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| Brunnera macrophylla |
Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for April 2015.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, it is most assuredly spring and every day something new is blooming.
When I went out to take pictures for bloom day, I almost missed the pretty little blue flowers of False Forget-me-not, Brunnera macrophylla. The plants are hidden from view, but I caught a glimpse of them when a knelt down to take a picture of a nearby Hellebore, Hellebores sp. probably Helleborus orientalis.
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| Helleborus orientalis |
I am amazed every year to see, again, how quickly the hellebores recover from their spring haircut, the removal of all the foliage that overwintered. Cutting back that foliage is usually one of my first post-winter garden clean up activities. They look like the dickens for a few weeks but then turn into a lovely clump of blooms.
Of course, I also have daffodils in bloom here, there, and everywhere.
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| Narcissus sp. |
I go through spells with daffodils. I like them, then I don’t like them. Now I’ve decided I like some of them, like the ones pictured above which remind me of pretty yellow butterflies. I do not love the big bright yellow daffodils, but I have some in my garden. Who doesn’t?
Flanking the gate to the veg garden, I planted two honeyberries last spring. Or two springs ago? Regardless, they are full of blooms even though they are still small shrubs.
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| Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica |
Honeyberries are supposed to be good substitutes for those of us who live where blueberries, Vaccinium sp. struggle to grow. Our soil is just not acidic enough for them. (Of course, I’m still trying to grow some blueberries, but we’ll talk about that some other time.)
In one of the few shady areas of the garden some Fairy Wings are in bloom.
Most people know these as Epimedium sp., but when I found out a common name for them is Fairy Wings, well, of course, that’s what I call them. The garden fairies insisted.
Other blooms? Oh yes, violets, star flowers, glory-of-the-snow, serviceberries, tulips, and the Star Magnolia are all putting on a good showing right now.
And trilliums!
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| Trillium |
And Virginia Bluebells!
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| Mertensia virginica |
And the very first columbine, a little dwarf variety, has its first bud.
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| Aquilegia sp. |
It is definitely spring in my garden. If we can survive another month or so, we’ll be frost free and on our way!
What’s blooming in your garden in mid-April? Join in for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and show us.
It’s easy to participate. Just post on your own blog about what is blooming in your garden and then come back here and leave a link to your bloom day post in the Mr. Linky widget below, then leave a comment to tell us what you have waiting for us to see.
All are invited!
And remember the inspiration for bloom day, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
Spring is such an exciting time of year for the gardener and you have so many colorful blooms! I just added some hellebores to my shade bed this past month and am enjoying them. I hope they are as successful as yours are. Thank you for hosting and Happy Bloom Day to you!
Carol, it is truly amazing to me how quickly you went from winter to full-blown spring! You have a columbine bud already??! I'm jealous. Lovely blooms and Happy GBBD…Thank you for hosting as always!
Ah, it is so nice that spring has finally sprung! I love your hellebores and daffodils. This is my very first year learning about and planting hellebores. If they end up anything like yours, I will be a happy camper. Happy GBBD!
Wow, what a dramatic turnaround! Everything looks beautiful. Thanks for hosting!
Spring has sprung in England too. In fact after a week of gloriously warm weather everything has come on in a rush and it feels almost like summer. This is when I want to stop the clock and just enjoy all the freshness.
Happy Bloom Day Carol.
I'm delighted to hear that epimediums are called 'fairy wings' – they are so beautifully delicate and somehow unexpected. Thank you for hosting the meme.
Your blooms are steadily catching up with us here in England Carol and next month you should have overtaken us.
I offer you 2 of the classic blooms for April: tulips and magnolias.
Happy Blooms Day everyone!
Thanks for hosting – too many gems here to pick favourites!
Love the Virginia bluebells. Haven't seen those before. I was delighted to find that you're as much a fan of violets as I am. Thank you for hosting.
Such a fun time of year when there is something new to see every day. Happy GBBD.
Here is a bit of what is blooming in my hillside shade garden this spring.
I adore Brunnera. It might be called the false forget-me-not, but it's so much more useful than Myosotis – and the foliage can be beautiful too. Like you, we can't grow blueberries, so I planted honeyberries last year and am hoping for a harvest. Fingers crossed. Isn't it wonderful to be in spring at last?
