It’s (almost) the 15th again, and we all know what that means: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! (I think there’s some other significance to April 15th, but well, it’s obviously not as important as Bloom Day.) There’s lots in flower here at Hayefield, so I’ve decided to try out the gallery feature included in the newest version of WordPress, which lets us upload multiple photos relatively quickly and either place them individually in a post or show them off all together. I haven’t gotten it totally figured out, but I think it’ll work well enough this time.
Clicking on a picture will make it appear in a larger format, and it also allows you to comment on individual images, if you wish. Or, you could leave a general comment here. Or, just take a peek and then move on to the next blog: There are lots of participants to visit on GBBD and more each month! You can find links to them all through the main Bloom Day post at May Dreams Gardens.
Happy Bloom Day!
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Arabis alpina subsp. caucasica (wall rock cress)
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Bergenia 'Tubby Andrews' (variegated bergenia)
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Cercis glabra (redbud)
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Chaenomeles speciosa 'Contorta' (contorted quince)
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Claytonia virginica (spring beauty)
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Cornus mas (Cornelian cherry)
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Forsythia viridissima var. koreana 'Kumson' (forsythia)
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Fritillaria imperialis (crown imperial)
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Fritillaria meleagris (checkered lily)
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Helleborus foetidus
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Helleborus x hybridus (hybrid hellebores)
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Hyacinthus 'Festival White' (hyacinth)
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Hyacinthus 'Blue Jacket' (hyacinth)
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Lonicera fragrantissima (winter honeysuckle)
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Lonicera fragrantissima (winter honeysuckle)
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Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon grapeholly)
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Mukdenia rossii (mukdenia)
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Muscari (grape hyacinths)
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Myosotis (forget-me-not)
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Narcissus mix (daffodils)
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Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny pachysandra)
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Prunus 'Methley' (plum)
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Prunus (red-leaved peach)
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Pulmonaria (lungwort)
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Salix caprea (pussy willow)
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Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys' (black pussy willow)
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Scilla siberica (Siberian squill)
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Spiraea thunbergii Mellow Yellow ('Ogon' spirea)
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Viola tricolor (Johnny-jump-up)
Yes, I think our gardens are on the same page this month, though I see just a few flowers blooming in your garden that haven’t started to bloom in mine. All those blooms must make your garden a wonderful place to be in the spring.
Thanks for joining in for bloom day.
Wow, you’re quick, Carol! Thank *you* so much for being our host for this can’t-miss event.
-Nan
Hi Nan, that is really a good way to show off the flower photos. You have such a variety of shrubs, trees, bulbs and perennials blooming, and you know all the names. I love the black salix, have been eyeing for awhile now. From being so wintry, you have nearly caught up to us, as have many of the northern gardeners. Thanks for the show!
Thanks, Frances. I really like the new WordPress gallery feature: It’s SO much easier than uploading and placing images one at a time, and much quicker than making the collages. (And just FYI, I have my comments set to “moderate,” so they don’t show up until I ok them.)
-Nan
Wow! Your flowers look gorgeous. Healthier than mine too at this point. I did a “gag” post today, just so I wouldn’t feel like the last kid picked to play on someone’s kickball team at recess. I can’t wait til I have some blooms to share! Thanks for the much needed flower fix.
I’m sure your flowers will be fine, Cinj; it’s just that they’re still sleeping. I hope it warms up for you soon.
-Nan
Wow, Nan, what a show! And hmmm, your mukdenias are not only up, they’re in bloom. Wonder what happened to mine…
My mukdenias are in a pretty sheltered spot, so don’t worry if yours aren’t showing yet.
-Nan
Very nice, and what a great photo uploading technique.
By the way, I have both your foliage book & your grasses book checked out from my local library (I wish I could afford to own them all!) They are so beautiful and inspiring– thank you!
Hi Lisa! I appreciate your visit, and your kind comments. I’m glad you’re enjoying the books. it’s good to support your local library too!
-Nan
I like the way spring is coming to your part of Pennsylvania, Nan - lots of lovely plants, and the gallery is a nice feature. But who saddled the interesting bergenia with the name ‘Tubby’? It’s bad enough to have a nickname like ‘pigsqueak’.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I’m guessing, Annie, that someone admired Mr. Andrews’ acting and felt it would be an honor to name the plant after him. Hmmm.
-Nan
Lots of great stuff! Thanks for posting the shot of the Mukdenia. I’ve never seen it in bloom, nor seen any photos of its bloom. It’s on the “Maybe someday” list.
Mukdenia definitely isn’t an oh-wow kind of plant: more like a hmmm…that’s interesting. I wouldn’t recommend making an effort to track it down, but if you ever have the chance to get one, do try it, if only for the fun of saying the name.
-Nan
Another reason to thank Carol…she brought me to your site. I love the gallery approach, and as our gardens fill up with ever more blooms as the season progresses, it looks like the only way to go. Now I just have to experiment with WordPress until it reveals the secret formula.
Thanks! Your garden is splendiflorous!
Hi Ricki! Thanks for visiting, and I’ll be over to see your Bloom Day post soon!
-Nan
Nan, I’m most impressed with wordpress. I LOVE how you can put up these images like this, with titles and all. I’ve been getting disgruntled with blogger. Maybe a switch is in order this summer. But, blooms… three cheers to our dear mellow yellow–I hope mine blooms.
WordPress has its quirks, but this new version has been working out great for me. I think you’d like it once you worked with for a while. Apparently, you can import your existing text from Blogger into WP, though not the photos.
-Nan
Nan, you were right, you really do have a lot of blooms today! I think I’ll have to vote for the Bergenia as my favorite, what a great leaf!
I like the bergenia too, Melanie. It barely squeaks through the winter for me (er…no pun intended), but it seems to be doing ok in this spot, finally.
