Digital Flower Pictures.com Almost daily informative blog about plants, gardening and photography. Written by a professional Estate Gardener from Connecticut. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 550 10076 141 7494

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Early Flowering Lilac (Syringa × hyacinthiflora) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Early Flowering LilacSyringa × hyacinthiflora ?Pocahontas?(si-RING-ga) (hi-a-sin-thi-FLO-ra)OleaceaeOkay I have decided to quit complaining about what a crummy early spring we have had, even though there is a chance of snow here for Thursday. Yesterday was a little better weather wise and today it is actually suppose to reach 50 degrees F. I noticed a lot more daffodils out yesterday and that is a good sign. I have been cleaning up one of the large gardens I care for. I spent most of the day pruning some big Junipers. I am not sure what type they are (probably ?Hetzi?) but they have completely overgrown, which is typical. I have torn out more Junipers than I have planted. I think it is the most misused plant in gardens in this area. They generally just grow too big. The ones I was working on were about 10 feet tall and 30 feet wide. When I looked underneath I could see that it was just 3 original plants. I took about 3 feet off the top and tried to reduce the sides. Of course I have a ...

Cornelian Cherry Dogwood (Cornus mas 'Golden Glory') 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Cornelian Cherry DogwoodCornus mas 'Golden Glory' (KOR-nus)(mas)Cornaceae This is a small tree I am coming across more and more. I sometimes see large plants in the older gardens I visit but not that many. Its not really rare or anything like that but I think people are starting to see that it is a showy but easy to grow plant. This picture is from a plant I bought from Wayside Gardens in 1990. It has turned into a handsome tree. On this same property there was an existing specimen that I believe is not a cultivar. I actually moved it twice. Once while some major new garden construction was occurring and it sat above the ground (heeled in with mulch) for a couple of months. It didn?t seem to hurt as it almost doubled in size since then. It is now about 16 feet tall with a spread of about 10 feet. I have pruned it fairly hard for the last several years. It has been easy to keep the size down while maintaining a natural shape. The ?Golden Glory? cultivar is a bit smaller but it has ...

Bodnant Viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn') 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Bodnant ViburnumViburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn'(vy-BUR-num) (bod-nan-TEN-see)CaprifoliaceaeI was reading over at Kim?s Garden Blog about the Mouse and Trowel awards for Garden blogs.If you click here or on the banner (maybe) you can nominate blogs now and after April 15th you can vote for your favorites. I hope there is a good response and I will probably see a few new sites that I haven?t visited. If you like to read garden blogs and have never been over to Garden Voices you are missing a valuable resource. It feels great to be included with some great bloggers there. They have a lot of them and I can always find a couple of blogs that interest me very quickly. I don?t have too much time to read blogs but I make sure I get to the ones that I like and try a few new ones each week. Today?s picture is of another very early flowering shrub. I have seen it bloom in February if the conditions are right. I planted these in kind of an off area and the surrounding plants have kind of cover ...

Hoop-Petticoat Daffodil (Narcissus bulbocodium) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Hoop-Petticoat DaffodilNarcissus bulbocodium (nar-SIS-us) (bulb-oh-KOD-ee-um) I visited both the New York Botanical Garden and Wave Hill Gardens in the Bronx yesterday. The gardens weren?t that far along but there were a lot more plants blooming there then here in Connecticut. The Daffodil and Daylily Walk was just staring show some of the unique varieties of Daffs. I took a few pictures because I noticed in my archives I really don?t have many Daffodil pictures. I organize my photos by years first and then by months so I can see by season what I have. The Daffodil and Daylily Walk is one of the greatest aspects of the NYBG, in my opinion. I have used it on my jobs many times on a smaller scale. The brilliance behind it is the emerging Daylilies hide the gone by Daffodil foliage. I also visited the Rock Garden and the Ladies Border. I did notice a few of the Magnolias had been tinged by the frost.Wave Hill is a much smaller and more intimate garden. I noticed they are looking for a ...

