Last Saturday I wrote about plenty of white blooms in these gardens. Although I’ve spent the greatest portion of this week tidying the vegetable garden surrounded by great, green, yummy growing things, today I’m featuring splashes of color from all over Coppertop.
ONE – Our ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ Hawthorn tree, Crataegus laevigata, is in bloom. This pretty, young tree has a tendency to drop its leaves early, well before fall. I’ve learned that hawthorns are susceptible to fungal leaf spot, so for the last year we’ve used dormant oil spray prior to budding. It seemed to help in 2017, and this year the foliage is looking good… so far. The tree also began leaning during winter’s heavy snowfall so is currently staked. A tree this pretty deserves some extra measures.
TWO – I love the deep blooms on these Rhododendron ‘Nova Zembla’. The deepest pink or cerise flowers cover these two that we planted a few years ago, the first plants in our rhody grove in this part-shade corner.
THREE – I wrote of our new chicken fence a couple days ago, and now that the hens can’t be destructive throughout the gardens, my Chicken Hill Bed has a new lease on life! When Hubby constructed this bed for me three years ago my plan was to have all white and red flowers, with touches of black. My other perennial beds don’t feature much red, as we gardeners know how red can take over. And white, well, that’s pretty much my groove color. The anchor of Chicken Hill bed is a young Rainier cherry tree. I’ve started almost everything from seed in the bed, and blooms are just opening again. Much thrives here, from Geum ‘Mrs. Bradshaw’ and Aquilegia ‘Black Barlow’ in the sun to white Delphinium ‘Magic Fountains’, Heuchera ‘Marvelous Marble’ and Anemone sylvestris ‘Madonna Snowdrop’ in the shade. Exceptions to plants I started from seed are two white peonies and a David Austin ‘Claire Austin’ rose.
FOUR – In the nearby area of perennial beds, the first poppies, Papaver orientale, have opened this week. Although I prefer other poppies I grow, these are the flashy firsts and so should be celebrated.
FIVE – I’ve viewed some stunning irises in garden blogs recently. Coppertop’s first irises on Lupine Hill began blooming this week. I meant to dig and divide in 2017, yet somehow didn’t. This year for sure. These are one flower I enjoy in solid yellow mingling with perennial cornflowers or Centaurea montana.
SIX – Lupines are popping open this week. My dream to have this entire hillside filled with lupines has yet to materialize. It seems instead I have practically an entire hillside of dreaded creeping buttercup weed.
Six on Saturday is a great way to get your plant fix from gardens worldwide. This popular meme is kindly hosted by The Propagator from his corner of Berkshire in England. Comments below his blog include links to an amazing variety of Six on Saturday posts.
Gardens at Coppertop 
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