too shady empty spot. When they bloomed this one was definitely pink. I know some seem to change color, but this one came out pink and stayed pink. I'll keep watching to see if it does the same thing next year or if it was only caused by the stress of being transplanted. Has anyone else ever had one bloom pink like this?
Jane

Common Water Snake - Nerodia Sipedon Sipedon

A non plant post today - unless you consider the fact the this Common Water Snake (also sometimes known as Northern Water Snake) is living in the old bathtub where I keep my potted waterlilies. Common Watersnakes are one of the most common snakes in Ohio. It will live in just about any permanent body of water. I can attest to this as I have had them living in the smallest of our ponds. Actually, you don't get much smaller pond than a bathtub.
Compared to a lot of the other snakes that we have on the farm, these are kind of short and fat. They are very fond of basking in the sun and can often be seen on rocks at the edge of a pond, or on a floating log or even on an overhanging branch. They seem a bit nervous to me, disappearing under the water just about as soon as they notice you. I'm surprised that this one allowed me to take its picture. I'm a big snake fan, have been since I was little, but these guys are not on my favorites list. I have 2 major problems with them. First, they are the reason that there are no longer any fish in any of our ponds. This is not just idle chatter. I have seen them eating my poor goldfish. The frog that lived in the bathtub with the waterlilies seems to be missing as well. He used to sing to me. In addition to fish and frogs, they will eat worms, crayfish, leeches, and small mammals and birds. The other thing I dislike about this particular snake is that they are just downright nasty. They seem to delight in attacking people. Hank was weeding around the edge of one of the larger ponds when one attacked and bit him. He didn't even know it was in the pond. Although I don't know about it from personal experience, I have read that they secrete an obnoxious, smelly substance from their musk glands if they are handled.
The color can vary from brown to red to grey to blackish. Its belly can be white, yellow or grey. In general the snake seems to darken as it ages.
Common Water Snakes mate in April and June and their young are born live in late summer and fall. These are not egg layers. As seems to befit these less than lovely creatures, their babies are on their own as soon as they are born, and no parental care is provided. They female can give birth to up to 30 young at a time.
We seem to have quite a few of these snakes around and I see them often, sunning at the edges of the ponds.
Jane

Campanula punctata 'Wedding Bells'

I had good intentions of using this plant in my post yesterday, in honor or William and Kate's wedding, but I guess in my excitement of having my DSL back working I totally forgot.
I'm kind of new to Campanulas and it is a love hate sort of relationship. This one especially. It is gorgeous. The flowers are large, but still delicate and the purest white. They are borne in profusion and last for a long time. But . . . they seed voraciously. If you're not careful, you will have a forest of the things in no time at all. So, plant them by all means, but deadhead most of them, leaving maybe one or two blossoms to make you some new plants for next year. They don't seem to spread far - just drop their seeds at the base of the plant, so it is easy to just pluck them out if you get too many.
The flowers are double, two perfect flowers, one inside the other. They are hardy to zone 5. Expect them to get about 18" tall. They like sun, average soil that is neither too dry nor to wet. And so far, deer don't seem to eat them which is a plus for any plant in my garden. For those of you who like to pick flowers to bring into the house to enjoy, these make excellent cut flowers.
They seem to be readily available at a number of mail order nurseries and you may find them in garden centers also.
We had the first totally wonderful sunny day that we've had in a long time today and we totally enjoyed it - though I'm really tired now. Lots of new things dug and potted for the nursery and lots of just walking and enjoying the plants.
Jane

Uvularia sessilifolia variegata

This plant is nothing if not really cute. Unlike the more common Uvularia which is about 18 inches to 2 feet tall and has fairly large yellow, bell-shaped flowers, this guy is not much more than 6 inches tall and is perfectly in scale from the thin stem to the thin green and white leaves to the tiny, no more than 1/2inch long, creamy white bell shaped flower, one to a stem. I got this some years ago and it has spread slightly - when something this small and dainty spreads, it will never be called invasive. It has simply gone, over about 10 years, from a single stem to a patch maybe a foot across. Did I say I really like this one????
The Uvularias are woodland plants and are native to the eastern U.S. They like a shaded site and evenly moist soil. I don't think they want wet feet. Mine grows in a shady rock garden with tiny woodland anemones, miniature hostas, some tiny ferns and assorted other small plants. At the top of the slope is a small pond for iris that enjoy a shaded site. Above the pond is a sweep of Epimediums. The whole thing is quite flowery and pretty right now.
I'm not sure just how easy this one is to find, and because of its diminutive size, it needs a special spot, but I really like it. And did I say it's really cute???

