What's in Bloom
Bloom Highlights
Fritillaria raddeana
Fritillary
This plant is native to northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, and a disjunct populations in northern India where it grows in shrublands on rocky slopes and mountainsides. It is a bulb geophyte. The subterranean bulb pushes up a single stem that bears green, glossy, lanceolate leaves with undulating margins in distinct whorls on the basal half of the stem. After the last whorl of leaves the stem changes to burgundy and terminates in an umbel of large, semi-pendulous, bell-shaped flowers. The umbel is subtended by a whorl of leaf-like bracts that extend upwards. Each flower has six recurved tepals that are pale green tinted with burgundy. The six stamens each have a basal nectary and surround the central pistil. The genus name comes from the Latin word fritillus which was a kind of cylindrical dice box. The first writings on the checkered type species Fritillaria meleagris inaccurately ascribed the dice box as being checkered instead of the actual game board. The specific epithet honors Gustav Radde, a German naturalist.
Narcissus 'Carlton'
Carlton Large-cupped Daffodil
Narcissus ‘Carlton’ is in Division 2. It stands 18 to 20 inches high and blooms in mid spring. The petals are yellow with points at the tips. The large funnel-shaped corona is a deeper yellow with an expanded mouth. It is hardy in zones 3 to 8. The bulbs are toxic and will not be eaten by deer or rabbits. The name Narcissus comes from the Greek word for narcotic and is tied to the myth of a young man known as Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection. When he drowned in the pool where he had been admiring himself, Narcissus flowers grew up around the pool.
Lonicera fragrantissima
Winter Honeysuckle
This plant’s native range is mainly in central, eastern, and southern China with disjunct populations in the Amur Oblast of Russia. It is found in shrublands and open woodlands. It is a deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub with an arching and spreading habit. The stems are coppery and smooth and produce stringy, light greyish-brown bark that exfoliates forming long fissures. The shoots oppositely bear leaves in pairs each subtended by a stipule that dehisces leaving behind a white scar across each node. The dark green to bluish-green leaves are leathery, elliptical to ovate, and have crenulate margins. The midrib vein on the underside is covered in bristles. Before the leaves emerge, pairs of fragrant, tubular, semi-pendulous, creamy white flowers emerge from each leaf axil on the previous year’s growth. Each flower has five fused sepals, five basally fused petals that recurve, and five exserted stamens around an exserted pistil. The genus was named in honor of German botanist Adam Lonitzer. The specific epithet means “very fragrant” in Latin.
Tulipa kaufmanniana ‘The First’
The First Waterlily Tulip
Tulipa kaufmanniana is native to the Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan where it is found in rocky, subalpine meadows and in open shrublands. It is a bulb geophyte. The subterranean bulb pushes up two to five lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves that are slightly glaucescent, clasping, and have a slight undulation. The bulb then pushes out a single fleshy, green, floral scape that terminates in a large, fragrant, lily-like flower. Each flower has six tepals all with golden yellow bases. The outer tepals are creamy white and have a red stripe on their outer surface while the inner tepals do not. The flowers also have six golden yellow stamens all around a central, golden yellow pistil. This cultivar is noted for its early bloom. The genus name is a Latinized form of a Turkish word tulipan meaning “turban” which was derived from the Persian word dulband with the same meaning. The specific epithet honors Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann, who served as Governor-General of Russian Turkestan.
Puschkinia scilloides
Striped Squill
This plant is native to Turkey, the Caucasus, and the northern Middle East, where it can be found in alpine and subalpine meadows and on rocky slopes. Each spring, bulbs produce pairs of strap-like basal leaves that widen near their apices. The leaves are dark green and slightly glossy with smooth margins. Each bulb produces a single raceme flower-scape of up to 20 cup- to bell-shaped flowers. The flowers start facing upward before nodding out and downward as they mature. The flowers have six white tepals with a dark blue midvein and a stout, frilled, white corona tube surrounding the short, flat stamens and central pistil. After blooming, the plant dies back to the bulb as other spring and summer plants put out foliage. The genus was named to honor Count Apollos Apollosovich Mussin-Puschkin, a Russian chemist and botanist. The specific epithet means resembling the genus Scilla. It has been noted that though this plant look a lot like Scilla siberica (Siberian squill), Puschkinia scilloides is not considered aggressive or invasive.
Viburnum farreri
Fragrant Viburnum
This plant can be found in the temperate mountainous woodlands of north central and northeastern China. It is a round, upright deciduous shrub with a loose habit. Its stems are covered in a smooth greyish-dark brown bark and bear leaves oppositely. The dark green, deeply veined leaves are elliptic to oval and sometimes rhombic in shape with prominently serrate margins. In the autumn, the leaves will turn reddish-purple. In late winter/early spring, cyme inflorescences develop from axillary and terminal buds. The flowers are pink and white tubular, fragrant, and bloom in spring before the leaves emerge. After the flowers fade, fruits develop and fully ripen by late-summer. The fruits are drupes and are red as they develop and turn black when they have fully ripened. The genus name is the Latin name for this kind of plant from the words via meaning “way” and arbor meaning “tree” particularly in reference to Viburnum lantana known as the wayfaring tree. The specific epithet was named to commemorate the English field botanist, plant explorer/collector, and traveler Reginald Farrer.