I may not post as often as I wish I did, but I can’t tell you how many posts I have composed in my head — I have a regular dialogue with you all, whether you hear it or not. It is lovely to think of so many people spread so far who have appreciated this garden, and it’s about time I shared some updates!
For this post, I am going to focus on bringing you up-to-date on what’s been blooming. Let’s walk through the garden together and appreciate everything that is going well.
I’ve started out-of-chronological-order, because the Jackmanii is just dominating everything right now (but in a polite, well-mannered way). When I was in high school, the mother of one of my friends would say to us, when we were upset about something, “People driving by in cars won’t notice.” In this case, they do, and sometimes they pull over and comment, and it’s all good.
We have several other clematises, but they are of a much more normal size. The other clematises include Multi-Blue in the Crabapple Bed, Betty Corning who is now moved to the bed along the front sidewalk, and Ice Blue on the arbor leading into the backyard. Multi-Blue is looking hale and hearty, but not outsized; Betty is still adjusting after being moved; and Ice Blue is pouting because he would like a little more sunshine.
I shared some spring photos in the last post, but this may have been the best ever year for bulbs, due to a long cool April and May, so I will share some more.
Look at these two-headed orange tulips. I swore I’d never seen them before, but they were everywhere this year. Aha! I looked at the well-organized garden notes that Kasey from Vivant sent, and saw that 100 Shogun tulip bulbs were planted in the fall (we don’t do things by half-measures here at GardeninaCity).
Apparently, they are generally called multiheaded or multi-flowering or bouquet tulips. Between the two of us, Jason and I called flowers that unexpectedly (to us) had more than one flower “multiple-warhead.” This probably reflects trauma left from the Reagan years.
Here’s a medley of species tulips. They open and close each day in the most charming way, depending on the sunlight. I love them all, but the yellow and red one in the lower middle is my favorite. (The tulips are all sleeping now, so I can say that.) Apparently last fall we also planted 100 Clusiana Tubergen’s Gem bulbs. They were everywhere this spring, and I swooned over them.
By the way, that’s the Royal We who did the planting: Vivant and our friends Anne and Jo ana did all the work, while Jason and I cheered them on. Many, many thanks to them. These flowers warmed my heart this spring.
Species tulips are the original plants native to Turkey and areas to the east of Turkey, in contrast to the giant, hybrid tulips that are more common. They are supposed to be more reliably perennial than hybrids (mostly true here) and to spread (some do, some don’t). I’m very happy with a mix, in which the hybrid tulips are bold accents in a sea of species tulips.
(Let me know in the comments how you like the addition of photo galleries to the blog; I suspect that if you are looking at this primarily on your cell phone, these photos will be too small.)
The clove currant was wonderful and perfumed the whole block, seducing many admirers. It turns out to root easily from a cutting, so if you are in the neighborhood, I’ll give you one, and we can spread the spicy aroma around.
Here we have an early spring overview, with the bulbs up front. You can see the ostrich ferns coming up under the living room window, and the tulips in pots on the right side of the steps. Note how flat the garden is at this stage; no ten-foot cup plants or other tall perennials that will take over later. The new leaves on the trees are one of my favorite moments of spring.
I’m not sure who these lovely guys are, below, but they are having a good time together.
What was I thinking, trying to catch you up on an entire spring’s worth of flowers in one post? I have a particularly bad sense of time these days, between Covid and Jason’s illness. My days seem to exist on a different plane, in which everything is both very immediate and very distant. I guess it’s been over two months since the last post, even though it seems like much less (or some days, much more).
I’ll end with tulips in pots — reasonably successful this year, not spectacular — and Princess Irene tulips with some tiny multiple warhead daffodils.
We’re well into May with the photos here, and I’ll save the end of May and June for another post. I have a couple of short topics in mind, too, so let’s see if I can’t make the next update sooner rather than later. I’ll include an explanation of that “mostly” in the second paragraph — I want to tell you about some of the things that have gone wrong, too.
One housekeeping note: I am still figuring out the part about approving comments. So if your comments haven’t shown up, bear with me, and don’t give up! I will get the hang of it.
I know the weather has been crazy across the world this spring. I feel like we were on the lucky end of things here in the Chicago area, with a long cool April and May that prolonged some of the most beautiful days of the season. How have things been where you are? Are you sweltering? or drenched? I hope you and your garden are well.
gardeninacity 
Good to hear from you! I have always lusted after Clove Currant. All the best to you!
What a delight to hear from you, Judy. I think of Jason often. As for your beautiful gardens…be still my trembling heart. Those flowers and gardens are such a wonderful way of honoring Jason. What a treat it must be to live in your neighborhood and be able to actually see such beauty.
My favorite? The clematis. Oh, that purple!
It has been extremely rainy, the rainiest for quite a while. As a result, it’s been a bust for my annuals, but the perennials are doing all right.
Again, thanks for this wonderful post.
