Does anyone know what this little weed is?Edit: Cardamine hirsuta (Early or Hairy Bittercress)
I did take these photos on the 15th. Just didn't get time to post them for the official Bloom Day.
There is not a whole lot happening here, yet. In my yard, some bulbs are pushing up, but only a weed is blooming!
I am happy to see that all the sedums I rooted last year are coming back. The Vera Jameson (at 10 o'clock in the photo) has loads of buds - I need to get that in a bigger pot.
Tulips are coming up in the grass.
And where I left them last year. Might be a Crown Imperial at the bottom.
Random daffodils near the rick path we built last year. If I had been sure I was staying at this house, I would have put in a lot more bulbs along the path. They would work out well with the herbs I will plant later in the season. Lots of basil grew here last year.My Mom's yard has more going on.
Does anyone know what this purple flower is?Edit: Unknown cultivar of Iris Cristata (Wood Iris)
Mom has always been more patient with bulbs than I am. One of many clumps of daffodils:
Crocuses and hyacinth:
Winter Aconite:
Happily, the goundhog looks like it has not yet stirred from the burrow. Leaves are still stuffed under her "decorative" boulder, as they have been all winter. Unless, there is a second burrow entrance they are using.
13 comments:
The little purple flower looks like some variety of a wood iris. Aren't they beautiful? Most of them are either natives or bred from natives, which is cool, too.
I think you are right. I googled 'iris cristata' and found a lot of photos like mine. This must be a very early-blooming specimen, because the rest of the iris are barely stirring. Thanks for the ID!
a botany minded friend says about the first picture...
"Ok, it's hard to tell because the pic is too blurry to distinguish flower characteristics close up, but it's probably either Stellaria media or Cardamine hirsuta. Hope that helps. :)"
Thanks for the leads, Briel. I found good online pix of Cardamine hirsuta (Early Bittercress). That's what it is. I recognize the seed pods it will develop, from previous years. The seed pods "pop" and spray the seeds all over. Guess it's time to get out there and pull it all up before it sets seed!
That clump of daffodils? After they're finished blooming, and just before the foliage totally disappears, you could dig them up, separate them, and spread them out. Voila! Instead of one clump, you'll have at least half a dozen plantings, which will in turn naturalize (spread out naturally) over the next couple of years. Just a what-for :)
The first flower blooms are nothing short of inspiring. Do you plant new ones each year? I know next to nothing (ok, ok, nothing!) about flower gardening/tending.
There's about 5 ways to "produce" flowers and decorative foliage:
trees - dogwoods, magnolias
bushes - azaleas, forsythia
bulbs - daffodils, cannas
annuals - plant every year
perennials - plant once
You can have a lovely garden with only things you plant once; trees, bushes, perennials, and many bulbs will come back every year on their own, with a bit of tending. I used to be more of a perennial gardener, before I got started on vegetables. I still have a bunch of perennials, and so does my mom. I also usually have a few annuals, often from saved seed or cuttings: coleus, zinnias, snapdragons, marigolds. I plant them or put them in pots to fill in the "holes" that spring plants often leave when they bloom and die back. My peonies get ugly after they bloom, for instance, so I plant zinnas that will grow up in front of them by mid-season.
Replaced some flower beds with veggie beds the past few years, and expanded my culinary herbs. I moved some perennials plants to my mom's suburban house, where there is a third of an acre (compared to my 10x40 urban backyard). We plan to cut down an elderly shade tree at her house, to make more sunny area for raised vegetable gardens.
Gardening is one of the things that I hope makes my mother's life transitions easier. It's something we can do together, and make easier with the girls and I to help with heavy tasks. I'm installing 4 rain barrels, to start, to make watering easier and cheaper.
Gorgeous plants...we're nowhere close in MN, though the snow is nearly melted.
After seeing some photos on another blog, I am wondering if that iris in Mom's yard isn't Iris reticulata. See this:
http://www.remarc.com/craig/?p=606
And then this description, where the bloom time seems more likely than the Wood Iris:
http://www.paghat.com/irisreticulata.html
I feel silly. I looked at the picture of Hairy Bittercress. I even enlarged it. (It's a good picture.) But, I never related it to the weed in my garden.
Thanks for posting the identification of this little seed shooting menace.
I forget what this irritating little weed is every year. The teeny little flowers are one of the first things to bloom, and they look sorta cute - until I remember what they turn into. By the time it warms up enough to really start gardening, it's too late to stop them. It should be called "Very Early Deceptively Innocuous-Looking Weed."
I love spring. Your flowers are beautiful.
Your flowers look beautiful! Out in the Midwest right now we have wild daylilies coming up, wintercress, red clover, dandelion, and violets and spring beauties in the forests.
I noticed your wish list has 5-gal buckets - have you tried asking at any grocery stores? Especially places that sell bulk foods from dispensers often have them.
I worked at a Costco last winter in the bakery and they threw away buckets and lids all the time that had cake icing in them. Also scored some from a Whole Foods that had a tiny bit of old honey left that needed cleaned out.
I grew up in Quarryville, and now live out around a lot of Mennonites and have been sharing stories with friends of Faschnacht Day when I was a kid. It explains why the local Mennonite cafes always have such great doughnuts!
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