“Our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests and meadows which surround it. We need the tonic of wilderness. . . . “
~Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Oh yes….wilderness is indeed a tonic. It calms me….brings me solace, joy and such delight. And the best time in the meadow is when it awakens in spring. It has been hot here. We went from 50s and 60s to low 70s to high 80s and 90s in mere days. And the heat and humidity are expected to last another week. This unexpected summer weather has rushed the garden ahead now so we are catching up!
And I am very excited to show you the highlights from the spring meadow, so here we go…..
When the ground warms up in mid-April, the many clumps of daffodils begin to bloom. These yellow trumpet daffs are the first to flower. They are Narcissus trumpet ‘Dutch Master’.
And once the weather warms a bit more, the other clumps of mixed daffodils bloom, continually changing from early to mid to even late spring flowers of many styles and colors. We had a few very late May daffs too. And the colder May weather allowed the daffs to bloom longer than usual this year.
Here is a view looking from the back of the meadow towards the house and fence. I love this view. The bright green foliage is mostly the native lupines beginning to grow. My house is the gray one in the upper left corner.
And here is another view of the lupine foliage. Isn’t it gorgeous up close and backlit.
Also growing on the floor of the meadow, in early spring, is the sweet tiny native Trout lily or Erythronium americanum. I recently wrote a poem about this favorite spring ephemeral wildflower.
As the meadow grows, many of the shrubs and trees will leaf out…red twig dogwood and a native viburnum are two such shrubs.
Here is the viburnum….and in the background to the right is the native crabapple tree finally blooming for the first time.
We were away just as the blooms were opening, and when we returned the blossoms were fully flowering, and just lovely. They are more white than pink. Can’t wait to see the little crab apples. I planted this tree for the fruit loving birds. Now I just have to keep the deer away.
This is my native cherry tree. It has not grown tall, but more like a bush. I plan to clear plants around the tree to give it an opportunity to grow more.
In the meadow, as mid spring approaches, the first mid-size native plant to flower is Zizia aurea or Golden Alexander.
And blooming with the Zizia, are the non-native ox-eye daisies or Leucanthemum vulgare, and native wild blue lupines or Lupinus perennis. The whole meadow transforms to blue, white and yellow…a breathtaking sight that I look forward to every year.
Here are a few more views…..
Ox-eye daisies
And the glorious lupines here, below and at the top of the post, where you can see the purple native lupines have morphed into at least one pinkish-purple lupine.
So what views have been your tonic this spring?
______________________________________________________________________________
In A Vase On Monday
I am having so much fun trying to decide what flowers to use for vases….with the heat wave, everything is blooming. So here are two vases, both with a purple and white theme.
The purple Camassia quamash were blooming when we returned from visiting family last weekend, and I knew I wanted to put some in a vase. And after all the May overnight freezes, I was able to salvage about 6 white lilacs. The dwarf purple bearded iris were also blooming, and seemed a perfect addition.
And for my special small vase, I knew I had to have my May birth month flower, Lily-of-the-Valley. So many blooming everywhere. I added a few native wildflowers to the LOTV: the white hanging flower, Dodecatheon meadia or Shooting Stars; Amsonia tabernaemontana or Commom bluestar; and the pinkish Geranium maculatum or wild geranium. They all held up nicely except the Shooting Stars. They lasted about a day.
I am joining in with a few memes this week as I prepare these vases: Cathy@Rambling in the Garden for her wonderful meme, In a Vase on Monday, Today’s Flowers hosted by Denise@An English Girl Rambles 2016 and Judith@Lavender Cottage who hosts Mosaic Monday on the last Monday of each month.
______________________________________________________________________________
Next up on the blog:
Monday, I will have a few highlights of the May garden..it has been an interesting end to May.
I am linking in with Michelle for her Nature Notes meme at her blog, Rambling Woods. It is a great way to see what is happening in nature around the world every Monday.
All original content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Gardens Eye View, 2010-2016. Any reprints or use of content or photos is by permission only.
I always look forward to seeing what’s in your vases–so pretty, and something I continue to work on. All the flowers, and I never so much as cut one single stem until 2 years ago. I spend fully 1/2 my life in the house-why not bring in the outdoors! Keep showing those lovely bouquets. It helps others to realize how important that is.