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I posted an update to Facebook about today being our opening day, and then when I went over to Blogger, the DSL connection had disappeared and didn't return until almost lunchtime today. No idea what happened to it, but it's back and so am I. We're expecting a sunny day tomorrow and warmer than today - which was just a bit too chilly for my taste this time of year. We had a number of out of town guests to visit and tour the gardens despite the less than perfect weather. Hope to see you tomorrow or Sunday.
Jane

Podophyllum - Mayapples

We grow plenty of good old American native Mayapples in the garden and they are in many places in our woods, but we also grow a couple of different non-native ones. This first one is Podophyllum 'Kaleidoscope'. This is a big bigger than our native Mayapple, being about 2 feet tall with leaves up to 18" wide. Ours isn't quite that large yet, but it seems to increase in size every year. It seemed downright wimpy for the first couple of years, but now in addition to the plants being larger, the clump is increasing in size. Maybe in a couple more years I'll even have some to share. All Mayapples are shade plants and like woodsy soil. This one has a red or burgundy flower in the spring and may set seed and spread that way too. We have them growing with hostas and some other shade perennials. They are still expensive and are patented, so I don't expect to see them readily available any time soon.

Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' is similar to the one above, but has a much more patterned leaf, with dark spots. It is about the same size, likes the same conditions, and also has reddish flowers. Both of these are pretty much restricted to zones 6-8, though there have been reports of it surviving a zone 4 winter. Both of these may come up early (too early) and will need to be protected from late frosts. As long as it hasn't come up too much, we put a styrofoam box over them with a brick on top to keep it from blowing away. Makes a wonderful temporary greenhouse.

I'm writing while I'm sitting here waiting for yet more rain to arrive. Depending on which forecast you read, it could be up to an additional 2 inches. We really don't need 2 more inches of rain. I spent the day slipping a sliding in the mud trying to finish getting all of the sale plants in place for opening day. I had mud caked on up to my knees. I guess I'm going to have to find some gravel to spread if we do get this extra rain so everyone who visits the gardens this weekend isn't also caked with mud. Yuck!

Jane

Muscari macrocarpum 'Golden Fragrance'

We tried for a number of years to get this lovely yellow muscari to grow in our garden. We finally have succeeded, under a small pine tree, next to a clump of tulips. Not even sure why Hank planted it there, but it lived...and bloomed, so who am I to question. It's a very un-muscari looking muscari (Grape Hyacinth) and stands about 8 inches tall. The flowers on this species are more like little tubes than my others, which are more rounded. It is extremely fragrant, but unfortunately, unless you're crawling around weeding, you probably won't smell it. With only one bloom scape this first season, I certainly wasn't going to pick it. Maybe next year it will increase and I can bring some into the house to enjoy.
Bloom time is mid to late spring. Plant in full sun to light shade, but like most of the other spring bulbs, it will probably do better in a sunny location, at least in terms of coming back bigger and stronger next year. It will grow just about anywhere in the U.S. since it can live anywhere from zone 4 to 9. A nice thing is that they are rather deer and rodent resistent, at least so far. My other grape hyacinths aren't bothered, though, so I don't expect this one will be either. The only exception has been in winters where the deer have no food in the woods, and if the foliage is up over the winter, it might get nibbled, but in a normal year, the deer seem to avoid it.
This one is a little more expensive that the other muscari types - about $1 a bulb as opposed to more like 50 cents each for the more common ones. As with most spring blooming bulbs, I can't recommend Brent and Becky's Bulbs enough. Wonderful selection, good prices, and always the biggest and best quality bulbs. They are the reason our garden is so lovely in the early spring.
It was certainly a pleasant surprise to finally see one of these bloom this spring.

Looks like we are going to have nice weather for our opening weekend at the nursery. Hard to believe they're predicting 2 days in a row without rain. We'll see if the forecast stays that way until Friday. If you're in the area, stop by.
Jane