I had intended to post some pictures of interesting and unusal flowers I took last spring and haven't had time to get to -- a White Forsythia at Nancy and David's, for example. I couldn't find the pictures so I'm posting these instead. They are probably somewhat more timely, since summer seems to be ending and elements of fall are showing up, if the last few quite chilly mornings are an indication.

I'll start with the lupine at Ray and Tudi Smith's. Ray says they started with five plants, which have now spread across the front of the house in a glorious display. The Lupine this year seemed to truly appreciate the extra moisture we had last winter and spring, as even the wild Lupine on the Bison Range and areas north were in full blooom and covered the hillsides.

The Ice Plant shown here was growing in a garden near Arlee. Supposedly hardy to Zone 4 it seems to do better if it goes into winter somewhat on the dry side.

This variegated Honeysuckle, 'Harlequin' is growing in my garden. It has been somewhat slow to establish and is not as vigorous as some species but the multicolored foliage and flowers are equally beautiful and make the small show more easily appreciable. "Easily established" and "vigorous" is plant broker (sellers) code for a plant that grows really fast and takes over a large area of your garden before you know it, and is often hard to get rid of. This honeysuckle doesn't seem to be like the japanese varieties and is native to high altitude areas of Utah.

Frittilaria bulgarica shows up as foliage and then suddenly the flower stems appear. This clump started as just three bulbs and two years later is filling in quite nicely and much more rapidly than I had expected.

Euonymous turkistanica is slowly being discovered by Missoula gardeners. While not as robust and full as its cousin the Burning Bush, Euonymous alata, it nevertheless has excellent fall foliage colors, but the neon pink earring-like flowers make it an unusual garden attraction.

This Peach-leafed Campanula inhabits Beth's garden in the upper Grant Creek area. The flowers also come in white and occasionally an almost pink shade. It tends to be somewhat sloppy and haphazard in its growth habit but this one shows what it is like when it grows tall and erect as it is supposed to. If it were not so willing to seed and become a weed it would be a most desirable garden plant. Deer do browse it so it has to be kept where they can't get to it.

This Bronze Friendly Thistle, or maybe it is Friendly Bronze Thistle, I"ve lost the tag, was a find at a Helena nursery. It needs a place in my garden that will show off the foliage and unusual and long lasting flowers since it is not a particularly large plant. Even at ground level in the middle of my grass it still attracts attention. So far I haven't had seen seedlings.

I ran across this picture taken last fall on a trip to Great Falls and recognized it as a preview of what is soon to come, if our recent chilly mornings are any indication. It is looking north from the area just past Ovando on Highway 200.

The First Tulip of the Year

When I got home yesterday I found the first of my tulips blooming. It's not that big or showy but it is a tulip, and it has color, so I think it should count as the first of the season.

Yesterday wasn't the first day I came home to find the Sweet Violets in full bloom but it is nevertheless an amazing display in a small space on either side of the path. On a warm day they fill the air with their sweet odor. That will come.

And the Hellebore Snow Bunting has lived up to its name and is in full bloom a couple of weeks now despite the long tedious climb towards spring we have experienced this year. Many times named varieties of "catalogue perennials" are more hype and salesmanship than reality, but in this case Snow Bunting lived up to its sales pitch. I put it in the bed two years ago, it bloomed lightly last year and now look at it.

The Prologue

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heth

The tender croppes, and the yonge sonne

Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,

And smale foweles maken melodye,

That slepen al the nyght with open eye

(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);

Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages...

Chaucer, Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Perhaps England's spring is more advanced than our own because again we are confronted with the hesitancy of spring and its reluctance to arrive in all its potential glory. Yet bit by bit it is coming with a clump of crocus here and there, the Winter Aconite finally peeking through the duff left as winter retreated, and the tiny dark blue iris coming forward to keep the crocus company, and hungry bees seek the sweet liquor found in the depths of the flower, much as the pilgrims sought the saint.

SPRING!

Well, it hasn't always felt like it, or seemed like it, but I'm told that spring officially began yesterday, Sunday March 20th, at 11:00 a.m. There is a bit of evidence, still limited, that it is coming if not really here. The surrounding mountains, these are the Missions seen from the top of Evaro Hill, are still heavily covered in snow if the valley floor is fairly clean. The weathermen promised more tonight.

Nevertheless, last week I found these in my friend Debbie's garden.

And east of Arlee, Mary's garden has her crocus in nearly full bloom.

