April 2024 Bloom Day

Front yard in the morning.

 

Welcome to my garden on this April Bloom Day, a day late! The 15th of each month is the day we share photos from our gardens and link our posts to Carol Michel's May Dreams blog, and April is certainly the month when the flowers in my garden are at their most beautiful! But it's been such a busy time for me that I'm a day late in posting this.

This year, my Kwanzan cherry tree didn't have its usual profuse display of blossoms... perhaps last year's severe drought didn't promote enough bud formation, and the extraordinarily windy days just before Bloom Day blew down some of the buds that were about to open. This year's display is less spectacular than usual, though the Poet's Narcissi and creeping phlox are holding up well.

 

Cherry Laurel 'Otto Luykens'

 

The Cherry Laurel provides greenery to the left front of the house, and the scent of the flowers permeates the area. 

 

Lewisia 'Little Peach'

 

Also in front, my Lewisia 'Little Peach' is offering its first flower of the season. I really like this little alpine native of the California Sierras. It survives easily in this climate but my soil is so clayey, it's safer growing in a pot where drainage is not a problem.

Going around to the east side of the house, the Hellebores are still in flower, but the star of the show is my Carolina Silverbell tree. Each year as it gains height, it gets better and better.

Carolina Silverbell tree close up.

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia tetraptera)

In the photo above you can see my new spring project in the background--a permanent enclosure for my vegetable garden. From now on, the rabbits and deer won't be getting in. The contractor is almost finished, but I haven't had a chance to plant anything in there yet. I may have the opportunity to do some of that this week but I'm rushing to complete a couple of paintings for art shows that I have to deliver soon, so my studio time will have to take priority over the garden.

We had to dig up all of the herbs and decorative plants I'd put in around the original veggie patch so that the foundations for the posts could be dug and poured; I'll have to gradually repopulate those areas, but there's plenty of time for that after I get some peas and chard in the raised bed inside.

 

Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

My Foam Flower is blooming and spreading in the east bed (I've forgotten the name of this variety).  Moving along to the back yard, the redbud tree is in bloom, with an assortment of narcissi and daffodils around its base in the back most bed. In front of that, the double-flowering Quince has a lovely display.

 

The back yard seen from the deck.

From the ground level, with the new enclosure.

Double-flowering Quince.

Dwarf iris 'Blue Beard'

Close up of 'Blue Beard'

My dwarf irises were out in force a few days ago, but by yesterday, only three flowers were left, so I snapped this photo a bit earlier than on Bloom Day.

I seldom get to see the blooms of my Fothergilla--alas, the deer love to eat them!--but last winter I put up a barrier around this bed to keep the deer from decimating the arbor vitae right behind it, and closed off their access to the Fothergilla, so for the first time since I planted it, I'm enjoying the flowers and their marvelous scent!

 

Fothergilla gardenii

Our weather has been so warm here in zone 6b that the Thalia Narcissi faded rather quickly, but there are still some left in one of the beds on the west of the house.

Thalia narcissi.

 

All of the trees and shrubs around here are budding out--I love the look of those tiny buds unfurling! Can't wait for more flowers as the season progresses. Happy Bloom Day to all of us gardeners!

April Bloom Day

Front yard two days after Easter.

 

The 15th of the month is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel at May Dreams Garden.

It was 23 degrees on Easter Sunday, and frost was visible on the grassy areas. The Kwanzan cherry tree in front was not fully open yet, though it was trying! After a few more days of warmer temperatures it's fully open now. The daffodils, narcissus, and creeping phlox are putting on a show. This is probably the best my front yard looks the entire the year.

 

Thalias, Tazetta and Poet's Narcissi with cottage tulips.

Creeping phlox with Thalias.

The spring flowering bulbs really help, considering the limited room in the front. The back yard is also starting to come into bloom, with the daffodils 'Pink Perfection' and others under the redbud tree. Our native redbud trees (Cercis canadensis) are all blooming, lovely clouds of purple-pinks peeking out from under the eaves of the woods.

'Pink Charm' daffodils

Redbud tree in the back yard, early morning.

View of the back yard in the evening.

 

My 'Texas White' redbud tree put forth a few blooms, but it hasn't grown enough yet to be much a display. It needs a few more years of growth to reach the size of the lovely specimen I saw at Blandy Farm last week.

 

'Texas white' redbud.

 

The bed with the "Mount Hood' daffodils that I expanded is not as full as in other years, as would be expected after dividing the bulbs last autumn, but in another year or two, they'll be spectacular.

'Mount Hood' daffodils with grape hyacinths.

'Mount Hood' daffodils and grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum)

The double flowering quince is lovely this year, but it's putting out underground runners and sprouting everywhere in its vicinity--I'll have to dig those out, I don't want my shrub to spread any farther.

 

Double flowering quince

Blue star flower (Ipheion)

 

I found a few blue starflowers blooming--I'd forgotten these after the deer decimated them a couple of years back, these four seem to be the only survivors. My Carolina Silverbell tree continues to grow, it's now taller than I am, with the flowers as charming as ever. This is a hard-to-find item at nurseries, I feel very lucky to have been able to obtain this specimen some eight years ago. Being native to the eastern US, I wonder why it isn't more frequently planted?

                                    

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia tetraptera)

  

Carolina Silverbell flowers

The Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) I planted three years ago is blooming, but it will be a few more years before it makes much of a display. The Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) planted at the same time is much farther ahead in terms of size, but then the deer have left this one alone, while I had to put a barrier around the Serviceberry to keep the deer away from it. Once the Serviceberry gets a bit larger, I hope to dispense with the barrier. A good growing summer season would help!

