Tags
Brunnera macro Dawson’s white, carpinus betula, cerinthe major purpurascens, euphorbia griffithii Dixter, Hornbeam, philadelphus coronarius aureus, six on saturday, Tulip Ballerina, tulip Brown Sugar
After some time away I am looking at the garden afresh. So much has pulled away thanks to the light and warmer temperatures. My favourite six to share with you and The Propagator this week are these.
1.
Fresh foliage doesn’t come much fresher looking than Philadelphus coronarius aureus. Catching the sunshine it is luminous.
2. 
Euphorbias are such good plants somehow always interesting looking. This is Euphorbia griffithii Dixter showing its orange bracts to the sunshine.
3
Cerinthe major purpurascens
These are self sown from last year. I like the glaucous, slightly fleshy leaves and drooping purple heads. They make a good cut flower.
4. 
‘ Pleats please’ of the Hornbeam, Carpinus betula variety rather than the Issey Miyake creation. Such neat foliage.
5
A new combination for me Brunnera macro Dawson’s white ( yes I know the flowers are blue but the foliage is white) Tulips. I cannot find the note I will have made, somewhere, with the names of these two varieties. Sorry about that. So annoying when that happens.
And 6.
More tulips. These are the scented ones I had in my vase here this week. They are in a raised bed to help the bulbs keep out of the thick clay. It seems to work well as these are last years bulbs. In the foreground are Tulip Brown sugar and Ballerina.
Thank you for looking at my Six for this Saturday. Enjoy the long Easter weekend and some warm weather, perfect to enjoy the garden. D.
digwithdorris.com 
Brunerra is starting to become my favourite flowers this time of the year.
They are a bit like forget-me-not flowers, rather special.
Ah, the golden mock orange is beautiful. Your raised bed of tulips must bring you much happiness.
Thank you . I love seeing the tulips but I think the weather this weekend will mean they are short lived.
Philadelphus has naturalized here, and they can be either single or double flowered. I thin I prefer the single, but it is hard to say. They are both so rad, and they seem like something fancy from the Pacific Northwest. We do not have many fragrant native flowers here.
Nor do we have many tulips. I won’t grow them because they are too expensive to not naturalize. They do not get much chill here.
I prefer the single Philadelphus too. Perhaps you could treat yourself to a pack of tulips and grow them in a tub to be admired at close quarters.
I intend to do so someday. I would like to do it at work so that others can enjoy them. When I do, I want to find a cold spot with rich soil, so that they will be more likely to bloom after the first year. I know it is possible because others have done it. We do happen to have some Dutch iris that bloom very well annually!
I like iris by Dutch iris do you mean flag iris?
Iris X hollandica is an old hybrid of Iris xiphium and something else. It is an iris that I would not have selected, but was there already. Instead of growing from rhizomes, it grows from bulbs. (These bulbs are probably some sort of modified rhizome, but they look like bulbs to me.) They may be known as flag iris in your region. ‘Flag iris’ is a generic term that refers to various iris in various regions. For example, a flag iris in Louisiana is a completely different species from the flag iris of Tennessee, and both are native to their respective regions. Those that I knew as flag iris in the Santa Clara Valley were just Iris xiphium, but that name was just given to them from someone who knew them from Michigan. Common names can be confusing.
You seem to know your iris. I’ll have to see a picture. Pretty much all iris are lovely
Actually, I try to avoid all the other iris, just because I know there are SO many. My favorites are still the bearded iris, and the Iris pallida (which I still think of as a simple form of bearded iris). I also like the local varieties of West Coast iris because I grew up with them, but I would not recommend them to anyone else. There are better iris to grow.
I like them all really
We sometimes find philadelphus growing where it must be removed. I delayed their removal untill winter so that I could pull them up and put them somewhere else where the landscape runs into the forest.
Yes they will transfer even though they may be big and woody. They are pretty easy shrubs.
As long as the garden is not pulling away from you as you try to keep up with all the seasonal tasks, Dorris! Your fresh foliage and flowers are lovely to see and the pleated leaves of the hornbeam are most intriguing
That’s the problem, it’s zooming ahead and I am behind on seed sowing. And weeding and grass cutting. Yikes. Wait for me!
Hope it stops running for while and you can catch up!
Well done with your returning tulips, I find the return rate to be very poor.
They come back much smaller and I agree they are really annuals.
I love the brunnera tulip combination. I wish tulips would be a bit more permanent. My Brown Sugar and Ballerina in pots didn’t do much in their second year. You spend a fortune and then get two or three weeks out of it. I find Darwin hybrids come back better.
Thanks Chloris. Tulips are really just annuals and when they return, if they do, they tend to be smaller. Good drainage definitely helps. I justify the cost of a bag of tulips by comparing it to a couple of takeaway coffees ( which I rarely have) or a glass of something, neither of which last three weeks.
Love the Cerinthe major purpurascens.