Best to divide them in spring to give them time to establish before flowering. So much more cost effective and rewarding than annual ‘mums’. Easy to share with a gardening friend by taking cuttings or digging off a piece of the plant. We pinch the growing tips out a few times to reduce the stem length. Bonus - their aromatic foliage means that deer and rabbits do not eat them. They are so easy to grow and hardy at least to Zone 5. And, hugging the ground, a drift of dwarf crested iris offers delicate charm. I love this daisy-shaped one with pink and white rings surrounding it’s yellow button-like center. Hosta leaves unfurl, the blossoms of the crabapple trees are buzzing with bees, and the arching stems of old-fashioned bleeding heart are lined with dangling blooms. Not many on the flowers today as it is wet and chilly. One of my highlights right now are the hardy chrysanthemums that are so reliable and floriferous. As the flowery year draws to a close and our first frost looms take look around your garden and see what still looks good.

230- Common St.Chrysanthemums are native to Asia and Northern Europe, and well-loved in the US.

278- Small Red Morning Glory (non-native).dwarflarkspur, eastern shooting star, wild bleeding heart. It's been milder and rainy for a few days so its no wonder the dandelions are trying to bloom and I found Daffodil heads several inches above ground and my honeybees were flying everywhere. Latin Name Iris cristata Common Name Dwarf iris, crested iris Usual Height 6 inches Spacing 1.

Find many facts about this interesting, edible, hardy and obnoxious flower here. Reporting a dandelion as the first flower in a wildflower big year would be equivalent to a birder reporting a European Starling as his first bird of the year.Ĭommon Dandelion (I'll be avoiding Latin Names)īy the way whats going on this winter? First there was two feet of snow in October, then several ice/snow storms in December and early January like normal. Some say the deeply toothed leaves earned its Old French name of dent-de-lion, tooth of a lion. They were introduced many years ago, some say as a food source for the imported honeybee which is a nice tie-in to another part of this day. I thought the first would be a Dandelion, in January and it is. This includes common, rare and those that have been here for ever and are good as native. Well, the premise of The Big Year is to find, identify and photograph as many West Virginia Native Wildflowers as I can in one year. Flowers perianth white or blue with deep violet lines signal an inconspicuous crest of pale yellow ridges on the spreading sepals floral tube funnel-shaped.

Dwarf crested iris wild bleeding heart