Goodness; I forget how colorful that garden is, and how concentrated the color is. Clematis X jackmanii is still the most reliable of the fancy hybrid Clematis here, although even it does not perform very well. Others survive, but bloom with only a few flowers early in spring. Our weather has been exceptionally weird since last winter, with the worst frost since 1990 and the worst flooding since 1982 within the same winter. (Unusually cool winters are typically drier than typical here. Unusually rainy winters are typically not as cool as they typically are here.) After the weird winter, spring was weirdly mild, and the mild weather continues. We are neither sweltering nor drenched, just rather bored with the weather. It is embarrassing that so much bloom here is delayed.
So many flowers is the understatement of the week! Your garden is just stunning in its summer garb! It would be hard to pick a favorite, but that purple clematis–SWOON!
So glad you’re taking photos and sharing, I think of you and Jason often.
Oh, how delightful to look at all these spring bloomers, Judy, when mine are but a distant memory! All the species tulips are charming. Spring was early and long (good), which means it took forever for all the bulb foliage to die back (not-so-good). Drought is the current weather and watering sometimes must be done 2x daily! Seems as if a lot of the plants don’t know what to do when. But such is the life of a gardener, huh? Looking forward to your next post!
The explosion of colorful flowers in spring is always a thing of great beauty! I had a good chuckle about the multiple warhead blooms. 🙂
My purple clematis was here 20 years ago when we bought our farm, and it has been moved around the place several times since then out of necessity. It is a little unhappy with me right now, but I hope someday it looks like yours again.
Our annual drought in western Oregon came early this year.
Thanks for the update on the spring blooms–so colorful! Your front entryway is particularly beautiful, no matter the time of year. To answer your question on that second photo: Yes, that is what a spring garden should look like. Lovely!
How nice to see how your garden is blooming. I am not one for tulips, however you have such pretty species ones. I love those thin orange and pink ones. I’ve never seen a two-headed tulip. Interesting, and odd. Take care.
Lovely to hear from you Judy, and to see your wonderful spring garden. …. we are in mid-winter here in Canberra Aust. and it is rainy, cold and miserable!
I too have composed many a post (in my head) for Garden in the City, especially when I see Clematis X Jackmanii and I wondered if it was still growing so beautifully. I also put more Orange Sparaxis in the front garden, as Jason admired them one spring.
It was lovely to see so many tulips, and the garden looking so lush and colourful, it is a pleasure to see it again, and to read your post. I enjoyed your writing and photos and hope there will be many more posts.
Your spring garden looked great! Thanks for posting. It’s been hot and dry in MN, although we’re getting a little rain today (very little, it seems).
Nice to see your post, Judy. Looks like you had a beautiful and bountiful spring in the garden. Species tulips are truly gems, it is easy to see why they are gaining popularity. When I see your flowers in bloom, I think how Jason is still present in all the plants he lovingly tended.
Hope your summer is pleasant with just the right amount of rainfall. (Living in MA, we just received a deluge, a contrast to last summer’s drought. You never know what Nature will dish out these days!)
I’ve thought of you and Jason often, but I’ve also thought of that marvelous Clematis! It’s wonderful to see it again, and in such obvious good health. It’s fun seeing the tulips, too. I learned so much about them from Jason’s posts, and from people’s comments. If I could grow tulips, I’d go for those yellow and red ones in a minute! Given our heat, seeing these was as refreshing as anything could be — thank you for posting these glorious photos.
Your spring display was fabulous. Here in coastal southern California I was pleased to have a few dozen species tulips – 100 make much more of an impact! That Clematis is something I can only dream of. I just manage to get a single sweet autumn clematis (C. terniflora) to survive here. I look forward to seeing more of your May and June garden.
Our spring was amazingly cool and we had more rain this year than I can remember in a long, long time. Spring flowers got a slower start here as well and held on long after they’d usually have become toast. Unfortunately, it appears that the persistent marine layer that kept us so remarkably cool may be over as of this week.
Hi Judy! It really is lovely to hear from you and get an update on the garden. And how glorious it looked in spring! I love that idea of having hybrid tulips among the species ones. It is really effective and an inspiration for my future planting. All those new bulbs planted last autumn were such a great investment. Spring flowers can be so uplifting! The clematis is stunning, and the front view of the house with the ferns just emerging is something for a country homes magazine front cover! 😁 Look forward to seeing more of the garden soon. All the best.
Your Clematis always makes my gardening pulse quicken. I have four Clematis plants and together they wouldn’t make a quarter of your plant. Gorgeous! Your spring flowers were beautiful, and I’ve never seen a double flower so thank you for sharing. We’ve had our share of challenges this season including rain almost every single day for weeks, a marauding flock of turkeys that pick and choose their dinner each day, and a septic project that is still awaiting final grade and seeding. This year my photos have to be limited to the individual flower. 🙂
WOW! These are amazing blooms. We had a long cool spring which helped extend some of the bulbs flowering. Gorgeous views.
Your garden looked really beautiful during the Spring bloom. Here in Oregon we had a very short Spring. Seemed like it went from Winter to Summer!
Lovely to see a post from you, and what a lovely post! C. jackmanii is glorious in your garden, and the front-garden shot of your home with all the tulips and other bulbs in flower–it could not be bettered.
I read the Chicago area had a tornado–yikes! We had a great rainy winter and a wonderful cool spring and June. A long heat wave now, but can’t complain after such a beautiful first half of the year.
Best wishes to you!