Winter's Wrath, Spring's Promise

What wonderful weather we have been having in Central Ohio. As I write this, the temperature is 64 degrees. What a beautiful almost spring day! As I walk the gardens, I decided to venture out into the back gardens where it is usually pretty soggy at this time of the year. It felt really good being out in the sunshine too. There is something about that first walk out in the gardens. It doesn't seem so bad that there is a ton of cleanup to do. Actually, my husband and I really can't wait to get started, like most gardeners. I went out hunting for spring and counted on finding some signs of hope out there. My Miscanthus has been ripped to shreds. We did not have the dry days in February to get out there and cut these grasses back. I love this grass. I know that it is just a common form of ornamental grass, but oh, what grace as it first emerges in the spring, grows tall and is lush green in the summer, and forms the most wonderful maroon seed heads in the fall. Winter allows it to stand firm and hold the snow. Truly a real form of winter interest.

Spring emerging


Mums



Daylilies

Columbine

Daffodils old and new












Tulips

The Heart of the Garden



Violet's Crocuses in Bloom

Day 2 at The Central Ohio Home and Garden Show

I am so glad that we live within an hour's drive of the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks to Kylee at Our Little Acre, we were able to make a second visit to the Central Ohio Home and Garden Show this year. We spent the majority of our time checking out more of the gardens continuing to look for spring. We started by looking for bulbs in the display gardens. My favorite spring bulb is the daffodil, so we were on a mission. Since it was the last weekend of the show, the daffodils were rather spent and not in their usual glory. So, off we went in search of my next favorite bulb, the hyacinth. Most of these flowers still looked pretty good and still had their fragrance. Oh the signs of spring. We finally found it!

Here are some pictures of bulbs in bloom at this show.

Over to Roger Seely's garden we went. Roger owns Seely's Landscape Nursery in Hilliard, Ohio. His nursery carries quite an extensive collection of hostas, dwarf conifers and Japanese Maples. At the show we saw a Japanese Maple that made me go WOW! The entire trunk was red with red branches. Talk about winter interest.

This is what I mean. The WOW factor!

Acer Palmatum Sango Kaku

There was even a barn that added a countryside feel to the garden.

Another interesting plant was the Whipcord Western Red Cedar.

The Pom Pom Pine

A table bed of herbs

A border of pink begonias

This gets my vote for best azalea blooms at the show.



Fountains a flowing

Then, a highlight of a different nature. I am not sure if I ever mentioned that my husband and I are both long-time BUCKEYE fans, so meeting Craig Krenzel at the show was that extra bonus. Craig helped lead the Buckeyes to victory in the 2002 National Championship game against the University of Miami. Oh, my husband walked away with a hat autographed by Craig. Flowers and a Buckeye...What a successful show!

Going to these shows gives you an opportunity to be around other gardeners who also love to talk about plants. As you listen to conversations, you can tell who has a passion for gardening. As we were checking out the gardens, we meet another couple who are also garden bloggers. We exchanged our blog addresses and are now connected by our interest in gardening. You can check out their blog at illic est haud equus quoque mortuus barruo.

Oh, Deer!!

We were checking out our mushy yard, getting excited about the tulips and daffodils emerging, when we saw a couple of the hungry critters foraging in the corn field out back. Leave our yard alone!

The picture of the hoof prints is just 7 ft. from the West side of the house.

Day 1 at the Central Ohio Home and Garden Show

What an exciting time of the year. While waiting for spring, my husband and I try to take advantage of anything related to gardening at all and we always look forward to going to this great show. We arrived before show hours and had to stand back in a waiting area until the announcement was heard over the loud speaker that it was time to begin our quest for spring. We were out of the gate and off we went. We quickly made our way to the gardens area where there were 16 gardens to explore. This year’s theme was “Art in Bloom.” We have a favorite garden and every year off we go to explore it before the line gets too long. This garden is the result of months of hard work by the Cedarbrook Landscaping and Garden Center. Every year this group puts on a fantastic show during this event. This year, their theme was “The Art of Bees Making Blooms.” This garden’s entrance was graced with Rhododendrons and Azaleas with an evergreen backdrop of Arborvitae. You walk through a giant hive with lots of information on how bees do their jobs in the garden.

Rhodys at different stages

There were bears, bees, and honey all over the place.

There was even a giant bee who got to pose for me!

Around every corner was a surprise of plant material. The biggest surprise was discovering a new plant named “Faxeus Liteus.” Check this out! I could not resist sharing this picture with you.

A plant of many lights

You had to be there!

I could not help appreciating all of the art that was integrated into the gardens at this home and garden show. Many thanks to Brenda from BGgarden.com for the opportunity to attend this show. Thank you for giving us your art of photography on your web site.

"Art in Bloom"