My Spring Garden Tour: Flowering Trees and Blooming Bulbs

Oh, it's so exciting to publish my first gardening post of the year!  We had one of the coldest springs on record and everyone was beginning to wonder if warm weather would ever come.  It really put me behind on spring gardening chores because I couldn't get outside to do anything because it was so cold.  Then finally, the week before Mother's Day it warmed up and everything seemed to come up and bloom all at once.  And boy, did it ever warm up.  We had one day where it was 94 degrees and a heat advisory!  We went from 40 to 94 in a week's time.  It was ridiculous.  But hopefully, the warm weather is here to stay now.

Let's begin the tour of my spring garden, shall we?

Flowering Bulbs

Daffodils

Other than the crocus (sorry no pictures.  It was too cold to go outside and take pictures of the crocus) daffodils are the first bulb to bloom in the spring.  I have quite the large and extensive daffodil collection but I have long since forgotten all their names.  I love them because they keep reproducing every year, but I don't like digging them up and dividing them. 

Tulips

I don't have quite as many tulips as I do daffodils as they are not as prolific.  But I love tulips! They are my favorite spring flower.

Scilla

And this little guy I never planted.  He must have come from the previous home owner, but he is pretty prolific too as he keeps sprouting new plants all over my garden.

Blooming Trees and Shrubs

Crabapples are my favorite tree.  I have four large crabapple trees:  Two white and two pink.  I also have lots of baby crab apple trees that I hope will soon grow big.

I have a pretty shady yard, so I love Vibernums.  They grow well in shady yards.  I have many different varieties.  This is the first Viburnum bush to bloom every spring.

Here are some close ups of it's blooms:

The lilacs are just starting to open up.  You will have to wait till next month to see more of these beauties!

And this is a "Purple Leaf Sand Cherry".  It doesn't really do well in my yard.  I have had it for years, and some springs I thought it was dead.  But this year, it looks pretty nice!

And I have no idea what kind of tree this is.  It is found growing on the road sides in Wisconsin and somehow made it to my garden.  I left it there for years, wondering what it would become.  I thought, "If I don't like it, I can always chop it down later".  Well, to my surprise, it bloomed this year!  It had never bloomed before, so I think this one will be a keeper.

Early Blooming Perennials

Bleeding Heart

The king of my spring garden is the Bleeding Heart.  Oh my goodness, this plant is a weed in my yard.  It reseeds everywhere and the seedlings are almost impossible to pull out.  I can't believe how much they charge for these plants in nurseries when they reseed so easily.  I do love them though.  What a beautiful and unique flower, eh?

Here's an example of how they reseed.  I never planted any of these Bleeding Hearts...somehow they reseeded all the way across the yard and into my Hosta bed.

Creeping Phlox and Lamiastrum

I used to have a hillside of Creeping Phlox but as the trees matured the shade killed them.  Now I just have a few patches here and there.  The yellow flowering plant is Lamiastrum.  I have been working really hard trying to dig this plant up and get it out of my garden as it is quite invasive.  I think it's winning the battle, but I refuse to surrender. 

Ferns and Lamium

Another plant that took over my garden was ferns.  I've been digging up and tossing these beauties too.   I'm trying to create a garden only for Hosta as the ferns and Lamistrum are too invasive.  I have a lot of Laminum too, which is also invasive, but that one at least grows very low to the ground and is easy to pull up.

Hosta

The Hosta is just starting to push it's way up out of the ground.  This will be the first year in a long time where the Hosta won't have burnt tips.  The past several years they came up, then we had a late frost, and the leaves were ruined.

Cushion Spurge

Cushion Spurge is one of my favorite early perennials, but I think I say that about whatever is in bloom at the moment.  It reseeds a lot, but the seedlings are really easy to pull so I don't mind.  

Here is a long range view of my "Septic Mound Garden" as I like to call it, as it is my septic mound.  Hubby didn't want to mow it so we made a garden out of it.  In about a month, it will be so green and lush you won't even be able to see the ground.

And what would a spring garden be without spring birds?  I love it when all the birds return to the garden in the spring:  Rosebreasted Grosbeaks, Blue Indigo Buntings, Hummingbirds, etc. but my favorite of all is the Orioles.  This year I was super excited to see so many of them.  Enjoy this video of Orioles eating at my feeder, and if you watch closely enough, you'll see a little hummingbird buzz in there as well!

And finally, I can't end a garden post without a picture of Jackson.  He too was so happy spring arrived so he could finally get out on his screened-in porch (his "Catio") and enjoy the weather.  When this picture was taken, I didn't even have my vegetable garden in yet.  Now it's all done, and I am just sitting back waiting for everything to pop out of the ground.

I hope you enjoyed my Spring Garden Tour!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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