African Garden + wildflowers

The Real Reason I Didn't Go To Malvern*

I said I wasn't going to the Malvern spring show in England because I couldn't manage to get away, what with it being Mother's Day and the Trinity Irish Dance school's spring show, in which the girl will be performing, this weekend. But really, how could I possibly leave when the Tree Peony (Paeonia suffruticosa 'Ofuji Nishiki') is about to burst into bloom? There's nothing quite like it, and I am completely smitten.
And then there are all the Columbines. How could I miss the first flowering of seedlings of Aquilegia vulgaris 'Sunburst Ruby' that I hand pollinated?

This is my new to-die-for color, displacing in my affections the dark purple.

Both of them have chartreuse foliage, which I've had to be here to protect from the Columbine sawfly larva (squish, squish).

I keep thinking of that silly, psychedelic '60s song "Itchycoo Park" by the Small Faces. Yes, I'm out in the garden singing to myself, "It's all too be-you-ti-fuh-uh-ul."

I was all set to do my end of the month views post but I ran out of time. (I don't think Helen, the Patient Gardener, will mind, as she's probably very busy at Malvern right now.) I've been out in the garden every day. Even a bit today, despite the rain.

Call me crazy, but I just can't leave my garden at the beginning of May.

Polemium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven'

Trillium and fern (Polystichum arostichoides)

Ziza aurea blooming for the first time with a new Hosta, 'Dream Weaver'

Geranium macrorrhizum

Clematis 'Asao'

Cornus alternifolia

Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume'

Just starting to bloom - Phlox pilosa 'Eco Happy Traveler' with the seedheads of Pulsatilla vulgaris

The Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) is about to start smoking.

Corydalis 'ex Dufu Temple'

There's no place like home.

Is there any time of year when you'd hate to leave your garden?
*Garden bloggers from the UK, Europe and Tennessee are getting together at the Malvern show. Here's wishing you all the best of times! I really do wish I could have been there.