Leucojum aestivum

I was at my folks' place yesterday after doing some site work in a nearby town.  I wanted to check up on the garden and see how things were looking.  I have to say, I was pretty pleased!  The whole front looks like we're almost in May, rather than just in the first days of April.  The boxwoods are growing like mad, and the Chionanthus virginicus has tons of buds on it.  Iris germanica is in full bloom, but no sign of the Allium giganteum, which, last year, was blooming at the same time as the irises.

Dotting the garden, in little pointillist spots of white, were the blossoms of Leucojum aestivum or spring snowflake.  

This is a great go-to bulb in this area (Virginia).  The deer stay away from it, it multiplies like crazy and it's perfectly lovely.  The tall stems of white blossoms remain visible over the burgeoning perennial foliage and it adds a lovely sprinkling of botanical salt (or as the common name suggest, snow) on a spring garden.

Check out my Contribution to Yesterday's 'Grown in the City', also Daffodils

I've mentioned my friend John's blog 'Grown in the City' before and I've begun a regular contribution to it, which debuted yesterday.  The subject: Hamamelis or witch hazel.

I've written about witch hazel on NYPAOS several times before, but yesterday's post is a touch more in depth, so definitely check it out!

****

Another plant that is in bloom right now, which I've also covered on NYPAOS is the cheery daffodil.  Check out last year's post on Narcissus here to learn more about the different categories of daffodil and how to determine them.

More later!

Petticoat Daffodil

I'm not sure I can think of a cuter common name for a plant than 'petticoat daffodil.'  I mean, really.  The botanical name, bulbocodium, means 'woolly bulb' which is somewhat (conversely) less cuddly-sounding.  Paghat's Garden quotes a great line of Mother Goose that refers to this plant: 

Daffy-down dilly has come to town

In a yellow petticoat and a green gown.

Of course, this specimen is a white cultivar, which I think is somewhat less striking.  The fine, threadlike leaves and the small white blossoms get lost in this planting, near the USBG.  I much prefer the straight species and its yellow flowers.

I blogged about daffodils and their many classes on NYPAOS.  As you can see, N. bulbocodium has a greatly enlarged cup and small, flared perianth.  Like many other bulbs, this species is native to the Mediterranean, specifically Spain and Portugal.

Allium albopilosum

Though yesterday I posted some photos of Aster simplex growing on a roadside in Virginia, I'm not quite done with Blithewold, up north in Rhode Island.  Here's a small bed in the display gardens. with a lovely Agave serving as focal point and anchor for the blue-toned plants surrounding it, including kale and marjoram, to name a few.

 

And perhaps most striking are the Allium albopilosum, or Star of Persia, in front of the Agave.  Like giant onion and chives, the flower on this onion consists of a round ball of smaller individual flowers.  Another name for this species is christophii, though albopilosum refers to the small white hairs that surround the flowers.

 

These flowers dry fairly well - I've encountered them rolling through gardens in early fall, looking a bit like fancy tumbleweeds.  Like the other Alliums this plant is a bulb that can be planted in autumn.

 

I thought it was also worth posting a photo of the detail above.  Corten steel beams shape the bed and the grass risers.  It was a surprise to see such contemporary vocabulary in a garden that is otherwise quite traditional.