Six on Saturday: April 10

The Deck Garden in early Spring.

Welcome to Six on Saturday, where gardeners from about the globe post six things that are happening in their gardens, or plants that make them happy, of just six topics of interest. This idea belongs to The Propagator, so visit his site for the complete offering of “SOS.” Here’s six things happening in my gardens in north central Indiana. 1) The tulips suddenly began to open in the Deck Garden this week, a bit earlier than usual. Photography still perplexes me in that what I see, and what the camera captures is often very different. Here, the hyacinths look absolutely pink, and were they so, they would never be found in MY gardens! They are actually “Gypsy Queen,” a lovely soft orange sherbet color that blend well with the brighter orange, yellow, and white tulips (Tang Dynasty from Colorblends.)

And this hellebore is more purple than it looks here!

2) I don’t have fancy hellebores (yet!) but I’ve very happy with these PURPLE hellebores than open up a couple of weeks later than the double white ones. The Purple ones are in deeper shade, which may account for the delay.

A tray full of surprises!

3) I was gifted a free packet of “Wildflower Mix” which stated it contains 27 different wildflowers. I don’t really have an area prepared for a wildflower bed, so while I was watching basketball in March, I roughly sorted the seeds and more recently seeded them in a flat. Hopefully, I will recognize many of them, and can decided where they might be happy. So far, I see Four O’Clocks, cornflowers, flax, poppies, cosmos, and calendula. The plan is to put most of them in pots until their bloom color is determined, and their identity. I have no interest in adding a lot of rampant self-seeders to some gardens, so many will be gifted to others or put in the garden club plant sale.

The first Primrose to bloom…by default.

4) Remember the much-anticipated first primrose bloom, that then was eaten by some critter before it opened? It is recovering, but will be lucky if it blooms this year. So, by default the primrose shown in the photo wins the prize for first bloom, opening just yesterday. I definitely need lots more primroses!

What a surprise!

5) Another suprise awaited in the potager, where I was stunned to see the first strawberry bloom of the season. It’s on a “Seascape” plant (an everbearing variety) and there are several more plants with buds about to open! The earliest I’ve had strawberry blooms before is April 24th, so I’ll be moving at least one of those berry boxes to that bed shortly. And finally,

I’ve shown these in past years, but they are so sweet they deserve another appearance.

6) The miniature true iris given to me by my friend Margaret years ago are spreading. These little darlings are only about 3″ tall with a 2″ tall brilliant purple true iris flower. I want to have enough to move some to the Fairy Slope, where I think they will also be happy.

The flowers are opening fast and furious now, as our above normal temperatures continue. We could certainly use a good rain, and a little less wind, but I won’t complain too loudly or Mother Nature might decide to send worse! It’s a lovely Spring here in Indiana, and the farmers are already planting. Feeling blessed! Hope all is well in whatever part of the world you garden.

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