Rebirth-- Spring in New England

I had a wonderful visit to St. John, USVI, with all of its lush vegetation and quiet beaches, but you can’t beat coming back to springtime in New England. After 5+ months of grayness, color has popped out everywhere. All that new foliage is fresh and green and many of the trees and shrubs are blooming. As Laurrie commented in a recent blog post ‘The Thrill is Gone’ . We in zone 5 and below have to wait longer than many – but experiencing the rebirth first hand sure beats looking a pictures.

Here’s a look at some of the native plants that are coming out around my house in the past few days.

The common blue violet, which I used to battle against until I learned that it was a native species, was popping up through my unmown lawn. Eastern columbine is about to bloom. This one is the result of self seeding. I also caught this sweetfern in bloom with the small red female flower below the male catkins.  This little flower is really easy to miss.

In my ‘woodland’ garden there are a number of perennials returning. This garden is under a Norway Maple, so it is hardly a natural environment for these plants, but the ones that grow here are tough competitors.

Best results go to the Wild Bleeding Heart, which is actually expanding its bounds. Lowbush blueberry is blooming well this year. The Twinleaf and Bellwort have been coming back for 3-4 years now, with some indication that they are beginning to spread. Last year I was fortunate to capture the Twinleaf in bloom. The intense white flowers only last a day, but the foliage alone can carry the show.  There are also a variety of native ferns putting up their fiddleheads.

Coming soon are the huckleberry and barren strawberry. I’ll get to those later.

What’s Blooming around Home

It’s still too early for a lot of spring flowers in the Boston area, but the great weather (after the recent flooding) this weekend got me out to look at the garden a little more closely. Most of the visual excitement is around the naturalized, non-native bulbs like Chionodoxa, Scilla and crocus. I was pleased to see how many bees were visiting what I believe to be these white Chionodoxa. (I am a little uncertain here because of the blue anthers – anyone have an alternate ID for this plant? It would be much appreciated.)  For next year I think I will try for more native spring flowers like Bloodroot, Dog-tooth violets and the Camas Lily, Camassia quamash.

These white flowers pictured above are actually Scilla mischtschenkoana, White or Early Squill.

While not open yet, the male catkins of my Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrina) are getting plumper and have become noticeable. Also the hairs on the reddish branches really catch the afternoon light and make them glow.

 

Another sign of spring is when the Yews release tons of yellow pollen. This is the first year that I have really looked closely at the flowers. I noticed a difference between the flowers of two of my (unknown) cultivars. Also now is a good time to do some structural pruning on these to let more light in and stimulate some growth on the interior.

 What I am most pleased about seeing was the return of what I believe to be a Spring Blue-Eyed Mary from some seed that I had sown 2 years ago. I’ll keep a close watch on this seedling and let you know what it grows into.

Another pleasant surprise was a clump of Strawberry Spinach (Chenopodium capitatum) that overwintered. Normally this is considered to be an annual, but this plant did not mature last year, so I expect that it will finish out its lifecycle this year with some bright red berries. Check out the link for a seed source and more information on this native.

One thing I have noticed with some of the native annuals that I have tested is that those that do not flower and seed the first year will over-winter to complete their life cycle the following year.