Tag Archive for: April Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day

May Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day is Here!

I just love this time of month, when it is time to show what is blooming in my garden.  Spring has definitely sprung and most of my plants are flowering, although there are a few holdouts.

First, are the blooms that will soon be ending as we move into the summer months. 

My Valentine shrub has been blooming reliable since December.  Normally the blooms end in April, but our cooler then normal spring has helped to keep them blooming longer.

Valentine

 Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’)

My Globe Mallow had been pruned back, but now has had a second flush of bloom. 

Globe Mallow

Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)

My Geraniums that I transplanted to the vegetable garden are still blooming, but warmer temperatures will soon stop the flowers from coming until fall arrives.

blooming in my garden

And my last winter/spring bloomer….my Firecracker Penstemon.  I had pruned back the dead flowers in late March and have been rewarded with a second flush of bloom.

Firecracker Penstemon

 Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)

Now for some new spring/summer bloomers…..

One of my favorite flowering trees, Desert Willow, is covered in pink blossoms.

Desert Willow

 Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis)

Desert Marigold, a perennial which is often grown as a annual wildflower, are beginning to make their appearance in my garden.  They self-seed and I allow them to come up in certain areas.

blooming in my garden

Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata)

And last, but not least….my favorite flowering tree, the ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde.

blooming in my garden

 ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde (Parkinsonia hybrid ‘Desert Museum’)

I hope you have enjoyed this blooming tour of my garden.  Please visit May Dreams Gardens to see other Garden Blogger Bloom Day participants.

Have a wonderful weekend!

April Garden Bloggers Bloom Day….and the flu

Happy Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day!  This is one of my favorite meme’s.  I love participating each month and I always look forward to seeing what my fellow garden bloggers have blooming in their gardens.

On another note, I got it.  I thought I had escaped it completely.  With such beautiful spring weather, it is just incomprehensible to me that I succumbed to it – the flu.  Isn’t there a rule or law somewhere that states you can only be sick with the flu when it is cold and rainy outside?  Not when it is gorgeous and sunny outside.

Thankfully, I am feeling better and was able to go outside (in my pajamas) to take pictures for April’s GBBD.  The following flowering plants are in my backyard because I did not want to venture out in the front garden in my pajamas 😉

April Garden Bloggers

This is the first cluster of flowers this year on my Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x Orange Jubilee) shrub.  Since it is located up next to my house, it usually does not suffer frost damage in the winter.  Soon, the hummingbirds will be fighting over the blooms.

April Garden Bloggers

 Closely related to the Orange Jubilee, my Yellow Bells  (Tecoma stans stans) is located along the back wall of my garden.  It is covered in yellow flowers from April through November.

April Garden Bloggers

I am extra excited about this one because these are the first blooms on my Whirling Butterfly Bush (Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’).  We planted this back in March.

April Garden Bloggers

Okay, technically this Cat Claw Vine (Macfadyena unguis-cati) is not planted in my garden, but in my neighbor’s.  But, it is blooming in my garden, so that counts, doesn’t it? Cat Claw Vine does suffer frost damage in some locations in the winter, but quickly grows back. It can become invasive and so I would use caution when considering growing this vine.  I cut back the portion that hangs over my fence about twice a year when it gets too close to my shrubs.

Geraniums

Geraniums in our new vegetable garden.  This was recently moved from our Children’s Flower Garden as it was being deconstructed.

Mexican Bird-of-Paradise

It is not very easy to see all of the yellow blooms that are covering both of my Mexican Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana), but they are lovely just the same.  Although they are commonly grown as shrubs, they can also be trained as small trees as I have done here.  In our area, they bloom off and on all year.

I hope you enjoyed this brief visit to some of my flowering plants in the back garden.  Please visit May Dreams Gardens for a list of other garden bloggers who are participating in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.

Now I’m off to visit my fellow garden blogger’s gardens to see what they have blooming…..