More Iris histrioides ‘Katharine Hodgkin’

I was hoping to do a series of my favorite early spring bloom, starting with this spear, then moving to this partially opened flower from early last week (apologies for the lousy focus) …

Iris histrioides ‘Katharine Hodgkin’

But then Friday, we got this …

snowy ridge

The heavy wet snow bent Katharine over and she’s now a soggy mess. Oh well. But it looks like there might be a second bloom coming.

Some ephemerals on campus stood up a little better:

snowy snowdrops

snowy crocus

Easter up close

When you don’t have much going on in the garden, you can always move in close and make the most of what you’ve got.

I was hoping that Iris histrioides ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ would make an appearance today. Close, but not quite. Here’s the same plant in flower last year.

Iris

Eranthis is coming on strong.

Iris

Tulips emerging.

Iris

Something emerging. Not sure what.

Iris

‘Floral frost’ on the coldframe this morning.

Iris

Forced daffs inside.

Iris

Cyclamen flowers, ‘drowning’ Eranthis

cyclamen flowers

The buds that have been on this cyclamen since November finally opened yesterday. Lots more buds to come. I also bought a couple new cyclamens from John Lonsdale, Edgewood Gardens (west of Philadelphia) at his rock garden society presentation last weekend.

Below are some more eranthis I discovered yesterday. I raked too many leaves on top of the bed, and I noticed that they were heaving in spots. I cleared them away and found the chlorotic eranthis. I wonder if they are buried under too much mulch if they have a feeling like we do when we’re underwater and running out of breath.

drowning eranthis