Camassia quamash

Not only have Snowdrops (galanthus) been flowering for nearly two months, and not only are there more still coming up, but now daffodils have broken ground and even tulips, and Camassia have begun to come up.

Flowering bulbs in spring are the harbingers of spring, supposedly. The smiles they provoke are particular to the sense of the coming growing and green season that they proceed. It’s a wonderful sensation.

Camassia is not an often seen bulb in Chicago but I think that’s because we’re not yet familiar with it ~ because it is wonderful. Usually flowering in June, the hyacinth-like foliage encircles an 18″ tall stalk full of blue racemes. Camassia comes in deep blues, others light blue and white. They flower for about three weeks, prefer partial or full sun, and are happy in wet or dry or any soil in between. They also spread rapidly but do not invade. When I have a large clump I just dig some of them up and share them around the gardens. They are a great treat in June – though I’m guessing they will flower in April this year. I’ll let you know.

Snowdrops (Galanthus) have suddenly popped up in the parkway garden and in the front yard – nearly two months early. It’s been a relatively warm winter so far in Chicago, icy cold at times but not settling in for a long, hard freeze. It will be interesting to see, if this odd winter weather continues, how other bulbs and perennial plants will be affected.

None of the Coral Bells (heuchera) look any different then they did in the fall. I’ve been planting many different kinds to see how each one grows and handles a variety of conditions – and they all look great. This includes Caramel, Palace Purple, Georgia Peach, Pistache, the Illinois natives Prairie Alum Root and Green Spice, as well as Chatterbox (with the longest lasting, delicate red flowers), Tiramisu, and Heucherella ‘Alabama Sunrise.’ These are fast becoming one of my favorite shade plants for their willingness to tolerate wet and dry periods, and the dandy shocks of color many of them provide. More on them in a later writing.

Planting tip ~

Whether a plant has been growing in a pot or is covered snugly in burlap we need to make sure that it’s roots are loose enough to grow out and down into the soil.  This won’t happen automatically if the plant has been growing long enough in it’s pot for it’s roots to experience the limits of the pot and begin to grow in circles and into each other.

Before you plant make sure to loosen the root ball.  If the roots are not tightly bound together just gently rough up the root ball with your fingers.  If the roots wrap around on the outside of the soil you want to be a little tougher in making sure the roots are loose.  Sometimes you’ll find that the roots are tightly wrapped together and do not pull apart easily.  In that case take a knife and make several slits into the root ball.

Weather commentary ~

In the midwest the weather turned very warm and then very hot and humid early this season.  Some plants awoke and began growing earlier than usual.  My Goatsbeard (Aruncus doicus) is in full flower – two weeks early, Snakeroot (Cimicifuga racemosa) has flower buds but is generally a late summer flowering creature.  This is true with other plants too – though not all.  It’s not uniform.  This leads me to surmise that the changing weather, global warming, does not simply alter the time that all summer flowering plants will flower – but it’s turned flowering time upside down on it’s head.

We don’t know what the impact of this helter skelter change will have on the environment, on the insects, wildlife, bird life that expect and need plants to flower and grow berries at certain times of the year.  We have a lot to keep our eyes on – even in our own back yards.

We’ve already had a couple of 80 degree days and a bunch in the 70s and a hefty amount of rain.  The Monkshoods showed up in early April and some of them are already half their finished height.

Estelle and I bought parsley and basil starts – 5 or so to a pot.  That means these tiny things had roots all intertwined.  We popped out the entire ball of soil and very gently teased them apart, trying like hell to tear as few roots as possible – which, of course can’t be avoided.  We did pretty good and all seemed to have survived.  It’s too soon to plant in the garden.  May 15 is Chicago’s frost free date.  In fact, right after we potted up the baby herbs – there was a frost!  Estelle had repotted hers so she moved them inside for the frost,  I had just bought row covering to experiment with so we covered Nick’s seedlings and those newly in the ground (yes, it’s too early) and everything made it through.