Love the meadow. Lupines have always been my favorite. And though the daisies are a non-native, who cares?! Utterly charming!!
🙂
Oh how lovely of you to say so about my vases. I adore lupines too and the ox-eye daisies although I have to watch them as they can take over many areas of my garden edging out other plants.
Keep working out cutting those flowers…..you don’t need to cut many to make a lovely vase. I thought I would notice the holes in my garden if I cut them, but quite the opposite. I can’t tell where they were cut and cutting keeps many flowers going and flowering again.
Hello, gorgeous flowers and images. Some of my favorites are the trout lilies, lupine and the daisies. Your arrangements are lovely. Happy Memorial Day, enjoy your new week ahead!
Happy Memorial Day to you too Eileen….glad you enjoyed the meadow flowers. Have a great week ahead!
Happy Birthday Donna! The flowers blooming abundantly must seem like a wonderful treat. Admire those lupines very much. The vases look lovely.
Thanks Susie! Yes the flowers are a treat…all blooming now at the end of May in time for my birthday.
Happy Birthday sweet lady! You always give us such a delight with the beauty you post! I look forward to visiting with you! The wildflowers have been abundant this Spring and how nice to have some birdhouses for the birds to nest in. Enjoy your day! Hugs, Diane
Thanks Diane! I think wildflowers bring me the most joy…nature giving us such a gift! Big hugs to you!
It’s nice to see spring happening all over again. I miss it already.
Nice to see spring finally moving along here John!
Very nice. Oh I enjoyed visiting. You made some really cool mosaics! I love flowers. I don’t have many so I have to enjoy yours. I’m following you now and signed up for emails! Thanks for sharing! Have a good week.
Oh how wonderful that you are following along Sherry…and I am happy to share all my flowers with you! Welcome!
Your first picture of the vases made me catch my breath, Donna! It doesn’t happen often, but that green vase with the camassias was just stunning and very beautifully photographed. The little trail of white lilac a perfect finishing touch. I so enjoyed your meadow as well – wish I could see the blues, yellows and whites myself!
Oh wow what a nice compliment Cathy…thank you!
Thanks for sharing your meadow with us as well as your vase – how big is the meadow? I love the soft colours of your vases, so gentle on the eye – you must be thrilled to once again have the dilemma of what to fill them with!
The meadow is 100 feet long along the fence and 50 feet wide, Cathy….I am very happy to have so much to choose from…so many ideas for vases now!
It’s so interesting to see what is still flowering in other parts of the country. Our daffs and spring ephemerals like trout lilies are long finished. Nice shots of the lupine foliage and the ox-eye daisies. I think I like the foliage on lupines even better than the flowers. Here the flowers get covered in aphids very quickly.
My daffs kept going until the third week in May as we had such cool weather…some how the aphids stay away from my wild lupines but love my cultivated ones which are L. polyphyllus.
Love the pastel colors and delicate beauty of your arrangement this week, Donna. It’s lovely!
Thanks so much eliza!
Overnight freezes and 90F temperatures and yet your meadow is taking it all in stride! Your vases are beautiful – I love all those soft colors. I’m enamored with shooting stars every time I see them but that’s yet another flower that won’t grow here. I hope your heat and humidity abates soon and gives you ample time to enjoy your garden and its lovely spring blooms.
Thanks Kris….Yes the plants here that are very hardy or native will take the temp changes and extremes in stride. The heat is beginning to cool and we will actually go to low 70s by the weekend for at least 2 weeks. Then I expect it to warm again.
Happy Birthday, lovely vases and I am glad you got some lilacs to enjoy.
Thanks so much Amelia…I do adore lilacs so I was glad too!
The meadow garden has an amazing transformation as summer approaches and I love lupines – just have trouble growing them.
Pretty vases of purple and white Donna.
They are hard to get started Judith. I had many failures with starter plants so I grew them from sowing seed in late fall. The meadow is an amazing place as it changes.
Wonderful photos, Donna! Your mosaics are always so beautiful and I like especially the “heart” ones. 🙂 And you already have lupins blooming!
Spring has arrived here too, but not blooming abundantly. The heavy frost seems to have killed many perennial plants. However, the fresh young green makes us very happy… and the faithful lupins will start flowering after one-two weeks.
