Cornus mas 'Golden Glory'

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Attractive yellow flowers in April lead to relatively large red fruit in the fall giving this Dogwood the common name "Cornelian Cherry."



Cornus mas 'Golden Glory'

These don't seem overly popular and I'm not sure why. I haven't seen a large specimen of this so it's a little hard for me to judge how it performs but it can't be much worse than a Forsythia and those things are everywhere!

Spring flowering Witch-Hazels

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I'd posted a picture of Hamamelis virginiana flowering in November and was was pretty alright all things considered. The trouble is that there's so much going on in November that it doesn't seem quite as special as Hamamelis x intermedia which flowers in late winter. Nothing* flowers in late winter here so this is pretty impressive.



Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane'


Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise' looks an awful lot like Hamamelis virginiana. I suppose it's an easy colour to work with with spring bulbs so that may not be a bad thing.


Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' - Somewhere in between the previous. More interesting colour than 'Arnold Promise' but not as full looking as 'Diane.'

'Diane' is by far my favourite. I'm not a huge fan of Witch-Hazels but that's got loads of colour in March, right when you need it. I'm not sure I'd ever get one though. If I did though it would be 'Diane.'

* I'm exaggerating, but only a little. Sure there are early bulbs and the like but this seems to be the only big shrub that flowers before spring technically starts. Magnolia, Cercis canadensis, and various Dogwoods and Ornamental Cherries and the like all usually wait until April to do anything.

Snowdrops & More

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I went for a walk today to break in my new work shoes. Ouch. I should have been doing that a while ago but with only a days notice for starting... Well, three band-aids on my right heel, 2 on my left. It will be a fun day hauling cinder blocks around.

Well anyway on my walk I decided to have a look at a tree I've seen from the car and always wanted to find out what it is. I was right:



Abies concolor - probably subsp. concolor

I've got a bit of an evergreen crush on Abies concolor subsp. concolor. But not even close to the space to put one. And I tend to overcrowd. But not with trees, shrubs or evergreens. That way leads to hideous permanent pruning mistakes.

I also noticed this patch of Snowdrops in front of a Euonymus.



Galanthus nivalis

The pairing with the white variegated leaves might work well but unfortunately the white of the Snowdrops just makes the Euonymus look drab. They would probably work better against a very dark green background like you might get from a Yew (Taxus sp.).

I'll likely get some snowdrops this fall and I've got a few places in mind where the snow melts fast in spring.

Spring

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Spring comes late for me. Even today my yard is covered in snow (it apparently hit 14 degrees Celcius, that's 57 Farenheit).



(That also happens to be the full extent of my front yard, viewed out my bedroom window)

I took that picture at 12:30 this afternoon. By mid summer the sun will reach all the way to the bottom of that picture (Where garden ends and bricks start) and I can grow full sun plants no problem, as long as they don't need a hot spring or long growing season, because that's not something I can give them. Keep in mind as you look at that picture that that is considerably less snow than I'm normally dealing with at this time of year.

On the plus side you can see the most amazing Crab apple across the street. In April it will be covered in white flowers even when my yard may still have snow.