Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2015

There is so much to share for this month's bloom day - where do I even begin?

I guess I'll start with some of my favorite blooms in the garden.

First, the bearded irises have been providing non-stop color in the garden.  All of my irises were pass along plants from neighbors last year.  I've been very pleasantly surprised with variety and color I received.

The oriental poppies always make me think of the Wizard of Oz.

Their lush greens filled the garden all winter long.  Now, their papery petals flit in the breeze.

Such perfection.

Next on my list of favorites are the roses.  Belinda's Dream, Mrs. B. R. Cant, Heritage and a couple mysterious varieties (the magenta climber that came with the house and the ruby red pass along rose from gardening friend, Melissa) are blooming like crazy right now and I'm loving the show.

I've highlighted them in their own post, but our Texas state flower, the bluebonnet, is still going strong in the garden.  I've notice some of the rosettes are starting to fill out with seed pods. Yay for even more bluebonnets next year!

The ranunculus plants fill the beds with a burst of color.  I've tried these bulb/rhizome plants several times in the past in containers without any luck.  However, they seem to love living in the garden beds and are providing me with great cut flowers.

The Texas Gold columbine is putting on it's first display of flowers for me since being planted late last spring.  You have to love this Texas Superstar plant that puts on such a show while living in deep shade and loving drought conditions.

 Such peculiar looking flowers.

Other blooms in the garden include the coral honeysuckle - one of the hummingbirds' favorite treats!

Then there are the sweet peas...

Blackfoot daisies...

Salvias...

Tulips...

Including Lady Janes, which do especially well here in the South.

Even the edibles are flowering, including the culinary sage...

Chives...

And even blackberries and strawberries!

That rounds out my blooms for April.  For more garden blooms, check out May Dreams Gardens where Carole hosts Garden Blogger's Bloom Day on the 15th of every month.

In a Vase on Monday - Stereotypical Spring

Tulips and daffodils.  Those were the key flowers associated with spring, at least where I grew up in Southeastern Wisconsin.  They still represent springtime to me, and make great cut flowers.

So, I've been adding a variety of daffodils and other narcissus to my garden over the last year or two and they do really well and naturalize.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for tulips, at least down here in Zone 8b.  Most tulips need to be treated as annuals in Texas.  If you want to have the bulbs for more than one season, you need to dig them up after the foliage fades, store them in peat moss, and then refrigerate them for about six weeks in the fall/early winter so that they get enough chill hours before placing them back out in the garden.

I stayed away from tulips over the last few years because of the extra work required.  But I just couldn't help myself this year.  I was nostalgic for some northern tulips, so I bought the bulbs and refrigerated them for several weeks in December and January before placing them in the garden.

I love the look of these dark burgundy tulips so much, that I think I'm willing to go through the hassle of digging them up and storing them - at least this year.

I collected several of the tulips, along with a variety of daffodils and a few remaining Erlicheer narcissus (for fragrance) for this week's vase.

I brought this vase into work and I've already received several compliments on my beautiful flowers.  People are even more shocked when I tell them that they come from my garden.  I guess it has become a bit of a novelty for people to be able to make their own beautiful arrangements from homegrown flowers.

That's why I love this meme, hosted by Cathy over at Rambling in the Garden.  The art of garden-fresh flower arrangements is kept alive and well.  Be sure to check out the other beautiful vases from gardens around the world on her blog.