Even her daffodils promise that later there will be more flowers. Look closely for the bud deep in the newly emerging daffodil foliage. (On the right edge of the larger clump.)

There is a white Hellebore flower trying to get through the mulch, the dead leaves and the cold tht might raise its head soon if we have a few more warm days.

Have a good spring.

Pruning

Now is the time for all good men and women to get out their pruning tools and come to the aid of their trees and shrubs. Some of them at least. If you have lots of shrubbery you may want to do only a few of them each year.

In western Montana the best time of the year to prune is early February and until you get the job done. Any earlier, even though the warmish week or so we often have in mid-January beckons us to come outside, can result in the loss of trees. It is better to wait until the likelihood of severe weather is less likely. Pruning stimulates trees to try and heal and the rising sap in a sub-zero spell can severely damage the conductive tissue.

Pruning has a few basic rules. First, make sure your pruners are sharp. Two, always cut back to the end of the branch. Don’t leave stubs! These entice numerous shoots to grow around and from them and soon you have your own little twig broom. Eventually this can lead to rot and the loss of large sections of the tree, or even the entire tree.

Then, pruning begins in earnest. Prune out branches that are growing straight up (called water sprouts) or across and through the tree. After that look for branches that are too close together and are rubbing, or that form a tight crotch that can collect debris and cause disease in the branch. This is frequently a judgment call so go with what looks or feels right. Remember it is always easiest to leave it and cut it off later than to hope it re-grows.
For large branches arborists use a technique involving three cuts. The first is made on the underside of the branch about 6-8 inches out from the trunk and ½ inch deep or so. This cut keeps the bark from peeling back into the trunk if the second cut doesn’t go smoothly. The second cut is made a foot or more beyond the first cut and simply removes the branch along with its weight so the stub is easier to handle. Then make the final cut about ¼ to ½ an inch beyond the collar of the branch. The collar is easily identified by the change in texture and series of folds where the branch leaves the main trunk. Make the final cut as vertical and smooth as possible. It can be evened off with a pruning knife, a wood rasp or even with the blade side of the pruners.

All of your pruning except perhaps the odd branch that escaped earlier should be finished by the end of August if possible. By then light levels are dropping, air temperatures are cooler and plants are preparing to go dormant. Pruning extensively in the fall can cause the plant to delay dormancy as it tries to heal the cuts. If we have an early hard freeze like the one in mid-October 2009 then the trees may not survive. Many had a difficult time coming through that winter even when they were healthy.

Don’t throw out the prunings. All the branches or evergreen leaves can now be composted. Large branches will compost faster if they are chipped first. Everything else just goes into the pile, and with time, moisture and air you have your very own homemade compost.

And there you have it. Pruning made simple. And it gets simpler with practice. If you make a mistake, don’t worry. It will grow back. Maybe even in the right place.

Next time I'll talk about shrubs and evergreens.

Winter has been truly with us for some time now. The seed catalogues have been arriving on schedule. Since the new year opened my mailbox it seems that there is another catalogue or two or three nearly every day. (Along with the envelopes with windows, of course.) While this usually signals the advent of spring I’m not sure it is ever coming, especially after Monday’s snowstorm.

A reminiscence from last fall might be in order since not much has happened since the snow began in November. The Burning Bush was as red as it would ever get as I was working at John and Carol’s. I heard what I thought were some ravens playing next door, or somewhere close anyway. If you haven’t noticed ravens sound like small children talking and giggling when they get together. That is what I thought the sound was until I realized that it was circling around the hill. Where it had been coming from the west it was now farther north. Ravens don’t “talk” as the fly so this was something new.

I finally located the sound as it got farther east, and as I looked up I say a large flock of white birds, rather than the black I had been looking for. Snow geese! But not even a black wingtip. It was a flock of about 15-16 swans circling before they headed south down the Bitterroot. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to the pickup and my camera they had become such tiny dots that they didn’t photograph well at all. Rather a disappointment since it was the first time I had EVER seen a flock of flying swans. Look very, very closely at the blue picture and you can see them just below the center on the right hand side of the picture. Use you imagination and you can see them anywhere in the picture, but I swear they’re there.

As fall progressed it became black earlier and earlier, but a couple of weeks ago I could finally tell that it is now becoming lighter. At 6:00 p.m. it is almost still light. As opposed to the black picture taken about 5:00 at Christmas. Only an early afternoon picture can show the texture of the white that has been on the ground since early in November.

The prediction for next week is warmer so perhaps I can finally get out and do the early spring pruning.