African Garden + winter

April Bloom Day (Now With Ephemerals!)

The wheel has turned the 30-day circle again, bringing us to another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, when Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, asks us to show off what's blooming in our gardens. To put it bluntly, this spring has been really lousy, with snow and cold. But crummy weather can't hold back the tide of sturdy spring bloomers. Despite all that, things are further along this year than last April (see here and here).All the late winter/earliest spring flowers from last month are gone, but the promise of buds from last month has been fulfilled. To save loading time, I've put together a slide show. I've tried to include more shots of the plants in the garden, and not just closeups.

All the plants are growing outside except for the potted Pelargonium that managed to survive the winter in the house. It will again spend the summer outside. (That's my secret to houseplant survival: leave them outside as long as possible.) Happy Bloom Day!Update: the clouds finally cleared, so here is a collage of things open in the sun.

Clockwise from top left, Forsythia with Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa, Erythronium dens canis 'Purple King,' Erythronium albidum, and Anemone nemorosa.
(3:06 p.m., 4/15/09: the Magnolia flowers have just opened.)