April Flowers

Bring May… seed pods? Sure, of course. Since the world is on fire right now and we aren’t getting any showers in April, I’m just going to show you some flowers now, even though it’s a very sunny day and pics are hard!

The first California poppy flower is always a thrill to me!

Pretty much every single California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) overwintered with ease this year, so they are big strong plants right now. I’m looking forward to a very long season because there are also fifteen zillion seedlings of all ages, who germinated throughout the fall, winter, and spring.

Imperial white currant

I cannot get over my white currant’s flower show this year. I featured this plant in a recent post about the genus Ribes but I posted a photo of it in fruit, because when I was writing that post, it didn’t look like much yet. But now…

Ribes rubrum ‘Imperial’
Cerinthe major overwintered

The problem with daytime full-sun photography with a phone is that the glare from the screen can make it impossible to tell if the lens is focusing on what you want. Oh well. Cerinthe made it through the winter in various stages of floppiness. This a plant that has a very hard time with dog pee, I’ll just say that.

This mustard has naturalized

Three years ago I tossed around some red mustard seed and it’s just an unstoppable force now and I love how it comes up wherever. I might be done with it soon, but for now, it’s bright and cheery and delicious.

Ribes sanguineum ‘Xera’s Lime Punch’ still going

R. sanguineum ‘Xera’s Lime Punch’ is one of my very favorite plants this time of year. It is an absolute beacon of brightness in both flower and leaf, and it seems to fit anywhere in the garden – an eye-catcher from near or far.

Eccremocarpus scaber

My Eccremocarpus vines seem to bloom earlier with each year, as they age. All of them are basically in 100% full bloom right now and it is glorious.

Naturalized violas escaped from a planter years ago
Viola, probably labradorica, too pretty to pull right now
Rosemary ‘Gorizia’ – from Xera

‘Gorizia’ is a great rosemary with a very tall, upright habit and I’m only just figuring out how to tame it and shape it a bit. It’s a very heavy bloomer – in fact it seems to always have some flowers (I could be making that up). It is the ‘it’ plant for the bees right now – you can hear it buzz.

Ok not a flower *yet*

Despite it not being a flower I have to show my Hydrangea quercifolia which is now in its 4th solid year of being variegated, which started in 2017. Working on propagation – it has resisted efforts at cuttings so far, so next attempt will be layering.

Ribes speciosum continues unabated
Various Euphorbias – the dark one is ‘Blackbird’ or similar
Meyer lemon on the patio
Sarracenias are making buds!
Iris x pacifica ‘Simply Wild’
Native Dicentra spectabilis over on the north side of the house
Another native, Oxalis oregana, doing really well after being planted just last year
Rhododendron serpyllifolium var. albiflorum

My friend Dan gave me this charming Rhododendron with the tiniest leaves – in fact it’s also called Thyme-leaved Azalea. It seems to like this spot and is currently blooming profusely.

Dan also gave me the next one…

Rhododendron stenopetalum ‘Linearifolium’

This is a *stunning* plant which is at the same time unassuming. The stunning bit comes from the profusion of spidery flowers in a most unusual form for a Rhododendron. The unassuming bit is that it has a really pleasing, tiered-branching form, like it could easily be seen in a formal Japanese garden. I have both of the above Rhododendrons under a Hamamelis ‘Jelena’ where I’m hoping they will offset the tree’s texture of big, broad leaves with theirs both tiny and lanceolate.

Geranium macrorrhizum

I don’t even remember where I got this Geranium macrorrhizum, but it’s turned out to be a spectacular performer in mostly dry shade under this dogwood tree. It did get some irrigation last summer so I’m sure that helped it a lot to start blooming about a month ago!

It was too much for one photo.
Speaking of the dogwood…
Grevillea ‘Neil Bell’

Also more or less under the dogwood is a newly-planted (ok last summer?) Grevillea ‘Neil Bell’ and I only *just* noticed it has one solitary flower down near the ground! It proved absolutely impossible to achieve focus, so you get an art school photo.

One more:

Armeria maritima ‘Victor Reiter’ in crevice garden

I have started experimenting with the crevice garden concept and I recently completed a second installation of rocks and grit. It’s more or less a continuation of the first, but it’s a sunnier spot and I think I did a better job organizing the rocks. In my next post, I will feature these, so this is your sneak peek.

Thanks for checking in. Stay safe and keep gardening!

