Spring Blooms In My Garden

As the month of March is coming to a close and as the weather warms up, I am eagerly anticipating for the different kinds of blooms to show up in my garden. I am already excited to see these beauties that are currently blooming here in my little corner of the world.

Ice Follies

I planted some of these daff variety close to the foundation of the house. Only one bloomed this spring. I am planning to move them to a sunnier spot in the garden once their leaves turn brown.

Rijnveld's Early Sensation?

When I was a newbie gardener, I didn't really cared about the names of the plants I buy. What matters is the flower. As the years go by, I became interested in putting names to my plants and learning more about them. I started borrowing books from my local library and educating myself online.

Of what interest me most during springtime are the wildflowers.


Viola sororia, one of my wildflower favorites. Last fall, I transferred three of these along the walkway so when I get in and out of the house, they are the first plants I see. I love the color punch they bring in my garden.


Today, I am so glad to see that some of my Trillium Recurvatums are unfurling.

Here are some more spring flowering beauties in my garden:
Chionodoxa forbesii


Chionodoxa forbesii



Puschkinia scilloides libanotica


Puschkinia scilloides libanotica


and tulips.




These sedum Rupestre Angelina were buried deep in the snow last winter. Here they are showing their wonderful colors already.


A co-worker gave me these spring blooming plants.

Galanthus nivalis


Crocus vernus 'Vanguard'

Please feel free to correct me if I made a mistake with the plant names.

Crazy Idea?

Yesterday while I was out in the garden, I had fun watching the bees pollinating the crocuses. Lots of pollens had fell off the anthers and were caught inside the flower and got a crazy idea. I grab the pot of amaryllis from the house and picked one giant purple crocus. I cross pollinated it with Cybister Lima. I don't know if anybody has done this before or if the amaryllis will take the crocus pollens. I do not know if there is compatibility. I am not a botanist or anything, just a gardener that occasionally like to experiment with plants.


Cybister Lima's bloom.


Cross pollinating.


All three stigmas are coated with crocus pollens. The fourth flower at the back is self pollinated a couple of days ago.


Tagged



This is Cybister Rosario. Two of its flowers has taken Cybister Lima. Cross pollinated on the 9th of March. The seed pods are swelling up nicely.

The Chicago Flower and Garden Show

The show is over and I am kind of late in posting this blog. My family and I had a great time at the show and I am already looking forward to go to the show next year.

This year's show theme is "Cultivating Great Performances". I love the design and display on the boulevard of the show: Broadway In Bloom, the designers of Alice's Wonderland did a fantastic job and Miss Saigon's Sun and Moon garden is calm and relaxing.



Alice's Wonderland






Part of Miss Saigon's garden display.


I had a blast at the marketplace looking at those weird plants. I only bought these 2 plants:

the 17-inch in circumference Voodoo lily(the biggest bulb I could find in the box)


and Agapanthus Blue Triumphator.

Spring Is Here!

My daughter has been singing "Spring is here, spring is here, it's the best time of the year!" she had picked up from one of those kiddie channels. Indeed, spring has arrived in my garden. I had six buttery-yellow crocuses that came up today, my first bloomers this spring.


Spring is my favorite time of year, it signifies growth and renewal.


What a joy to see plants as they come out of the ground!


Dried leaves were taken out of Sedum Stardust to reveal the bunch of little green and yellowish rosette-like sprouts.


Some of my specie tulips Eastern Star.


Anybody knows the ID of these yellow crocuses?


These blooms a little bit early than the other crocus I have in my garden.


Nice color.


Pretty purple stripes.


These crocuses have naturalized well in my garden. I planted them years ago and I don't remember their names now.

Blooming Amaryllis and NALS 2009 Popularity Poll Winners

It's been almost three weeks since my last post. There is really nothing much going on here except I have this cybister amaryllis that is blooming right now. This is one of the two cybisters I have acquired recently. As this is the first to bloom and my first time to see a cybister blooming in reality, it is totally different from the big flowering amaryllis I have grown previously. Here is exotic and dainty looking Cybister Rosario. Please do excuse the missing pollens. I have saved them for future crossbreeding projects.


Its first bloom.


I love the form on this one.


Photo taken when the third flower opened up.


They look great when blooming simultaneously.


I recently joined the North American Lily Society. I have been growing lilies for a few years now and I am interested in growing them from seeds. Well, the best place to get them is thru NALS. Famous hybridizers and amateurs alike donate seeds to the Seed Exchange for members who are interested to purchase them.


This book is packed with information on lily culture. It covers virtually everything I need to know on how to grow lilies.


NALS sent me the "Let's Grow Lilies" book and three Quarterly Bulletins which has articles on how to grow lilies from seeds written by experienced hybridizers from different parts of the globe.


I got the December and March issues of QB recently. The March issue has the list of the Top 10 lilies on the Popularity Poll for 2009. They are:

1. Conca D'Or
2. Robina
3. Anastasia
4. Ariadne
5. L. Regale
6. Northern Beauty
7. Mrs. R.o. Backhouse
8. Pizzazz
9. Adios Noninja
10. Kentucky



Orienpet Robina is one of my favorites.


Orienpet Anastasia is another favorite of mine.


Lilium Regale is truly a REGAL lily. Beautiful....



My freebie seeds from NALS. The name is unique.