spring flowers

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Doronicum or Leopard’s Bane – A Spring Surprise

February 29, 2016 Cold-Hardy Spring Perennials, Spring Perennials

doronicum - leopard's bane

Doronicum – Leopard’s Bane – A Favorite Early Spring Bloomer Doronicums are spring surprises for it’s the first daisy-shaped flowers of the season. Like magic, their delightful lemon-yellow, daisy-shapes appear among the blooming red tulips and yellow Daffodils. Doronicums grow about twelve-inches tall and almost as wide. Their dark-green, heart-shaped leaves embrace the upright, unbranched stem at its base. The leaves look leathery with pointy holly leaf like looking edges but are soft and pliable to the touch. The foliage is every bit as delightful as their flowers. Doronicum grows from a thickened underground stem called a rhizome that will creep to form lovely wide patches of flowers. To propagate Leopard’s...

Crocus – The Ice Breakers of Spring

February 24, 2016 Cold-Hardy Spring Perennials, Spring Perennials

crocus blooming in snow

Crocus – Specie Bulbs The light has changed! The harsh daylight of winter has become softer, more fluid, bathing our gardens in a warmer glow that signals our first spring perennials to wake up. I call these small, easy to naturalize crocus bulbs, The Ice Breakers of Spring. The ice breakers or specie bulbs are the tough, inexpensive little delights that frequently bloom right through the snow and bring pleasure way out of proportion to their size. These bulbs are the first colors of spring and handle late winter storms much better than the gardener does. Ice Breakers must be planted the prior fall and overwinter to be ready to...