There now. Wasn’t that nice? Now, let’s get right on to the story.

When I was a small child growing up in southern Indiana there was no such thing as a daffodil. There just wasn’t. Jonquils were not to be found. Narcissus (Narcissi?) were as non-existent as interstate highways. You only knew the gravel road and you only knew “Easter Flowers.” And they were yellow.

They were all yellow (including the one double one) with the exception of a mysterious double white. That double white had the very same shape as the double yellow and they didn’t always open completely. It was a special year when you got most of them to bloom out completely. To this day I have no idea what those special conditions are.

We had lots of the traditional yellow trumpet shaped ones in our yard. Every spring they would push their sturdy strap shaped leaves through the clayey soil and the fresh green grass (okay, some grass with mostly white clover). Easter flowers were tough. They had to be to survive nine children, an assortment of dogs and pups, plus the occasional sow or cow out for a spring stroll. They can also fend off deer and rodents. They grew and bloomed in the shade of the old walnut and sugar maple trees, in the sunny open areas of the yard, and right along the edge of the gravel road. They lived in the dry areas and the wet areas. They were tough and reliable.

We always picked some for bouquets, sometimes dying the water green or blue and watching as each day the color showed up in the flowers more and more. It would follow the veins right to the tip of the trumpet creating vivid multicolored flowers. I haven’t tried that in years. Maybe it is time.

I am not certain if the doubles were always in the yard because I remember when we started collecting them from the old homestead on my uncle’s farm just at the top of the hill behind our farm. We would dig them in bloom. They always survived even if it took an extra year to bloom again. I think his plowing the field near the homestead kept the bulbs healthy by dividing them ever so often. On a late collecting trip we discovered the small flowered Pheasant’s Eye daffodil. The tiny yellow cup with a red rim was surrounded by perfect little white flat petals. And they were fragrant. We added these to our collection.

The first daffodil I ever bought was Mrs. R. O. Backhouse, white with a “pink” cup. You had to squint real hard to call it pink. It was the softest salmon. I paid 75 cents for three bulbs from Henry Field Seed Company. I remember taping the quarters to an index card or something. It was like a hundred bucks to me. That clump multiplied over time with no real care at all. Years later I found out it was an heirloom variety. Forty or so years later they are still there. Here’s an image I found at Old House Gardens on the right.

Today there are many pink daffodils along with reds, oranges, whites. On average when we talk about pink, red, or orange we are talking about the corona (the cup or trumpet in the middle) not the perianth (the petals – really a combination of petals and sepals- surrounding the cup). Along with the colors are all the forms – double, split cup, tazetta, small cup, large cup, twelve in all. You can have daffodils blooming from February through May. They can be only a few inches tall or a foot and a half tall. Here’s a sampling taken this week from our gardens at the IMA .

The Indiana Daffodil Society and the American Daffodil Society can tell you lots more. The Heaths of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs also have an excellent book, Daffodils for American Gardens.

You can also come to the gardens here and see thousands upon thousands of them in bloom this very week-end.

Don’t forget your bonnet for the Easter Parade. And since you know I’m all about the sweet stuff let me just say I hope the Easter Bunny brings you lots of candy, sweet sugar coated candy.

Being the nature woman she is, there is also a wide variety of natives for sun and shade. For those more in to garden rooms than gardens, there’s a wide range of non-plant garden related items as well (I’m a big fan of the battery operated paper lanterns). But since I get to write this blog, I’m going to concentrate on plants-  particularly the ones I like best.While the perennials will be available all season long (April – October), remember, some plants may be in short supply so members get here Friday, it’s your day. For everyone else, all I can do is suggest you become an IMA member right quick or get here early in the week-end. It’s not my fault if all the Actea/Cimicifuga simplex ‘Black Negligee’ is gone. Actually the Greenhouse gets in new plants fairly often through May and June so more may come in. Or they may not.

