Hooray for spring! This year spring took forever to get here and then it was hotter than hell, but that’s Wisconsin for you. I’m a 30 minute walk or 8 minute bike ride away from Olbrich Gardens, so I go there fairly often and take pictures of stuff. It’s the best place to learn from the best. Who else would stuff Dianthus ‘Green Ball’ in with Calendulas, Violas and Linaria?
I love how they use edibles for filler in so many of thespring containers. Did you know snapdragons are fairly cold hardy, so you can plant them early? I didn’t until I lived in California and saw them used as winter bedding plants around shopping mall parking lots. All I saw at the local nurseries around here were violas and pansies for spring, but there are so many other fun cold hardy flowers you can plant before mid-May.
Whoever chose this sexy calendula for a bunch of the containers is my hero. They’re another one that likes it cooler. This one kind of looks like ‘Orange Flash’ which there’s a lovely swath of on the corner of Jenifer and Baldwin right now that I’ve been drooling over for a couple weeks. Turns out a retired flower farmer lives there which explains all the cool flowery annuals. Calendulas are also super easy to start from seed.
I nearly lost it when I visited the “Rose Garden” area later in May. It’s mostly fun succulent containers in the summertime. Check out the baby picture of this same container a few weeks earlier before the tulips popped. The blue, orangey peach and pink colors are so good together.
Here’s another baby picture of this side from May 4th in full sun looking kind of crappy. I love before and after pics of plants.
The Campanula popping out the middle is so much fun. I don’t know why I stopped like blue Lobelias years ago. After seeing them used as spill all over the place, I’m sold again.
I love lettuce in gardens. Apparently, so do the herds of bunnies in town. I have a flat of lettuce growing under lights in the dining room. It’s easier than trying to grow it outside and easy to harvest. I hope they made a bunch of giant salads when they switched these guys out to summer stuff.
It’s hard to see them in this picture, but they tucked Cerinthe in the container. Another cool weather lover. I started a bunch from seed in March and will post about my findings of growing it pretty much everywhere I could in my garden. I grew it in California for the bumblebee action. Mine just started to flower about a week ago and the sconnie bees seem to love it, too.
Wholly hella Hellebore! Olbrich has a bunch of cool ones, but this one was looking extra amazing.
I forgot to take a picture of the sign for this cool tree, but think it’s a pawpaw. Let me know if it’s something different. I learn so much about plants every time I visit Olbrich.
Look at all those naked trees on May 4th. Spring took forever to start. Then it got so hot not long after that I was shoving my plant babies in the ground to keep them alive, instead of having to water them twice a day on the porch. I planted tons of marigolds, zinnias, cornflowers, dahlias, verbena, gomphrena, celosia, sunflowers and a bunch more in our rental’s front and backyard, so I’ll be blogging about them and how I started a bunch of them from seed soon.
Far Out Flora 