The Perennial Post

Early spring ephemerals in the NPA Borders at the Bellevue Botanical Garden

The Borders are well known for their display of hellebores, celebrated each year at the Hellebore Open House and Plant Sale in early March. Although spectacular, hellebores are not the only stars of the Borders in late winter and early spring - there is a large cast of co-stars and supporting actors. Many of them make a brief appearance and then disappear, change their form, or just become so drab that they blend into the background. These are the so-called spring ephemerals.
 
Some of the most noticeable early spring performers start to die down as soon as they have finished flowering. At the end of the summer it is hard to remember that they were ever there. An example is the buttercup relative Ranunculus ficaria. Many clumps of its various cultivars, some with shiny dark brown leaves, brighten up the beds to the east of the gravel path in early spring. On the opposite side of the gravel path, low-growing Anemone nemorosa briefly shows lacy foliage and delicate white, pale pink or pale blue flowers. Primula sieboldii carries clusters of beautiful flowers in white or shades of pink and purple, often with frilled or cut petals, above toothed downy leaves. The spring-flowering cyclamen, Cyclamen coum, produces pink or white flowers among the waxy rounded leaves that have been present since fall. In the Shade Border to the south, Trilliums carry their strange three-petal flowers above whorls of dark green leaves.

Bulbous plants also have foliage that starts to wither after the flowers have faded, although sometimes the withering takes longer than we would like. In the Borders, daffodils (Narcissus) make the most immediate impact. A particular standout is N.‘Pipet’, found in several large drifts in a prominent position at the front of the Main Border south of the apple trees. This variety has fragrant lemon-yellow flowers with a cup that fades to white. While less center-stage than the daffodils, there are lots of other bulbous plants that shine in their respective areas in the Borders. Hyacinths add spots of color – the blue-black Hyacynthus ‘Blue Magic’ in the Hot Border and the salmon-orange H. ‘Gypsy Queen’ in the Salmon, Apricot and Blue section are particularly striking. The pale pink starry flowers of Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’ twinkle in the Pink section of the top of the Main Border. Bright blue Scilla siberica is dotted throughout the Main Border.

Not all of the players in the spring show vanish soon afterwards – some just change their appearance. The herbaceous peonies in the front of the Main Border produce deep red shoots, contrasting dramatically with the daffodil flowers. Later they will be mounds of green leaves. The maintenance path in the Main Border is lined with the delicate chartreuse new growth of the grass Milium effusum ‘Aureum’, which will mature to be a two-foot mound of gold foliage with airy gold flowers.

Some members of the early spring cast of characters have leaves that persist throughout the summer, or even throughout the year, but we really only notice them when they are flowering. There are many varieties of evergreen primulas along the edges of the Borders. One very dramatic variety is Primula ‘Gold Laced’, which has almost black flowers with a narrow gold margin on each petal – a perfect addition to the Yellow, Black and Blue section.  At the front of the Main Border are examples of the new P. polyanthus ‘You and Me’ series with stacked “hose-in-hose” flowers. Along the maintenance path are several other spring performers with long-lasting leaves. Pulmonaria angustifolia has deep true-blue flowers, while Omphalodes cappadocica has azure-blue flowers with white eyes. The evergreen Epimedium x perralchicum ‘Froehnleiten’ has bright yellow flowers that show up best if the old leaves are removed in early spring.

Finally, some shrubs make their greatest contribution in early spring. Lonicera fragrantissima, just west of the gravel path, bearing small creamy-white flowers, and Edgeworthia chrysantha, on the path through the Main Border, with unusual round clusters of yellow flowers, contribute fragrance as well as floral effect to the north end of the Borders. 

Let the show begin!