Looking over the perennials available, I did a quick design in my head using three plants that like sun to light shade – Heuchera ‘Tiramisu’ (coralbell/alumroot) Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Leprechaun Gold’ (columbine), and Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ (spurge).

The thing that ties all these together is foliage. Keep in mind most perennials bloom for a month or two so foliage is very important as it’s around 7 or 8 months.
Heuchera ‘Tiramisu’ is one of the new H. villosa hybrids. The infusion of H. villosa gives us a much hardier plant and usually a much larger plant. It’s not so fussy about soil or our hot humid summers followed by vicious winters. ‘Tiramisu’ is chartreuse (Mmmm, chartreuse) and red in spring with the red changing to amber in summer then back to red in fall.

I’m going to have to watch it in my own garden to know the time-table on this color change as the information varies with the source. Pink flowers, as if I care. H. ‘Miracle’ would give the same effect if all the ‘Tiramisu’ is gone.
Aquilegia ‘Leprechaun Gold’ has gold and green variegated foliage with violet flowers. It’s nice to have the flowers but again it’s the foliage that counts, deep blue-green with gold splotches and specks.

Euphorbia ‘Fireglow’ has nice coppery green foliage in spring with a bright coral midrib.

In summer the leaves will be a deep green with red stems. But to be honest, while the foliage caught my eye, I want this one for the flowers as much as anything. Multiple sources call them orange-fuchsia. That color makes it a “must have” for me.  As with most Euphorbias, it’s the bracts- not the actual flowers- that provide the most color. So with these plants you have the red in the Heuchera picking up the red in the Euphorbia, the Chartreuse in the Heuchera picking up the yellow in the columbine, and the dark green of the Euphorbia picking up the dark green in the columbine.

Another plant that would be a good addition to this little collection would be Heuchera ‘Citronelle’, a pure chartreuse (Mmmm, more chartreuse) coralbell also with H. villosa genes. Since you can never have too much chartreuse I’ll also mention Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ (Mmmm, even more chartreuse, on Sutphin Mall) and Tricyrtus ‘Heaven’s Gate’.  Keeping with the color theme is Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, Hakone grass, Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year. This is a plant that is always in my top picks for gardens and containers. It’s beautiful, absolutely flows in a design, and is very hardy.

I think the redbuds being offered will sell out real fast. Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ has purple leaves with darker than normal flowers while Lavender Twist™ is a lovely strongly weeping form with the usual lavender pink flowers. Both can be found in the gardens at the IMA, ‘Forest Pansy’ near the Garden for Everyone and Lavender Twist™ as you exit Deer Zink into the Overlook. Also available is Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ which grows in large masses outside the 40th Street entrance.

I have to mention the annuals and tropicals even if the event is called Perennial Premiere. You will have to keep these indoors or move them in and out according to temperatures. Again, some of these can sell out. Being a big fan of the bananas I was glad to see the virus tested Musa bajoo, a hardy species, will be available. I planted one of these at home last year and it got 8-10 feet tall with about a half dozen pups. Unfortunately I mulched it really late so it may not come back. For those that don’t mind things a little prickly there is the Agave bovicornuta ‘Reggae Time’, a cultivar of cow’s horn agave (bovi=bovine=cow, cornuta=horn). A large assortment of succulents will be available as these are still trending very hot. And of course we have many coleus, begonias, and flowering tender plants.

The hours for Perennial Premiere are Friday 11am – 5pm, Saturday 11am – 5 pm, and Sunday 12 noon – 5 pm. Those are just the regular hours the greenhouse is open every week (actually next week they will return to the 11am – 8pm schedule on Fridays). This week-end, all the Horticulturists will be working in the greenhouse along with the regular staff to help you make wise selections. Please join us for three special days of plant shopping and fun. Since some of you all may be unfamiliar with this concept of shopping and fun I strongly recommend you watch this important video before traveling to the IMA Greenhouse (be sure to catch the Spring Blossom Festival).