Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: April 2016

Despite an early-spring false start and some hungry deer, things are looking like Spring in my Zone 6a/6b garden.

What I had been told might be a viburnum bloomed magnificently in its new location, at which time I realized that it’s actually some sort of Prunus — cherry, perhaps? It looked nicer before the snow, but it’s actually still quite nice.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

The forsythia is technically still in bloom, although it also looked better before the four inches of April snow hit.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

I’m not sure what happened to my daffodils this year — it’s possible they had a bad reaction to the weedkiller used by that landscaping company last year (when they inadvertently nuked my poppies), or maybe they got buried too deep by the mulch that the landscapers spread (my irises certainly didn’t like it), or maybe some of them got confused by the warmth followed by the snow that weighed them to the ground. At any rate, the daffodil bloom count is way down this year.

Some of them look nicer than others, but they don’t have the mass impact this year that they usually do.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

The muscari don’t care. They perked right back up and are happy as ever.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

The hyacinths are less perky than they were, but some of them are hanging in there. This cluster of especially pale pink ones is tucked away in the far corner of my property — I didn’t even realize it was there until today!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

(In another border, I found a broken-off flower spike, so I brought it indoors. That single spike is currently perfuming my living room nicely — I can smell it a good three feet away. Hyacinths are great.)

Other bloomers for today: Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa):

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

Creeping myrtle (Vinca minor):

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

Brunnera, aka false forget-me-not:

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

Lamium (I’m convinced these are blooming even when I can’t see them under the snow):

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

Also: it’s not exactly a bloom, but this fantastic moss is growing in one of my shadier borders, and I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. I’m seriously considering letting it do its thing and avoiding having to mulch this border altogether.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

Blooms that might just miss May Bloom Day:

My dwarf flowering almond usually blooms very, very briefly in early May. The good news is that the nearly-dead specimen on the other side of the driveway is coming back via root suckers like a phoenix from the ashes. I look forward to seeing what happens here!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

The early-flowering red single peonies tend to resent cold weather after they bloom, so they may or may not still be in peak form by mid-May, depending on how the temperatures swing. Right now, they’re not much to see; just about six inches tall with dark red stems and buds.

I planted tulip Angelique last fall, so I’m not sure when those will bloom — the ones that the deer haven’t eaten, anyway. I’m going to have to wait until next year for the full bed of pink tulip awesomeness I’d been anticipating, but at least I have a few in bud. (I applied some deer repellent after I took today’s photos.)

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April 2016

I’m so glad I found Carol’s blog shortly after I moved into this house with all its established plantings. Participating in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day has really helped me not only get ideas of what others in my Zone are doing, but also to have a record of how the borders have become my own over time, instead of something the previous owner planted and I maintained.

We can have flowers every month of the year!

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