Garden bloggers' bloom day April 2015

Happy bloom day! 

It's April, which means it's camassia month! Huzzah!

Camassia leichtlinii 'Blue Danube'

Iris x pacifica 'Civic Pride'

Iris x pacifica 'The Eyes Have It'

Hooker's fairy bells (Disporum hookeri/Prosartes hookeri)

Geranium phaeum 'Darkest of All'

Epimedium grandiflora 'Red Queen'

Tulipa 'Flair' with a bird-planted Cotinus coggygria

Cistus obtusifolius

Salvia 'Flame'

Syringa patula 'Miss Kim'

Lewisia cotyledon

Lewisia cotyledon 'White Splendor'

Othonna cheirifolia

False Soloman's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum)

Coronilla v. spp. glauca 'Variegata'

The blooms of Darmera peltata emerge before the foliage does.

A very happy bloom day to you! As always, thank you to our host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens.

Garden bloggers' bloom day March 2015

I may be late but many of my blooms are early this year. We have tulips already, for Pete's sake! The daphnes, hellebores, and Pieris are all still going, making this month feel especially floriferous.

Tulipa 'Flair'

Tulipa 'Come Back'

Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum)

Ribes sanguineum 'Variegata'

Ribes sanguineum

Rhubarb (Rheum x hybridium 'Victoria')

Vaccinium 'Sunshine Blue'

Epimedium 'Black Sea'

Aucuba japonica 'Rozannie'

Fothergilla gardenii 'Jane Platt'

A happy bloom day to you! Thanks to our host, Carol.

Garden bloggers' bloom day February 2015.

I missed bloom day in January, even though I had but three things to post. It doesn't get much easier than January. Also, so many people are buried in terrible weather, why wouldn't you celebrate having blooms in your garden?

Friends is on Netflix streaming. That's why. Also, Greg pulled a quilt that his Grandmother made him out of storage and it makes our couch dangerously comfortable.

Sarcococca ruscifolia

Hamamelis I. 'Early Bright'

Mahonia x media 'Arthur Menzies'

But I'm ready to rejoice: I'm finally past the season when Ross had a monkey and the weather has been so delightful lately! I'm getting off the couch, but only for a little bit. 

Arctostaphylos 'John Dourley'

Daphne odora 'Mae Jima'

Euphobia 'Blackbird'

Crocus chrysanthus 'Romance'

All of my hellebores are blooming and all of them look pretty terrible. I wasn't quick enough to get Sluggo down this year.

Helleborus orientalis 'Metallic Blue Lady'

Othonna cheirifolia

Rosemary

Arctostaphylos bakeri 'Louis Edmonds'

Helleborus x 'Black Diamond'

Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata' with a bumble bee!

Not pictured: Pieris japonica, whose blooms I always miss even though the entire shrub looks gift wrapped and Euphorbia myrsinites.

Happy bloom day! Spring is near! Thank you to our host, Carol, over at May Dreams Gardens.

Garden bloggers' bloom day, December 2014

I had blooms to show you in November, like this beautiful Crocus speciosus.

Or my Salvia 'Amistad' that was improbably pushing out blooms, despite a freeze.

Or my Helenium 'Mardis Gras'.

But I couldn't pull my shit together last month (a recurring problem) and now those things have finally succumbed to weather. I'm left with Mahonia x media 'Arthur Menzies' outside.

Indoors I have a few blooms to cheer me up.

Cuttings of Echeveria diffractens I brought inside are blooming in a sunny window

An unknown succulent blooms despite a tenacious mealy bug problem.

Happy bloom day to you and yours! Thank you Carol for hosting us. I for one am looking forward to spring crocuses, hellebores, and a new year.

Garden bloggers' bloom day October 2014

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." --F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Ignoring the fact that the quote above is uttered by one awful person to another awful person in a book I didn't really care for, I agree with the sentiment. Fall weather is finally here! I have been cooking and wearing socks and bringing tender plants indoors and I am so freaking happy about it. The bird feeders are up, my Netflix queue is full and I am so ready to hibernate for a bit. This is that nice time when we're finally getting rain and cooler nights but the castor beans haven't died yet and things still look okay.

All of the salvias and agastaches are still going strong, acting like they just might bloom all winter if you let them. This canna popped up in a pathway and I left it to be a surprisingly effective hosebreak all summer.

My bloom is sad because someone didn't water me all summer.

These Aster oblongifolius are my favorite right now. They cooked all summer next to reflected heat of the chimney without a drop of water and they couldn't be prettier.

I've spent more time than I'd care to admit internally debating whether Dan Hinkley was on a bender or responding to a dare when he named this Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress.' Its blooms aren't quite as showy as its relatives but I'll take them.

Eutrochium rugosum is sited right next to some large clumps of snowberry, making this fairly uninteresting part of the yard look gift wrapped.

Eutrochium rugosum and Symphoricarpos albus

Plectranthus ecklonii was a spring addition to the dry shade under the cedar tree and I'm very happy with the late blooms.

Is it early for Fatsia japonica to be blooming? It feels like it.

Happy bloom day and happy fall weather to you! Be sure to visit our host Carol at May Dreams Gardens for the full show.