Some Iris pictures

Yep. Asiatics have been in bloom in KY for the past week to 10 days. Last two are Marhans are starting now.

I have some more pics: Denver Botanic Garden: the onions that look like people waving are the plants Mike Bone talked about when he spoke at U of M in March. They were a gift from Panayoti last year when I spoke at DBG.

Thanks to Tony for checking and correcting the ids!

Attached are some of my favorite flowers. So many varieties, each with their own unique beauty and so easy to grow.
Aquilegia from the Latin word for eagle (aquila). It is said the name comes from the idea that the flower petals resemble an eagle's claw.

Clematis versicolor; Clematis glaucophylla; Lilium hansonii

Two Lewisia and a Soapwort cascading off my rock wall + closeup.

As promised, here are some pictures of my new Abronias starting to look good. And a Fritillaria acmopetala.

At last year's GLC NARGS Plant Exchange I donated a bunch of Paeonia rockii seedlings. This is the mother plant earlier this week. I have a few more seedlings coming up in the lawn again this year. [Clio, MI]

Last of the Primula and a nice clumping late/long blooming Epimedium.

Magnolia time!

Oh yes, Cypripediums are so glorious -- all the early ones are out now. The hybrid 'Gisela' is super easy -- almost a standard garden perennial. One of my favorites is the hybrid 'Renate' because it looks like the little Asian species like C. macranthos and C. tibeticum, but heat tolerant. But I've not had it for long enough to be sure about growing it long term. Spring gentians are out now too.

My trough area.

I have it also or one with the same flower. It came to me as a species but was incorrectly labeled. It’s very pretty and large (34”) with a sheen to the leaves. It is blooming now. While we are on peonies, any ideas for the pink-flowered earlier blooming one; it is also supposed to be a species but I lost the tag on that one. I think some crows or blue jays have a nest lined with my tags. :(
Susan Haddock: I think, after digging a little bit, my peony is obovata. Correct me if you think otherwise.

Does anyone know what this peony is? It blooms earlier than any others in my yard. I got it years ago from Christa Janecki. It grows easily from seed.

Crevice gardens do not disappoint!!

Delosperma.

Some pics of my garden here in metro Detroit.

Rimmer: In hot humid Bowling Green, KY. Summer Phlox [17 May 2020: 82°F/61°F 65% humidity]

Hope your gardens all survived the cold weather with minimal frosting. Fortunately, alpines don't mind the cold -- and here are a few in bloom, taken yesterday in the crevice garden (except the dwarf Mertensia).

Well, the cold did not get everything! Some of the first buds on the cyps were mush, even though I covered them. Now the later ones are nice. The paeonia was from Ontario seed ex.
Esther
See Addendum from Jacques Thompson below

Addendum from Jacques Thompson

As always your plant pics leave me wanting more, much much more. I do have some info to share about the Paeonia mlokosewitschii. I've been hearing some discussion of late regarding this plant in regards to flower color. Years ago I had raised several batches of seed of these from J&J Archibalds including:
# 747.109: Paeonia mlokosewitschii from Selected Early Yellows* Georgia, Kakheti,Lagodekhi, near Shirati. (Some years ago we obtained a small quantity of seed collected in the Lagodekhi Nature Reserve by a botanist from the Georgian Academy of Sciences in Tblisi. While the foliage on all is typical of this species, as we know it, the flowers on the resulting plants have been disconcertingly variable with several pinks occuring. This is one of the only two known localities for P. mlokosewitschii & it is also the type-locality and the only site for P. lagodechiana, the"pink P. mlokosewitschii". We tentatively concluded that in the wild the colour-forms are mixed and that what we grow in cultivation is a garden selection. This has subsequently been confirmed to us by Dr. Michael Almond who recently visited the colony in flower. It grows on very steep slopes in dense woodland & the flowers vary from white to pink and yellow. The seed is from our selection from these wild seedlings : a very fine, robust, early-flowering yellow with crimson-tinged filaments
.............................(6 seeds/ $8.00)

I am wondering if the peony pictured came from me. If so, I believe it may in fact be a hybrid, not because of the flower color, but due to the foliage as it does not appear to be typical to the species. However thats just my observation.

I think that I have sent you a good seed catch somewhere in the not-too-far past, from my original plant that came from the seed batch listed above, so you should have plenty more coming. If my memory is incorrect, please let me know as I can certainly supply you with un-bloomed seedlings showing more typical foliar growth for the species.

A few more Primula and a Townsendia.

If you were gardening in Israel, towards the Golan Heights at this time, you might see the following in my colleague Andrei's garden.

This allium received from Kurt Vickery ex Alan Edwards as Allium nevskianum (Allium akaka “good pink form”). Looks the same as Bev Wolter’s Allium aff. karataviense . However, my plants from Bev only have one leaf. Blooming at same time in same location.

More primula blooming

Viola pedata.

Today (20200505) is rainy, but it was a nice sunny 70-80s on Sunday and Monday.

Love seeing everyone's pics. Here are some more of mine. I first saw Tulipa acuminata in Holly's garden last year and planted some last fall. I have worked for years and years at gentians from seed and am finally getting some blooms.

This isn't growing outside, but I think it's rather cool. I got some seed from an existing plant I have of Cyclamen graecum in January of 2019. I sowed it and got some plants, and one of them is actually blooming this month, only 17 months after sowing. And there is another bud waiting to bloom. What is really cool is that the parent plant usually flowers at the end of the summer, during August and September.

Saturday 5/2 went for a walk in the woods and saw some wildflowers.

At this time of year, I wish I could grow Erythroniums better — One look at Ian Young's book is enough to emphasize that. But this year, the ordinary yellow E. americanum put on a fine show on top of my back bank. No credit to me.

So I photographed a few others that were out too — a few western species and hybrids, and a lovely form of Erythronium albidum from Bob Swartz. You have to work to have good timing photographing these, as the eastern species (and also the Eurasian ones, if my memory serves), close up quickly in the evening and in dark, cloudy weather. That seems like a lot of petal-flapping in Michigan's weather. The western American ones (at least those I've flowered) are open all the time, so it's easy to get them in good morning or evening light.

Enjoy, and send out what is in bloom in your garden.

The warm weather of the past few days is bringing things popping out of the ground. Here are more pictures from my yard. The first is a clump of Dutchman's breeches( D. cucullaria), second some Anemone nemorosa Robinsoniana, the next A. nemorosa 'Vestal', from one of our plant sales, and a clump of Anemonella thalictroides and Epimedium 'Bronze Maiden'. It's going to get colder next week so enjoy while you can.

Let's hope we're slowly starting to claw our way back to something closer to normal But in the meantime, things are exploding into bloom. This is the season for Juno irises and here are a few, plus too many other things to send.