Notes From the Garden

Photo:

Kristin Perry

Photo:

Crocus tommasinianus

Mid April in the garden brings numerous signs of spring. Bulbs are up and birds are singing. Here at the garden everyone is asking about the lilacs. They have come to life with the warm temperatures.

We especially wait for spring rains that awaken many flowers from winter dormancies.

While we wait for the moist days, I find new wonders in bloom in the garden. This week our honeybees were gathering nectar and/or pollen from the sweetly scented flowers of Fragrant Viburnum, Viburnum farreri.

The kaleidoscope of ephemeral crocus blooms throughout the garden are various shapes, sizes and colors but are already beginning to fade along with snowdrops.

If you get up close and personal with a crocus you will not be disappointed with its delicate fragrance.

At long last Forsythia is in bloom reminding gardeners of timely tasks to be done in the garden, such as raking and more raking. In warm sunny nooks Bloodroot flowers open, soon to be followed by their leaves which unfurl to gather precious light before woodland trees shade them.

Lilacs continue to progress from tight green buds to bulging buds and even to the flower buds that are now recognizable. It is still early to predict bloom but because of the lack of frost in the ground and because the soils are warming early, I would guess that lilacs too could have early blossoms this year.

As we continue to tidy up the garden in anticipation of an early spring, continue to follow our spring reports from the garden.

Kristin Perry is the Director of Horticulture at McLaughlin Garden: She holds a B.S. in Botany from Eastern Illinois University with subsequent Horticulture/Arboriculture certificates from the NY Botanical Garden School of Horticulture. Member: American Horticulture Society, American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta.