Spring Flowers

You know it is really spring when the Bleeding Heart begin blooming. They are beautiful right now!

The "Black" Tulips are always the last ones to bloom, but they are beautiful. The pedals of the bloom looks like velvet.

The Wild Geranium are in the peak bloom right now. These are the most unusual plants in that if Japanese Beetles eat the leaves it kills the beetle. The plants propagate by throwing their seeds up to 10' away from the mother plant, so young plants show up just about anywhere.

I think my bleeding heart plants expired last year. Got lots of tulips though!

Those ar so pretty! Tulips and Lilly of the Valley are my favourite flowers!

Made a short video of a Memorial Day walk-through of the flowers around the property.

OhioGardener wrote:You know it is really spring when the Bleeding Heart begin blooming. They are beautiful right now!

I just got a plant from my sil and put it in last fall.  It's one of my favorites and it's doing well in it's new spot.  I hope the whole area will fill up with them.

OhioGardener wrote:The Wild Geranium are in the peak bloom right now. These are the most unusual plants in that if Japanese Beetles eat the leaves it kills the beetle. The plants propagate by throwing their seeds up to 10' away from the mother plant, so young plants show up just about anywhere.

We saw these along our local rail trail. I'd love to have some in my yard. I'll have to check the local native nursery.  I had one at my last house for a little while.

OhioGardener wrote:Made a short video of a Memorial Day walk-through of the flowers around the property.

Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed that.  Do salvia like sun or shade?

Emily49 wrote:

Do salvia like sun or shade?

They love full sun, such as the south facing side of the house. If they are in partial shade, they will not bloom nearly as much.  The pollinators cannot resist the sweet smell of the Salvia flowers, and they bloom all summer long.

The first Peonies opened up today. They usually bloom around Memorial Day every year.

The blue Wild Geranium has gotten huge this year, never knew they ever got that big. I love having the Wild Geranium around as they are toxic to the Japanese Beetle. Pollinators, on the other hand, love the flowers.

I love the spring flowers to bring in the pollinators, but some of them have another benefit besides feeding the pollinators.

The High Bush Cranberry bushes are great for the pollinators this time of the year, and they fill the yard with their sweet fragrant smell. After the bloom, they set berries which turn bright red in the fall and are treasured by the song birds for their fall & winter food.


The Comfrey plants have beautiful flowers from spring until well into fall, and are loved by the bees. But, the leaves are cut off the plants multiple times throughout the summer to mulch plants or provide a nitrogen-rich addition to the compost.

The spring flowers are really brightening the days now.

The Fountain Butterfly Bush (Buddleja alternifolia) is in full bloom now. The bees & butterflies love this bush.

Beautiful.

OhioGardeneer: I am absolutely jealous of your way with flowers. I have a friend who has a yard full of Bleeding Hearts, plus dozens of other flowers. Also kind of envious of her. She can't garden worth a darn so we swap fresh produce from my garden for cut flowers, which I bring home to Brenda. That way I stay in her good graces. We have the ordinary run of roses, hostas, lilies and a couple dozen flowering trees, but nothing like you have. If you could see my yard, you would see that I am a tree lover. 

I have always been hesitant to plant flowers in my garden beds. Tried it once with marigolds, major mistake, self-seeded everywhere.
Didn't think I was ever going to get all the marigolds out. We do have several Clematis that are in bloom now (all purple.) We have some irises ( mainly planted at the base of trees) and a few Easter Flowers scattered about. 

At the farm in Ballard Co. we have big bunches of both irises and Easter Flowers. It's usually hunting season about the time I need to be there. Brenda has been on me about going down and bringing some back. When I start listing these, I realize we do have a fair amount of flowers, but again, nothing as beautiful as yours.

Since we are talking flowers, I thought I would post a photo of the annual flower spot I took yesterday.  The area used to be grass but we had to kill it to stop the Bermuda grass that accidentally got introduced.  Last April 2023, when I had the broken humeral ball, I designed this "keyhole" flower spot and my daughter planted it for me.  I think the annuals (except zinnias that I cut down in the fall and the cosmos that did die) survived the winter because of the dense planting protecting each other. Purple Alyssum, white and pink vincas, purple verbena, Cuphea, pink Dianthus, white and pink Cosmos, hot pink zinnias, blue Salvia and one purple flower I didn't save the name.  I want to prune more it but it is so thick that it is keeping out the visiting kitties.



This is how it was planted.  Bags of Kellogg soil conditioner topped with E B Stone Organic Compost on top of hardpan.  Coils of drip lines feeding off a solid 1/2" tube my husband ran from a lawn riser by the white post.  Mulched with E-Z Straw with Tack. The walkway and keyhole mulch with plain wood chips.

sanderson wrote:

Unadulterated envy. That's me when I see your flowers.