Coreopsis lanceolata: flower

Coreopsis lanceolata, known in English as lanceleaf coreopsis or lanceleaf tickseed and in French as coréopsis lancéolé or œil de jeune fille is a perennial native to much of North America. The bright yellow daisy-like flowers have wide petals with scalloped edges.

Coreopsis is happiest in the sun; my plant (which I bought at the Toronto Botanical Garden's spring plant sale) struggled in what I had thought was a "partial shade" location. Deadheading will result in more blooms.

Puschkinia libanotica: flowers

Puschkinia libanotica, known in English as "snowdrift", "early stardrift", or "striped squill", and in French as scille de Liban, is a flowering bulb native to Asia and the Middle East. One of the earliest spring bloomers, it bears spikes of blue-white flowers, each petal having one blue stripe.

This gorgeous bed of snowdrift was at a neighbours. I'm glad I took a photo because soon afterward the new owner decided to rip out all of it (and all the other bulbs too) and replace it with sod. My landlords' kids and I attempted to rescue some of them, though how successful we were remains to be seen.

Iris reticulata 'Cantab': flowers

Iris reticulata, known in English as reticulated iris, dwarf wild iris, and rockgarden iris, and in French as iris réticulé, is a dwarf perennial native to southern Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The flowers appear very early in the spring, about 10 cm from the ground; later long thin leaves grow to 20-30 cm before the plant goes dormant at the end of spring.

This light blue cultivar is 'Cantab', which I bought at Veseys; different cultivars include blues and violets, as well as white.

Eranthis hyemalis: flower

Eranthis hyemalis, known in English as winter aconite and in French as éranthe d'hiver, helléborine, hellébore d'hiver or aconit d'hiver is a perennial native to southern France to Bulgaria. One of the earliest flowers of spring, a single bright yellow flower, like that of a buttercup, is borne on a short (less than 10 cm) stem. Below the flower, the stem is circled by two leaves which resemble a clown's neck ruffle. After setting seed, the plant becomes dormant (i.e. it is a "spring ephermeral").

The flowers have a pretty fragrance, but you have to get low to the ground to smell it!

I bought my winter aconite pips from Veseys.

Primula 'Elizabeth Killelay': flowers

Primula, known in English as "primroses" and in French as primevère, is a genus of herbaceous perennials native to the northern Hemisphere, as well as mountains in Ethiopia and southeast Asia, and temperate South America.

This cultivar, 'Elizabeth Killelay', has very dark red-black petals edged in white. (The flowers are actually double but I guess this specimen hasn't reached that stage of development yet.} It was on display at Toronto Botanical Garden at Canada Blooms.

Canada Blooms 2008

I went to Canada Blooms for the first time this year. I was hoping to see unusual new varieties, but almost all the exhibitors stuck with a handful of species, I guess because they were best able to survive being in the convention centre--tulips, daffodills, crocuses, gerbera daisies, Himalayan birch (why not a native birch?), etc.

I was intrigued to see this exhibitor (some national wildlife charity, I should have written it down) got their dried flowers from Almonte! (Almonte is my hometown, in eastern Ontario.)

Floral arrangement, 'Generation Gap', by Nancy Wahorn, won 2nd prize in this category, and also the Helen Chochran Novice Award--Design. Plants include Pleomele reflexa variegate, Amaranthus viridis, Strelitzia.

Photos of individual plants at Canada Blooms have their own entries.

Stipa tenuissima

Stipa tenuissima known in English as "angel hair", "Mexican feather grass", "Mexican needle grass", "ponytails", or "silky thread grass", and in French as cheveux d'ange, is a perennial native to parts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Not surprisingly, it is not hardy in Toronto.

These beautiful clumps of Mexican feather grass dancing in the breeze were growing at Toronto Botanical Garden.