Slow Spring, but still Happy Easter!

Narcissus 'Jenny', blue Muscari armenicum, purple Phlox subulata and pink lamium in our Driveway Garden last year at this same time: March 30th, 2012.

This year in our Driveway garden: March 30th, 2013. A bit slower this year!

Tulip 'Persian Pearl', Narcissus 'Tete-e-tete' and Echeveria in a bulb pot last year: March 30, 2012.

The same pot in our garden this week: March 2013.

Tulip 'Ice Stick' and Narcissus 'Tete-e-tete' on our Hill Garden last year: March 30, 2012.

No matter where you are this spring, or what your whether is like, I would like to say Happy Easter to you!

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ~ Romans 5:6-8

Chanticleer's Bulb Lawn

Viburnum macrocephalum and Tulipa 'Akebona' in Chanticleer's Bulb Meadow.

When you emerge from Chanticleer's Asian Woods, you are greeted by sunshine and a wide swath of grass. But this is no ordinary field. In April and May, it is filled with a succession of colorful bulbs and flowering trees. This is the Bulb Lawn, where tulip, daffodils and bluebells abound.

Chanticleer's Asian Woods

Chanticleer's Asian bridge... corresponding to this multi-stemmed tree and the dark-stemmed Arisaema.

Chanticleer's Asian Woods is beautiful in April! It is full of blooming woodland primroses, fresh hosta leaves, delicate peonies and many other woodland treasures. Orchids, Epimediums, Japanese maples and lady's slippers fill out the scene. Plant lovers, read on!

Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum 'Higasayama'

The intricately patterned leaves of Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum 'Higasayama'

I first saw this beautiful Japanese maple tree, Acer palmatum 'Higasayama', in Chanticleer's Asian Woods garden last April. It is a small tree (15' x 12') with year-round interest for the garden.

Chanticleer's Pond Garden

The Pinkshell azalea, Rhododendron vaseyi, in bud beside Chanticleer's Pond Garden.

Continuing our tour of Chanticleer this week, we come to the Pond Garden. Once you descend the Gravel Garden's substantial slope, you come to the low point on the estate property. This is the perfect place for ponds and surrounding woodland.

Chanticleer ~ Gravel & Ruin Gardens

Tulipa 'Rem's Favourite' and white Allium neapolitanum framed by pillar Arborvitae look down on a pergola covered in Wisteria sinensis 'Amethyst' ~ the Gravel Garden at Chanticleer.

We are continuing our tour of Chanticleer gardens in Wayne, PA, USA.  Last April, the Gravel Garden and Ruin gardens were clothed in tulips, alliums, grape hyacinths and daffodils for my visit... And they make me remember why spring is my favorite season!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day ~ March 2013

Crocus tommasinianus glorying in the sun today!

Welcome to Pennsylvania for March GBBD!
We live in US zone 5 and are just starting to enjoy our carpet of Crocus tommasinianus for spring. Crocuses are resilient little flowers, blooming in the sun for the bees and closing in the cold to protect their pollen. Not only that, but they can be open one week, closed for a week during snowfall, and then reopen again for another sunny day. That is exactly what happened this week in our garden.

Chanticleer's Gravel Garden in Spring

Warm spring display at Chanticleer's Gravel Garden

More beautiful April views from Chanticleer this week at WMG. I hope you are not tired of it yet! There were just so many pretty flowers out to play in the spring sunshine last year, and I cannot bear to leave these photos sit on just my computer any longer. :)

These photos show just a small, upper section of the Gravel garden. The entire Gravel garden  encompasses quite a large area at Chanticleer as you descend to the ponds. After the lush woodland, this is a sunnier spot all in orange, red and white. The blue grass foliage adds depth to this basically warm floral palette.

Spring is here!

 Crocus tomasinianus with the red stems of Cornus alba 'Elegantissima'

Crocus tomasinianus in our backyard this weekend...

Chanticleer ~ Bell's Run Creek in April

Fothergilla gardenii in Bell's Run Creek planting for April

Chanticleer's spring show includes formal tulips displays, but it also extends to every stretch of their woodland. Here near Bell's Run Creek, spring gets its color from woodland Phlox, Fothergilla, Primula, Camassia, and pretty shade plants and trees of every kind.

Chanticleer's Dogwood Corner

Chanticleer in April: Walk through the dogwood trees.

My series on Chanticleer continues this week with a look at a garden that epitomizes all that is nice about April!

Spring would not be spring in North America without our native dogwood tree, Cornus florida. Dogwood trees are found in the wild at the edge of the woodland, reaching their branches through dappled sunlight. Chanticleer has sited these dogwood trees close to a woodland, following nature's example (which is usually the wisest idea for any gardener!). Shade plants surround these trees; you might find a few new plants to add around your own dogwood tree for next spring!

Chanticleer ~ Oak Bed Woodland

Chanticleer's Oak Bed filled with spring delights!

I had lovely weather and lovely company on the day I visited Chanticleer last April. The sunny, warm spring excited hundreds of plants into bloom on the estate grounds all at once. It was a beautiful time to visit!

Here are my photos of the Oak Bed. I found the planting in this area captivating; so many woodland treasures were all nestled together. It had the effect of a patchwork quilt which the gardeners had been knitting together these past years.  Each plant so quietly beautiful, supporting one another. I hope you enjoy the view!

Chanticleer's Clematis macropetala Blue Bird

Clematis macropetala 'Blue Bird' at Chanticleer in April

Chanticleer in Wayne, PA has many beautiful plants for its spring show: tulips, daffodils, roses and annual pots galore.  Clematis macropetala 'Blue Bird', though, is the only Clematis that I saw that April day. But what a beauty!