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Friday, April 15, 2016

Spring Flowers for April ~ GBBD April 2016

Welcome to Havenwood!
It has been such a roller coaster spring, as I am sure you know or have heard from many other eastern US gardeners. We had more buds in January than ever before, as our true cold did not arrive until February. Then a especially mild March, with more snow and cold in the first two weeks of April. And now it is 70 degrees again today.  This is not totally abnormal for our zone 5 garden, but the high temps have been much higher than usual. This has brought the garden further along than it normally is at this time of year.

Many flowers that were doing so well, so soon... too soon... did meet a cruel end with the frost.

The star magnolia blooms were blackened after one day of blooming all around our town. The taller daffodils did not stand up as well to the snow that covered them soon after they were full out, but the shorter ones have stood the test. The pretty star of Bethlehem, that I recently posted, were soon snuffed out with cold. But still, the garden and the gardener marches on...

There are still a few pretties to see today for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in our western PA garden.


Always a favorite, Helleborus orientalis 'Carousel' group. The most floriferous Lenten rose in my garden.
Narcissus 'Jet Fire' has triumphed against the snow and 19F and is still standing and brightening our new Daffodil Dell.
Narcissus 'Cassata' is my new favorite daff so far this year, also planted out in our Daffodil Dell.
The stems of purple ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius, were glowing in the April sunrise this morning in the Rose Garden.
White Anemone blanda with the hairy foliage of oriental poppies looks so lovely at our first garden, Gilmore Gardens.
Fritillaria meleagris, the snakeshead fritillary, is coming up in our Woodland. Each flower has it own allure, all being a little bit different in pattern and stage of development.
Dainty pink and yellow primroses set out in a new little circle bed under my Calycanthus 'Hartlage Wine'
Thanks for walking around the garden with me.
 
Spring is always my favorite: Pretty flowers abound and there is a whole season of beautiful color still to come.
 
Sweet spring to you, 
~Julie
See more lovely GBBD flowers at May Gardens

5 comments:

  1. What a lovely spring garden Julie. Your weather hasn't half been extreme. Such a shame to loose so much to those cruel late frosts. Our last frosts are not until the end of May so I expect there will be many tears here too. Happy GBBD :)

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  2. Happy bloom day, Julie. We had a weird early spring, too. The forecast from here on out looks good. Happy feet! Your blooms are beautiful!

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  3. Your weather has certainly tested your poor plants, hopefully the ones flowering now will be ok. Lovely to see your snakeshead fritillary, I have such fun with mine in the little woodland here, I hope yours increase in the same way.

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  4. It has been a testing time for gardeners, but your garden is looking lovely. Plants are so resilient. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. I had some small hellebore seedlings that a garden friend sent me a couple of years ago. I was so excited to see one of them bloom this year. They are so precious!!!

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