Bloom Day - April 2021

Despite our abysmally low rainfall, the garden is full of flowers this month.  And by that, I mean it's bordering on crazy, even by my standards.  As I knew I had a busy week coming up, I started taking my Bloom Day photos last week.  Every time I walked through the garden I saw something I'd missed and snapped more photos until I had to declare that enough was enough and call a halt to that.  As it was, I ended up dropping most of the photos I'd collected into collages just to manage their volume.  To make up for the photo overload, I've mostly limited commentary to plant identifications.

Here we go with this month's main floral contributors:

Echium webbii is currently in full flower, much to the delight of the bees.  Echium handiense in the background still has some blooms too.

The Dutch Iris peaked early this month and quickly began to wane when we had a stretch of very warm weather.  The varieties shown here are 'Sapphire Beauty' (top right) and 'Mystic Beauty' (bottom right).

Pacific Coast Iris douglasiana 'Santa Lucia'

The blooms of Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt' are declining but still beautiful

Cercis occidentalis

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl'

The next photos feature plant genera that are putting on a good show in spots throughout the garden.

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Claire', 'Inca Vienna', 'Inca Sundance', 'Indian Summer', and two noID varieties inherited with the garden

Snapdragons: Antirrhinum majus 'Chantilly Bronze' and 'Chantilly Peach' are first and second from the upper left.  The half-barrel shown in the upper right contains a mix grown from a 6-pack of plugs and the pink ones in the lath house window box are a noID dwarf variety.

Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' and 'Large Marge' (yellow variety).  A third variety, 'Opera Pink', missed her photo opportunity.

Clockwise from the upper left: Cistus 'Second Honeymoon', 'Grayswood Pink', 'Sunset', and skanbergii

Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' (left and top right) and Coleonema album (lower right).  Collectively, these plants are commonly known as Breath of Heaven.

Clockwise from the upper left: Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow', 'Black Pearl', 'Dean's Hybrid', and rigida

Top row: the large-flowered Grevilleas 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb' Bottom: small-flowered Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', sericea, and 'Scarlet Sprite'

Hellebores, clockwise from the upper left: Helleborus 'Anna's Red', 'Phoebe', 'Pacific Frost', and 'Red Lady'.  'Blue Lady' didn't show up well in her photo.

Lavandula dentata, multifida, and stoechas

Because I love them so, the Leucospermums each got their own collages.  This is 'Brandi'.

Leucospermum 'Goldie'

Leucospermum 'Hybrid Spider'

Tow row: Osteospermum 'Berry White', 'Summertime Kardinal', and 'Purple Spoon' Middle row:  Osteospermum 'Double Moonglow', 'Sunshine Beauty', and 'Zion Copper Amethyst' Bottom row: noID self-seeded Osteospermum and O. 'Violet Ice'

Clockwise from the upper left: Pelargonium cucculatum 'Flore Pleno', 'Lemona', 'Lady Plymouth', 'Tweedle Dee', and 'White Lady'

Pelargonium peltatum aka ivy geraniums

My first roses of the year: 'Joseph's Coat', 'Pink Meidiland', and noID

Salvias originating from Africa: S. lanceolata and S. lutea

There's actually just one of these.  Not just one member of the Zantedeschia genus: just a single white calla lily (Z. aethiopica).  I usually have dozens of these at this time of year but the low rainfall combined with a stretch of excessive heat has crushed these plants at the bottom of my lightly irrigated back slope.  I miss them but I hope they (and the rain) will be back next year.

I'll close as usual with the best of the rest, organized by color.

Top row: Anemone coronaria 'Lord Lieutenant', Babiana rubrocyanea, and Campanula poscharskyana Middle row: Felicia aethiopica, Geranium 'Tiny Monster', and noID dwarf bearded Iris Bottom row: Plectranthus neochilus, Polygala fruticosa, and noID Scaevola

Top row: Anemone coronaria 'Rosa Chiaro', Argyranthemum 'Angelic Pink', and Centranthus ruber Middle row: Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Digitalis purpurea, and Hebe 'Wiri Blush' Bottom row: noID Nemesia, noID Prunus (peach tree), and Scabiosa 'Flutter Rose Pink'

Tow row: Argyranthemum frutescens 'Everest', Centranthus ruber 'Albus', and Freesia Middle row: Mimulus bifidus, Nandina domestica, and Narcissus 'Geranium' Bottom row: orange blossoms, Pyrethropsis hosmariense, and Westringia 'Morning Light'

Top row: gift Berlandiera lyrata (thanks Kay!), Cotula lineariloba, and Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschein' Middle row: Gazania (one of many varieties), Lantana 'Lucky Yellow', and Primula polyanthus Bottom row: Ranunculus californicus, Senna artemisioides, and Tulipa clusiana 'Cynthia'

Left to right: Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin', Arbutus 'Marina', and Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach'

Top row: Anemone coronaria 'Bi-color' and noID red and Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy' Middle row: Lobelia laxiflora, Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' Bottom row: Melianthus major and Calliandra haematocephala

If you made it this far, thanks for hanging in there!  You can find more of what's flowering elsewhere in the country and the larger world by checking in with Carol, our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host, at May Dreams Gardens.