Arboretum Dance

Japanese roof iris has a great story where that name came from follow the link to read about it in a brief article.

new miniature hosta Little Miss Moffet!

my new mini hosta "little miss moffet" set in place with three potted up last year counter clockwise named:"blue mouse ears", "cracker crumbs" and "stiletto"

our new bloodroot already planted on the north face in a woodland like setting

5 new bare root day lilies ready to plant and enjoy for only 25 dollars I went hunting the net and found images of them all from other growers and linked the names to the images on their web pages...

red volunteer, bright red

seductor red with green throat & scented

chesapeake crablegs orange spider type day lily,

firestorm another spider type red orange yellow,

royal trumpeter a coral orange with red zones

May pole dance with concertina accompanists danced at the Arboretum plant sale!

Today while at the annual Friends of the National Arboretum Plant sale we were lightly entertained by the maypole dancers and a few squeeze box musicians while shopping for delightful plants to add to our garden. Videos only visible on the Orange Explains it All blog page.

I got a new mini hosta for my growing collection and 5 new daylily from the growers who all had great stories to tell and lots of tips for growing. The advantage of buying from a enthusiastic grower rather than a superstore nursery like Lowe's, Walmart or Home Depot. I found strong bold red daylily and lots of spider petal versions in red,orange,brown, yellow, white and pink to choose from but it was a hard choice. In the end I just went with my gut and grabbed the ones that excited me most. They will go from bare root bundles into pots this year until they show me how they grow and maybe how they bloom.

Keith found some wonderful native plants and exotic Japanese specimens he can use in his ikebana arrangements and delight in the uniqueness of the exotic, hopefully not invasive hybrids. We brought home a woodland native flower called bloodroot which has a white flower that oozes orange liquid when picked in the early spring. My grand mother showed me the first one in the forest as a kid and I never forgot how I was amazed by that bright orange color fluid.

I have to say I am having trouble finishing this post about the garden because we have so much work to do and the images are flowing in fast and furiously beautiful. Fresh greens on the hostas, beautiful blues of our iris and now the clematis is beginning to open. Oh the most beautiful time of year when you have a garden is spring....