Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - April 2015

Here's what's blooming in my Central Texas garden this April.

In the vegetable garden, the potato plants are blooming.  This is a sign that new potatoes will be ready to harvest in about three weeks. The red potatoes have purple flowers and the white potatoes have white flowers.




The multiplying onions are also in bloom. They look fabulous en masse and the bees go nuts over them. They've really multiplied a lot so I may move some of these to the front garden.


I spy lots of little golden yellow spiders in the onions, too, weaving little webs.


One of the webs caught this bee and I had to rescue her. Although she was strong enough to break the web apart, her feet were caught in a strand of silk and she was just spinning around aimlessly, dangling from this blossom. I found a stick and held it out. She climbed on and I deposited her on top of the flower. She took a moment to gather her wits then flew away.


In the rose garden, there are more fragile, dewy webs. This one is on the 'La Marne' rose. I would show you the rose itself, but as usual, it is absolutely overwhelmed with powdery mildew. Neither Actinovate or Green Cure is making a dent and it is spreading to the other hardier roses. I'll be trying Serenade next, and if that doesn't work, I'll have to pull it out.


'Dame du Coeur' on the other hand is having a grand year. It gets a tiny bit of black spot and mildew but not much.  'Hot Lips' salvia is right behind and 'Mutabilis' rose is in the back.


From another vantage point you can see 'Old Blush' in pink in the back of this shot.


Close-ups of 'Dame du Coeur' - this one is rather Georgia O'Keefe inspired,


while this one's more in keeping with the Old Masters.


The buttery-yellow 'Sunny Knock-Out' rose is blooming, too.


Along the stone path, all manner of salvia and poppies are in bloom.


The bees adore the poppies.


There's also red poppies,


calendula,


Jerusalem sage,


lyre-leaf sage,


and my favorite garden thug, pink evening primrose.


African hosta (Drimiopsis maculata) is back, a very reliable passalong plant from Linda Lehmusvirta of Central Texas Gardener fame.  Another common name for this plant is 'Little White Soldiers'.


Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Visit her April 2015 GBBD page to see springtime blossoms in gardens all around the world.

Words and photos © 2009-2015 Caroline Homer for "The Shovel-Ready Garden". Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.