Guess This Bulb

It's a daffodil!  For some reason, the corona is non-existant, and the petals are much narrower than they should be.  Nature always has exceptions, and this daffodil definitely is one.  I don't know if I'd call it beautiful, but it is different.

Cherry Petal Blizzard

Spring seems to have passed by at warp speed this week.  Cherries that were just starting to open last weekend are now starting to lose petals.  Heavy rain is forecast this weekend, and many of the petals will be on the ground before Monday comes.  There was an accident on New York Avenue, so I was forced to detour back through the Arboretum and plan another route.  In our oasis of quiet and beauty in a traffic tied city, I had to stop and admire some cherries.

This is a pinker form of the Tidal Basin cherry, Prunus xyedoensis.  I looked at the label and unfortunately the cultivar name was lost from my brain on the grueling commute home.  I like it because it is more pink, and in the late day light it was spectacular.

I also shot this closeup of a redbud.  I've noticed that some are more coral pink than the common purple pink of most of them.  I think few people notice the markings on the petals.  Undoubtedly they are guides for pollinators.  The bees were indeed busy today, as they should be with the inclement weather on its way this weekend.

'Bristol's Goose Egg' Cape Primrose

I first became acquainted with Streptocarpus, known to most as Cape primrose, when I was a freshman in college at the University of Minnesota.  We propagated them using leaf pieces and Horticulture Club sold them.  They were all the standard blue cultivar that has been around forever.  I bought one at the annual Orchid Sale at the U.S. National Arboretum about two years ago, and I'm hooked again.  Last winter I bought a box of plants from The Violet Barn and was amazed at how much Dr. Robinson has improved them through breeding.  This one is 'Bristol's Goose Egg'.  I bought it because I was intrigued by claims of  fragrance.  Most Cape primroses are not fragrant, but this one is indeed.  It's a hard fragrance to describe; a bit floral but sharp, too, like hyacinths or paperwhites, but not strong at all.  The flowers are huge, delicately colored, and the petals are even a bit crisped (technical term for irregular indentations at the edge of the petals, as in a carnation) and they have lasted a long time in my office.  They are very easy for me when grown under my Sun System combination HID and fluorescent light fixture.  Last year I made the mistake of trying to summer them outdoors.  They did not appreciate the scorching heat, and all but three died.  This year I will keep them indoors in filtered light in the air conditioning.

Creeping Oregon-Grape

I was really pleased last year when Bradley got a healthy germination rate on the creeping Oregon-grape, Mahonia repens, that Kevin and GrayC and I collected in 2010.  This was no small feat, since the protocol for germinating the seeds involves successive cold, warm, and cold stratification of the seeds in damp soil.  The young plants developed their typical red color for winter and seem to have survived the mild winter nicely.  When they have a bit more size on them, they can be planted in a shady spot so we can see how long it might take them to fill in. 

My theory is that most clones of this that are being sold are actually hybrids with Oregon-grape, Mahonia aquifolium.  As such, they are taller and aren't as ground hugging as some of the plants we collected.  The nicest clone was collected from the Oglala National Grassland in the northwest corner of Nebraska.  Below are images of that clone in flower in late May and in fruit at the end of July.  As you can see, it is truly ground hugging, never growing taller than four to six inches. 

I knew this plant well growing up.  The fruits are very sour and are sometimes used to make jelly.  The flowers are quite fragrant, and the color of the fruits is captivating, and they seem to persist, perhaps because of their astringent nature.  The one problem with this plant that compromises its use as a ground cover is its slow spreading nature.  Even then it seems not to make a really thick groundcover like English ivy, vinca, or pachysandara.  Still I like it, and I think its worthwhile to look at plants collected in other locations to try to find the best groundcovers among the lot.