Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2016

April showers bring May flowers, so they say, but sometimes they bring April flowers as well. This month there are several firsts in my garden.

The first sunflower. It grew from a seed "planted" by a bird.

The first brugmansia blooms of the year. These plants normally bloom in fall and go dormant in winter, but they never went down in the mild winter just past and now they are blooming! Poor confused plant.

The first canna bloom of the year.

The first daylily.

Not the first amaryllis bloom but the first one of those called St. Joseph's lily.

It's not a blackberry winter, but a blackberry spring perhaps. These vines were gifted to us by friends in Mississippi when we visited there a couple of years ago. We got a good many berries from them last year in their first year in the garden. It's looking like a bumper crop this year. Yum!

The Southern magnolia trees are full of buds. That first bloom will be opening soon.

'Peggy Martin' rose has bloomed profusely since January. It is reaching the end of its bloom cycle. 

This 'Molineux' rose looks like it has captured the sun in its petals.

'Darcy Bussell' is blooming, also. 

As are the Knockouts. Here is a pink one. You can also the the 'Coral Nymph' salvia peeking over its leaves. 

White yarrow.

Pineapple sage.

The tropical milkweeds are blooming. Here's yellow.

And here's red. My native milkweeds are just returning after going dormant during winter. It will be a while before they bloom.

The lemongrass that never got cut back in winter because it never went dormant is blooming now.

The red kalanchoe that bloomed on the patio table all winter got cut back a few weeks ago and now it is blooming again.

Turk's cap. 

'Mystic Spires' salvia blooming next to autumn sage.

Oleander.

Some of the gerberas are blooming. Here's red.

And here's pink.

Esperanza yellowbells.

Another plant that normally goes dormant in winter and takes its time in coming back in spring is the jatropha. But it never went dormant in our recent winter and so it is blooming earlier than ever this year. 

Frilly blooms of the pomegranate.

This is a plant I recently added to the garden - Angiozanthos, commonly called Kangaroo Paws.

Do they look like kangaroo paws to you?

This is not in my garden. It is actually in my next door neighbor's yard and it spills over on the fence between our two yards. It is Japanese honeysuckle, a pernicious and invasive plant. I pull it up or use weed killer when in comes into my yard because it is such a thug that it will take over. Too bad, because when it blooms like it is doing now the scent is heavenly.

That concludes the tour of my April flowers. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my garden this month and that you'll visit again soon and often. Don't forget to visit our gracious hostess, Carol of May Dreams Gardens, to see a list of all the other bloggers participating in this Bloom Day.