Bloom Day - April 2017

I thought that my blooms were plentiful in March but April is really ridiculous!  It's amazing to see what a difference real winter rain can mean to a garden.  I took a ludicrous number of photos in advance of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day but I've done my utmost to winnow them down.  This month, I organized my photos by garden area, focusing on the plants that had the biggest impact in each.

I'll start in the front garden with a humble plant that one might even call a weed.

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Erigeron karvinskianus (aka Santa Barbara Daisy and Mexican Daisy) blooms all year here but it goes crazy in spring.  Most of these planted themselves.  I probably couldn't get rid of them if I tried.  They're everywhere but I thought they looked particularly photogenic here.

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Gazania 'White Flame' self-seeds freely but I can't call it a weed, unlike the sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) surrounding it.  I vaguely recall transplanting an Alstroemeria division here years ago but this is the first time I recall seeing it flower.  Rosa 'Pink Meidiland' is just beginning to flower behind the Gazanias.

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Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk' is happy here, tucked behind Euphorbia charcacias 'Black Pearl' and Arctotis 'Pink Sugar'

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Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' also blooms year-round but not so profusely as it's doing now (Grevillea 'Superb' can be seen blooming in the background)

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Here's a closer look at Grevillea 'Superb'.  If I had to give an award to one plant for continuous flowering, it would be this one.

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Echium candicans 'Star of Madiera' is just now starting its annual bloom cycle

Surrounding the front driveway, some of the few roses I have left are also coming into bloom.

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From left to right are: 'California Dreamin', 'Joseph's Coat', and 'Medallion'

Past the driveway, in what used to be the vegetable garden, the raised planters now used as a cutting garden have produced a generous supply of poppies and, more recently, sweet peas.

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I should have thinned my sweet peas (mixed cultivars of Lathyrus odoratus) more than I did, as they're now tumbling all over the place.  The high winds we've experienced for several nights now have loosened their hold on the metal grid intended to support them and also turned the Coriandrum sativum plants on their side.  However, somehow, the Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) continue to produce more and more flowers despite the wind.

The dry garden on the north east side of the house is subdued now that the Grevillea there have bloomed out and I've cut the Osteospermum back.  The biggest splash of color there comes from the New Zealand tea trees that recently produced a new flush of bloom.

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Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', planted a little too close to a guava tree but making the best of things

A gravel path through the dry garden leads down a cement block stairway to the back slope, which is looking remarkably good at the moment, even if the upper section of the slope remains scarred by the damage caused by last year's horrific first-day-of-summer heatwave.

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Clockwise from the upper left, April bloomers include: Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid', mingling with Pelargonium 'White Lady'; the uncontrollable Bignonia capreolata inherited with the garden; hard-to-photograph Carpenteria californica; self-seeding Centranthus ruber; Eschscholzia californica 'White Linen', grown from seed; and Oenothera speciosa, just stepping onto the stage

Back on the main level of the backyard garden, there's plenty in bloom.

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Leucadendron 'Pisa' with its luminescent flower-like bracts

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Cotula lineariloba 'Big Yellow Moon' is moving in to surround Echium webbii.  Felicia aethiopica echoes the blue color of the Echium on its other side.

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Here the violet color of Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa' (left) echoes the more vibrant tone of Pelargonium cullatum 'Flore Pleno' (right).  Alyogyne huegelii adds a bluer note in the background.

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Alstroemeria are blooming all over the back garden at the moment.  The white form (left) is 'Claire' and the red variety (upper right) is 'Inca Husky'.  The others are unnamed varieties that came with the garden.

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Ozothamnus diosmifolius has small but plentiful white flowers

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Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' isn't blooming as heartily as it did last month but Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin' is making up for the deficit

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Ageratum corymbosum, an evergreen (or ever-purple) shrub, is at the peak of its bloom cycle

The garden on the south side of the house has a large number of succulents, none of which are delivering much in the way of floral color at the moment but there are a few blooming plants.

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From left to right: Cistus x scanbergii, Phlomis fruticosa, and the delicate flowers of Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'(in front of a second Echium 'Star of Madiera')

Moving back down to the partially shaded area at street level on the southwest side of the property, there are still blooms to be found.

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Clockwise from the left: Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', backed up by Prostanthera ovalifolia and Limonium perezii; Prunus laurocerasus; noID lavender Pelargonium peltatum; and Rosa chinense 'Mutabilis'

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And, along the street, masses of noID Delosperma

Finally, as the photos above didn't capture all the flowers I'm proud to flaunt this April, here are a few more I couldn't bear to leave on the cutting room floor.

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Top row: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Heleborus 'Anna's Red', and Iochroma 'Mr. Plum' Middle row: Ixia, Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and Mimulus 'Jelly Beans Crimson' Bottom row: Pelargonium 'Oldbury Duet', Pelargonium 'Tweedle Dee', and Salvia lanceolata

Are you still in need of a floral color fix?  Visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens, our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host to find what's blooming elsewhere in the US and around the world this April.


All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party