wood poppies and purple lilacs

            Kate, I'm so glad you enjoyed the description of my spring
garden. It will be even prettier soon because this morning I saw the
first color on the buds of the magenta tree peony! The yellow wood poppy
I mentioned is stylophorum diphyllum. I can't remember now whether the
first plant I had originally came from seed (I used to do a lot from
seed from NARGS and the other societies) or whether we found it in the
wild. They are fairly common in the older woods here in east central
Illinois. We eventually had tons of them that self-seeded in a prior
garden (14 years there) and then we transplanted one plant to this
garden when we started it 8 years ago. It has since seeded here too and
spread nicely in a shade bed under a large old maple and another bed
under a pin oak.

            Your mention of the dark purple lilacs really caught my
interest. I adore lilacs and have several dwarf Miss Kim lilacs, a
Persian lilac, a new Tinkerbell dwarf, a large Japanese tree lilac, a
start of a cut-leaf lilac, a start of the two-tone lilac called
Sensation, and two "regular" purple lilacs with a bit of a story
attached ... having always wanted a deep purple lilac, some years back I
sent for (from a mail-order lilac nursery) a small start that was
supposed to be Yankee Doodle Dandy, a deep purple hybrid from Father
Fiala. Finally, it bloomed two years ago and it was just "regular"
purple. Then I went to a local nursery and bought a potted gallon that
was supposed to be Charles Joly, a deep reddish purple according to the
tag it bore. It has bloomed this year and is also a "regular" purple
lilac. They smell great and I love them, but neither one is the deep
purple I long for, so you are very lucky, indeed.

            I also love clematis and have been putting some in every
year since we bought this place (it has cyclone fence on all sides, so
plenty of places for clematis to climb and hopefully cover) eight years
ago. I was sad to leave the clematis in the prior garden, but they are
hard to establish and then hard to move. I have learned (finally) to
plant them deep here in zone 5b and to put an ajuga at the base to help
keep the roots cool and remind me where they are (were) if they are
small or don't make it through that first tough year. My favorites are
Niobe, Etoile Violette, Hagley Pink, and old-fashioned Jackmanii. I had
great luck with texensis in my prior yard too. I have planted some new
ones with Japanese names and a viticella named Polish Spirit and Ramona
recently. Oh yes, there is also the lovely tiny white fragrant autumn
one.

            I loved it that you call your lilacs and other flowers from
your friend Rose's garden. In my prior garden, I had a dianthus that
Steve Varner (who hybridized daylilies, irises, and peonies and sold
from his home in Monticello) gave me a start of. He didn't have a name
for it either but it was sooo fragrant (upright, bluish foliage, single
neon pink flower scented like cloves!). I always called it "the Varner
pink." When we moved, I transplanted it but it didn't make it. A friend
had a piece I'd given him, but I don't think his is still alive either.
(Dianthus tend to be short-lived, especially in the muggy Midwest.)
Pass-along plants are such a treasure!



Happy Gardening,

Susan and David in Urbana, Illinois (zone 5b)



Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 03:37:09 -0400

From: "Tom Wilson" <logicpilot@worldnet.att.net>

Subject: Yellow Wood Poppies



Hi Susan:



Enjoyed your description of your garden.  What are yellow wood poppies?
Are they a wild flower?  How old is your garden as it sounds well
established.  I started a shade garden in our woods, but the deer took a
real liking to my hostas - so discontinued that garden.  Now keep
everything inside my fence line.



It was a great day here in PA yesterday.  Picked up a few clematis -
well, actually  more than a few for a fence and my bird post to climb
up.  I'm really getting into clematis and actually like them more than
climbing roses.  Doesn't seem like I have much look with roses here.



Blue birds have been busy in my garden and it's great to hear the little
wren's song now.  Lilacs are starting to bloom and need to dig and
divide my dark lilacs.  I don't know the names of these lilacs as I
purchased them from a lady who is now in her late 90's.  They are a dark
purple double flowering. She called them French lilacs.  Actually, I was
buying from this lady for over 15 years and now she isn't able to do
flea markets anymore.  I refer to her plants and shrubs as Rose's
garden.



My three little greenhouses are doing well and everything is popping up
that I planted. Seems my bloodroot seeded itself around my garden and
want to move and mark them so I don't plant over them.



Have a day off tomorrow from watching grandkids so I'm off to a few
nurseries. Don - your hollyhock seeds you sent are sprouting and I'm
anxious for them to get big enough to repot up.



Well, it's getting late here in the morning and will get an early start
in the garden today and move my daylilies which are still in pots away
from the wooded side of the house.  Deer just love this side of the
house.



Hope everyone is enjoying great weather.

Happy Gardening!



Kate

Zionsville, PA Zone 6



Susan

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