Hybrid Tea Rose ?Mr. Lincoln? 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Hybrid Tea Rose ?Mr. Lincoln?Rosa (RO-zuh)Rosaceae (ro-ZAY-see-ay)This is my first spring writing this blog and I can see it going to be overwhelming to describe everything that is going on the garden right now. I want to thank everyone who leaves a comment. I sometimes don?t get notified by email that there are comments but I do appreciate your input. What a difference a weekend makes. Everything exploded in flowers and growth here in Connecticut over the weekend. Just a short list of what is blooming at the Estate now:Around 6,000 of the 10,000 daffodils. All types and heights. There aren?t any big plantings, mostly in small groups of single cultivars. I once had the idea of photographing every type of Daffodil in this garden and after trying one year I said forget it. 4 or 5 types of Magnolia including the dark purple ?Rikki?.One of my favorite groundcovers, Creeping Veronica (Veronica umbrosa 'Georgia Blue'). Not invasive like some Veronicas, beautiful.Okame Cherry.There is quite ... Hybrid

Gold Tide Forsythia 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Gold Tide ForsythiaForsythia x 'Courtasol'Oleaceae (oh-lee-AY-see-ay)While searching for information on Gold Tide Forsythia I came across these blog entry called A Tale of Two Forsythia Shrubs . The name of the blog is ?May Dreams Gardens? and it is quite a nice blog. I love my ?Gold Tide? although it seems to get a bit bigger than the advertised height of 20 inches. I keep my group sheared to about 24 inches. It is an easy plant to grow and is a reliable bloomer here in Southern Connecticut. I started with 6 plants but really only needed 4 as they spread nicely. They are really easy to keep lower if you want them that way. They can easy come back after a harsh shearing. I generally try and do it after they have flowered and then touch them up a little in the summer. You can see that it is cascading nicely over my stonewall. If you click on the link you will see there was a lively exchange about Arnold?s Dwarf Forsythia. I happened to take a picture of my specimen yesterday and remem ...

Narcissus 'Barrett Browning' 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Narcissus 'Barrett Browning'(nar-SIS-us)This is a nice classic type of Daffodil. The Daffodils seem fine after that crazy winter we had, it seems to be one of their finer years. The tips of the foliage got singed by the cold but on most types this really doesn?t take away from the flowers. ?Barrett Browning? is just one of the hundreds of types of Daffs blooming right now at work. It classified as division 3, which are small-cupped daffodils of garden origin. See more about the classifications of Daffodils on this previous post .I decided to take some Daffodil shots despite the fact the poor flower has been photographed practically to death. I tried a few abstracts with not much success. I have put myself on a bit of a picture diet. I am only allowing 48 pictures (I figure that is 2 rolls of film) per outing so I have try and make the abstracts count.This other picture is from a shrub that I saw at the NYBG. I featured Buttercup Winterhazel (Corylopsis pauciflora) awhile back and th ...

Passion Flower (Passiflora perusii) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Passion FlowerPassiflora perusii(pass-iff-FLOR-uh)PassifloraceaeI saw these two delicate Passionflowers in the Wave Hill Conservatory. The red one, although you could almost call it orangey, was blooming abundantly and seemed not to be going out of control like Passiflora caerulea does when it is grown inside. I didn?t know it but there over 500 species of Passionflower. This is the best reference to Passionflowers I found and ended up surfing around for a while was Passiflora Online.If you have any questions about Passionflowers they should be answered there. I grow Passionflower in Connecticut in containers. This can be quite unwieldy but even though some are rated to Zone 6 I don?t see them making it in the ground around here. I have discussed my cultivation of the genus here and here. One of those posts tells the story of my famous Passionflower picture ;-).Passiflora citrina was also blooming. It had an almost translucent yellow flower and nice buds. There was a third species, Pas ...

Corn Leaf Iris (Iris bucharica) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Corn Leaf IrisIris bucharica(EYE-ris) (buk-AR-ee-kuh)Iridaceae (eye-rid-AY-see-ay)This is a small species Iris. They differ from the larger Iris by being generally bulbous and not rhizomatous. However, I. bucharica is an exception, it uses a corm-like structure with fleshy roots. It is cute yet refined Iris that also has distinctive foliage that really does look like corn. When I planted these I had read that they like a rocky hillside in their native Central Asia. I planted them in a rocky, sandy fairly inhospitable place. I knew I was taking a chance with an expensive plant (about $2 per corm) but it worked out fine. They really haven?t spread much actually I think I have lost some of the original but they are always there in the early spring, with enough flowers to make it worthwhile. The long-lived flowers are wonderfully fragrant and a cheery color. This Iris grows well in the rock garden and can be used in containers. They are Hardy to USDA Zone 4 and possibly 3. I am going on a ...

Clove Currant (Ribes odoratum) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Clove CurrantRibes odoratum (REE-bees)GrossulariaceaeI wasn?t familiar with this plant until I saw it blooming at Wave Hill. I had heard about it but never seen it. I think that it was in top form both with flower and foliage. The color was set off nicely by the Hally Jolivette Cherry ( Prunus x ?Hally Jolivette? planted behind it. The scent was amazing and I could smell it quite a distance away. It took me along time to appreciate yellow flowers but now they are some of my favorites. The hint of red in the flowers and buds adds a lot to the beauty. I don?t think this is the kind of plant you would want next to your front door. It would be better in a mixed shrub border or the edge of naturalized woodlands. I realize I probably saw this group at its height of appearance for the year. I am not really recommending this plant but I did enjoy seeing it. Ribes can be an alternate host of the White Pine Blister Rust.I took this picture of the Ribes and the Cherry with my point and shoot c ...

