April Featured Photos on Cold Climate Gardening

– Posted in: What's up/blooming
9 comments

I enjoy displaying seasonal photos in the sidebar on my website and have been doing so for a couple of years now. It frustrated me that I couldn’t easily caption them or credit the photographer. I finally decided I would do a post every month highlighting these photos. So, here we go:

Photo by Cadence Purdy. Taken April 18,2006 at the old house.

Photo by Cadence Purdy. Taken in April 2006 at the old house.

These daffodils are descendants of those originally found on our property. One of the first things I did as a gardener there was dig up and divide the clumps of daffodils that were no longer blooming.
tracery of bare tree branches

Photo by Justin Purdy, April 23, 2008.

Even in late April, the trees have often not leafed out.
double bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex'

Double bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’. Photo by Kathy Purdy, April 25, 2008

This bloodroot grew so well for me at the old house that I divided it up and used it as a ground cover under a shrub.
cornelian cherry blossoms

Photo by Kathy Purdy, taken April 17, 2006 at the old house.

Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) blooms earlier than forsythia but takes longer to get really showy. Some cultivars are bred to be more floriferous and some are bred to have larger fruit, for the fruit is edible.
bare branches dripping with condensed fog

Photo by Cadence Purdy

Weather can be very moody during mud season. Advection fog occurs when warm air moves over the snow pack. You can see the fog condensing on the bare tree branches and dripping off.
crocuses blooming on a slope

Crocuses on the Crocus Bank at the old house.

Read the story of the Crocus Bank.
hellebores and daffodils

Plum colored hellebores and passalong daffodils in the Juneberry bed at the old house. Photo by Kathy Purdy

The daffodils were growing on my neighbor’s property when she moved in. I dug them up for her and we divided them between us. The hellebore was an unnamed seedling from Seneca Hill Perennials.
purple flowered hellebores

This plum colored hellebore came from Seneca Hill Perennials as an unnamed seedling. Photo by Kathy Purdy

Siberian squills

Siberian squills look lovely against a low stone wall. Photo by Arlan Purdy April 2002

roosting chickens

Chickens roosting for the night.

We have raised chickens for over twenty years. We let them out of their yard to scratch because the grass isn’t green yet and they have cabin fever, too. Or should I say coop fever?
Siberian squills

Lovely Siberian squills

These self-sow along the stone wall. Did you notice they have blue anthers?
spring hillside

Spring truly begins with the greening of the grass.

The grass doesn’t turn green until the soil has thawed.
spring trees

I just love this photo.

Crocus vernus 'Striped Beauty'

Crocus vernus ‘Striped Beauty’

Puschkinia scilloides, the striped squill

Puschkinia scilloides, the striped squill

Erythronium americanum, trout lily

Erythronium americanum, trout lily or dogtooth violet

Violet, possibly Viola sororia

Violet, possibly Viola sororia

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

~Albert Camus in Albert Camus quotations

Comments on this entry are closed.

Donna@Gardens Eye View April 4, 2013, 8:48 pm

Looking forward to seeing so many of these blooms soon as spring has come.

Joanne Toft April 4, 2013, 8:02 pm

Love te double bloodroot! I have not seen that before. I will have to go looking for it this year!

Jason April 4, 2013, 7:42 pm

So many beautiful photos. I especially love the crocus bank and the cornelian cherry, a shrub I wish I had. Spicebush is another nice alternative to forsythia, though much more understated.

Kathy Purdy April 4, 2013, 8:32 pm

If spicebush is Lindera benzoin, I just planted one last year. I’m looking forward to seeing it bloom this year!

Donalyn April 4, 2013, 8:26 am

I also really admire the double bloodroot – we have a lot of wild ones growing here and there in the woods, but they are all single. You photos are making me homesick for spring, which apparently has business elsewhere this year…

Carolyn April 4, 2013, 6:27 am

Love your long shot images, Kathy. And I do enjoy the transition from Winter to Spring as the grass begins to green.

Frances April 4, 2013, 4:55 am

Such wonderful shots, Kathy. Kudos to all of the photographers. I love seeing your spring blooms and hearing their history.

Charlie@Seattle Trekker April 4, 2013, 12:03 am

Love your spring photos, especially the double bloodroot. It is really beautiful.

vwgarden April 3, 2013, 11:15 pm

Ooooh, love that double bloodroot! I’ll have to put that on my wish list. The other photos are lovely as well. Enjoy your spring!