Starting Tulip Season in the North

Yes, it is June 13 and tulip season has begun! Wow, better late than never. Resident- lawnmower-man spent a great deal of time mowing the large lawn this afternoon, so I can take pictures again without fearing the unsightly grass. Of course, if he would just let me replace the lawn with a mass of shrubs, perennials, trees, and a fortune in bark mulch, we'd not have this problem of mowing. Alas, that will never happen, says he.
Lily-flowered "Claudia" tulip, planted fall 2008:

Tulips: at the back is purple Triumph tulip "Negrita" (planted 2007), yellow and white "Calgary Flame" and in the foreground, "Blue Diamond" Double Late (planted 2007 and also smaller this year).

This next picture demonstrates why you cannot grow fancy modern tulips year after year without replacing them. This purple and white "Zurel" Triumph tulip was planted in 2007 and this year only one of the plants has produced a flower (which is puny and unimpressive).

The rest of the Triumph tulips that are 2+ years old are also showing miniaturized flowers. I'll be digging these up and replacing them with new bulbs this fall. Generally, I would say that the Single Late tulips seem to last a few years longer than the Triumph tulips.
Two colors of Pulsatilla vulgaris in the sloped rock garden:

Yet another experiment on zone-stretching: Anemone blanda "Blue Star" made it through the winter! I planted this bulb last fall in the center raised bed. It is labelled as zone 4 or 5 on plant websites, though it seems to be hardy here.

Spring Bulbs Blooming for Summer

The daffodil is a usual floral sign of spring, though we only started to enjoy ours in the past week (...of summer, I should point out). The bulk yellow trumpet daffodils in the large raised bed at the side of yard are doing well. However, I also planted a large number of them in the raised bed in the center of the yard and none of those came up. I can only guess that the center raised bed was more exposed and had less snowcover. The drumstick alliums didn't come up there either.
Perennials in large raised bed:

Large raised bed, looking less barren than it did a few weeks ago:

The sloped rock garden is full of color with the pink Phlox subulata, blue grape hyacinths, pulsatillas of various shades, blue siberian squill, and other little plants.

We usually enjoy this stage of the rock garden in May! I am hoping RLM mows the lawn soon, because the abundant dandelions need their heads chopped off before going to seed. Besides, I hate taking pictures when the lawn looks so blemished with weeds.

Drumstick primula (Primula denticulata):

These hardy perennial primulas require continuous moist soil and shade, and I think mine dry out too often for their liking. I wouldn't say it's the best primula for this area, when compared with the auriculas.

Gentiana verna, the spring gentian. The brilliant blue color of this flower is attention-grabbing, even though it is a small plant. I would just love to see a whole drift of these flowers.

More Gardens of Saskatoon

I took up William's recommendation from the comments section of my last post and went to the Patterson Gardens this morning. This Saskatoon, SK garden contains many varieties of trees and shrubs and best of all, everything is labelled with common and botanical names! These gardens are the antidote to show gardens, which tend to have large quantities of unlabelled plants without any interesting variety.

Golden Currant blooms:

Although only a few trees are leafed out or blooming now, I am resolved to revisit this garden later in the summer sometime. I would love to see all the colors of the potentillas and see what the Kentucky Wisteria looks like. I'd never have thought of Wisteria as a vine for the prairies! I also notice that a grape vine was planted there last year.

Some flowering crabapple trees at Patterson Gardens:

Carmine Jewel Tart Cherry Tree, which is the same variety I grow in my yard at home! Mine is pruned to a single stem, whereas this one has been allowed to grow into more of a vase shape.

It was rather cool outside today, so I also ventured across the river to the Conservatory at Saskatoon's Mendel Art Gallery. It always tropically-warm inside this glass building. It houses a number of large tropical plants with an ever-changing display of potted flowers, including orchids. There was only one ladyslipper orchid there today, but the display of potted pelargoniums (geraniums) was colorful.

I got married in this conservatory, so it's always fun to revisit the memories here as well.