In bloom this week: April 23, 2017

Tulip circle

Here comes another round of rain this week. I've been doing a some work in the yard in between the rain, but it would be nice to have a few sunny days in a row. Even the flowers seem to be saying enough, already. But I can see blooms from inside through the rain.

Tulips and daffodils in the rose garden

Grape hyacinth

Tulips in the retaining wall

Aquilegia in the rose garden

Aquilegia fighting for space with raspberries

Shooting star in the lawn, needs to be moved

Groundcover strawberries

Rock cress

Creeping phlox

Creeping phlox

Forget me not

Asian pear

Inside, my most exotic African violet is finally blooming:

Coming soon:

Apples

Chives in the rose garden

More shooting star

Camas

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2017

Flowering currant

I don't know where the first half of April went and now I feel behind on so many things in the garden. But I take solice in the fact that I see something new in bloom every time I go outside.

My favorite natives showing off:

Flowering currant

Oregon grape

Oregon grape

Bulbs! I planted more tulips this year and it's still not enough:

Grape hyacinth

Fritillaria meleagris

Some of the other flowers around the yard:

Asian pear

Sea thrift

Rock cress, newly planted

Forget me not

Creeping phlox

Vinca minor, carefully controlled in one area

Kinnikinnick

First strawberry blooms

Hellebores win the prize for longest bloom, these have been going since December.

Blooming inside:

My grandmother's Christmas cactus

African violets - three of my four are blooming, but hard to get good pictures

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the monthly Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! Even when my garden is keeping me busy with spring chores, it's still fun to see what's going on in gardens around the world. 

What's next? Blueberries, lilacs, aquilegia and a rhubarb stalk that will probably be cut down before it blooms.

Goodbye, lovely mulch pile

This lovely pile of organic matter appeared in our driveway days before Halloween. We decorated it with a skeleton and then added a Santa hat for Christmas:

.... but the mulch was slowly being carted away to other areas. The last wheelbarrow load was finally hauled off in late March.

Goodbye mulch pile, hello new planting area on the south side of the driveway

I thought it would be fun to look at all of the places that it went, as an overview of the yard now. We also used some of it in the rose beds, which I didn't take pictures of. I can already tell that I need more mulch in some of these areas, but I don't think I could handle another full load, so thinking about alternatives.

Camellia and rhodie bed, along north fence

New winter garden with with hazel and sarcococca, north side of driveway

Under the kitchen deck

Filling in the hillside after railroad ties were removed

Native border at the bottom of the hill (east side of the yard)