Late-April Blooms

I love wandering through the yard this time of year.  When I take a break from weeding/prepping/planting to look at what nature is doing without my intervention, it really is astounding.  There is something new to look at every day.  Here's proof:  fourteen days since my April Bloom Day post, and I have more than fourteen new blooms to show off.

1.  Irises. Each morning I've been running out to see if a new one is open.  So far, four different bearded irises have opened their buds.

2.  Centaurea (bachelor buttons).  Shown here with white bleeding hearts.

3.  Dicentra eximia (wild bleeding hearts).

4.  Spanish bluebells.  I have these all over the yard.  They're rather weedy (they'll grow anywhere), but so cheerful while in bloom.

5.  Camassia.  This is their second year.  I bought the bulbs on a whim, not really knowing what they were.  Took a chance and planted them right in the middle of the front border, where they've been quite showy.

6.  Phlox.  I've already shown off the moss phlox to the right of the tulips, but now the woodland phlox between the tulips is in full bloom.  It is unfortunate that the colors are so close, so they seem to run together. 

7.  Blueberries.  I bought a second blueberry shrub two weeks ago (to replace one that didn't survive my "you're in the ground, now you're on your own" maintenance scheme), so maybe this year I'll get berries.  For now, the flowers are cute.

8.  Columbine (Aquilegia) - three types.

 

 

 

9.  Blue flax (Linum perenne ssp. lewisii).  The truest blue in my garden.

10.  Rosemary.

 11.  Pasque flower.

 12.  Geranium.

13.  Strawberries.  I'll need to put up the critter netting soon, I think.

 14.  Ajuga.  Bought a year ago, planted Friday. 

  
15.  Nepeta (catmint).  I have two of these, not the same variety.  This one is in full bloom, the other hasn't started yet.

16.  Viburnum.  Just barely.  Of course it is also just barely a shrub, at under two feet tall.

17.  Carolina Jessamine.  Growing on the chain link fence around my vegetable garden.  I planted this quite a few years ago.  It has flowered sparingly the last few years, but is (finally) rather showy this year.  Now if only I could get it to grow laterally, to cover more of the fence, rather than up into the neighboring rose of sharon.

Seventeen types of flowers (and 22 different blooms) opening up in two weeks.  Now I just need more time to enjoy them.

FONA plants

One day at the end of April I took a few hours off work and headed over to the National Arboretum for the annual FONA plant sale.  I didn't go with a list, and just let myself impulse buy.  Dangerous, I know, but I didn't overdo it.

Here's what came home with me:

Abutilon - flowering maple

Dahlia 'Firepot'

White wood aster, Epimedium 'Orange Queen', Brunnera 'Jack Frost', and and Ajuga whose name I've forgotten

Showing restraint, I only took photos of the labels for some of the other plants I thought I wanted.  Maybe next time I'll get these:

Now here it is mid-May, and I don't have these plants in the ground yet.  I've put the abutilon in a pot on the front porch, but the others are still in their nursery pots.  I really wanted to get that done today, because I'll be coming home with more (free, this time) plants tomorrow.  But I was busy digging things up, not planting, as I prepared for tomorrow's plant swap.