It's the Little Things

I must admit in spring all those early bloomers are gorgeous. They are pre-blackspot, pre-fungus, pre-insect damage, and pre-wind and rain damage.  I spend many hours trying to capture that perfect rose or perfect clematis or perfect iris in their bold colors and shapes and sizes.   But today I realized that I should focus on the shy flowers, the little flowers, the ones that we sometimes fail to notice, but which are just as important. The Geum is one of those plants.   It does not require much care, although it usually likes it moist. It sends out blooms for a couple of weeks in the spring and sometimes a bloom or two in the fall. But each blossom is only the size of my thumbnail and the plant is not covered in blossoms, so it can be overlooked. This is a new plant I bought this year and the variety has "fire" in the name.

It looks a little like a teeny, tiny rose, does it not? The plant is short and compact and takes up little space. 

Another overlooked plant is my "evening" primrose. Many are familiar with the short compact primrose that is hybridized. Mine is a wild native and grows tall -- up to two feet. Last year it was new and sent up about two stalks looking like a fragile piece of silk in that part of the bed and showed for only a week.  I have only one plant and will try to remedy that. This year it sent up many yellow wings of flowers and looks established.

When you look in closely you see such a lovely clump of delicate silks.

My Guara is also blooming a bit early this year. Gardeners describe the plant as looking like pink and white butterflies flitting back and forth. That is an accurate description. Mine do not flit back and forth though. They grow long and floppy flying over the lawn and sometimes flopping face down into the lawn!  Maybe I should read up on keeping them compact. They tend to spread as well after a few years!

Next is the yarrow. Hardy, easy to grow, sometimes spreads too much by runners, some varieties need staking, but ever faithful in its lengthy bloom period.  Below an example of its platter of tiny flowers.

I had to tear out the hedge of Nandina next to the house as it was too crowded and impending on the walkway. I replaced a few of the empty spaces with a tiny spirea that blooms in the spring. It should only get two by two and not intimate the space. The flowers are tiny and spiky! I am sure you have seen the large hedges of spirea used in landscapes.

Oh, the first big burst of roses is now waning, so I will post a quick photo of that.