We're getting ready!

 Welcome to spring...or summer...or winter...which IS it? On any given day the past couple of weeks, it could be any of the above.

We have the greenhouses opened up and are moving the over-winrtering nursery stock out into the bright sunlight. Here's Rob holding one of the hellebores that we have on offer this year.

Some of the earliest-blooming plant material we have flowers so early that customers don't always see its best attributes. This is Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys', the black pussy willow, which blooms early and is such a handsome plant for a wet area. 

 Many people refer to Daphne mezereum as winter daphne. We tend to call it Acadian daphne because the Acadian people brought it here when they settled in Nova Scotia 400 years ago. Whatever you call it, this early-blooming shrub is very fragrant, and produces brilliant red, (but very toxic) berries that hold on the plant throughout much of winter.

This is Gaultheria procumbens, commonly called wintergreen or teaberry. It's related to rhododendrons, blueberries and cranberries, and is a gorgeous ground covering shrublet. In summer, its foliage is a glossy deep green, but the winter colour is a rainbow of reds and burgundies. The brilliant red berries are edible and taste pleasantly of wintergreen. They often last into spring, if birds and other wildlife don't eat them. 

This hellebore is a beauty called 'Cinnamon Gold'--well named, as its creamy gold petals are dusted with cinnamon mottling. 

 During the big heat wave last week, the frogs in our pond emerged to bask in the warmth. By now they're back down in the bottom of the pond, being frogsicles again until the weather climbs back above freezing.

We have a lot of new perennials and other stock coming in almost daily, including many of the 'Winter Jewel' series of double-flowered hellebores from Terra Nova Nurseries, plant breeders extraordinaire. Check our our catalogue, located in the sidebar on the right of the blog! We'll be officially open 7 days a week, 9-5 starting April 1, but if you're out and about, drop in before that. Bring either your sunscreen or your heavy winter coat, because with this March, who knows what the weather will be like on any given day.

A new year, a new garden season

 Happy New Year to all our customers and friends from Baldwin's Nurseries! It's a brand new year, and while it's certainly being an odd, odd winter, we thought we'd cheer you up with some pictures of some of the mouthwatering plants we have coming in this year.

We grow a number of our own rhododendrons and azaleas, but we also bring in some plants from Canadian growers. Among the cultivars coming in this season is Azalea 'Cannon's Double', which looks splendid with its full trusses of pink-yellow flowers.

 We've heard great things about Dianthus 'Coconut Punch', which is proving to be a sturdy and long-blooming variety of mini-carnation.

 We are well known for our varieties of echinaceas, which do well for many gardeners in our region. This is a new one to us this year, a compact double-flowered variety called 'Southern Belle'.

 But we'll also have some of our favourites from other years, including the unique and wonderful 'Green Envy', which has proved to be a sturdy, long lived coneflower since it was first introduced about 6 years ago.

We love the multitudes of small, bristly blooms on the sea hollies, especially on Eryngium 'Jade Frost'. Not only do its flowers start out greenish-silver before flushing to blue, the foliage is remarkable. It begins as green and pink, changing to green and white as the season progresses. So even before it's in bloom, it makes a statement. You'll find pollinators flocking to your sea hollies. 

The foliage of this sea holly reminds us of one of our favourite shrubs, the dappled or 'Nishiki' willow. We'll talk more about that great plant next time. 

 For those with moist areas in their garden, you might consider planting Queen of the Prairie, Filipendula rubra 'Venusta'. Think of this plant as an astilbe on steroids. It can easily reach 7 feet tall, and pollinators love its plumes of soft pink flowers.

 We have a great selection of magnolias, and this year we'll be carrying 'Sunsation.' This pink-tinted yellow variety is sure to turn heads in your garden.

 For a great colour echo to accompany 'Sunsation' magnolia, you might want to try Kinkaku tree peony. We carry about a dozen colours of these elegant, show-stopping peonies, with their massive flowers and handsome foliage.

We have plenty more plants to tell you about, so we'll be posting again very soon. In the meantime, gardeners might want to check out the new gardening community, bloominganswers.com. It's a private website designed for gardeners, by gardeners, with plenty of resources being developed for gardeners of all skill levels. The site is free to join but membership is required. Come and visit--it'll help get you in the mood for the opening of the garden season. And we'll see you soon here at the nursery.