Thursday, March 5, 2020

Early spring flowers and foliage -- hyacinths, wild bergamot, hoary mountain mint, redbud buds and more!

Happy 2020.

Yes, it's already March, but frankly there was not much that I wanted to document in my Middle Tennessee garden in January or February.

Now, though, things have changed.


I limbed up some of the volunteer redbuds (Cercis canadensis) this winter. It looks like they should bloom soon. The buds are very pretty.



The hyacinths are blooming. On warm, sunny, still days, the fragrance is very pleasant. These are the most reliable perennial bulbs that I've found for Tennessee. We order them from Brent & Becky's Bulbs.







The basal foliage on Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot) has looked good all winter.
 



So has the Pycnanthemum incanum (hoary mountain mint) basal foliage.

Volunteer elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) foliage starts emerging very early -- in January!

think this is new growth on a volunteer Symphyotrichum oblongifolius (aromatic aster). I used to grow this beautiful aster in my garden, but removed it a few years ago as being too prolific. Now I miss it, so I was delighted to find a volunteer that thrived in difficult conditions last year. I'm hoping that volunteer will spark a resurgence of the plant in my garden, but just in case I scattered some aromatic aster seeds over the winter and will probably buy at least a couple aromatic asters in the spring to add here and there.




Last spring, a local gardening savante generously gifted me with a few wood poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum) from her garden. I planted them and tried to keep them going through various droughts and heat waves. I'm overjoyed to see that at least one seems to have survived. Beautiful new foliage - and check out those hairy stems!