Here follows some of the lovely blossoms and blooms that have made an appearance lately in our garden. Some are cultivated, some are volunteers, and some are serendipitous. Can you guess which are which? How many can you name? Scroll down slowly; the answers follow each picture.
Rhubarb ready to blossom. Actually, I took this picture moments before I loped off the flower so that the plant would continue to put its energy into stalks rather than flowers. Isn’t it fun, though– like something from outer space landed in the garden and is ready to hatch!
An easy one: the common blue violet. Viola sororia. It is the state flower of Wisconsin, Illinois, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. We tried to round up all the violets and corral them in one bed but violets have a mind of their own. Still, they are so cheery and cute it’s hard not to love them.
Another one of my favorites: horseradish in bloom. It’s such a pretty blossom.
Slightly past its blossoming prime, our currant bush is not too far away from making fistfuls of black currants.
What’s this? Danger, danger, danger! It’s garlic mustard, an invasive species which is a bad plant. I found a couple clumps in our yard and several neighbors’ yards too. If you see it, pull it up and put in trash bags and out with the garbage. Do NOT compost it! A post on garlic mustard and why we all have to hate on it will follow this week.
Here’s a blossom from our 100 year old lilac that I’ve written about before. This was a great year for blooms on the lilac tree. We need to remember to give her some organic tree spikes in the fall to help next year’s blossoms.
One of the kale plants over-wintered though not in the best condition. We thought to let it go for a couple weeks and see what would happen. Not much new growth other than some pretty little yellow flowers. I took some pictures before I put it in the compost bin.
Spirea again? Yeah, I love this plant!
