Creaky Spring

I read the calendar, I know it's only May 26th, but I want it to feel like summer.  Instead, I content myself with roaming around my garden looking for hopeful signs (there are plenty).

First a funny story.  When we moved into our current home, I was eager to make the gardens my own.  Not being flush with cash, I mail ordered a few things in very small sizes from Bluestone Perennials.  Cost effective.  But note: this little Cayuga Viburnum has bloomed for the first time - the first time - since I planted it in 2003.  It now stands about 1 foot high, and you see the extent of its branching structure (one).  To be fair, it did "live" a few years under an Austrian Pine, where nothing much does well.  Still, underwhelming.


 Another find was the Japanese Maple 'Peaches and Cream', which I ordered from Wayside Gardens in September of 2003 for the princely sum of $34.95.  Today it stands maybe 3' tall, but when it's all leafed out, or just even starting, I am in love with it.  In fall it turns a beautiful shade of orangey-yellow, also worth the wait.

 The moral of these stories is, buy larger when you can afford it!

I see some hopeful signs, such as the late emerging Baptisia.  First it looks like asparagus, but it quickly takes on an impressive shrub-like aspect.

 I love the way the buds begin to break with a little white line.  This is Baptisia Starlite Prairieblues.  Um, kind of clunky name there, but a gorgeous improvement on the species.

 Probably my favorite color this time of year: the emerging new growth of any blue spruce, especially the darn cute Picea pungens 'Globosa.'  I am not generally a fan of meatballing shrubs, but I like the idea of a round little blue ball in the front garden.  So as this gets just a little bigger, I'll shear it to be really round.  Spruces have the advantage of dormant buds all over their stems, so you can cut just about anywhere and it will put new growth nearby.

So, while I wait for summer to really get here, prowling around the garden helps me feel better.