Weekend flowers.

What a great weekend in the garden we had.  The weather was pretty good, the sun came out and it was dry.  Lots of new flowers seem to be appearing everyday.  I love this time of year when there are so many daily surprises.  I finally worked on the entry garden and it's looking pretty good so far.  Most of the rest of the time was spent doing some weeding and just enjoying the garden and my family.

There is so much color right now, and there is still so much to bloom.  This is the view from the front porch looking to the right.

I've always walked along the sidewalk of our front yard to see what it looks like to people walking by.  The only thing I wish was different was that we had more vegetables growing.  It's just not gotten warm enough consistently for much to happen yet.

An Iris I bought two years ago finally has it's first two blooms.  This is 'Loop de Loop', it smells almost like lemons.

Penstemon 'Catherine de la Mar' is huge and full of flowers.  Its' the first Penstemon to bloom so far.

Yellow Daylilies that came with the yard.  I'm not sure what they are, but they smell really good.  They are blooming with white Columbines.

The Spanish Poppy has a really nice scent, I love this new plant.

In an earlier post I said I'd post a picture of this new Clematis fully open and give it's name.  I have somehow already lost the tag, so if anyone knows what it is I'd love to know what it's called.  When it first opened it was more red that purple.

Nigella with a little visitor flying by.

Peony 'Sorbet' is having it's best year yet.  These huge flowers were worth waiting for.  Peonies have taught me patience in the garden.  It takes a year or two for the first bloom and then as years pass you will get more and more flowers each year.

A new Dianthus by the picket fence.

This is the entry garden I've been working on.  I dug almost everything up and tried to plant them in a more thought out way.  I put evergreen perennials like Hellebores and Heucheras in front of Hostas and Astillbes so that in the winter there would be something to look at.  In the sunny part I planted a new rose and transplanted a Geranium 'Rozanne'.  I feel like it still needs something tall in the center, but a tree is out.  Maybe some type of trellis?

We have cotton fluffs floating everywhere from the Cottonwood trees, it looks like it's snowing.  I've also noticed there seem to be no honeybees around.  I saw a few a couple of months ago, but none in my yard recently.  Lots of Bumblebees and Carpenter bees though.
All photos and words property of A Gardener in Progress.

Clearing my Clematis Confusion.

Clematis have always been one of my very favorite flowers, and the fact that they are vines and can grow up taking less space in my yard has made me love them even more. But just the word Clematis has caused me confusion. My Mom always pronounced it "Cle MAT is" so that is what I always called them. It wasn't until years ago I heard it pronounced another way "CLEM ah tis".
The other confusing part about Clematis was the pruning. I guess I had been lucky that the first few I bought were types that bloomed on new wood. So, at the end of summer I would cut them down and then next summer have lots of blooms. It wasn't until I bought 'Nelly Moser' that I finally learned about the correct pruning times. I couldn't figure out why I would only get one or two blooms on it.
Now I find that I've accumulated 14 and except for a few, it's hard to remember when to prune each one. I've written out lists looked up each one and written down the pruning time. Then I've lost each list and had to start over again the next year. I thought I would use this post to keep track of my Clematis as well as explain a little about when each type is pruned.

Type 1 or A are Spring bloomers and require no pruning unless you would like to thin them or cut out dead vines.

Clematis armandii is one I had but unfortunately decided to move last summer and it didn't make it. I'm sure I'll be adding another this year, maybe the pink 'Apple Blossom' variety.

'Southern Cross' a new one last year which is zone 8 - 9, so I may be pushing it a little, crossing my fingers it makes it.

Type 2 or B is divided into two groups
B1 usually bloom May - June on previous growth, and may have a second smaller flush of flowers later in summer on current growth.

'Josephine' - grows happily in a container on my deck

'Josephine'

'Nelly Moser' - tends to die back every summer, I've moved her to a new spot to see if she'll be happier.

'Nelly Moser'

'Piilu' (Little Duckling) - pruned at wrong time and no blooms last summer

B2 bloom on last years and current growth usually continuously from June - September. Pruning should take place late winter and just cutting out tangled or dead vines.

'Crimson King'
'Henryi'

'Henryi'

'Miss Bateman'

Type 3 or C bloom on current wood only. These should be pruned as close to the ground as possible to the first two sets of buds. These bloom during the summer and are fast growing.

'Alionushka' - easy care and blooms great every year

'Alionushka'

'Comtesse de Bouchard' - new last year, bloomed into the fall
'Etoille Violette' (viticella) - blooms like crazy in hot side yard
'Jackmanii superba' - as easy as they get and blooms like crazy

'Jackmanii superba'

'Little Nell' (viticella) - new last summer, few little blooms

'Little Nell'

'Peppermint' - new last summer, crossing my fingers I see this one again
'Ville de Lyon' - another very easy one that has huge flowers

'Ville de Lyon'

I'm sure my list will continue to grow, especially since I have 3 already on my wish list. I fertilize Clematis by putting new compost around them in the Spring. If you have any other tips about Clematis I'd love to hear them as well.

Seems early,...

But I guess it's not. One thing I've loved about starting a blog last year is the way I can keep track of my garden and what's growing when. While I was outside this weekend starting winter sowing I noticed quite a bit of new growth. It seemed early for some things, but as I came in and looked at my pictures and posts from last year it's seems as though most everything is right about on time. Last winter our weather was a lot different, we had a good amount of snow and cold weather. This winter we had icy weather in the beginning of December but other than that it has been fairly mild and very rainy.

More Hellebores (H. orientalis) getting ready to bloom. This one is 'Royal Heritage'. These I know are right on track.

Iris reticulata seemed early, but looking back at my records they are at about the same place they were last winter.

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' as well as pretty much all of the other Clematis in my yard have new growth.

Old fashioned Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) seemed really early to be sprouting, but looking back it's not. All of them are at about the same stage as this one.

Corsican Hellebore has buds that seem to be growing daily, last year they bloomed through the snow. I think they are typically later bloomers than the other Hellebores (H. orientalis), but in my yard they bloom right around the same time.

Variegated Wallflower (Erysimum linifolium) was new last April, but it came in full bloom when I bought it. It has only stopped blooming during the freeze back in December, it's now got quite a few new buds. As I've said before this has been one of my favorite new plants this past year. If you see it and it grows in your zone (USDA 3a - 9b), buy it!

Winter Daphne (daphne odorata) never got a chance to really bloom last year. Hopefully these quickly growing buds will be able to flower before any more freezes.

Winter Hazel (Corylopsis) 'Buttercup' didn't really get a good chance to bloom either last year. It's loaded with yellow and pinkish buds.

This house down the street from me has a tree that has new growth all over it, I can't tell what type of tree it is though and this was the best picture I could get. Any ideas? This house is going to be for sale, anyone want to be my neighbor? :)

Sarcococca is now blooming, but I'm saving those pictures for Bloom Day. They are exactly on time, Grace's are blooming too. The Snowball bush (Viburnum) actually has some leaves beginning to open as well as some of the Hydrangeas. The Hydrangeas worry me though, since one good freeze and I say "goodbye" to all the flowers for summer. Another thing I'm a little concerned about are the pests that seem to be enjoying our mild weather, I've seen both Aphids and Leaf hoppers on my plants. As much as I've loved this mild winter I would really love to get at least one snowfall.