Spring Emergence Around My Farm 2023
Spring is officially here and all the gardens are beginning to transform at my Bedford, New York farm.
We have crocuses, snowdrops, hellebores, daffodils and so many more peeking through the soil. Soon, the grounds will be covered in spring color. Here’s a glimpse of what is flowering in my gardens now.
Enjoy these photos.
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- And just like that there are flowers popping up everywhere. Spring is such a beautiful time of year here at my farm. Every day there is something new to see. Here are some of the crocus flowers blooming under my long pergola photographed in the early evening.
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- Crocus is among the first flowers to appear in spring, usually in shades of purple, yellow, and white. There are about 90 different species of crocus that originate from Southern Europe, Central Asia, China, the Middle East, and Africa.
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- Croci can be found in alpine meadows, rocky mountainsides, scrublands, and woodlands. I have groups of crocus blooms all around my farm.
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- Beneath my allée of pin oaks and in an area near my blueberry bushes, there are lots of white crocus.
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- Here is a closer view – the petals are so crisp. They only reach about four inches tall, but they naturalize easily, meaning they spread and come back year after year.
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- Here are some dark purple croci near my Basket House. These look great planted in bunches. Choose a planting site where there is well-draining soil.
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- These crocus flowers show dainty blossoms with amethyst-rose petals that look brushed with silvery-white on the outside, accented by bright orange stigmas and stamens.
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- These golden crocus flowers are sprouting up beneath the quince trees in a bed filled with saffron that blooms in the fall. Golden crocus bears vivid orange-yellow bowl-shaped flowers.
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- Here are purple and white striped croci growing in the back border of my pergola in front of a row of bold green boxwood. This striped flower produces several upright, cup-like, purple and white striped blooms on stems rising to four to six inches above basal, grass-like leaves.
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- One of my favorite spring blooms is the snowdrop. Galanthus nivalis is another sure sign of spring. These beautiful white flowers are blooming all around my houses. Snowdrops produce one very small pendulous bell-shaped white flower which hangs off its stalk like a “drop” before opening.
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- We planted some rare varieties down at the edge of my Japanese Maple Woodland. This one is Galanthus nivalis ‘Viridapice’ featuring white flowers with green blotched outer segments and green tipped inner segments.
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- Eranthis, or winter aconite, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae – the Buttercup family. Winter aconite produces such cheerful yellow flowers that appear in late winter or earliest spring. And, they are deer resistant. These are behind my Tenant House – they multiply more and more every year.
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- There are also lots of irises blooming – this one in a creamy yellow. These dwarf irises are good for use in borders, along walkways, by ponds, or woodland areas in mass plantings.
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- In another area, dark purple irises. The blooms have a very light and subtle violet-like scent. Irises come from a vast genus of plants, but nearly all show the recognizable iris flower form – three standard petals and three hanging outer petals.
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- This is ‘Natascha’ miniature iris – a lovely ice blue color. They bloom in early spring and grow to about four to six inches tall.
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- Chionodoxa, known as glory-of-the-snow, is a small genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, often included in Scilla. The blue, white, or pink flowers appear early in the year. These are planted in the Stewartia garden under my majestic bald cypress trees.
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- Do you recognize these? They are the stems of the herbaceous peonies now poking out of the soil. This garden of gorgeous pink and white flowers blooms in early June – it’s among the most anticipated sights here at the farm.
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- New growth is also emerging in the woodland. Symplocarpus foetidus, commonly known as skunk cabbage or swamp cabbage is a low growing plant that grows in wetlands and moist hill slopes of eastern North America. The flowers appear before the leaves and show a mottled maroon hoodlike leaf called a spathe, which surrounds a knob-like structure called a spadix.
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- One can see the spadix inside. The spadix is actually a fleshy spike of many petal-less flowers. As the flowers mature, the spathe opens more to allow pollinators to enter.
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- And the hellebores are still hanging on. Hellebores are members of the Eurasian genus Helleborus – about 20 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. They blossom during late winter and early spring for up to three months.
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- Hellebores come in different colors and have rose-like blossoms. It is common to plant them on slopes or in raised beds in order to see their flowers, which tend to nod.
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- Along the daffodil border, in the woodland and in various areas around the farm there are patches of daffodil foliage growing with so much energy. I have thousands of daffodils planted in large groupings, providing a stunning swath of color when in bloom. The original daffodil border was begun in 2003. I’ll be sure to show you photos.
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- Here is one of the first daffodils to bloom outside my Tenant House. I plant early, mid and late season blooming varieties so that sections of beautiful flowers can be seen throughout the season.
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- Much of the farm still looks like winter, but not for long. Soon these trees will be filled with glorious leaves, and all the gardens will be bursting with color – wait and see!
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