Bloom Day April 15, 2009

Singing Tree Gardens is a nursery on Dow's Prairie that specializes in rhodies and azaleas. They started another sale today, so I went up in quest of some plants for a couple of spots. I also needed ideas, but all I got was garden envy.


OK, so I did get some ideas and some more plants.


Since I was already in the neighborhood, I stopped at Miller Farms to get into more horticultural trouble. I came home with a couple of hostas, a couple of ferns, an abutilon, another hellebore, a bleeding heart, meadow rue and some more plants.

I didn't dare stop at Mad River Gardens.

April and May are the best months in my garden. Most of this is accidental because of the wood hyacinths and columbines that run riot throughout. Lilacs, camellias and rhodies fill out the aerial reaches. Better planning would extend flowery wonderfulness into the summer, but I'm just not that good yet.

Quan Yin


The magnolia is starting to leaf out.

At the next Humboldt Beekeepers Association, I am supposed to give a little talk on food plants for bees that bloom in winter and early spring. Just what I need: another project. I've been watching in the garden, but am certainly no expert. Fortunately, last year I helped put together a flower brochure for the beek club's booth at the county fair. And I've been interviewing the bees.

My April Bloom Day photo site

Bloom Day March 15, 2009

Another Bloom Day, with more happening in the garden. A different type of daffodil has been blooming while the older ones are fading. We acquired some of these bulbs from an old orchard a few years ago, and they are beginning to spread. I like the green streaks in the perianths. It seems apt for St Paddy's. The Dutch iris are also beginning to bloom.


Blueberry, my favorite berry. Columbines are just budding out. They're one of my favorite garden flowers.


A special variety of primula, and the snaps that got beaten up in the January frosts.


"Stellata" Magnolia and crimson flag. Usually I see the crimson flag in October to December, but this one blossom is here now.


Currant, and white wood hyacinths that snuck in amid the blue ones.


"Ward's Ruby" azalea and coral bells just beginning to bloom.


Calla and a pink camellia. This camellia seems more resistant to blossom rot than the reddish one that's been blooming since January. I don't think it's just because it blooms after most of the frosts and rain.


Mock orange and Lenten roses are still blooming, as is the honeybush that started just a month ago. This week I've noticed that the bees really like the grape hyacinths.



The pear and apple trees are also budding out.


Another collage of continuing blooms. In semi order, top left to bottom right: hellebore, camellia, heather, wood hyacinth, rosemary, alyssum, "Christmas" rhody, leucojum, anemones and ipheon. Also, the last of the paperwhites.


Not a flower, but still pretty: a bracken (?) fern fiddleneck.


Yes, the dandelions and oxeyes are still blooming, but who needs to document them when so many other things are happening?

In the area, the plum blossoms are fading and the cherries are starting to bloom. Wild mustard, wild radish, acacia and heather are also keeping the bees happy.

It's been interesting to keep a photographic record of my garden flowers. Usually I write things down on the calendar, but photos are much easier to scan.

Bloom Day February 15, 2009

It's been rainy and cold for a while, but flowers are still happening in my garden. It's a good thing I took these photos early in the day, because the clouds came back soon after. There are some new blooms since January, and some hangers-on. The "Christmas" rhody in the above "continuing blooms" composite (bottom row, center) has really burst out in the last week or two. The camelia (composite, 2nd row, 2nd from left) has also, though it never looks very good because of blossom rot.



The thyme-leafed fuchsia (above left) and primulas (below right) were blooming last month, but I didn't notice them for a few days. For some reason, the bees have a strong interest in the white hellebore (above right), but it doesn't seem to be in the nectar or pollen. Maybe propolis?







The apple tree got pruned shortly after January's Bloom Day. While I was up in the branches pruning the highest ones, bees kept zooming by, and some landed on me as if to take a break and say "hello". It's fascinating to watch the bees going out and coming in, especially from the top of a tree.

Gardener's Bloom Day, January 2009

In December, I read about garden bloggers posting photos of whatever was blooming in their garden on the 15th of each month. January seemed like a good time to start this practice. I also included our old apple tree, to track its progress throughout the year. Who knows how much time it has left; the poor thing has heart rot.

Most flowers are sparse, with just a few blooming. The alyssum is an exception; it seems to bloom year-round. The snapdragons and some other flowers were looking good until the frosts hit around New Year's. The apple is bare of leaves, with some remaining fruit looking rather like Yule decorations.

A day or two after Bloom Day, I noticed a few more flowers: creeping thyme, primula and thyme-leafed fuchsia. I thought that the TL fuchsia was finished, but there were still a few blossoms. But I decided it might be cheating to add them after the fact.


I was surprised to find a few remaining abelia blooms (left). It tends to provide food for the bees through December.

One of about three early grape hyacinth blooms and one lonely wood hyacinth/bluebell blossom.