What’s in Bloom

Eastern redbud is a beautiful native spring flowering tree in the bean or legume family. It produces showy, dense clusters of pink flowers along its stems in April before the foliage appears. It likes moist, fertile, well-drained soils and can grow to 30 feet at maturity.

This herbaceous perennial, commonly known as foam-flower, forms compact, dense clumps of basal foliage with creamy, white flowers. The long, dense flowering racemes bloom from late April to early June and prefer the moist, rich soil of a woodland environment. This native species is spectacular when grown in large groupings or as a ground cover.  Tiarella cordifolia grows natively in most counties of Pennsylvania.

Providing a splash of bright color in the spring woodland, celandine-poppy has 2 inch wide deep yellow flowers that bloom in early spring. It likes moist, dappled shade. The stems, deeply lobed leaves, and flower buds are pubescent. They grow to be 1.5 feet tall at maturity and self-seed easily. This plant is native to Pennsylvania and the rest of the eastern US.

 

Tower-of-jewels is native to the Canary Islands, specifically the island of Tenerife.  The seeds of this plant first came to Longwood in 1983 and it took extensive research on how to grow it until it was first displayed in the the Conservatory in 1991.  

We herald spring’s arrival with thousands of tulips beautifully displayed along our Flower Garden Walk. Tulips are organized into 15 divisions based on flower shape and origin. ‘Purple Dream’ is a lily-flowered tulip, whose tepals are reflexed, thus resembling a lily.  This division is a mid to late season bloomer on tall stems.