What's happening in your garden?

[Manalto]

I hear ya. We had the second-wettest April since they started keeping track and weeds are abusing the privilege.

[mjt]

The snow is all melted from our April blizzard. A Bleeding Heart on the south side of the house is 24 inches tall already and about to bloom. Many of my Hosta clumps are beginning to sprout, as are the Peonies, daylillies, and Iris.

[Manalto]

Everything's exploding in leaf and bloom in southern New England, despite the cool, wet weather.

One big symbol of spring, for me, is the appearance of ginkgo's first leaves:



The ubiquitous street tree of New York, it takes the abuse of the urban environment with aplomb. For city dwellers who don't venture into the park, it's the first sign of green in the spring. My tree came from a seed that I picked up from the sidewalk on 77th Street in front of the old entrance to the American Museum of Natural History. It's now 25' tall with a trunk about 10" in diameter.

Growing ginkgo from seed is always a gamble. The yellow-orange cherry-sized fruit of the females gives off an overwhelming stench of vomit - hey, maybe that's why they moved the entrance to Central Park West. (I've been lucky so far; I either have a male or there are no males nearby to pollinate my tree.)

Ginkgo's fall foliage can be striking - cultivars are available that have been selected for the deep, rich, golden color. (Mine is an insipid, pale yellow, I'm sorry to report.) The tree has a habit of dropping all of its leaves at once.

[mjt]

We had a couple of Ginkos on our boulevard. I'd describe the odor as a mixture of vomit and dog feces. People would cross the street to avoid the stench. And it was awful when you ran over the fruits with your car tires.

In our neighborhood they drop all their leaves around Halloween. Every leaf on every tree in a 24 hour period. They have a striking open habit and have a sort of primeval look to them.

[awomanwithahammer]

We had some around the college, but I don't remember any particular odor.

[KenN]

Out on the east end of Long Island here, the daffodils/crocus/forsythia are long gone. The lilacs are in full bloom, our big dying redbud is in full bloom. The irises are forming and should open next. The azalea bush is also in full bloom.

We also have a very old blueberry bush that is in full bloom, looks like we will get a good batch of berries this year, usually in the first week of July you can start picking berries. I get a big bowl of berries every day for about 2 weeks, unless the birds discover them and then they can be gone in a day.

Everything else is still just waking up.

[Manalto]

I arrived in Mobile yesterday morning to find things lush and green as usual; they enjoyed a particularly mild winter and wet spring, so things are growing with a vengeance. This, of course, applies to the garden plants as well as weeds. I'll attack the latter with determination and caffeine just as soon as I'm unpacked and cleaned up. The high point for me is the success of the gardenia I planted under the windows in the den:



The PO had blocked these windows with bookcases; I removed them and thought how nice it would be to have the fragrance of gardenia wafting through when the casements are cranked open. I planted one but last spring, its performance was disappointing - no blooms at all. My neighbor said, "Oh, it just needs to get used to the spot." Words, I thought, intended to console but which I dismissed as of little horticultural merit. Well, it turns out she was right: The gardenia, a reliable cultivar named "Veitchii" is supposed to stay low (under the windowsills), prefers morning sun and consistently-moist soil. Well, the formula worked:



It bloomed abundantly this spring, with many buds to come. People who say that the fragrance of gardenia is "too much" or "cloying" are the same type of person who punches kittens in the face - I reject your opinion with a scoff. The aroma is transporting.

Another success was the rice-paper plant, Tetrapanax papyrifer. Last year, when in Balwin County (across the Bay), I stopped for eggs because there was a sign by the side of the road. I got to chatting with the homeowner and he offered me some rice-paper plants for free. You see, they can get a little aggressive - these were wandering into his lawn. I know what I'm getting myself into (or think I do) but nonetheless, I planted a few scrawny stubs in the ground having little hope for their survival. I was astonished to see the wee chopstick-sized, struggling plants flourishing like mad. HUGE leaves (see the azalea in the left foreground for comparison) and 7' tall. I'll obliterate my neighbor's nasty screen house before too long. (I do wish he'd get a pool table and put it in there. And invite me over, of course.) A Victorian favorite, rice-paper plant was used to shade windows and porches to keep them cool. I just don't want to look at my neighbor's screen house full of Christmas decorations. Here it is:

[KenN]

Wish we could grow gardenias, love that smell!

[Willa]

I bought some iris on Kijiji. In last years location they grew lush leaves and mighty rhizomes - but no flowers. I moved them to a sunnier spot late last fall.

This spring has been chilly and damp but the ground is pretty dry. This year the plants are half the size but are insistent on blooming. They are a little more magenta than purple.

My first bloom:

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[Gothichome]

Nice colour iris Willa, in a few years, with annual separations you’ll have full gardens. Our irises are also blooming. We also have some lilies that are just starting to bloom.