Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2021

Blooms are still sparse here in my post-February freeze Southeast Texas garden, but, happily, many of the plants that I had feared had been lost have started to come back. Slowly, but they are coming back. I'm glad that I have been slow to replace them.

Meanwhile, my roses are in the pink!


My 'Old Blush' heirloom rose is beginning to blush once again.

Here's a close-up of some of its blossoms.

'Belinda's Dream' rose is just as dreamy as ever, covered in these big, squashy blooms.
 
'Peggy Martin' was hit hard by the freeze and seriously knocked back. I cut her way back afterward and now she is all the way recovered and just about to be in full bloom.

The pink Knockout, too, is doing its best to live up to its name.

I do actually have other colors of roses in my garden but only the pink ones are in bloom at the moment.

That yellow flowering plant next to the bottle tree in the back garden is a wildflower called Texas groundsel.

Here's a closer view. It has been in bloom for more than a month and the blossoms are beginning to fade. But its color has brightened my otherwise somewhat drab garden for all these weeks.

Speaking of wildflowers, this fleabane is blooming next to the fennel.

My amaryllis blooms were mostly victims of the freeze this year, but this one persisted and is now doing its best to uphold the family honor.

My succulent collection spent the winter in the garage. Now that they are back in place on the patio, this one is celebrating with some blooms.

Serendipity is one of my favorite gardening partners. Every year this old petunia manages to reseed itself somewhere in the garden, often in surprising places. I've noticed a few of its plants already this year and this one has begun to bloom.

Another petunia has been added this year. This purple and white pinwheel blooms in a pot near my front door entry.

Still more wildflowers. This native oxalis (violet wood sorrel) is actually a weed in my garden. It sprouts up everywhere, mostly in places where I don't want it. It loves growing among the liriope that edges many of my planting beds. But in a spring when flowers have been hard to come by, even the oxalis is welcome. 

The oxalis also found a spot by my little meditation buddy.

Even weeds can be pretty.

In previous years, my crossvine looked like this in April.

This year it looks like this. But it's alive and I do have hopes that it will eventually return to its former glory.

My first blue plumbago bloom of the year.

This yellow gerbera blooms next to a heuchera in a pot on the patio.

My first salvia to bloom this year is this purple autumn sage.

The yarrow was just about to bloom in February when the freeze came. It was killed back to its roots, but now it's back and pretending nothing ever happened.

As I was taking the picture of the yarrow by the goldfish pond, I saw this little guy in the pond, struggling to pull himself up onto the rocks, so I gave him a helping hand (or net). He soon continued on his way to take care of whatever box turtle business had brought him out on this April day.

It's not a bloom but I am happy to see my little Japanese maple tree coming back and adding its color to the garden.

There is a 40-year-old azalea that lives under the redbud tree in my backyard. When the freeze came, it was full of buds and would have been in bloom within a couple of weeks. The freeze killed all those buds and all the leaves on the plant. I thought the plant itself might be a goner, but then ever so slowly it began to put out new leaves, and then, wonder of wonders, one flower bud appeared. And here it is, fully open now, my one azalea bloom for the year, proving once again that as long as there is life there is hope and sometime there will be blooms. 

Happy Bloom Day! I look forward to visiting your April garden and seeing your blooms.

(Linking to Carol of May Dreams Gardens.)  

Comments

  1. Glad to see recovery from the freezing weather.
    You have lots of beauty in your garden! Love those little pink oxalis!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

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    Replies
    1. This spring has certainly been a revelation about the toughness - or lack of it - of my plants.

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  2. It amazes me how resilient Nature is. I'm happy a lot of your garden is coming back and that you weren't too quick to replace plants you thought were no longer with us. My favorites? The ones I can't grow here in New York, like plumbago, and the old fashioned perennial petunia.

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    Replies
    1. Patience is a difficult virtue for a gardener to learn, but sometimes it does pay off.

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  3. Amazing to see this recovery. And the turtle of course!

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    Replies
    1. He's the second turtle I've seen in the garden this spring - practically a turtle population explosion!

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  4. Your roses and azalea are beauties. I also have a number of roses, but it will be about two more months before they bloom. Thanks for the foretaste.

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    1. I'm anxious for my other colors of roses to get blooming, but I'm thankful that the pink ones are precocious.

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  5. Cute little fleabane. Lovely color pinks on the roses.

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    1. I admit I am partial to wildflowers and I'm quite fond of that little fleabane.

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  6. How lovely, my mom loved roses, irises and peonies. She had quite the variety. I had some lovely ones as well but, they stayed behind when we sold our house to move to a condo.

    The turtle in the picture is an added bonus.

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  7. Petunias will sometimes reseed here and pop up in two years later. Your roses look great; and I hope the freeze hit when things were dormant so no lasting damage was caused.
    -Ray

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    Replies
    1. Petunias are funny like that. This 'Laura Bush' is one that I planted maybe ten years ago and it disappeared after a couple of years, then reseeded a few years later and now it turns up somewhere in the yard just about every year.

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  8. Wow ! I loved the idea of bottle tree , that Frog figurine is adorable. Lovely Roses, It would be my pleasure if you join my link up party related to Gardening, Nature and birds here at http://jaipurgardening.blogspot.com/2021/04/garden-affair-mesembryanthemum.html

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    Replies
    1. Bottle trees are one of the gifts of African culture that are traditions in the South. They keep evil spirits away!

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  9. So beautiful! I love the roses the best but all the color is just so lovely.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Carrie. I am fond of the roses, too. They are generally very dependable bloomers here.

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  10. What a wonderful burst of colour to make the day seem brighter. It is a little grey here but we have had a run of very sunny days so there is no cause for complaint. Thanks for helping the turtle. I have no doubt she/he was very appreciative.

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    1. I'm glad I happened along at a time to assist the little guy. Perhaps he could have eventually pulled himself out onto the rocks, but he was struggling. My good deed for the day!

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  11. Dorothy-your roses are magnificent and I love the frog. The oxalis really does look wonderful by it! That little turtle must be very thankful for you to come to the rescue!

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  12. These are all wonderful. So many different kinds. I don't know if I know the plumbagos, pretty. Petunias and geraniums are two staples of my garden that are sturdy enough for Canada summers .... but we are not there yet. Mid-May we will start planting.

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  13. I love how this ends with your inspiring azalea bloom. How lovely your garden has bounced back with many colorful blooms and a lovely visiting turtle.

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    Replies
    1. I am actually astounded that so many of my plants that seemed dead, dead, dead at first are coming back. Almost daily I find new growth from a plant that I feared I had lost.

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