What is in full bloom now...April 1 to April 15th, 2010.

Asking for your help to continue to create our PNW bloom record

I am updating the bloom record database as quickly as I can, and I will try to post a note here whenever I have had a chance to update the record.

The spreadsheet in progress can be found on the right side of the page of our PNW cubit here:

http://cubits.org/PNW/forums/view/pnwgardening/


Please give us as much information as you can regarding the plants that are in "full bloom" or "full color" in your yard or neighborhood right now. Pictures are awesome too! After all, how else are we going to be tempted by those plants that we NEED to add to our own gardens?

Thanks for your help!

Julie

The wallflowers that are in the warmest spot in my yard are a bold splash of color right now....

My magnolia stellata is finally in full bloom.

The wall flowers are beautiful. Must get some of those!

My lilacs are blooming. Also hydrangeas. And the blueberry bushes have loads of little buds - it looks like I'll be getting lots of blueberries!

It has been a bit wounded by the rain and hail, but my Japanese Camellia (Camellia japonica) 'Nuccio's Pearl' is in full glory right now. It's neighbor the old fashioned Camellia japonica ( Magnoliaeflora Camellia ) is also blooming, but took a lot more damage as it is a bit less sheltered.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2010 8:24 AM

Judi, it stunns me as to how much further along you are than we are! My lilacs are still teeny tiny little clumps of shivering blooms! If you would have an interest in some wallflower seeds, I would be happy to collect for you this summer. I just love that patch because they are early and the colors are so vibrant (not to mention that they smell heavenly!)

Julie I would love some wallflower seeds! Thank you!

I forgot that I have a Camellia japonica in a big pot by my front door that is blooming. It is sheltered on a covered porch.

A neighbor has a camellia (NOID) that is blooming now. Pretty red color. I look forward to it all year.

The color on the wall flower is just vibrant!!!! Love it. Those hot colors. Muy caliente!

I agree, last week was kind of a blur/loss garden wise around here. I did make some progress on getting indoor seedlings potted up though. My husband and I were in Berkeley last weekend and took a hike in the hills on a gorgeous warm sunny day. The wildflowers were beautiful - lots of lupine, California poppies, and broom. And the gardens on the drive to the hike made me very jealous! Lots of ceanothus, agave, and color everywhere. No tulips and daffodils though :)

Finally was able to do the walk around and take pictures today. Here are some of the daffs blooming right now (Minnow, a Tazetta type, and Tahiti). I'm really impressed with the Tahitis - the stems are sturdy and the blooms are bearing up really nicely in this windy, blustery weather.

I've got tulips galore - White Emperor is in full bloom, Daydream is fading, Van Eijck in full bloom, and these yellows are just coming on. I've got some clashing colors going on (not loving the orangey Daydream next to the violet Van Eijck - they weren't supposed to bloom at the same time!) but I do like the random combos that have sprung up around my yellow tulips. As usual, mother nature/the whim of the garden come up with better combos than I do. (With this photo and the one above, you have to look at the enlarged version to see all the pics).

I've also got Fritillaria in full bloom, my plum tree getting started, and lamium 'Anne Greenway' in full pinkness. My blueberries and marionberries are budding out as well, but the raspberries aren't quite there yet. Oh and I got two honeyberry trees from Territorial last year - well they'll be trees someday, right now they are about a foot tall, but they have honeysuckle looking flowers on them right now so maybe they'll fruit a little this year.

BTW, thanks so much for this thread. It's great to have somewhere to record and share each new garden stage as we inch into spring. I love all the photos and nuggets you all are sharing.

Dodecatheon and Erythronium are in bloom. I have Trillium still coming up. Waiting, waiting, wating for the blossom.

I think BH may have mentioned it, but my Kerria is still in bloom.

My trillium..waiting also for a bloom

These are beautiful this year.

My curbside garden in very colorful.

Beatuful pictures.

Kymmco, Your blooms are beautiful! I can't believe how much variety you have in a city yard!

Kathy, my kerria is also blooming it's heart out, although it gets so beat up by the rain and hail!

Bea.... That is what I envision your yard to look like from spring to fall, and now when I see your pics I visualize a city official turning bright red! I purchased the same trillium this year, and am anxiously awaiting even a bit of green. I will say though, that our anxiously watched wild trillium along the road FINALLY not only showed up but has a bloom and some baby leaves as well. Mom will most likely post a pic as she got a good one!

Now I am off to research a honeyberry tree... how can something that sounds so wonderful be bad?