Have a great week ahead!
We had such hot weather recently that the garden sped up here. I hope your garden starts to bloom soon Sara. Have a wonderful week too!
Hi Donna
Your meadows are beautiful! What a treat to see so much growing from your windows.
I heard about the heat wave in the east! It has been in the 70’s here with lots of rain showers–perfect weather as far as I’m concerned. I still ahve a few daffodils blooming and my peonies are about to open. I put in some more perennials in our flowers beds so i think I’m finished planting now and will hope everything will grow and thrive!
Oh Pat you have perfect spring weather now…it is supposed to go back to 70s by the end of the week. My daffs are gone now but peonies just starting to open.
It’s a beautiful time of year at your home, Donna! I adore lupines – one of my favorite flowers. I have a plant that is all purple like yours – and a pink one – and orangey/magenta ones as well. I plant mine from seed and get whatever comes up. I have six plants in bloom now and many small seedlings for years to come. I’ll bet your lily of the valley smells fantastic. There used to be a nice young person’s cologne that smelled like that. I don’t remember the name…
Have a wonderful week!
Oh yes the lupines are wonderful as is the fragrance of the lily of the valley. Glad you enjoyed my Meadow, Beth.
I bet the lupins are a wonderful sight, Donna. I love all things wild too and spend a lot of time these days in our meadow admiring all the treasures. Beautiful poem and vase too, well done, you talented lady 🙂
Thanks so much Annette…what a lovely comment and compliment.
Wonderful to wander thru your own meadow of wild flowers.
Does the white fence divide two parts of your garden?
The fence does not exactly divide the garden, but the back of the property. The white fence is only from the back of the house to almost the end of the property. The last 50 feet are on an irregular angle so we ended the fence with enough room to make the last 50 feet into a meadow.
I wonder if your little native cherry tree may one day be like the huge specimen growing in my woodland garden. It is very old and a real prize. I love the views of your meadow, especially of the lupines, which won’t grow here in my climate. It is interesting that you went rapidly from 50s and 60s to low 70s to high 80s and 90s in days. We did the same last week, though our change to summer is a more permanent transition for us. I am afraid summer has arrived, and spring-like weather is unlikely to return this year.
Summer temps will phase back to 70s for a couple of weeks but at the end of June we will find summer hot temps and humidity again until late August.
I hope the cherry will grow into a grand specimen. I have only had it for 4 or 5 years now. And it is growing but more out then up.
My lupines aren’t blooming yet, nor the ox-eye daisies. How do you tell the difference between Lupinus perennis and L. polyphyllus?
Actually Kathy, I seeded the meadow with Lupinus perennis, and after several years it has seeded throughout the entire meadow so I would not expect to find L. polyphyllus there. But the difference between Lupinus perennis and L. polyphyllus is subtle. The leaves on the Lupinus perennis are hairy, shorter, and a bit rounder with a delicate point…. those of L. polyphyllus are longer, pointy and not hairy all over, and they are more numerous.
I know I have L. polyphyllus in my garden, and your wild lupines look very similar. I thought I had read that the native lupine only grew in sandy soil, but when I searched just now I didn’t see that mentioned. But maybe you have sandy soil. I don’t know why I assume everyone in upstate NY has clay soil just because I do!
They do look similar Kathy…The flowers are spread out more I have noticed on mine and the leaves are different….but as I said very subtle differences. I amended my meadow which is clay…so when I scattered the seed the soil was better. We do have nasty clay. Just north of us in Oswego county though they have rich beautiful soil.
What a lovely post with such beautiful photos. Your field of lupins is dreamy and I really liked your special small vase. Hope that you had a Happy Birthday!
Thanks Allison…I love my field of lupines too!
The meadow is a delight! Your vases are the epitome of spring…so fleeting, yet so precious.
Thanks so much….I think the meadow is a delight too!
Your lupins are so lovely Donna. A shame the Dodecatheon didn’t last as it does look pretty in your vase. And the Camassia is beautiful addition too – I only discovered them this year, having planted a few last autumn. I hope they will spread! Enjoy your spring while it lasts. Summer is on the way here.
