|
What's Blooming Now - March 19, 2009
Welcome to a new year of What’s Blooming at White River Gardens – our fifth!
 It’s spring cleaning time at the Gardens. Fall leaves have been raked and collected. Ornamental grasses left for the winter have been cut down. Pansies are planted in the urns at the front entrance to the Gardens. Underneath it all are the first flowers of spring – the early spring bulbs and Lenten rose.
We’re actually past the first bulbs. Winter aconite are now starting to form fruit and seed. The earliest snow crocus have finished while the larger crocus and the bulb iris have a few days left.
 Especially showy this year is the pink-flowered glory of the snow (Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’). These plants have been in the ground for several years. Each bulb has multiplied and now each clump of leaves produces several flower spikes instead of just one. These bulbs do well in sun or under deciduous trees. They bloom so early that they receive the sunlight they need in March and early April, before these trees leaf out. Flowers may be white, pink, or blue, often with a white center..
 This time of year the sun has a real impact. Daffodils getting full sun, especially at the front entrance to the Gardens, are beginning to flower; those in the shade of a building or wall won’t bloom for another week or two. Thus, it’s hard to predict what will be in bloom or when “peak tulips” will be. Based on our experience, we still have to say mid-April for the showiest tulip display.
 There’s one other plant worth mentioning in this first What’s Blooming – Cornelian cherry dogwood (Cornus mas). This is one of the first woody plants to break into flower, beaten only by witchhazel and always neck to neck with pussy willows. The flowers are yellow and tiny – the plant looks like a yellow cloud when it is in bloom. You’ll find this dogwood at the east end of the Clowes Water Gardens and the south end of the Ruth Lilly Shade Garden.
|