Actually, before I go, I will throw out a little mystery that still baffles me to this day. Several years ago, I bough a few raspberry plants bare root from a local store. I planted them in my "back" garden area, and anxiously awaited blooms/berries. The first summer, can you believe how dissapointed I was when the plants turned out to be goosberries? What the heck do you do with a goosberry? Two years later, in the FALL.... the baby runners from these plants turned into raspberries. Now I have several raspberry plants in that area, but still at least two healthy gooseberries. What gives? (Sorry, I weeded that bed today, and am as perplexed as I have been for many years.....)

gooseberries make delicious pies and jelly.

Although I have been learning to can, I think that jelly may be out of my range. I do make pies to die for though, and will have to think about trying a gooseberry pie. Am not sure that something that doesn't tickle my fancy off the vine would be worth cooking with however.....

Thanks Jullie, I am sure there are few weeds hiding in that bed, but nothing like the empy lot they mistook mine to be. I now have new renters in the house next to me who do not use the garbage service and store all their yard and household waste in this trailer and on the ground. ( i have reported it to the city, but there is no law that you must use Allied Waste. I am so sick of their "stuff" all over the lawn and papers, fastfood cups,paper ,beer cans etc flying over to my side flower bed. I think a note is in order, plus they have their alarm clock set so loud I wake up every morning at 5am. Sure wish I can move to a more rural setting soon.

In this photo all the paper is a target paper from the shooting range.It was blown over to my pretty flower bed today . I cleaned it up and placed back on the pile, but will most likely get to pick it up tomorrow. Great and they have guns too!
The trailer is almost full..time to go to the dumps. I can not image the stink in the warm weather. They have kids in diapers!
Im Grumpy about it.

Thanks Julie. I definitely fall into the 'I want one of everything' category of gardener. I know that visually, drifts of the same plant are often more impactful - but I can't help myself!

That's pretty much exactly what I thought about the Honeyberry. I have 'Berry Blue' - two of them - I can't remember if they're two different varieties or just male and female in order to get berries. Apparently they are in the honeysuckle family, and the blooms do look honeysucklish. I bet they smell good, but my plants are so small I haven't been able to get my nose down far enough to sniff them!

Edited to add the botanical name is Lonicera kamchatika.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2010 7:47 PM

Beahive - call the health department. Maybe they can help. Tell them you see rats running around the trash trailer.

Beautiful pictures!! Bea, so sorry to hear about the issue with the neighbors. I would call the health department, too. It's not okay to have household waste sitting in your driveway - especially diapers. I think they'd want to know . . .

Beahive - that is appalling - make a nuisance of yourself with the authorities. turn it into your hobby to get this group civilized - stay polite but persistant. Remind them you need their help in 'sorting this out'. I take it you are not in one of those neighbourhoods that has strict regulations that you can call in - the one that gives out tickets for weeds in the driveway?

Argggggg. Hope you get the opportunity to buffer your garden at some future date - nothing like a good ten or twenty acre barrier to neighbours! Or even one!

Front porch bed. A young pieris 'Mountain Fire' in the corner cushioned by our native bleeding heart which I let colonize here and there. An unknown hellebore in front, next to a sickly skimmia (need to figure that out), then an unknown azalea (or perhaps rhodie, haven't checked the leaves) with Jack Frost brunnera and Sungold threadbrach cypress to the far right.

English daisy, suitably growing in the lawn.

Bondhead, someone suggested checking for spider mites when I talked about my sickly skimmia.

Lovely, Bonehead. Love the English daisy.

Give it piles of compost.

The 'chicken soup' approach? I like it. I'll give this my undivided attention tomorrow. Douse the plant with soap water and give it lots of good nutrients.

Our wild trillium finally showed up this weekend.

And we were thrilled to see that it has babies for the first time.

A hyacinth with an noid hosta (my earliest one.) I think I got the hosta in a collecetion of minatures that did not have names. I love how bright and how early it is.

I just discovered four more babies on mine also.

Of course, skimmia.

Your skimmia looks good. The rain and hail did my flowers in. The berrys are still beautiful though.

Kerria. I love the open draping of this one that is mostly in shade. It is hard to get a good picture however.

Kerria close up. How do you feel about this Laurie?

Taylor's Perfection Camellia.

A happy accident. Jack Frost Brunnera with one of last year's primroses.

This isn't actually a bloom, but the spring color certainly looks like it from a distance.
Red-barked (?) maple.