EARLY SPRING BLOOMS

Our mild winter has been kind to many of my flowering blooms, although I have to admit I did protect the freesias during some recent nights when the temperatures fell in to the 20s. The same with some of the iris because they were in bud.

The purple iris were a passalong and came without a name which is often the case in my garden. The pretty little narcissus alongside this clump is also without a name, much to my regret.

Another passalong iris, known only as Peach, lives up to its name. It smells of peaches.

The naturalizing species tulips, or lady tulips, Tulipa clusiana, have not disappointed this year. Some years ago I read that the seed were not viable and I would pick off the seed heads after flowering. Then I discovered that the seed pots were attractive in themselves and allowed the seed to fall. Now there are many new plants forming.

Tulipa clusiana Lady Jane

Tulipa clusiana, Lady Jane with petals closed

Tulipa clusiana var. chrysantha, has yellow petals with red markings on the underside.

The species tulips, Tulipa humilis, Persian pearl was planted several years ago. It bloomed the first year and then nothing for 2 years. Now once again it is going to bloom. This is one of the shortest stemmed tulips, just a few inches tall.

I took the upper photo this morning and this one when the petals opened up when the sun came out.

All these tulips are perfect for the rock garden where they will receive good drainage.

The freesias have been magnificent, whether in pot or in the ground. They did receive addition protection from freezes but worth every cover I brought in and out.

And the same with pots of anemones.

I just wish they would all last just a little longer.

A FLOWER FROM MY SCHOOL DAYS

Do you have a flower that has a strong memory link to your past? I do. Mine is the anemone.

It is rather a strange memory. It was my last year in high school and I was taking the A level botany exam. As part of the practical exam we had to identify a flower using the Flora. I don't know if they still have floras today but this was book in which you could trace the identity of a plant by identifying all the parts of the flower. Each identifying feature would take you to another page and more choices. Eventually you arrived at what you hoped was the correct ID. We were all rather fearful of what we would get, having just been presented the cross section of an elephants trunk and a dormouse in the previous Zoology practical exam.

The good news was there was a flower I immediately recognized at each place, the anemone. I still had to trace the id but at least I would know if I had done it correctly. I even remember my flower was purple.

The flower above is from a bag tubers I planted in pots in the fall. Not the prettiest of colors but still the first bloom to open and to once again trigger that 56 year old  memory.

Here in Texas the first flowers of the New Year are almost always the native Texas anemones, Anemone berlandieri, more commonly called windflowers because they open on windy days. They usually arrive singly and are white or shades of pink and purple. This was the first time I had seen clump. Those would be perfect in my rock garden if only I could get them to clump.

Anemone berlandieri

Of course the prettiest are the purples and pinks although it is not the petals that have color but the sepals.

These flower will enjoy center stage for a few weeks. As the flowers fade the center cone grows upwards into a thimble shape until the fluffy seeds mature and are blown away on the wind.

ANEMONE TIME

The anemone has always been a favorite flower.

Little bunches of mixed blue, purple, red and pink-colored flowers would appear in the shops around Mother's Day, which falls much earlier in England. And one appeared in my A level botany exam to identify. Of course I knew what it was but still had to go through the process of identifying it with my Flora. Does anyone use a flora anymore? Or did they go away like log tables?

I bought half a dozen of those strange little corms this year and planted them in a pot. The first flowers opened the other day. They are much larger than the native anemones, Anemone berlandieri, and A. caroliniana, which are dotted all around the garden. I like them just as much.
The are usually the first flowers to bloom in the spring, although this year they seem late. But true to their common name 'windflower' there was a stiff wind blowing which heralded a cold front.

But I discovered someone else who likes these pretty little flowers. The rock squirrel, Spermophilus variegatus. In my opinion he is far more of a garden enemy that the tree squirrel. He has been eating the flowers of my wild anemone, dianthus, pansy, violas and munching on fleshy succulents and green vegetables. He also enjoys the seed that has fallen to the ground under the bird feeder.

He is a persistent creature and is not easily deterred. My neighbor tells me he lives under the rocks around his pool but he comes over to my house to eat.