Six on Saturday – 22APR2023 – Springing and Blooming

It’s cool, grey and damp here in southeastern Ontario today, a respite, if one is needed, from the week of cool but beautifully sunny days we were given just prior. A day to watch the rain barrels fill, gird one’s loins for the mowing and planting about to be unleashed on gardeners around here, and perhaps peruse some of the gardens around the world taking part in the Six on Saturday garden meme hosted by Jim. Here’s what my garden looks like right now:

Tulips! And Daffodils! The brilliantly red ‘Toronto’ tulips are open en masse now, as are the early and mid season daffodils.

Spring ephemerals are now blooming in the woodland gardens – from left to right, Cardamine doglassii, Sanguinaria canadensis and Trillium cuneatum:

Another spring ephemeral, not native here though, is this cute Corydalis solida – with the unhappy common name of Fumewort, or a bit happier Bird-in-a-bush… I’m hoping this tiny clump will spread in the years to come.

Peonies aren’t yet blooming, but have made great strides in that direction. My tiny clump of fern leaf peony, Paeonia tenuifolia, is hanging on but definitely not happy here. I think it just gets too dry in the summer. Other peonies, all unnamed, are quite vigorous though…

Forsythia has started to bloom – always the first flowering shrub here, and one that makes my heart sing when I pass them by:

And something I’m most excited by, the emerging stalks of Foxtail Lily – Eremurus robustus. I planted two roots last fall and am anxious to see how they turn out. It’s a plant I’ve always admired in photos….

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend – I’ll leave you with a seventh thing in my garden, a progress report on the rhubarb I showed last week. It’s been growing by leaps and bounds this week and should be ready for a first harvest by the end of the month:

last week…

…this week