Hellabores and daffodils blooming!
Blooms at last, Carol, in my Pocono Mountains garden. The birds are singing and so am I! Thanks for hosting! P. x
Thanks for hosting! I am so glad I FINALLY have at least something besides houseplants to post again!
Thanks for hosting and happy spring! Always so exciting to see the flowers burst forth.
You're just a zone ahead of us here in Chicagoland, but you have quite a few more flowers. I had to supplement with paint.
My Trilliums are up but not blooming yet. That white one is a beauty. Loved your Quince story. I just finished the Sissinghurst book but it had not occurred to me that she was talking about a tree. You cleared up my confusion!
Thanks Carol for hosting and all gardeners for sharing their love for blooms! Lula
Love your hellebores. Not sure I can grow them in central Texas but I should give it a try.
Spring marches Northward and April is a great time of year. Happy Bloom Day.
Beautiful Hellebores! I can't bear to cut my leaves off – it's the first year I can actually see their large leaves. They have been making a very sloooow start, but I'll keep observing and if it looks like buds will whoop with joy and cut off the tattered leaves. So intrigued by that honey berry – I think they are very very hardy because I remember considering one for my garden. I have a blue berry but it seems to be struggling a bit between the brute strawberries and Big Fat Rabbit. I have been adding sulphur to the soil – it is supposed to make it more acidic in a slow, steady way. I think I see a little improvement this year. I know a master gardener who also uses sulphur on her phlox and bee balm – never has mildew problems. She applies it to the top of the soil in spring. SPRING!
Beautiful blooms in your April garden and I'm sure you're loving all of them! Thanks once again for hosting GBBD.
April is a great garden month! We're a bit ahead of you and it's interesting to see that some of your blooms that are happening at once bloomed at different times for us. I'd not heard Epimedium called Fairy Wings before, only Bishop's Cap so I had to look it up. Other common names are barrenwort, horny goat weed, rowdy lamb herb, randy beef grass or yin yang huo. Some amusing names there! Whatever you call them, they're gorgeous.
Happy Bloom and Tax Day from this very weary CPA..and still have more to go…thanks again for posting
In many respects my garden is far behind yours Carol…but other plants will be a long time in coming…I love seeing how gardens bloom differently.
Your garden has sprung to life. Happy bloom day!
Spring has certainly arrived in your garden, you have so many beautiful flowers, they are all so pretty.
Just sat down at the computer and realized what day it was. You'll just have to do with my post from 3 days ago. Still looking the same. Spring has certainly sprung in your garden. So happy to see your blooms.
Thanks for hosting this wonderful meme!
Your Hellebores are outstanding!
Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Your garden has definitely morphed from winter to full blown spring bling Carol. I was interested in your comments on honeyberries. I like the flowers and fruit of blueberries but have been unable to grow them because of soil conditions. Maybe I will seek out a couple of plants. I planted a mertensia last year but sadly it seems to have been one of my few winter casualties. Happy Blooms Day and thanks for hosting.
Happy Spring to you!
Finally!!! Isn't it amazing how much more energy we all have now that spring has sprung!
Finally we can enjoy spring flowers…Happy Blooms Day.
Happy Spring. I have Cherry Blossoms (an iconic feature near Washington DC,) Forsythia, and Daffodils blooming right now. And a new camera to capture the images. Not all the picturesa are from today, but they are all from within the last 2 weeks. And I'm really happy with the quality of the pictures and the intentional effort to capture the image in the camera. http://rescuegarden.blogspot.com/2015/04/bloom-day-april-2015.html
I always feel that you northern gardeners have so many more interesting plant selections, and I especially like your helleborus. My garden is slow to awake this spring, and only few banks roses have opened so far, just this morning! Thanks for hosting!
http://ladyoflamancha.blogspot.com.es/
It amazes me at just how quickly your gardens recover from the awful winters you have. What happens in your gardens in a matter of a few short weeks takes a month or so here in Scotland.
A big thank you for continuing to host Carol.
I have just discovered Bloggers Bloom day today.
