Wednesday, April 15, 2015

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.

21 comments:

  1. I love the honeysuckle, i am sure it will be fragrant. And what a roses you have. I am also growing heritage in my subtropical garden and i am also growing some David austin's they perform very well for me specially in pots. Beautiful website you have got.

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    1. Thanks a lot. This is my first year as a REAL rose gardener. My house came with one climbing rose, but between last fall and this spring, I planted eight new roses, most of which are David Austin roses. So far they are performing quite well. I can't wait to see the rest of them bloom!

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  2. Your blooms are beautiful. I have never heard of ranunculus. I'll have to look into those.

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    1. I love the cabbage-like petals of the ranunculus. They make such great cut flowers and come in a variety of colors.

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  3. So much beauty - it shows what a little rain at the right time of year can do and the results are regenerating gardener's enthusiasm all around Texas. Some lovely shots here but my favorite is the sweet peas with glimpses of bluebonnets in the background. Just perfect. Happy April to you!

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    1. The sweet peas with bluebonnets in the background give me a slight sense of having a true "cottage garden." It may not be quite English-style, but I'd call it decent for an English garden feel with plants that do well in Texas.

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  4. Wonderful!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
    Lea

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  5. My goodness, your garden is so far along. I'd love to have neighbors like yours with irises like those!

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    1. It certainly helps living in an established neighborhood with neighbors that have been gardening for decades. They tend to have an abundance of items to share from their garden - it's quite a treat!

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  6. Those are gorgeous irises - I suppose we'll never know what varieties ;-) And the roses... and the sweet peas... Do you have any recommendations on the Blackfoot Daisy? I'm thinking about trying it here in the desert. Oh, and the berries look wonderful!

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    1. Blackfoot daisies do really well in rock gardens and with a good amount of neglect. They are supposed to do well in sun. I have mine in part shade and they only get the little bit of rainfall water now and then. I'd think they would be great in a desert garden.

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  7. Wow, you have a lot of wonderful colors! I certainly can't pick a favorite!

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    1. Neither can I! It seems to change every day... sometimes every minute ;-)

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  8. I bet your garden smells amazing! What a beautiful collection!

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    1. Thanks so much - it really does entice all the senses... smells of the flowers, sights of the blooms, sounds of the birds, feel of the different foliage and petals, and tastes of the herbs, veggies and fruit that I grow. Sensational!

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  9. It appears that Iris and Bluebonnets are in great supply in Texas this spring! :) Yours are lovely. It's amazing how so many Iris are pass along plants. All but a few of mine were given to me by friends and by my Mom. Your Roses and Daisies are beautiful, and I can almost smell the aroma of the Honeysuckle. Everything in your garden looks wonderful this spring!

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    1. Thanks! Our winter rains definitely made the bluebonnets bloom more profusely this year, and I'm not complaining! It is great having neighbors with more established gardens that I can get pass-alongs from. I'm working on getting my garden to that point - to share pieces of it with family and friends. So far, I've divided a bunch of canna lillies that came with the house and shared them with pretty much everyone I know that has a garden.

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  10. Oh my goodness, you have so much colour in your garden right now. You do have some truly lovely flowers.

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    1. Thank you so much. I find myself wandering out to the garden and just wandering around multiple times a day, looking at all the new things blooming. It is definitely my happy place.

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  11. The rains have brought some spectacular blooms to your garden. I am most impressed that you had success with the ranunculus and sweet peas so early. Somehow I never got those planted this year. Your iris and roses- what can one say. I would be walking around the garden a hundred times a day too.

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