I love the frenzy of flowers in late spring/early summer.  And the garden here peaks in September when the shear mass of plant  material is nearly overwhelming.  But nothing beats seeing what pops up as the snow retreats.
We hit 63 yesterday and today, and had a little rain today. Â The snow has retreated quickly, and we had a nice blanket of ‘melting snow fog’ this afternoon. Â (Click on images for larger view.)
The rain and melting snow has our little creek up over it’s banks.
The snow pealed back to reveil Eranthis (winter aconite) in full flower.
The hard cyclamens are also looking good and flowering within a day of seeing the sun.
And the Hellebores are getting off to a good start …
I’m just as excited to see vegetation that amazingly survives (if not actually grows) under the snow, like these Digitalis ferruginea …
… Verbascum …
… Lamium …
… and this viny groundcover that’s taking over the patio.
Best picture of the batch: This Verbascum has been nibbled on a bit. I wonder by what?
Snowdrops, iris and other goodies are coming on, too. More pix from the compressed spring coming soon.
What wonderful pictures… and you’re so right about the joy of seeing what emerges when the snow melts. I think I need to get some of that aconite…
What a gorgeous place. I love the snowy creek picture, though I’m sure you’re glad to be seeing the end of the snow by now. I’m amazed at how fast you get flowers after the snow melts.
Kim: My aconite comes from a local gardener who doesn’t like it when it spreads from where she wants it. Her husband is an emeritus professor who comes to the building occasionally and leaves me little baggies in my mailbox with aconite and similar little spreaders.
That’s mail you don’t mind getting.
I’ll bet there’s a patch in your neighborhood and the owner wouldn’t mind sharing a little.
Pam: Those fast-flowerers are known as spring ephemerals. They move quickly to try to get their lifecycle completed before the trees leaf out.
Yay, Eranthis!
I have some blooming in my front garden for the second year in a row. But not as many as last year. I can’t imagine having such abundance that it spreads to where I don’t want it!
What conditions do you find they enjoy? Do they spread well for you? I suspect they want a loamier soil than I’ve been able to create yet. I’ve only had two years with these gardens so far. I’ve got some compost bins that need sifting and rebuilding when things warm up a bit, so maybe some of that can go to them.
Unfortunately, no… most of the old gardens around me have long been plundered–er, revamped. After reading your post I found that Old House Gardens sells them in the fall and I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy something from them anyway so I’ll put them on my list.
Does anyone else love the term “spring ephemerals,” by the way? The sound of the words just perfectly fits the delicate, fleeting, beautiful little things the phrase describes…
Xris: References give the usual ‘humus rich’ soil that doesn’t dry out in spring. I’ve only had mine a short time so I can’t tell you whether or not they’re happy where they are in a moderate-humus soil not too far from a big Norway maple that suck out all available moisture when it’s dry during mid-summer. I also note a passage that says ‘forms large colonies, particularly where soil is alkaline.’ So maybe yours is acid, hence the decline? Maybe some more humus and lime will get them increasing.
Kim: Yes. I’ve always loved that term, ‘spring ephemeral’. Ephemeral is usually a negative term. Short-lived. Not lasting. But while their time above ground may be short, they exploit such a neat niche, and are really quite lasting. My first snowdrops came up in my lawn on a city lot. Almost 20 years later, I’m sure those clumps are still there. And I’ve moved some to where we are now and they seem happy with the move, popping up here and there around the place.
What a property!
Keep on with the photos brother! You are inspiring this Southerner-living-North that I can see flowers in the cold.
Hank
I never think of “Ephemeral” as a negative, but I can definitely see why some would. I never really thought much of any of the spring ephemerals or bulbs until I moved to the city… I admit that I was spoiled, growing up with a spring carpet of trillium grandiflorum in the woods behind my house, etc.
When I noticed my first snowdrop here, in a yard a few streets over 2 years ago, it was a revelation… before that, I had dismissed the small spring bulbs as being not worth the fuss. How silly I was.
I have that lamium all over the place–I find that whatever hybrid I get, it eventually self-seeds (reverts?) to that version. It’s OK though–it does flower all season.