Thursday Thirteen - Spring Flowers

For Thursday Thirteen, we present 13 kinds of spring flowers from our jungle garden. It was hard to limit it to 13, and we know that Mom is going to kick herself later when she finds some better photos she could have used. Unfortunately, she does not have the kind of camera that can take close ups of flowers.


1. Eastern Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, native to our area.


2. Trillium grandiflorum, also native.

3. Miniature Iris, I. reticulata, non-native

4. Winter aconite, a very early bloomer for us. Some patches bloomed in February.

5. Hellebores, also called lenten rose. These often start blooming in January and last for months.

6. Daffodils, of course!

7. Bloodroot, a native. The flowers last but a day, and emerge before the leaves. The leaves you see in this picture are for wood poppies and periwinkle.

8. Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica, Mom's favorite. They only last a short time then totally disappear until the next spring.

9. Tulips, another favorite.

10. Phlox stolonifera, Sherwood purple, is in the foreground and bluebells are behind. It's a great groundcover along our front walk.

11. Here's a European type of dogtooth violet, and its blooms are much more prolific than the native species. The native version is also called troutlily, and can be found with bluebells in the wild. They're lovely in the wild, but you won't see this many blooming so close to one another.

12. Here's a white version of the native dwarf crested iris, I. cristata. The photo of the blue variety was too washed out and looked nearly white.

13. Of course we had to include azaleas. We have some red, white, purple, and pink ones. They certainly make the yard very colorful.

~J&B