The plants are up to something.

Spring is upon us and busy days are the norm. After a long day at the nursery it’s always a pleasure to take a rest in the garden with a cold beer in hand. Even though I work with plants all day everyday, I still find sanctuary in my garden whenever I get the chance to take it in. The air is cool and fresh, all the abundance of life soothing. It’s interesting watching a garden develop over the years. While it almost never stays the same, a few old standbys inevitably show up right on cue. The stranger the collection, the stranger the visitors. A rare or strange plant need not be difficult to grow, some come back year to year almost as easily as any other garden perennial. During my Sunday in the garden I took a moment to photograph a few of my favorite strange visitors. Let’s take a look shall we?

Spring lushness

Primulas and pulmonaria reliably show up every spring right on cue.

This will be the third season these Arisaema griffithii have popped up for me. It’s hard to get bored of their incredible patterns and markings. Put side to side they make quite an unusual duo. It’s hard to believe these are easy plants to grow, requiring little no special treatment, completely hardy in our climate here in Victoria.

When I first received the bulbs in the mail I would have never guessed they’d end up being two different colors. This one is quite dark.

While the other is quite light in comparison. Often referred to as cobra lilies you can easily see why. They look like a cobra ready to attack.

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with podophyllums but I am. Their unusual emergence in spring intrigued me from the get go. Podophyllum hexandrum waking up from it’s winter sleep.

Although Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’ has remained evergreen all winter, now that spring is upon us it’s been putting out a succession of new leaves. Photos don’t do this plant justice, it’s a real gem in the garden.

Sanguinaria canadensis & Jeffersonia diphylla all leafed out now. Their previous similarities aren’t as apparent at this point.

All of the saxifraga in the garden have started to flower, Saxifraga umbrosa is just starting up. For those seeking alpine treasures take a deep look into the genus saxifraga, you could spend a lifetime exploring their unusual diversity.

If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time you’d probably notice me talking about the same plants year by year. The truth it they never cease to amaze me, it’s hard to not give recognition to incredible plants. Here we have Hellebore ‘Winter Moonbeam’ and Euphorbia polychroma.

I have a smattering of tulips throughout the garden, at their freshest their absolutely vibrant. The color almost glows, I was worried it would overload my camera. Incredible!

A less commonly cultivated bleeding heart; Dicentra cucullaria is also doing it’s thing this time of year. Much smaller and delicate than the common dicentra spectabilis, it’s little flowers and fern like foliage are pleasant indeed.

Something a little different from your everyday Lewisia cotyledon;  Lewisia tweedyi is in full spring bloom. From what I’ve read they are somewhat susceptible to winter rot so these stayed bone dry all winter long. About a month ago I started watering them again and in a matter of weeks this plant went from a dryed up susk to this beautiful pristine wonder.

Gardeners. We’re a lucky bunch.
Thanks for joining me on this week’s tour.