Official website of the Bridge of Flowers

  It's July, and the Bridge of Flowers is covered in blooms! Color everywhere!
  Asclepias incarnata is a different variety of milkweed. The butterflies like this one, too. Corepsis steps out in bright yellow, as does Oenothera, also known as Evening Primrose or Sun Drops. Alchemilla/Lady's Mantle has another shade of yellow or chartreuse blooms. Daylilies in a few different colors. Shasta daisies, Dianthus, Stokes aster, Yarrow, Echinacea, and Verbena Little One all add to the color palette. Platycodon, or Balloon Flower, is aptly named- as the buds get enlarged, but are still closed. They puff out, looking like a balloon before they open. Veronica has blue flower spikes a few feet tall. And...can't forget Phlox!
  The main attraction at this time are the DELPHINIUMS!! A few different colors but the light blue one is the traffic-stopper now. They stand to maybe five feet tall, with one to two feet of bloom. Gently dramatic!
  ROSES are showing off at this time, too. Lots of different colors. And, this year we planted some in the very front of the beds, so that you can smell them. The ones in the back of the beds do not smell, so please don't step in the garden to find out. AND the LILIES are blooming. If you stick your nose in to smell, you might get pollinated - those stamen have a lot of yellow pollen that will easily stick to your nose.
  Lots of annuals add color and continuity along the front edge of the beds - Osteospermum, Gerbera daisy, Marguerite daisy, Yellow petunias, and Snapdragons about to bloom.
  There's even color in the shade! Lots of Impatiens, Double Impatiens, and New Guinea Impatiens, as well as Begonias. Euphorbia Diamond frost has delicate little white blossoms that brighten up darker areas. And Torenia is a great one! The Hostas are blooming now, and Astilbes, adding some blossoms a couple feet above ground.
  If you're having trouble with Powdery Mildew on your Phlox, here's a tip: We thin the phlox by about 1/3 and pull out or cut back stems all through the plant to allow for better air circulation. Powdery mildew likes humid conditions, and dense plantings can create that enviroment. When planting Phlox, choose a location that has airflow and leave space between plants.
  For more inforation, use your computer as a garden tool. Google Powdery Mildew, Phlox. Fine Gardening website has some good info that elaborates on the above - www.finegardening.com.
  Also, check out the University Cooperative Extension websites.
University Of MA is www.umassgreeninfo.org  Lots of information and fact sheets on pests, diseases and weeds.
Cornell has Plant Disease Diagnostics info: http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/
  A good way to learn about What's eating my Lilies? It looks like there are mini slugs covered in poop on my plants!
  Well, those are the larvae of the Lily leaf beetle - that bright red bug. And they cover themselves in their own poop. What bird would want to eat that?!
  We pick off the bugs and squish them, and the larvae, as well as check the undersides of the leaves for eggs, and we squish those, too...

It's mid May, and there's a lot blooming on the Bridge!
  Some sooner than usual because it was warm early. The wisteria is already blooming up above, so remember to look up.
  Down on the ground the Phlox subulata is a colorful carpet, as is the Phlox stolonifera. Bellis perennis is another groundcover, with tiny daisy like flowers a couple inches tall. Primulas are blooming in all sorts of colors. Lily of the valley is very aromatic, although hard to smell from five or six feet above ground. Iris reticulata is the lowest growing iris we have, and is blooming in white or lavender. The bigger, but still small, iris are also blooming at this time. Big bearded ones will be part of the June show. And, siberian iris aren't out until summer, either.
  For Camassia Quamash it's show time. They are a very interesting flower, from  a bulb. Tall spikes of blue. Very different, and striking.
Carolina Lupine is adding a bright yellow backdrop to the north side of the Bridge. And Trollius has golden yellow blooms in a few clumps.
The big show in the sun right now is the Tree Peony, which just started blooming. Huge flowers on little trees. Lots of petals unfurl from those big, interesting buds. Velvety maroon is blooming, soon there will be others.
  There are some highlights in the shade, too. Solomon's Seal is blooming, little white flowers dangling along the stem. Quite graceful.  Bleeding heart is out. Forget me nots are brightening up those shady spots with their little blue flowers. AND, Arisaema sikokianum - Japanese Jack in the Pulpit - is having it's show. Looks like Mother Nature's little lamppost.  Quite a traffic stopper!!  A must see!!

IT'S APRIL 2010!
  There were crocuses everywhere.  However, we're having a heat wave in early April, and the crocuses decided they were done for the season! The daffodils are having an early show, the hyacinth are blooming, and a few early tulips are strutting their stuff.  
     The last week of March the Bridge was mostly bare ground.  Now, in two weeks time, plants are bursting out of the ground, reaching record heights for early April, and spreading color high above the Deerfield River. Pulmonaria/Lungwort is in full bloom.  Great, early blue flowered groundcover.  It's a striking partner with the pale yellow daffodils.  
     Trees and shrubs are starting to leaf out. Pieris is blooming, early. Azaleas are on the verge, AND the Magnolia tree is in full bloom?! 
     Now is a chance to learn what plants look like early in the season - some look like themselves from early on. Others you might not guess - a good exercise in learning to look and to identify by foliage.  Now is also a good time for dividing and transplanting.