Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2019

Welcome to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for April 2019.

Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, spring continues to roll through the garden at what I consider a comfortable pace.

We've had a few warm days but yesterday, when I took most of these pictures, was rainy and cold and rainy.  It was the kind of weather that slows spring down.

However, looking back, I find this bloom day is much the same as last year's, which I thought was a quick, warm spring. So I looked back another year and saw that two years ago was the quicker spring. My estimate is it was a week or two ahead of this one.

Shrug.

You just never know so I just plant and then let Mother Nature decide when flowers will bloom.

Right now, the woodland tulips, Tulipa sylvestris, are blooming in the front garden. This species tulip is a reliably returning tulip so far. It is also one of my favorite tulips. I will order more bulbs of it to plant this fall.

Around in the back garden, I thought we'd just have a look at one border around the honeylocust tree. I call this border Bird's Blanket because the idea is that it should be like a quilt of calm flowers and greenery underneath the tree.  I've tried to plant mostly white and pink flowers in this border, but a few soft yellows creep in occasionally because it is also a good place for flowers that like shade, like our native trout lilies.

Here's what's going on in that border.

The Christmas roses are still blooming.  This one might be Helleborus niger 'Cinnamon Snow'.

This is another H. niger, the variety name is lost in a pile of plant tags.

The hybrid Lenten Roses are blooming in another border.

I do have pink grape hyacinths in this border, Muscari 'Pink Sunrise'.

I need to dig out that blue grape hyacinth and relocate it to someplace else. It's ruining my color scheme.

I have some light colored daffodils in bloom there, too. Variety unknown. Sorry about that.

A Trillium is getting ready to bloom. This is T. grandiflorum, with another grape hyacinth I need to move.

Grape hyacinths do tend to spread and seed about. If you don't want that in your garden, don't plant them.

I am enjoying this heirloom Hyacinth, the variety 'Chestnut Flower', which has double-flowering florets and a nice scent.

It goes nicely with these species tulips, Tulipa clusiana 'Lady Jane'.

The first of the summer snowflakes, Leucojum aestivum, are also just starting to bloom now.

You have to watch these as they will also seed all over. I dug up clumps of them a few years ago, gave them away with a warning about the reseeding, and now I am careful to deadhead those that are left before they set seed.

And finally, we have some Epimedium in bloom.

I like its common name, Fairy Wings.

Elsewhere in the garden, well, come back in a few days because it looks like pearlbush, flowering quince, pawpaws and the crabapple tree are just about ready to pop, just in time to miss out on bloom day!

Or if you want to hear more about the goings on around here, listen to my weekly podcast, The Gardenangelists, with Dee Nash of Red Dirt Ramblings. We talk about flowers, veggies and all the best dirt, and we always laugh at least once, if not twice, sometimes thrice! New episodes are usually uploaded late on Tuesdays. This week will be talking about... listen to find out!

What's blooming in your garden on the 15th of this month? It's easy to join in for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and show us. Just post on your blog about the blooms in your garden and then leave a comment below to tell us what you have and a link in the Mr. Linky widget to tell us how to get to your blog.

And always remember,

We can have flowers nearly every month of the year. ~ Elizabeth Lawrence