Garden Blogger's Bloom Day April 2012

Welcome to GBBD!  Join the fun at Carol's May Dreams Gardens.  I'm not showing my ubiquitous daffodils which have been stealing the scene.   Here is a delightful clumping plant, the adorable Brunnera macrophylla, Siberian bugloss, which makes tidy clumps and even reseeds a little-

My Pulmonarias are starting to achieve their full glory, here is a favorite, 'Excalibur', they also reseed well-

My immense pink Camellia is covered with blooms.

Another redder flowering shrub is the Chaenomeles, Flowering Quince.

What can be a tree but for me is a large shrub is the Magnolia soulangiana 'rustica rubra', with large slightly fragrant blooms-

My 4' Daphne tangutica is covered with fragrant blooms, white with a magenta reverse-

On a smaller scale is yellow Epimedium sulfureum, an excellent ground cover for shade-

Epimedium pauciflorum has pink blooms and dark reddish-brown new foliage-

Akebia trifoliata is really loaded with blooms, I hope I get some fruit this year-

Irascible Euphorbia characias wulfenii is covered with chartreuse blooms-

One of my favorite Muscari is laterifolia, tall and two-toned.  It seems to reseed around too,

Another smaller shrub, Osmanthus delavayi, is covered with tiny white flowers that waft a delightful fragrance, and when not in bloom have tough glossy holly-like foliage, but tiny leaves-

One of my favorite Spring bloomers are carpets of Anemone nemorosa, 'alba' is white but turns pinkish as it ages, while Robinsoniana starts out purple and fades blue.   I dig twig-like rhizomes when dormant in late summer and spread them around my borders.  Within a couple of years they will multiply to come up in sheets of bloom under trees.

Another carpeting plant that is blooming is ground cover Comfrey, Symphytum grandiflorum, which I find very useful in an orchard under fruit trees to keep down weeds-

I'm enjoying the long-awaited arrival of Spring, it was worth the wait!  Happy Spring, Hannah