I thought it is a great idea to see blooms from around the world, so I have added a link to my blog
Looks like your Indiana garden is 2 weeks ahead of our PA garden… nice to see what is coming! Thanks Carol!
Happy spring and happy bloom day to you!
Goodness gracious! My brunnera is scarcely out of the ground! You are quite a bit ahead of me!
Happy GBBD! Spring is here, even in New England! Thanks for hosting! Michele
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – what a great excuse to get outside, explore the garden, and take some pictures! So fun to see what's in bloom around the country.
Glad to see blossoms in everyone's garden this month. Spring is really, finally here for all. Thank you for hosting Bloom Day!
I was really looking forward to this month's Blogger's Bloom Day. We are having an exceptionally cool spring and the garden is the best it has been in years. We had hail damage from the tornado that passed through early this spring but the garden rebounded nicely. I hope everyone's is as good this spring as mine is. Happy gardening.
Beautiful blossoms! I love spring time.
We in upstate New York are so excited to have spring (finally!) All of your flowers were a welcome site – for us, most of them are "coming attractions". Thanks for the sneak preview! Alana – ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
Thank you for hosting this! I always enjoy looking at other people's blooms and always wish I had time to post my own – have finally made it this month!
Love your fairy wings! I wish I had that variety! I do have the yellow bloomer and a red one which escapes me right now.
It rained ALL Bloom Day, but I got out there anyway. I'm still waiting on my white Trillium grandiflorum to show up.
I wish I had an Epimedium as vibrant as yours. Mine is a dull yellow, and I didn't deem it Bloom Day worthy. Happy spring to you Carol, and thank you.
What a lovely bunch of spring flowers! The columbine is heartwarming 🙂
My post is coming in late, but then it's nearly summer here with new plants just beginning to show blooms…!
So much blooming in your garden, Carol! I'm in Texas right now, and all your blooms are making me wonder what I'm missing at home. Isn't spring grand?
What fun to see all the beautiful blooms- thanks for hosting!
Happy GBBD! Mister Linky doesn't seem to like me today, so here's my contribution: http://practicalplantgeek.blogspot.com/2015/04/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-april-2015.html
Love this time of year when new blooms are popping out every day it seems. Happy Spring!
Hi Carol.
I am surprised to see that you are also seeing bluebells opening up. I would think that our zone 7 garden would be ahead of you in that regard, but not so it seems. Now that spring has actually started I want it to slow down and take its time…
Lovely post, wonderful flowers. Oh, the trials of attempting to grow blueberries. I finally gave up on them years ago, though I'd really love to be able to grow them!
I enjoyed your spring flowers, thank you for hosting.
Happy April! I remembered yesterday but my computer wasn't working. Better late than never when it comes to sharing tulips, though!
Not only am I a day late, I can't figure out how to remove the misspelled link to my Bloomsday post. Sorry Carol! I'm totally firing my editor 😉
Spring is lovely everywhere! I am awash in joy and the energy spring brings. I love GBBD because it helps me notice and document what is going on in my garden. Your garden is full of wonderful blooms ones I lust after in fact : ) Happy Spring!
I have just joined in, thanks for this great meme idea!
What beautiful fairy wings!
It's wonderful to see so much blooming in your garden, Carol. My first flower of the season bloomed in time for bloom day, and I hope to see many more in the weeks to come. Thanks, as always, for hosting this wonderful event. -Jean
It's wonderful to see so much blooming in your garden, Carol. My first flower of the season bloomed in time for bloom day, and I hope to see many more in the weeks to come. Thanks, as always, for hosting this wonderful event. -Jean
Your Spring flowers are really coming along, Carol, it looks like you grow the same Trillium that is native here. I love your hellebore clump, and I finally got a Virginia bluebell to bloom here too, such pretty colors!
Happy Spring from Central Texas Zone 8b! Thanks for hosting.
I'm a little late but thank you for hosting another GBBD.
Cleaning up the old hellebore foliage is always number two on my winter cleanup list, after trimming down the ornamental grasses. But it's only another week or so and they reward me with blooms aplenty!
Always look forward to and enjoy Bloom Day!! Especially in the Spring