April 2026 Bloom Day

White-haired Leatherleaf flower (Clematis albicoma)

 

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, the 15th of the month is the day when we share what's blooming in our gardens, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog. Welcome to my Zone 6B Virginia garden!

The month of April started out normally, but has been unseasonably hot and dry, with a killing frost just as the new flower buds and leaves of many plants were emerging, causing a lot of damage in my garden. My cherished Carolina Silverbell tree was budding out when its tiny bells were blasted by the frost. Ditto for the yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies' and  'Viridis' Japanese maple, so sad! That's two years in a row that we've had such killing frosts.

Thus it was a lovely surprise to see  the flowers of my White-haired Leatherleaf flower (Clematis albicoma) pop up in the front garden. The plant seems to be doing well in its half-buried pot in the flower bed. This native plant is found in the wild in only a few counties in Virginia and West Virginia.

The Kwanzan cherry is about finished blooming, and so are the daffodils and Poet's Narcissi but the creeping Phlox seems to be spreading nicely--from just three plants of different colors that I put in some years ago, its is re-seeding itself all over under the tree. 

 

My front yard yesterday

 

The Jacob's Ladder in the east woodland garden is also finishing its flush of spring bloom, while the Foamflower (Tiarella) is starting its display.

 

Jacob's Ladder with one Mayapple.

Foamflower (Tiarella 'Sugar 'n Spice')

 

My Hellebores are looking blowsy and a bit faded in the heat, and a few spikes of Ajuga 'Black Scallop' are showing under the Japanese maple tree 'Bloodgood'.

 

Hellebore 'True Love'

Ajuga 'Black Scallop' 

 

The daffodils and Narcissi in the back bed are about done flowering, as is the Redbud tree. The double-flowering Quince is coming into its own.

 

My back yard from the deck 

Flowering Quince with juniper 'Anna's Ball'

The possum-haw Viburnums (I have two) blooming way in back have reached a respectable height, out of the deer's reach. Yesterday a dear friend caem over with her power saw and we cut down out a patch of Japanese bush honeysuckle from this corner of the woods in back. This invasive plant was threatening to choke out the patch of native witch-hazels growing back there. With those now gone, nature's balance can be restored.

 

  

Possum-haw viburnum (Viburnum nudum)

 

The irises and peonies are starting to develop buds, but not ready to open yet--a week or two more for those.

 

A friend gave me this lovely arrangement of Pansies and Candytuft to decorate my back deck, and I had also bought more Pansies for another pot. The deer eat these mercilessly, so growing them in pots is the only way for me to enjoy them.

 

  

 

Pansies and Iberis arrangement

More Pansies

 

I have a few blooms indoors, African violets and such, but I've posted photos of these for several months, so I'll spare everyone here. With such a dry spell, I'm having to water my garden a lot just to try to keep everything alive, if not flourishing. Thanks for visiting!