-Nan
What a great feature this is, Nan-almost enough to tempt me to switch to WordPress myself. And so many blooms; a far cry from our chilly yard, but the forecast is giving several days of temperatures in the mid-teens (low-mid fifties) so that should give us a bit of a boost. Not too much though-i need to get out into the garden and do some work.
Interesting about your coltsfoot–yet you have Claytonia in bloom already, and we’re at LEAST six weeks from it flowering. Yet another reason to bless Carol for Bloom Day…i’m getting a better sense of how the rest of the continent (and other parts of the world) garden all the time.
I agree, Jodi: I’ve learned so much from each Bloom Day. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what bloomed when, but clearly I have to expand my knowledge!
-Nan
What a great set of pictures, Nan… and you probably won’t be surprised to know that I’m salivating over your bergenia. I have ‘Solar Flare’ on the way from Plant Delights, but hadn’t seen ‘Tubby Andrews’ before.
About that mukdenia… really, it’s just hum-ho? Not even some nice red coloring to it–or is ‘Crimson Fans’ a cultivar name instead of a common name, and you have an unnamed one?
(Hope you can follow that last question–lol–it’s late and I should be in bed.)
Ooh, lucky you to be getting ‘Solar Flare’. I’ll be interested to see how it performs for you. Based on the pictures, it looks even nicer than poor old Tubby.
And the mukdenia: What I have is the straight species, not ‘Crimson Fans.’ Mine does get some nice fall color, like ‘Crimson Falls’ can, and I like it, but really, I don’t consider it an “oh wow” plant.
-Nan
What a lovely contribution to GBBD Nan. I see that we have many blooms in common and you have one that I have been coveting for many years: the winter honeysuckle.
Happy GBBD!
Thanks for stopping by, Yolanda Elizabet. I hope you get a winter honeysuckle someday. Its fragrance right now is a delight.
-Nan
Hi Nan, What a marvelous display of your blooms. It seems like we are on about the same bloom schedule. I just love the Bergenia. I have tried it in several places in our garden and haven’t had luck growing it. Seeing this variety makes me want to try again. I have to replant my Johnny jump ups every year too because they don’t come back. I think of them as an annual. That Lonicera looks like a must have to me. I am going to make a new arch type arbor sometime soon so maybe I can get one of those to grow on it.
I wonder why I haven’t noticed that you have a blog. I am a little slow you know. Maybe I knew it and forgot. Sometimes I get in quite the rut. I will be over to see what you are up to more often now that I have found you (again??).
Hi Lisa! What you can’t tell from the photo of the Johnny-jump-ups is that theyre growing in the middle of a wood-chip path. Each year, I move them into the bed. They bloom, seed, and die, then the seedlings come up the next spring. Again, in the path. This year, I just let them stay there. I’m hoping they’ll seed into the bed, just to be different.
The lonicera *is* nice, but unfortunately, it’s a shrubby kind, not a climber.
I’m glad you found me here!
-Nan
You have so many flowering trees, and after the long winter, they must be heartening indeed.
Humm I’m going to have to take a look at WordPress again.
Hi Nancy! Thanks for visiting. Yep, it’s a treat to see all of the blooms right now.
-Nan
I love the siberian squill! I have one lonely flowering squill this year, and I hope it will multiply! Winter honeysuckle must be lovely to have, I’ve been wanting some for years.
Hi Silvia! If you want to see a really amazing photo of Siberian Squill, you need to check out Kathy’s Bloom Day post at Cold Climate Gardening.
-Nan
Ah… thanks for explaining. Isn’t it funny how sometimes new cultivars lack the grace and beauty of the straight species… and then on the other hand, some straight species lack the “wow” factor of specific cultivars?
I will definitely let you know how the bergenia does for me. Heck, I can barely stop posting pics of my ‘Bressingham Ruby’ in its winter color–I’m sure you won’t be able to miss how this one does! (Unless it’s really bad. I rarely say anything about my scrubby-looking straight species b. cordifolia. lol.)
I admire your ‘Bressingham Ruby’ very much, Kim, so as far as I’m concerned, you can post as many pictures of it as you have!
-Nan
I don’t think I’ve met pachysandra. And that red leaf peach is, of course, just peachy! Very excited to see an update on the black pussy willow.
Japanese pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis) is a very common groundcover out this way. Allegheny pachysandra (P. procumbens) is our native species; you don’t see it too often, but it’s starting to get a bit more popular. Yes, that peach is pretty neat, isn’t it? Unfortunately, the fruits aren’t edible, though they’re very pretty. This was a seedling from a friend’s tree. And yay for the pussy willow: It’s been going for about 3 months now!
-Nan
Nan, how lovely to see so many things blooming in your garden! You have quite a few unusual plants. I enjoy seeing all the different things you grow.
My daffodils popped open in great quantities on the 16th. Murphy’s Law, of course :) But at least I had 3 open.
It sure is good to see some color at last!
And yes, the lawn is growing quickly with these warm temps we’re having. Just think what we could get done if we didn’t have to mow the lawn!
It’s interesting to see all the pictures in the gallery format. I miss the detail of the larger shots, although easy enough to click on them, but I like seeing all of the different colors close together.
I agree with you, Bonnie. It’s *so* much easier to upload them this way, but it is kind of sad that they’re so small. I don’t plan to use this feature for my regular posts, and I may or may not use it for future Bloom Day posts. But it was fun to try it out.
-Nan
Hi Nan!
I can see that you realy have a Blom day in your garden, very nice.
We have only some blom in our garden, so we do it with concrete instead ;)
regards Ken
I do hope your little garden angels wake up soon, Ken. They have a lot of work to do to get your garden full of flowers by the next Bloom Day.
-Nan