It's April - what's springing up for you?

That lime foliage will really stand out. I have some species X irises that have the lime green foliage in spring. I might try it with some of them. And i love Hocus Pocus.

I am just getting into geraniums. I am currently trying some of the groundcover ones in the iris beds. I planted them last year, and so far they look like they will do what I want. Biokovo, Karmina, and Bevans Variety. They look to be spreading already.

Here is the combo for Margaret Wilson.
I like the lime with the yellow-peachy iris.We have borer here so I am hopinhg the spraying I did a week ago will keep my Shreiners going.

The main way I spot any problems is by weak growth. Then I investigate. As long as your iris looks robust and is growing at a steady rate I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm waiting for thr Oriental Garden Supply to open.9:00 I'll be there looking at dwarf JM's

Just yesterday I wrote to my favorite local nurseryman about his JM's. There are a few I like and I hope he'll offer them for sale this year.

Didnt bring home but I bought a Japanese Corellinum and will go back in May to pick it up when its leaved out. They have trippled the size of the property, made teraces and brought in huge boulders to make show japanese gardens. Its going to be stunning when they have it done and trees are leafed out.
As we know perenns are dormant so no temptations there. Kriss the perennial expert said there will be a couple of truck loads of new plants and lots of astilbes.
I will do damage in May.
Wish I had taken my camera. There are twisted weeping cypress, must be 50 years old. 10 feet long and 6 feet high. If anyone loves oriental gardens its really a sight to see.The long primery branches held up with 6" diameter bamboo.

Lovely colors together, JoAnn!!

Sharon - that akebia is so pretty. I don't know that plant at all. Unusual!

Sue - your front garden is amazing! I love that tiny little patch of grass in the middle of all of those colorful plants. So pretty!

This was my Easter surprise......my Apple Blossom that I planted here in Fla. last year. This is its first bloom.

Hi DonniBrook.
Coming north soon?

Hi JoAnn. Yes, we're leaving here in less than 2 weeks, but won't get to NH until sometime in the first week of May. The packup is about to begin.........yikes!

Dreaded packing.
New Hampshire awaits.

I have a few new and exciting things springing up. I planted this tree peony 15 years ago and this is the very first bloom on it. No wonder the Chinese say peony trees look best in their second 1,000 years.

Here's another peony tree. This one was planted 25 years ago and actually has been blooming for the last 24.

I have a great big Fuchsia that almost qualifies as a tree, but it has the tiniest little blooms. It's like a fairy Fuchsia.

One of my favorite rhodies is coming into bloom. Sue, this is the Jingle Bells I bought when we went to Sonoma Hort last year.

This is one of my favorite Ixias:

It's actually one of my favorites because of the buds, but I couldn't find a clump of them that showed both the blooms and the buds, so I have to post them separately. These are the buds:

Another of my PCH irises:

Here's another picture of Clematis 'Dawn.' I just love this Clematis.

Here's something I just bought. I never buy Marguerites as a rule, because I think of them as "just a daisy," but this one is utterly amazing, I think. Look at the stripes on the blooms, and the quilled petals. Incidentally, the name is 'Fireball Red,' which seems ridiculously deceptive to me.

beautiful California flowers

Great flowers, Zuzu.

I might change my mind about zone envy with that PCH.

Wow Zuzu, I may have to come up soon for a visit again!! I love everything you posted, especially that fairy fuchsia that I fell in love with last year, maybe I can try a cutting to see if it roots! And just love that marguerites, no wonder you had to get it, I would have too!
And this cracked me up LOL!

My favorite cheerful primrose.
Besides roses, primroses & cyclamens always remind me of Zuzu now with her wonderful and varied collection and our spring nursery shopping trips.

And I just love violas and pansies! This is 'Tiger Eyes'.

Just wonderful Sue

Wow, Zuzu, those peony trees are worth the wait. I would love to have one!! I think they are so elegant! Do the blooms pass quickly? I also find your fuschia tree really unusual as well. Great photos and pretty blooms!!

Today I bought 10 bright red vinca/periwinkles at Lowes ($.99/each). I've never seen the bright red before and am very excited about them. I will use them as I would impatiens but in sunny places. AND, I WILL have to find room for them when we drive back down to Fla. because they are perennial here. I went vinca crazy with seedlings down here this winter. Is anyone familiar with the red vinca?

I love the red Vinca. I saw them for the first time a couple of years ago and bought a bunch. As I recall, they were annuals here. At any rate, they're gone now, so they must have been. They're great because they don't spread into monsters. They do act just like Impatiens and provide nice spots of vibrant color.

The blooms on the peony trees last longer than the other type of peony bloom, or maybe that's just a result of growing them in my zone. Peony trees don't require as much frost in winter. I usually have to pile ice cubes around the other peonies to make them bloom.

Zuzu - How interesting that the red vinca has been around that long. I'm wondering why the vinca is an annual in your zone and a perennial in zone 10b here. Is it only the red that are annuals there or all vinca? Do you think it's the cold or the heat where you are that causes them to be annuals? I was planning to plant a few red ones down here and take some to baby up to the farm for the summer (and then bring them back down here - much to my DH's delight.) LOL

Everything's a perennial in zone 10b, isn't it? I can't even keep lobelia and impatiens alive over the winter.

The other Vincas are perennials -- the creeping and vining ones that no one really wants unless they have a big bare patch where nothing else will grow.

Sue, I love violas too, but mine never seem to be perennial.

Pirl, KY has lots of things up and growing. I have dwarf iris blooming with a pink azalea bush. Daffs are do gone. Hostas are waking up, some slower than others. TBs will be blooming the first of May. Daylilies are jumping everyday! Spring is such an exciting time of year!

Teresa in KY

About half of my TB irises are already blooming. It's so wonderful to finally be able to look across an expanse of gardening area and see a great variety of colors.

I usually don't buy plants with white flowers because I have so many volunteers in white, but these irises are irresistible because they're so ruffly.

Ditto for plants with yellow flowers. So many volunteers that I rarely buy yellow-flowering plants, but this shade of yellow in this iris knocks me out.

And who can resist blue ones?

Speaking of blue, here's Clematis Multi-Blue:

Here's Pink Champagne again, still only clustering at the bottom and not moving upward yet.

One of the Clivias is in bloom.

I love red Ranunculus.

I have a spot in my garden where I dump out last year's soil from the containers. Sometimes I get a nice surprise. One of the containers must have had a tulip bulb in it.