May Flowers

Just a stroll around the garden.  My flowering plants have always been kind of spread out – not grouped together all that much, so when I go around and take pics of everything that’s flowering I’m always shocked!

Let’s start with the Clematis.  I think Grace and I agreed the other day that this could well be ‘Elsa Spath’ (it came with the house so we’ll never know for sure but the description fits very well).

My hand span is 8″.

Whole plant:

This will be quite the show. The fence is 5′; at its tallest now the plant is up to 10′

My sister gave me this blueberry and it’s extremely floriferous!

Chives – Allium schoenoprasum

These pansies seeded themselves (from a hanging basket two years ago) into this pot with the grape and have been happily blooming away for months now.

Dwarf Korean Lilac – Syringa meyeri – is just starting its fragrant flower show.  I love its super-cute cupped leaves.  Excellent fall color, too!

Syringa meyeri

I let all that broccoli go to seed and the bees are having a ball.

Aptly named Polygonatum odoratum smells lovely, a very interesting scent.  You really have to get down low to smell it, though!

Polygonatum odoratum

My one Rhododendron.  I kind of want to keep this one… Kind of.   There were two others against the east wall of the house which we removed last year – they were so infested with lace bugs and bud blast and they were coarse and not fun to be around on the patio.  This one has some lace bugs too, but it’s not as bad.  I pruned it pretty hard last year, so it’s not covering itself with flowers like usual, but I think it’s healthier overall.

Speaking of covering self with flowers.  This is my neighbor’s and it’s very fragrant.  It WAFTS.

Look at the lusciousness.

I wish you could smell this.

This next plant never ceases to amaze me.  It started blooming in January, and look:

It will be FIVE MONTHS in flower by the time these are done. Amazing Hellebore.

Pelargonium ‘Vancouver Centennial’ bloomed indoors over the winter, and it’s been adjusting to outdoor life for several weeks now by coloring up its leaves with anthocynanin.  It was much lighter over the winter (pic from November).

Pelargonium ‘Vancouver Centennial’

Little Limnanthes is so cheery! I kind of like this with that weird orange Heuchera (upper right).

Limnanthes douglasii

And then there’s this old girl.  This won’t stop until frost.

Hot (Frickin) Lips Salvia. I’m working on making peace with it.

Here’s my plan with that Salvia, and yeah, hold me to this, would you? I’ve planted a few things around it that, once they grow a bit, will allow me to drastically reduce the size of the Salvia or move it/remove it (most likely the latter because this color of flowers is damned hard to work with and it’s not what I really want here). But until then, I’m going to just prune it as needed to allow those other plants some space.  I kind of like how it’s a weird shape right now which you can only see from the other side (I tried, but could’t get a convincing picture – you have to see it in person).  Maybe I should think of it as a sculpture.

Moving on – more pansies in a pot! Survivors from last year’s Mother’s Day event.

My third Geranium to bloom this year (three more to go) (unless I buy more plants, which I will).

NOID (yet)

The other geraniums are G. macrorrhizum and G. pyrenaicum ‘Bill Wallis’ and you can see them both in this post.

This little Geum rivale just won’t quit and I find it kind of irresistably cute..  It’s really doing well this year.  I might have to move it to where it can get more water over the summer.  It survived here last year, but I might have been watering it constantly (I don’t remember).

Geum rivale – almost a native

Lavender #1 is off to a great start! Nothin yet from #2.

I like this little Euphorbia.  It’s very delicate and seems to only seed around very lightly. So far. We’ll see.

Euphorbia cyparissias?

Almost at the end, we’re over in the forgotten zone where the pile of wood chips almost buried this Ornithogalum, which I find very aptly named – see how the mass of flowers looks like an umbel?

Ornithogalum umbellatum

I wish it had better foliage, but that’s what cover-up plants are for!

I don’t think I ever took a picture of this CWTH* lily-flowered tulip (which lasted for EVER by the way), but isn’t it just the epitome of absolute decadence right now? I weirdly love tulips when they’re falling apart.  My friend Carol taught me to appreciate them in this state a million years ago, and it has stuck with me.  The parrot tulips are the best.  I should grow them just for that.

*CWTH = Came With The House

I’ll end with the most stunning flowering plant of all right now.  This thing lights up my whole street and I love it when it flowers.  I hope my neighbors do too as they drive by.

 

Update for Alison! Yes, Geum rivale has pretty nifty seed heads, though they’re not as flamboyant as G. triflorum: