Monday, April 15, 2019

April's Bloomday for 2019

It's April Bloomday! A sure sign we've turned the corner and warmer, brighter days are ahead. Well, hopefully. It's been plenty cool and cloudy and rainy in these parts since I returned from California.

But let's look at what's blooming in the garden anyway, a little drizzle never hurt anyone. We'll take a stroll starting in the front garden; it's nearing the end for the Euphorbia rigida. Once those seeds are ready to pop(!) I need to cut the blooming bits back or else there will be babies everywhere.

Rosemary NOID, looking lovely

This the first time the Ceanothus gloriosa ‘Pt Reyes’ has bloomed since it was knocked back hard over the winter of 2016/17.

Arctostaphylos densiflora ‘Harmony’ is the last of the manzanitas to bloom...

The hellebore flowers are still hanging on and looking good, here's Helleborus 'Rio Carnival' representing the masses.

Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Hindwarf'

The species tulips, 'Little Beauty', I was gifted from John Scheepers are back for a second year...

Poncirus trifoliata flower buds.

Grevillea rivularis is covered in flowers, I adore this plant!

Four of my Bukiniczia cabulica wintered over and now they're all fixing to bloom, three in the ground...

And one in a container. Since they're monocarpic that will be the end of this cool foliage. Unless I get a few seedlings that is.

I've never seen these before. They're shooting up in a pot with Darlingtonia californica and a NOID sarracenia.

They must belong to the Darlingtonia...

Alstromeria 'Indian Summer' didn't stop blooming all winter, probably because it's in a container and was in the shade pavilion greenhouse.

Stachyurus salicifolius

Grevillea miqueliana

Bonus shot!

Grevillea juniperina ‘Molonglo’

My yellow flowering Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' is at the ugly dried up flower stage, the orange E. chrysantha ‘Akebono’ still has a little pretty left in it.

Epimedium wushanense

Epimedium 'Amber Queen'

I bought this Brunnera macrophylla 'Hadspen Cream' for the variegated foliage, but the flowers keep showing up every spring.

This poor Aucuba himalaica var. dolichophylla is such a cool plant, but I've hidden it away behind one of the bamboo stock-tanks where nobody ever sees it.

Ceanothus 'Dark Star' was the first plant I checked on when I returned from California. I was afraid I'd missed this stage, when it's just about to burst into bloom.

Here's a flashback! I planted Arisarum proboscideum (mouse plant) back in 2007 or 08 (guessing), it's been largely ran over by other plants but decided to stage a come back this year with one of its little mousy blooms.

Check out these freaky flowers! They're little buttons right at ground level and belong to Aspidistra elatior...

Aka the cast iron plant...

Finally, before we head into the house to see a couple of blooms, the containers in the driveway. Rhododendron laramie...

And blueberries, oh so many blueberries to come!

Inside there are blooms on the Cryptanthus 'Black Mystic'.

And we end with a slightly blurry Vriesea ospinae var. gruberi bloom. As always visit May Dreams Gardens to see links to all the bloggers posting for Bloomday, and happy spring!

Weather Diary, April 14: Hi 52, Low 40/ Precip .04"

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

21 comments:

  1. For some reason I skipped over my Euphorbia flowers when I was taking photos. I like those Aucuba flowers, that would work well in my Rube Red Death Bed. I've noticed those weird ground level button growths on Aspidistra too, I didn't realize those were the flowers. As usual you have a wonderful set of flowers to share for GBBD.

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    1. If your Ruby Red Death Bed has any shade then I'd say you definitely need that Aucuba.

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  2. Great shots. Quite a few obscure plants (to me at least).

    I had forgotten how pretty blueberry flowers are!

    All my cryptanthus died. Lesson learned: They're not hardy outdoors, even in zone 9b.

    What are the red leaves abvoe Epimedium wushanense?

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    1. Well they're hardy outdoors somewhere, right? The red leaves above Epimedium wushanense are Epimedium wushanense. The new growth has that fabulous color.

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  3. You have some amazing plants.
    That Bukiniczia cabulica is really something else!
    I never dreamed aspidistra flowers looked like that!

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    1. They're pretty freaky right? (the Aspidistra flowers)

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  4. I think you win the Bloom Day award for the most intriguing collection of flowers, Loree! I didn't even know that cast iron plants produced blooms. And my lazy Vriesea ospinae gruberi has never produced a flower despite years in my garden. I'm going up Santa Barbara way this coming weekend and that Grevillea miqueliana is going to be #1 on my search list.

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    1. Weird, this is the second bloom from my Vriesea ospinae, If you're really serious about acquiring that Grevillea you might try and order it from The Desert Northwest. https://www.desertnorthwest.com/

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  5. A great collection, Loree. My favs are the Epimediums, Grevilleas and Aucuba, those are extra special!

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    1. And to think I resisted adding Epimediums to my garden. It's a good thing there are some with spiky leaves.

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    2. I've been very happy with mine, even without spiky leaves!

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  6. An array of unusuals. Very cool!

    What are the green plants behind the Bukiniczia cabulica? They looked weirdly wonderful.

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    1. Calluna vulgaris 'Stockholm', weirdly wonderful for sure!

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  7. Beautiful plants and gorgeous photographs. My epimediums are still dried brown foliage.

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  8. So many fab and unusual blooms. Ain't spring grand?

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    1. Indeed, although I'd happily give it up if it meant winter never happened.

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  9. Wow! What a great collection! A fascinating collection - a lot of stuff I have never seen before. Only a few of the plants are familiar to me.
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

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