April 2013 Blooms

It's an explosion of spring in my yard right now (finally)!  Most of the daffs are done, thanks to last week's heat wave (I started cutting them down over the weekend - check back next week for this year's final count.), but these doubles in a shady spot are still looking perky:

This white and peach daff is all dried out, making it look quite delicate, I think.

Moss phlox is making purple mats in the back yard and in the front


garage garden

front parking strip

 

The Neglected Terrace is at its peak, with vivid pink moss phlox, euphorbia, and iberis all in flower - a rather garish carpet, but full of energy.



 

Tulips!  They are not reliably perennial in my area.  I planted some red and white ones about 6 years ago that lasted only three seasons.  This is the fourth year for these purple ones, and they've been increasing yearly (originally only two bulbs).  The yellow tulips are at least eight years old (they predate me in this location), and have sent up only foliage (no flower) for the last 3-4 years.  Kinda funny looking right now, but I'm happy to see them again.

 

 

Hellebores are still going.  I like how my newly-flowering plant on the right doesn't droop as much as the parents.

 



Giant snowdrops aren't quite giant enough - they get lost in the spanish bluebell foliage.  Bluebells around the corner (no photo) are already blooming.

More purples and blues:  Mazus reptans creeping between the stepping stones in the side yard, adorable Brunnera flowers (my first brunnera, I got it last year and never put it in the ground), and creeping phlox in the garage bed.

First flowers of the year on the green-and-gold under the Japanese maple

Lastly, not a bloom (yet), but a preview of what's to come:


irises already?  not quite, but soon

(also blooming:  white bleeding heart, periwinkle, flowering pear (nearly done), dandelions everywhere, grape hyacinths, violets also everywhere)

Check out more blooms at May Dreams Gardens.  Happy Spring!

April 2012 Blooms

Everything's blooming at once!  And I want to show it all off!  (But I don't have the patience to edit that many photos)  Here's a sizable sample:

An overview of the garage bed:  rue, moss phlox, columbine, geranium, and violets.

Up in the edibles garden, the strawberries are blooming.  So are last year's bunching onions and this overwintered kale, with flower stalks nearing five feet tall:

The red and yellow columbine have been filling in nicely over the years:

 
 Under the japanese maple, the green-and-gold I planted last spring have made themselves at home.

 

Over in the side yard, the black cherry is blooming, and is quite fragrant.

Around front, the catmint is already blooming.

So is this coreopsis, hidden among the daffodil foliage.

Over in the side yard, my pink bleeding heart is MIA.  But the white one has been very showy this year, seen here with a centaurea:

Both green and variegated solomons seal are up and blooming in the side bed, thought the ones in the upper garden are just breaking the surface.

Finishing up, here's my favorite iris blooming today.

Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting the monthly Bloom Day.


(Also blooming today:  hellebore, periwinkle, creeping and woodland phlox (nearly finished), moss phlox, S-O-B (pulled today), spanish bluebells, camassia, anemone, pansies, lavender irises, mazus reptans, euphorbia, dicentra eximia (nearly finished), flax, and pasque flower)