Monday, March 28, 2016

In a Vase on Monday: Spring Ephemerals I


Weather continues to be all over the map, and although it's not atypical for spring in the Midwest, it seems a bit more extreme than usual. Last yesterday afternoon into evening, we had a severe thunderstorm, with winds that hit 57 mph, and hail. Lots of hail.

Two-and-a-quarter inches of rain later, we had way more water than we needed. We didn't need ANY before the storm, but there were no tornadoes, so there's that. Small favors and all.

This is the first time in 10 years that the arbor has blown all the way over.
It was anchored in the ground with 2' metal rods on all four corners.

The hail doesn't look as big as it was when it first came down because
we had just had a lovely 74° day, so it melted fairly quickly.

Plants with larger foliage, like these tulips, didn't fare so well with the hail.

Calmer weather prevailed today, so I went out to see what flowers I could cut for my little window vase.  Fortunately, the smaller spring ephemerals proved to be tough.


These flowers are representative of what is in bloom right now, other than cornelian cherry, hellebores, and some larger daffodils. Just one species tulip bloomed last week, while all the other ones - species and hybrids - aren't even close. But the Dutch hyacinths and magnolias are just days from opening.

  • Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae)
  • Striped Squill (Puschkinia libanotica)
  • Miniature Daffodil (Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete')
  • Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)
  • Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum)
  • Foliage:  Hardy Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolia)

The fused glass window vase was a purchase from one of the flower shows I went to several years ago. It's from Glass Pockets and attaches to the window with a wire loop that hangs from a suction cup.

The "In a Vase on Monday" meme is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. I generally don't cut the flowers from my garden, preferring to enjoy them in their natural setting. My lack of flower arranging skills bears witness to this, but every once in a while, I get a wild hair and grab my pruners.







7 comments:

Colleen said...

Your flowers are pretty. Hopefully you didn't receive no serious damage with that hail.
We sure got hammered down here in Texas with large hail storms the past couple weeks and more storms moving in; strong winds, rain, hail, possible chance of tornadoes, etc. expected for tomorrow :{

Maureen said...

Lovely Spring flowers - similar to what is flowering in my garden in Surrey, UK

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Oh my, what wind. Glad nothing more was mess up. Your vase and flowers are quite pretty.

Donna@Gardens Eye View said...

Wow that was quite a storm....glad there was not much damage....your vase is a perfect little spring posy...and I love the glass vase!

Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

Gosh you do get the wind there, don't you? After a big warm up more than a month ago, we seem to have reverted to typical "spring" weather here, which is to say not very springlike at all. Nothing blooming in my garden yet, save for four winter aconites. I'll take it.

Beth at PlantPostings said...

Oh what a beautiful vase full of colorful spring blooms! Many of those are just starting to bloom in my garden. I was so glad that we didn't have wind with the ice storm over here. I would bet we would have lost some trees (and flowers and plants) if heavy wind blew through branches covered in an inch of ice! So glad you didn't have more damage! This yo-yo weather is difficult, and the two seasons are still battling it out!

RobinL said...

The weather has truly been all over the map. Yesterday, the winds blew so hard that many lost power, and our grill toppled over, despite the fact that it's being held down by a bag of rocks!The worst part is that it squashed some of my tulips that were about to bloom. Boo! There was snow in the air during this storm, but today it was sunny and a bit warmer. I'd prefer my "even" weather, thank you very much.

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