Grammie's Violets May.

These really are everywhere in my area, but they are special to me because they were from Medford.  I am not even sure of the proper name.  Horseshoe violets...French violets?  I think that anytime something is unusual in the garden, we tack "French" on to the name.  They spread pretty agressively, but I cannot think of a more agreeable weed.

Lamium May

 

Like all ground covers, these are either a blessing or a curse.  They are quite agressive, and can cover a lot of territory in a year. Lamium comes in seceral colors, the others not being quite so insistent as I remember. 

 

They are available in white and pink.  Perhaps there are new cultivars I am not aware of.   They are not quite so agressive that they will kill anything they cover however.  They are quite happily co existing with the Vinca Minor that escaped from another ground cover area in the yard, and look quite pretty with the blue and yellow together.

I think that this is called Archangel.



Forget-me-nots May

Please ignore the man behind the curtain!  Yes I know there is a big dandelion in the first picture.  The yard was not quite cleaned up, and I found this clump of white Forget-me-nots outside the fence in an area where there should have been none.  I actually have a light lavender shade in the yard as well.

We used to have these in Houlton, Maine as well.  It was another case of being very grateful for the flowers we had in that cold climate.  They would form great drifts of light blue, white and pink flowers all around the back of the property.  The grass did not get cut at all in those areas, till the seed had fallen.  They are not very attractive after bloom, but we lived with it to make sure we had plenty of this blue.

I could not get them to take hold in the yard by seed.  I tried year after year without luck.  as soon as I put a couple of nursery plants in, they took off.  I had the local garden club come by and take tray after tray of the plants for their sale next week.  They had completely filled in the area where I planned a pathway, so it was better that they have them than just ripping them out.  I am so busy this year, they would never have been transplanted. 

They are just going to seed as june approaches.

Flowering Quince. May

My poor poor Quince bushes!  I have several Quince bushes from Grammie's house in Medford.  They are that glorious watermelon, or perhaps Cerise red color.  I just love them.  However, they seem to hate my present location.  I had three until this week when I split one up and replanted the resulting two. I am desperately trying to find a location that they like.  My partner is not really a gardener.  He put a climbing Saul's Scarlet rose against his house in Chelsea Ma., and just watched it take off.  It liked it's location.  He cannot understand that plants have personalities like people, and that it sometimes takes just the right set of circumstances to have a nice plant or garden come together.  In the case of the quince...He is a murderer!  Every time he got onto the lawn mower for the years we have been here, he has mowed the Quince bushes flat!  That is he has mowed two of them...the third just hates the dry conditions it had against a fence at the back of the garden,  That is the one I moved recently.  The upshot of this is that I have had no blooms at all!!!!!!  I live in hope for next year.

I have to say that I just hate the horrible Scarlet Quince that I see everywhere.  It really is a bit more orange than scarlet.  In any event, orange, not being my favorite color in the garden to begin with, this plant leaves me cold.

I have two other quince in the yard.  One has been here two years and is blooming happily as you see here.  Very Pretty...but not Grammie's.

I have had these produce fruit...not many, but some.  You really cannot just eat Quince, but it cooks well, and produces a powerful Pectin for jellies and jams, and is neutral enough that you can flavor it with other fruits, spices etc., to make lovely preserves. 

In Maine...In the general Lewiston, Livermore area, The same watermelon color plant was planted on or near my Brother-in-law's family burial plots.  It became huge...the size of a small house...It was beautiful.... so, of course, the cemetary had them dug out.    

 

 

 

 

 



Viburnum May

 

It was so windy that day in an unusually chilly spring, that it was hard to get a photo in focus.  John hates the gangly appearance of this viburnum, but that is probably up to me to solve with a more agressive pruning regimen.  That being said, it is a wonderful bush, and I am ashamed that I do not know the variety.  It is among the most fragrant of viburnums, and I assume that even if you cannot get this cultivar, your local nursery can recommend a variety that will be very nice.  My sister has Viburnum growing wild in the woods around her home in Northern Maine, but there is nothing like this.

Bleeding Heart May

 

 

Bleeding Heart(Dicentra) is a real Old Time Favorite.  It was in everyone's garden at one time, but seems to be less common now.  I know that the newer varieties available have become more common, but this is my favorite.  Loves shade, and it really appreciates good soil.  I had this in Maine.  My house had been the site of a stable and forge for a couple of centuries.  The soil was black as pitch and incredibly rich and moist.  The Bleeding Heart grew nearly ten feet tall.....WOW!

Brunnera 1 May

I will try to get a better photo of this and talk about it then,