Awaking in the cool of the morning to the sound of birds chirping it is time to get to Holden Forests and Gardens.  Flowers are poppin’ and monarch butterflies have returned!

Hydrangeas are coming into bloom at Holden Forests & Gardens (HF&G). At Cleveland Botanical Garden (CBG) one need not venture farther than the Campsey-Stauffer Gateway Garden. Hydrangea macrophylla – bigleaf hydrangea has bloomed profusely at CBG for the past nine years. This species does not bloom well at the arboretum in Kirtland where it has essentially been a foliage plant. Smooth hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens and many of its cultivated varieties do very well at the arboretum and at CBG.

Asian trumpet lilies are blooming at CBG in the Evans Restorative Garden and along the C.K. Patrick Perennial Border. A number of these are also wonderfully fragrant. Many spectacular daylilies (Hemerocallis) are to be found at HF&G at the above gardens, in the Sunken Garden, and at the arboretum near the Warren Corning Visitor Center, the Display Garden and the Rhododendron Gardens.

Hummingbirds never cease to amaze. At Holden Arboretum they may be seen at the Arlene and Arthur S. Holden, Jr. Butterfly Garden and the Eliot and Linda Paine Rhododendron Discovery Garden. Bee balm, Monarda didyma ‘Gardenview Scarlet’ is a hummingbird magnet on the southwest side of the Butterfly Garden. This superior selection by Henry A. Ross of Gardenview Horticultural Park, Strongsville, Ohio blooms before any other bee balm in our gardens and has superior resistance to powdery mildew. Essential oils in its foliage and flowers make it aromatic and therefore not favored by deer.

In the Eliot and Linda Paine Rhododendron Discovery Garden ruby-throated hummingbirds are visiting daylilies and bottlebrush buckeyes that are also in abundance in the Butterfly Garden. Yet another favorite of hummingbirds is Crocosmia that may be found in the Display Garden. First to bloom is Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ putting on a brilliant show on the southwest side not far from the Wildflower Garden and in the Helen S. Layer Rhododendron Garden south of Logsdon Pond and on Beech Knoll. Planted last August Crocosmia ‘Firestarter’ just started blooming west of the Pollinator Express exhibit.