dianaschnuth

Earlier this month in Zone 6a/6b…

Clematis were blooming by the end of May

Pink peonies (and white ones, too) were in bloom by the end of May, as well.

These come up at the base of my tree peony. I can’t bring myself to yank them out, though, just in case they’re not actually suckers.

My poppies may have been killed with Round-Up or smothered under mulch by well-meaning landscapers. Only one bloomed this year.

Usually, this front fence is also filled with purple Siberian irises and orange Oriental poppies. This year, they were smothered by new mulch at bloom time. I think.

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Mid-May is a time of excitement in my NW Ohio garden, because the late-spring crowd is almost ready to bloom. The peonies and the poppies are leafing out nicely, the roses are breaking dormancy, and the leaf buds on the summer bloomers are just starting to break.

Of course, a few plants have already peaked and faded. My volunteer viburnum has already bloomed and faded, and now I’m trying to decide when would be a good time to move it to a better location.

The Dwarf Flowering Almond only bloomed for a scant few days, and I was lucky to get a photo of it in its prime.

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The garden is finally starting to awaken from the long winter.

The first to awaken were the crocuses, which have already come and gone.

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These are in the front of the house, viewable only from an awkward angle looking out the dining room window. I think I may move them to a more easily-seen spot in my early spring border out back, and plant some other early bloomers to keep them company.

After the crocuses, the first real wave of early spring flowers came in: daffodils, muscari (grape hyacinth), pink and purple hyacinth, and brunnera (false forget-me-nots).

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I’m a day early, for once, instead of posting my monthly Bloom Day post at the very end of the day on the 15th of the month. To be early is to be on time, as my high school band director used to say.

But anyway.

Technically, the only thing in bloom right now in my Zone 6a/6b domicile is one confused Thanksgiving cactus.

However, that’s not going to stop me from documenting all the greenery that’s popping up now that the snow has melted!
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They’re in bloom, so the Valentine’s Day carnations count!

Apart from the cut flowers my husband bought me for Valentine’s Day (above) and the poinsettia that is still mightily hanging on (and looking pretty good, I must say), the only blooms in this wintry house are forced branches from the Dwarf Flowering Almond.

Dwarf Flowering Almond

I’ve been changing their water daily for weeks, and recently moved them to a sunnier and slightly warmer location where I could enjoy their new, tiny blooms — but I’m doubtful that I’ll get even a single branch full of the pink blossoms that I’ll see outside this May. I’ll take what I can get, though!

My first attempt at forcing muscari and pink hyacinths isn’t going so well — bulb rot all around for the muscari, and lots of leaves but no blooms on the hyacinths. Maybe I’ll fare better next year.

I’m making a valiant attempt to fill my life with flowers, thanks to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! We can have flowers every month of the year!