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Monday, April 16, 2012

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

6 comments:

  1. Very pretty! I have lots of Epimediums too, they are a great dry shade plant. Hope you got the same warm, dry weekend we did. It was wonderful to spend so much time out in the garden, not getting wet.

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    1. Yes, I was out frantically trying to plant some tomatoes and cut more weedy blackberry vines before it was supposed to rain again. My pink Epimediums don't seem as vigorous as the yellow one, though.

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  2. How lovely your garden is and what a great variety of blooms. I love the brilliant blue of that muscari.

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    1. I like all the Muscaris but that is kind of my favorite since it is so different and stately. I like the broad foliage, too, and how it makes a bigger colony every year.

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  3. You've got some lovely plants!
    The real reason I stopped by though was to thank your for taking a stab at identifying the mystery plant in my yard. No-one guessed it on the blog, but turns out someone had already identified it on my last GardenWeb Forums post and I missed it. You can find out what I learned about it here:

    http://texifornia.blogspot.com/2012/04/name-this-plant-and-get-free-spicy.html

    But anyways, I decided to give anyone who helped or tryied to identify it some seeds if they wanted them (even if they were wrong or couldn't find it). Let me know if you can use any of the seeds listed below.

    Let me know if you can use any of these seeds:

    2011
    Calendula - Pacific Beuty Mix
    Pepper, Yellow Banana
    Garardia, Agalinis purpurea (self-gathered 2010)

    2010
    California Poppy
    Broccoli, De Cicco
    Pepper, California Wonder (organic)
    Pepper, Early Calwonder

    2009
    Cinnamon Basil (self-gathered 2008)


    The seeds I can divvy up, but since I only have one coupon for a free Carls Jr. Chicken Sandwhich, I'm giving that to the first person who wants it who sends me their address (it expires April 30, so I want to get it off soon). Let me know if you want it.

    Please get back with me before April 20 about the seeds.

    'Gale
    ecarian at yahoo dot com

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  4. I see some great new ones at some garden fairs, Collector's Nursery specializes in hybridizing them. My pink varieties haven't been as vigorous so far as the yellow ones, though. Some of the new ones are great not just for the bloom but also the foliage.

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