3 Kind of Random Botanical Photos 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Well I can see that I am going to have trouble updating this space everyday. I have a mountain of work to do. I think that one or two days a week I might just post a couple or three photos without a lot of explanation. I have been doing well with the pictures but don?t even have time to process them. Some maybe outtakes or abstracts. Yesterday I spent fertilizing some broadleaf evergreens that had some winter burn. I was using a soil drench of Sprint 330 and some granular for acid loving plants. This seems to help after a lot of winter damage. I broadcast my granular after I found no difference in the effectiveness over punching holes in the ground and filling them with the fertilizer. I have 3 estimates to be finished and 3 to send this morning. I have another couple that I am getting started on and are just in the planning stage. I know what is going to happen I will probably get most of the work and then I will be really busy. Lucky I have quite a few customers on email so I can sen ...

Silver Dollar Plant (Dudleya brittonii) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Silver Dollar PlantDudleya brittonii(DUD-lee-yuh) (brit-TON-ee-eye)Crassulaceae (krass-yoo-LAY-see-ay)This is probably a little extreme as this plant is almost completely white I do like a lot of gray foliaged plants. Blue Mist Shrub and Dusty Miller come to mind right away but there is also Lamb?s Ear (Stachys lanata), Snow-in-the-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum) and several Salvia that look good too. They are always a nice accent in the garden to my eye. This page has a lot of information on Dudleya.I was again feeding, mulching and pruning yesterday. My Inkberry (Ilex glabra) really took a hit over the winter. I don?t I am going to plant this plant anymore unless it is one of the very small cultivars. ?Compacta? seems a little variable so I won?t be using that either. One problem I have with it is, if it is not happy then it is a long, slow, and painful march to death. This makes it seem like the plant is worth hanging on to but in reality if it falters now I just remove it. I have had ...

Weeping Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida 'Pendula') 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Weeping Flowering DogwoodCornus florida 'Pendula'(KOR-nus) (FLOR-id-uh)CornaceaeI wouldn?t wish this tree on anybody with a small garden. No matter what I spray it with or how many times I spray it, it still gets fungusy, and looks like heck by summer. Sometimes it is even earlier than summer. I am sure that this is probably caused by something I am doing and is probably not the tree. It does have an interesting winter outline and for brief time in the spring, when it flowers you remember why you are growing it. It started out its career a little light on the flowering but pretty much flowers heavily every year now. It has been in the garden for about 10 years and it wasn?t that small when I planted it either. I much prefer the two Weeping Kousa dogwoods I have in the same garden. This tree is still a Dogwood and that always commands respect from me. I think it is one of the aristocrats of the flowering trees. It is just that this particular form is odd.I also snapped this picture of ...

Pink Flowered Pieris 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Pieris japonica ?Flamingo?Pink Flowered PierisPieris japonicaJust a short post today. I don?t feel well but am going to work anyway. It feels like someone poured cement in head and it set up over night. I thought you might enjoy a couple of shots from the estate?s Pieris collection. They have about 35 cultivars that I have collected over the years. These are two of the pink flowered types that I think will become more and more popular. Some people call ?Valley Valentine? a red flowered cultivar. They also have several pink budded ones but they are not as dramatic as these. Both appear to be slow growers.Pieris japonica ?Valley Valentine? ...

Burkwood Viburnum (Viburnum x burkwoodii) 1969-12-31 17:59:59 Burkwood ViburnumViburnum x burkwoodii(vy-BUR-num) (berk-WOOD-ee-eye) AdoxaceaeI thought the Viburnums were in the Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae) but just found out that they are now part of Adoxaceae, which has about 200 species in 3 genera. The Viburnums and Elders (Sambucus) are two of the main shrubs in the family. I have been growing Burkwood Viburnum for a long time and it has seldom, if ever, disappointed me. They like a humusy, rich, moist soil and can grow in sun or part shade. I have seen them grow nicely on the north side of the house in a little more than part shade. It does to better in full sun as the foliage is a little glossier and there are more flowers. The main reason for growing this plant is the wonderful fragrant flowers. They bloom early in the spring (here) and can often perfume an entire garden area. There are several other attributes that make growing it worthwhile. The foliage, which is a lighter color underneath, is nice with some of the leaves exhibiti ...