This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Sunday 15 April 2012

Blogger's Bloom Day

April has brought sun, frost and hail stones! Although the weather is a bit uncertain, it's a great time of year with perennials emerging, seeds being sown and lots of early colour in the garden. Here's a little overview of the garden for Blogger's Bloom Day.

Left: Ornamental cherry. Every garden should have one!
Honesty has self sown in all the right places. It seems to thrive in shade or sun.
Above: Aubretia, sown from seed last year, has made a good show.
Below: Azalea shrubs beginning to flower in the garden.
Heathers have flowered for months on end. And swamped with bees!
Above: position of two heathers. Below: still flowering, however, soon flowers will fade.

Native cherry tree - the cherries will be a feast for the birds! 
Above: One of my favourite discoveries - broccoli in flower - it has a long flowering period!. 
Dead nettle - invasive little plant!
Above: calendula type plants in flower.
Above: Tulips still haven't opened up fully, with Honesty.
Below: Iberis Snowflake brightening up an area of the garden.   

Above and below: Kerria in a wild area of the garden; makes a good hedging shrub.
Above A flowering prickly shrub (not sure of name).
Daffodils still going. Most are finished and foliage tied teepee-style to die down.

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day!
For more on Bloom Day check out:
http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/2012/04/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-april-2012.html

15 comments:

  1. Hi this is what is lovely about blogging, we are able to see plants and flowers alien to the climate we grow with. I have only seen 2-3 in this list and they are all beautiful.

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  2. Nothing brightens up an early spring day like yellow, pink, and white. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Kelli, you have a veritable riot of colour in your garden! The Summer plants are going to have to work hard if they are to be better.
    The unidentified prickly shrub with the yellow flowers could be a type of Berberis I think.

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  4. I agree every garden should have at least one cherry tree. They have such lovely blooms...mine are short lived but they are heavenly while they last. Your garden is looking very spring-like....so many bright blooms!

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  5. My Stella cherry tree is blooming now, though it doesn't seem to have quite as many flowers as it did last year. I'm hoping that it still gives me a good harvest. I love honesty, I've got lots of it which has self seeded itself around the garden, and I love the seedheads of this plant too.

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  6. Your cherry and your heathers are my favorite. They are both lovely. And both of these I can't grow because of our heat! :( Happy GBBD!

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  7. Beautiful blooms! I love the ornamental cherry. Jeannine

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  8. I haven't got an ornamental cherry but my neighbour has, next best thing I suppose. I think your flowering prickly shrub might be Berberis stenophylla, my neighbour's got one. Erm, my other neighbour, not the one with the cherry tree.

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  9. What a show! So serious sunshine in your garden ~ Enjoy
    Have a great week. ;D

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  10. You have quite a lot going on your garden. We are still enjoying our spring bulbs, though they are slowing down. Iris come next. Your are right about the ornamental cherry. We have a flowering almond that has those delicate tight petaled blossoms. It is my favorite, but I'll look for the cherry. I wrap my little cherry tree in tule so that robins can't steal the cherries. The tree is not quite 5 ft tall--shorter then me, so I can easily net it. Have a good week.

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  11. I like the photo with the cat napping at the back. That broccoli will provide you plenty of seeds for at least 5 years. I really enjoyed your flower tour.

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  12. Hi Kelli,you have a Wow garden even in the tempermental weather we have been having!Dead nettle is a completly new one to me, I don't think I have even come across it under another name.

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  13. You have some lovely plants blooming this April. Regarding the broccoli, I try to cut off any flowering stems then the plant will produce new edible shoots. My broccoli plants provided many, many meals during winter, sadly I've pulled them out now to make space for new crops. Christina

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  14. Lovely lot of blossoms, some old friends and some new one but all lovely.

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  15. What a beautiful garden with so much variety and color. I can't really say which bloom is my favorite...they all are gorgeous and work well together. A really good post!

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