 

Serviceberry flowers.

 

Pagoda dogwood in bud.

 I almost forgot to show you my Lewisia 'Little Peach'--this tiny plant is a native of the California mountains that has lovely small flowers. I keep this plant in a pot, as it needs very well-draining soil.

 

Lewisia longipetala 'Little Peach'

 

This is just the beginning of the spring season, more flowers are yet to come in the months ahead--I can't wait for the Merry Month of May!

Spring Surprises

White wood violets (Viola sororia albiflora).

 

The last day of March brought over an inch of much-needed rain to our area. I went out to the garden during a brief pause in the rain to find this lovely surprise--the white wood violets that have gradually been colonizing the shady places underneath my deck were covered with flowers! Soon the emerging ferns will overtake them, but by that time their flowering season will be over.

White wood violets

Scented Violet 'Queen Charlotte' (Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte')

The 'Queen Charlotte' violet (Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte') has been slowly recovering from being munched by deer, and is blooming. I hope she'll multiply and start spreading soon.

Many other surprises awaited me in the garden. One of the Imperial Fritillary bulbs I planted last fall has come up, a handsome plant that promises new and unusual flowers--I've never grown Fritillaries before. The second bulb planted in another bed has not sprouted, I have no idea if it's simply tardy or if something untoward has happened to it, time will tell.

Imperial Fritillary (Fritillaria imperialis rubra)

Daffodil 'Pink Charm''

Other bulbs I planted last fall are also coming up. The daffodil above, called 'Pink Charm' turns out to not be very pink after all, more of an apricot cup I'd say, although still very beautiful. But who knows? The cups may yet fade to a color closer to pink. Overall, my display of spring flowering bulbs continues to improve every year.

 

'Mount Hood' daffodils

Yellow daffodils and Forsythia in the back yard.

Front yard before the rain.

Red cottage tulips with thalia and tazetta Narcissus

My front yard is becoming more colorful with masses of narcissus in yellow and white, and a carpet of creeping phlox in two hues is starting to fill in. The white and blue florist Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis hybrids) were up earlier, as were the charming Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii), but they are now almost done flowering for the year. The blue Siberian Squills (Scilla siberica) on the east bed bloom a little later, and are still looking good. Both of these are spreading and forming nice colonies.

 

Delft Blue hyacinth

Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

Blue Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)

It's so exciting to find these surprises every day as I go out to my garden! The Hellebore that the deer ate back the previous winter has finally produced a couple of flowers. I'd expected the emerging leaves of the Colchicum I planted last fall to be similar to the linear grassy foliage of other crocuses, but instead they are quite large and wide, more like those from a tropical plant.

Hellebore 'Flower Girl'

Colchicum 'Waterfall' leaves

 

From the seeds I collected at the Virginia Arboretum last fall and planted in pots, two seedlings have sprouted thus far. The buckeye tree from which I collected these seeds was a hybrid called Aesculus x mutabilis, and the parents were the native Aesculus pavia and A. georgiana (sylvatica) so my seedlings could be either of the parent trees.  I'm presuming, from the look of this seedling, that it's the red buckeye (A. pavia). I wonder if some of the Franklinia and Stewartia seeds will eventually sprout too? That would really be fantastic!

Red buckeye seedling (Aesculus pavia)

Camellia ' Kumasaka' flower

The one disappointment so far has been the lovely Camellia 'Kumasaka' I bought last year--covered with large flower buds last fall, it appeared to be doing well throughout the winter. But just as the flower buds were starting to open, they became blighted and began to fall off! Either severe frost burned them or they became desiccated by the recent high winds. All I managed to salvage was this one open flower that dropped off. Such a shame, the color and form are gorgeous! I'll have to wait until next year and hope for a milder spring.

Can Spring Really Hang You Up the Most?

Magnolia 'Butterflies'

Spring has arrived early this year, and with the current circumstances of "social distancing" we are undergoing, that lovely jazz standard "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" was on my mind. The song is about unfulfilled or unsuccessful love... but in the current upsetting phase of social upheaval, being hung up seems to be the least of it.

I find comfort and solace in my garden, where I can leave worries behind and take joy in my plants and flowers. The yellow magnolia 'Butterflies' continues to grow slowly to become more beautiful every year--and the lemony scent of the flowers is heavenly!

Glory-or-the-Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae)

Daffodils in front yard

The assortment of spring bulbs, Tazetta, and Thalia narcissus in front have grown denser over the years--more divisions will be needed in the fall. The Mount Hood and Prince Alfred daffodils in back are also putting on a show.

The grape hyacinths under the Zelkova tree are spreading, it's wonderful to see the light blue and white varieties I planted a few years back starting to multiply, despite the deer munching on the leaves. The Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides) with the larger leaves will bloom later on.

Grape Hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum)

Flowering quince

The double flowering quince is doing better than ever--I just removed the wire mesh barrier I'd put around it during the winter to protect it from the deer. The deer took their revenge by making mincemeat of the emerging buds of my Autumn Joy sedums, after chomping the leaves of the one Rhododendron I'd left unprotected. I don't mind them munching on the leafy growth of the daylilies since those usually recover, but they damage other plants so much, I must redouble my efforts next winter.

Clematis 'Apple Blossom'

My neighbor's Weeping apricot tree

 My new shrub clematis has vigorous shoots, and the "Apple Blossom' clematis is covered with charming pendulous buds. But the star of the day is my neighbor's lovely weeping apricot tree. It's so wonderful to see tender new shoots coming up everywhere--a sight to cheer the heaviest heart!