New additions to the Garden Phlox collection

     Today looked like summer. First dahlias were planted out and more waiting for their turn. Almost all tulips are blooming. Two double late tulips 'Cilesta' and 'Carnaval De Nice' are my first double tulips. Perhaps, I will skip that type of tulips for next year, flowers are small and unruly in comparison with perfect shape of 'Crystal Beauty' or 'Yokohama' for example.

Double Late Tulip 'Carnaval De Nice'

     Couple of days ago I added 6 new varieties to my collection of Garden Phlox Phlox paniculata. All these varieties originated from Russia. Russian Garden Phlox varieties are well known around the world and it was my cherished dream to get some of them for my own collection. During my last trip to Saint Petersburg I visited one of the best perennial nurseries of North-West Russia Severnaya Flora. They have an impressive assortment of perennials in general and Russian Garden Phlox in particular. Here comes a preview of my new additions.

Дымчатый Коралл (Ph. paniculata 'Dymchatiy Korall')

Picture borrowed from Russian Phlox Society

Лорд (Ph. paniculata 'Lord')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Мисс Ольга (Ph. paniculata 'Miss Olga')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Покровский Барон (Ph. paniculata 'Pokrovskij Baron')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Уральские Сказы (Ph. paniculata 'Uralskie Skasi')

Picture borrowed from Dacha Photo Catalog

Фламенко (Ph.paniculata 'Flamenko')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Nice to be back home

      Isn't it nice to come back home after a few days long trip in May and notice all the changes in the garden? Just in 5 days garden has changed remarkably. Most of the tulips were still in bud when I left but now many are flowering. My first time attempt to plant tulips in color combinations seems to work well. Here are couple of examples.

Tulipa fosteriana 'Orange Emperor' and Single Early Tulip 'Yokohama'

Fringed Tulip 'Crystal Beauty' and Darwin Hybrid Tulip 'Golden Apeldoorn'

Darwin Hybrid Tulip 'Van Eijk'

Kaufmanniana Tulip 'Giuseppe Verdi'

     Perennials are growing very fast, they look different every day. Foliage is freshly green and soft on touch.

Aruncus aethusifolius

Dicentra spectabilis

Adiantum pedatum

     When I left 5 days ago there was not a single flower open on rhododendrons. Today 'Cunningham's White', the earliest of my rhods, is in full bloom. I especially like the combination of pink flower buds and white flowers.

Rhododendron 'Cunningham's White'

Spring is speeding up!

     Just a week ago spring felt very slow, but during last days things started to change quicker and quicker. One of my hosta beds is bursting with intensively growing spring bulbs.

     In this mix of Hyacinths I planted several bulbs that I saved from last year together with some newly bought. All of them are blooming fine except for 'Odysseus', the beautifully peachy colored one in the back of the mix. Its flower spikes are very prone to falling, which makes it difficult to appreciate the beauty of the flowers.

Hyacinth mix with Hyacinth 'Pink Pearl' in the front

Hyacinth 'City of Haarlem'

     I can't stop admire the brightest color of Tulipa kaufmanniana 'Show Winner'. Here comes a close-up of the open flower.

Tulipa kaufmanniana 'Show Winner'

     Fritillaria meleagris are growing in that spot for a 3^rd season and multiplying steadily.

Fritillaria meleagris

Chionodoxa forbesii 'Pink Giant'

     Wood anemones Anemone nemorosa are wildly growing in the garden and popping up everywhere.

     Maidenhair Fern Adiantum pedatum is amazingly beautiful perennial in all stages of its development. Now it looks like this.

     Leaves of the oldest Astilbe growing in my garden are deep red this early in the season. The name of this variety is probably 'Erika', it was bought without tag and is waiting to be identified for sure.

     It's very exciting to watch hostas coming up in the spring. How well did they overwinter? How well did they feel last season? How much did they mature? Here are two favorites that obviously increased since last year.

Rhino Hide

Cherry Berry

Slow spring 2012

    Spring is so slow this year. After a few weeks of unusually warm weather in the beginning of March spring took a break and getting pretty late. But today it was sunny and warm for the first time during last weeks. My young dahlia plants spent first night and day out in the greenhouse.

    One of my garden beds is filled with early flowering bulbs and today they were happy to meet sun. I used my chance to take some pictures.

Iris reticulata together with Crocus chrysanthus 'Romance'

Crocus vernus 'Jeanne d'Arc'

Tulipa kaufmanniana 'Show Winner'

Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin'

    Perennials look very pretty when just unfurling from the winter sleep. Leaves are fresh and strongly colored.

Aquilegia

Dicentra spectabilis

Aruncus aethusifolius

    One of my favorite minis 'Cat and Mouse' shows 6 buds ready to unfurl. That's a nice increase from 3 shoots last year.

Hosta 'Cat and Mouse'

Svenska Dahliasällskapet at Nordiska Trädgårdar 2012

    The Fair is over. Since January my mind was occupied with thoughts on organizing the stand for Svenska Dahliasällskapet and now I have a bit strange feeling that I don't need to worry about how everything would work out any more. We all had a great time. Interest in our stand was enormous, many new and experienced dahlia enthusiasts found their way to us. It was very nice to meet all the fair visitors and to share our passion for these magnificent plants. Here are some pictures from the 3rd day of the fair in our stand.

On the background of our stand we had beautiful canvas pictures made by our new sponsor KB Foto. We are very grateful to them for making our stand so impressive this year. Hopefully we'll keep our fruitful cooperation in the future.

Our selling area is starting to look not so full as it was on first days. We had tubers, cuttings, seedlings and seeds for sale. Everything was very popular.

Charlotte is showing how easy it is to divide tubers and propagate your own dahlias.

We had some potted tubers for sale as well. Karin is showing one of them to the fair visitors.

New arrivals to my dahlia collection. Spring 2012

    In March I received a new order from my favorite dahlia grower Accent Dahlias. Here comes a preview of the varieties that I've got from Ken Greenway.

AC Abby

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

AC Aquarius

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

AC Golden Nickles

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

AC Clouds and Rain

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

AC Twist

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

Harvey Koop

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

Mary P

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

Show'N'Tell

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

Hollyhill Spiderwoman

Picture borrowed from Accent Dahlias

Woodland's Merinda

Picture borrowed from Dave's Garden forum

Wyn's Delta Frank

Picture borrowed from Dahliafrance