May Flowers...

What's going on in my yard right now...

It is at last May and things are coming up beautifully...

My neighbor and I just walked around our yards today to see what all this rain is bring up. This rain has been what my husband calls a "Growing Rain". It has done just that, things are coming up like crazy. As we walked from flowerbed to flowerbed getting wet from the sprinkling of rain coming down, like two crazy kids laughing that we were getting wet. But somehow we just didn't care. It is that time of the year we both love. I couldn't have ask for a better neighbor. We both love our gardens and being outside working in the yards. We are always trading things back and forth. We love to just sit down with a cup of coffee (or Wine) and just chat FLOWERS...
There is no better time than spring in our eyes.

So here are a few pictures...

Do you see the Pink Polka Dots on this one??? It is a Pink Polka Dot Coral Bell.... It is just too cute...

Brunnera..

Perennial Geranium

Candytuft...Lily-of-the-Valley

Star Of Bethlehem

A few little things about this flower:

From the center of the rosette, there develops one or more flowering stalks about 6-9" tall. Each stalk terminates in a cyme-like raceme of white flowers. This raceme is rather short and spreading. The lower pedicels are 1-3" long, while the upper pedicels are somewhat shorter. Both the basal leaves and flowering stalks are hairless. Each flower is about 1" across when fully open, consisting of 6 white tepals, 6 stamens, and a single pistil. Each tepal is lanceolate-oblong; there is a green stripe along its outer side. A stamen has a yellow or light brown anther at its apex, and a white filament underneath. This filament is lanceolate or narrowly triangular in shape (tapering at the top), which is a distinctive characteristic for this species. The blooming period occurs during the late spring and lasts about 2 weeks. There is a pleasant floral scent. The flowers open during the morning and usually close by noon. Each flower is replaced by a 3-celled seed capsule containing several black seeds. The root system consists of a bulb about 1" long that is ovoid. This plant reproduces by its seeds and vegetative offsets (primarily the latter). It often forms dense colonies that can exclude other species during the spring.

The Star-of-Bethlehem is a surprisingly aggressive little plant with attractive flowers. Key features include the spreading racemes of erect flowers, and the triangular or lanceolate filaments underneath the anthers. These filaments are erect and surround the pistil. Other members of the Lily family that are somewhat similar in appearance include the Allium spp. (Onions) and Nothoscordum bivalve (False Garlic). However, False Garlic and the various species of Onions have umbels of flowers and the filaments of their flowers are thread-like. Another cultivated plant, Ornithogalum nutans (Nodding Star-of-Bethlehem), rarely escapes into the wild. It has nodding flowers on elongated racemes and each of its filaments have a pair of small teeth at the apex. The pedicels of this latter species are usually ½" or less.


Have A Good One,

Lynn