First Hemerocallis of the season

Well, the early daylilies have started to bloom. Stella De'Oro are usually the first bloomers of the year. I only have one clump of Stella De'Oro here in my gardens  and while mine are not yet in bloom because they are getting too much shade, most of my neighbors' are. Here are a few of my other day lilies that have started to bloom:

If you happened to see the pictures I posted earlier, of my Jackmanii Clematis, here is another picture of the clematis on my fence and you can see how many more blooms it has now, over when the last picture was taken back in April.

This is some Victoria Blue salvia that I have growing by the koi pond.  It is a carefree plant and it's flowers are long lasting.

I took a brief walk through what used to be my shady side garden. That was three large dead trees ago. I have had the dead trees removed, and for now the garden gets more sun than it was intended. Most of the plants are capable of adapting. The 'Bloodgood' and 'Coral Bark' Japanese maples do well in the shade or sun. As do the osmanthus, the camelia sasanqua & japonica, iteas, 'Encore' azaleas, and many of the other plants in this garden. Even the hostas look nice in spring, but in a few months the sun will take its toll on them and they will start looking worse for the wear.

I have allowed some Tulip poplar seedlings to grow int this garden, and they should grow quickly to bring shade back to this garden. And they serve as a host plant to butterflies.

The Virginia Sweetspire (Itea) is in full bloom now. This is a truly wonderful plant that can serve many purposes. It can be planted in wet areas, sun, shade and will perform well.

Broccoli harvest

It's been unusually cold and wet today, so there is not much happening as far as garden work getting done. I planted most of our annuals yesterday. We put in several varieties of zinnia in the front bed and sprinkled them in the street garden as well. The side garden got some vincas and pink torenias. The pool bed got blue torenias and white zinnias.

 I also had to replace a hosta that was in a pot under the back deck patio. For some reason the dogs tore every leaf of the plant. I suspect a lizard was hiding in the foliage and my hosta came out on the short end of that. I transplanted it out into the garden, in a nice shady spot and gave it a dose of high nitrogen fertilizer to try to stimulate some new growth. I dug up another hosta that was in a spot with too much sun (I had a tree die and removed it) so I potted it up and moved it under the patio cover.

 I have a head of Atlantic broccoli ready for harvest and we'll be having that with dinner tonight.

I see from my notes that I transplanted the broccoli into the garden on February 18th, on seeds which were sown indoors on January 21st, which would mean it was just over 60 days from transplant to first harvest. I see no signs of heads forming on any of the other plants though. 

 I also have numerous heads of lettuce which are forming heads. One of which is ready now.

 And the Golden Acre cabbage is starting to head up as well. I'll be making some coleslaw, fried cabbage and sauerkraut soon!

 It is also peak bloom time for most of the iris in my gardens. I have too many to list them all, but here are some pictures of some of my favorites.

This is a Siberian Iris Caesar's Brother

This one is an unnamed deep purple one that I got in a trade with another local gardener.

The white ones in the foreground are a reblooming iris named Immortality. If you keep it watered and feed through the summer, you will be rewarded with more blooms in the late summer.