I agree Cathy…it is a shame Dodecatheon does not last as it makes quite a statement in a vase….I have white Camassia just coming up int he white garden….it too is quite beautiful! I am thankful to be getting a bit cooler weather before summer comes blazing back!
The meadow is lovely Donna. The Camassia quamash in your vase are gorgeous, such a beautiful flower, I always admire them although I can’t grow them here. The vases are so delicate – enjoy your spring into summer!
Thanks Christina…I feel quite lucky to be able to grow Camassia.
A feast of beautiful images. The meadow must be such a haven for wildlife.
Indeed it is a haven Sandra all day and through the night with fireflies dancing in and out and around the flowers.
What intoxicating, enchanting beauty in your meadows and the Lupines are my most favored, and yet to spy upon any of such beauty of the day, heavenly. Thank you for making my morning more cheerful~
My pleasure Mary….lupines just make any landscape breathtaking.
Oh my goodness, such beauty Donna. How lovely to have a meadow. Right now I feel my entire garden is a meadow – ha ha. Love love love the lupines. I see shooting star in your beautiful vase arrangement. Mine has yet to bloom – but oh wait, I better check!
My beds look like a messy meadow right now….the shooting star are one of the most unusual and beautiful wildflowers and mine are finally spreading!
The Lupines are beautiful and I love the crabapple blossoms. They are such a great tree for birds and people.
Everything growing in the meadow is my favorite! But I agree the lupines and crabapple blossoms top the list!
Hi, Donna, There is no any meadow near my summer cottage, it’s pity. This one is pretty, I love lupine foliage as well. The woodland plants are special, they get rare here.
So glad you enjoyed the meadow Nadezda….
So gorgeous images of Spring! lots of beautiful aspects, blossoms, meadow, arrangements of amazing flowers… A mix of lovely things like a joy for soul, indeed!
Always so nice to see so much beauty captured in pictures! Warm Greetings!
How lovely of you to say so Alexa! Warm Greetings to you!
The lupines are beautiful and so are the soft greens, but it is the mixed daffodils that delight me the most. And that bring back the most joyful memories. I’m so glad they are still blooming and that you showed them again. Your mosaics are always works of art.
Thanks Sallie….daffs are wonderful any time.
Donna, your plants are beautiful and well ahead of mine. Not ahead in this spring season, but ahead in years. I have just now decided to have a bit of control over what grows in my immediate area, encouraging natives, weeding out aggressive non-natives and purchasing and planting natives that don’t arrive on their own. I’ve put loads of time in hiking my mountain, getting to know what grows here, being surprised what I find along the way. Now it is my time to help Mother Nature. I admire what you have done/are doing and will be watching for guidance! Thanks bunches for your posts!
What a great plan Brenda…helping Mother Nature. Happy to help you with anything, anytime. So glad you are enjoying the posts.
So happy to see the spring blooms…. My golden Alexanders are getting ready to bloom… Michelle
That is great Michelle….I adore Alexanders…and they smell like lemons.
Sigh. Your meadow looks perfect. Definitely a tonic for me 🙂
My tonic here? Well, lately I’ve been having fun watching bees work the panoply of flowers – lavender, cranesbill geraniums, penstemon, coreopsis, blanket flower, hyssop, agastache and so on.
It lulls me.
Thanks Aaron….I adore watching bees too…so focused and drunk with pleasure from the flowers…you can’t beat it!
Fabulous flowers,especially the lupins….something to do with summer memories I think!
Enjoy your evening,
Ruby
Thanks so much Ruby! Lupines definitely make me smile!
Love your meadow, Donna. I sowed native lupine seeds in my garden this spring. I’m hoping the sparrows left enough to give me blooms. P. x
Mine did take a year, I think, to grow and finally bloom. And another 5 or more years to spread around. But it is worth the wait for even one bloom! Can’t wait to see your lupines Pam.
Fabulous post Donna, the meadow is so lovely. On my latest post there is a mystery tree that might be a crab apple. It certainly looks a lot like yours. Could you help me identify it?
I will certainly look Jessica and see if I can help!
Your vases of flowers continue to delight me Donna, and I loved the collages and other photos of the meadow. Thank you for linking with Today’s Flowers again, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the meadow Denise!
A wonderful meadow! Such places are of great value!
I agree…it is the most important garden I have for the wildlife besides the pond!