I think my garden may have already reached its peak in terms of spring blooms. At this point, it seems it'd be easier to list what's not blooming than what is. I gave up trying to take photos of everything and I once again threw a lot of my photos into collages just to keep this post to a manageable size.
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| Echium webbii began blooming last week. It's a bee magnet. |
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Other blue blooms include: Top row - Ajuga 'Mint Chip', Alyogyne huegelii, and 'Pink Icing' blueberries
2nd row - Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt', noID Delphinium, and Felicia aethiopica
3rd row - light blue and mid-blue Freesias, and Iris hollandica
Bottom row - Osteospermum '3D Silver', Scabiosa 'Fama Blue', and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud' |
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| This "ever-purple"Ageratum corymbosum has already begun to fade in response to last week's heat |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, other purple and magenta blooms include: Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Geranium 'Tiny Monster', Iris douglasiana 'Santa Lucia', 2 varieties of Lathyrus odoratus, Lavandula stoechas 'Anouk Deep Rose', Limonium perezii, Osteospermum '4D Berry White', Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa', Salvia 'Love and Wishes', and, in the middle, Osteopermum 'Violet Ice' |
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| All the Coleonema album are in full bloom. Together with Erigeron karvinskianus, a weedy groundcover here, they create a sparkle of fluffy white throughout the garden. |
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| Still more splashes of white are provided by Pyrethropsis hosmariense, which has become one of my favorite year-round groundcovers as it's beautiful in and out of bloom |
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Other white bloomers include: Top row - Argyranthemum 'Mega White', Centranthus ruber 'Albus', and Convolvulus cneorum
Middle row - a few Leucojum aestivum, white Freesia, and Narcissus 'British Gamble'
Bottom row - Narcissus 'White Lion', orange blossoms, and Zantedeschia aethiopica |
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| More Erigeron karvinskianus mixes here with Gazania 'White Flame'surrounding Phormium 'Maori Queen' |
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| Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset' is still going strong on one side of the path through the back garden. The newer plants on the other side of the path are now caged to protect them from the bunnies that ate several small plants down to nubs. |
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Other plants sporting red color include: Top row - Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Cymbidium Sussex Court 'Not Peace', and Euphorbia characias 'Black Pearl'
Middle row - Helleborus 'Anna's Red', Lotus jacobaeus, and Oncidium 'Wildcat'
Bottom row - Pelargonium peltatum, P. 'Oldbury Duet', and Ranunculus asiaticus |
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| Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' is STILL blooming strong with regular dead-heading |
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Other pink blooms include: Top row - noID Alstroemeria, Antirrhinum majus, and Arctotis 'Opera Pink'
2nd row - Argyranthemum 'Madeira Pink', Centranthus ruber, and Cistus x skanbergii
3rd row - Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Helleborus 'Phoebe', and Lampranthus 'Pink Kaboom'
Bottom row - Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', and picotee Ranunculus |
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| Ever-blooming Grevillea 'Superb' continues to out-perform even the other large-flowered Grevilleas in my garden |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, orange flowers include: Begonia 'Fragrant Falls Peach', Bignonia capreolata, Calendula 'Bronzed Beauty', Digitalis pupurea 'Dalmatian Peach', Narcissus 'Geranium', Metrosideros collina 'Springfire', Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', G. 'Peaches & Cream', Lantana camara 'Irene', 'Joseph's Coat' rose, and, in the middle, Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' |
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| Hunnemannia fumariifolia (aka Mexican tulip poppy) is new to my garden this year but doing well despite my sandy soil |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, other yellow blooms include: noID Argyranthemum frutescens, Bulbine frutescens, noID Carpobrotos, Gazania 'Gold Flame', Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow', E. 'Deans Hybrid', E. rigida, Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschien' Euryops virgineus, Nemesia fruticans 'Sunshine', Osteospermum 'Spring Day', Phlomis fruticosa. and, in the middle, Leucospermum 'Goldie' |
When I checked last April's Bloom Day post, I discovered that most everything is blooming on schedule, despite the stretch of higher-than-average temperatures we've had recently. However, many of the flowers on my April bloomers are less profuse this year than they were last year, which I attribute to the substantially lower rain levels this past winter. Our "normal" annual rain total is about 14 inches, most if not all of which falls during the winter months. During the 2016-2017 rain year (calculated from October 1st 2016 through September 30th 2017), our rain totaled just over 24 inches and the garden celebrated the bounty. This past winter (since October 1st 2017), our roof-top weather station recorded 3.59 inches, just 26% of "normal" and 15% of the prior year's total. I can only hope that the summer will be punctuated by some tropical rainstorms.
Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host, to see what's blooming elsewhere this April.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
