Foliage Follow-up April 2013

Because Spring is more than just blooms, I am joining Pam at Digging in Foliage Follow-up. There are so many different colors in foliage this time of year.  New shoots change over time as they mature.  Here are some of my favorites from my gardens.

Goldflame spirea as it began to leaf out. 

 You can sure tell where it got its name.

That was 10 days ago and below is NOW!  WOW!

 Goldmound spirea is almost yellow.  It seems to glow when the sun spotlights it.

While looking at the new growth tips on the Anthony Waterer spirea, I came across this garden visitor.  I have really been seeing a lot of ladybugs this spring, especially on the spireas.

 As the yellow flowers fade on the epimedium, the new foliage begins to grow.  

 Pestemon husker red - I found 3 of these on clearance last fall. I was on the lookout for them after having seen pictures on several garden blogs.  The foliage is great!

 The bengal tiger cannas are emerging. 

 Red knockout rose has stunning red and green foliage.

The foliage star in my garden in April is the red tipped photinia.

Enjoy your spring and the moderate temperatures.  Hope you all are spending lots of time outdoors!  You don't have to work in a garden to observe and enjoy nature.

Touting tulips!

I didn't always love tulips the way I do now.  That's because I didn't really know them. I thought they were too expensive for a short bloom period, because here in the mid-south, tulips are considered annuals.  We just can't get them to overwinter and bloom the following year. So, buy the bulbs in fall, stick them in your frig for six weeks, plant around December 1 and have one bloom per bulb in Spring and then yank them out of the ground. I just didn't see the point.  BUT. . . . then I decided to try a few bulbs 4 years ago to fill in a bare spot I had.  And WOW! Now, in the fall, I get as many bulbs as I can make room for in my frig. And  today this is what I'm seeing outside my back door:

              I love to watch the stages 

         of the tulip flower.

 

 

 

 What I didn't know about tulips is that they are light sensitive.  When the sun is not shining they close up, and when the sun shines on them you get to see this kaleidoscope image in the center.

I really don't know how I ever lived without them!

 

I hope you have some tulips in YOUR garden!

April Appears

 It may sound ridiculous, but for awhile it appeared that we wouldn't see April weather until April this year. And, no, we didn't. Usually, in Memphis and the mid-South, we have glorious April days in March. Or as we call it in our household "San Diego weather".  Last year we had days and days of 70's in March, but not this year.  Our mom earth has made us wait for April.  What a bunch of March madness for those of us clamoring to be digging, not slogging and shivering.

amsonia March 31, 2012

same amsonia March 31, 2013

  But, even without the gardeners in the garden, the gardens have been waking up.  All around us are the signs that March this year was indeed a Spring month.


 And the blooms that  are coming are lasting longer due to the cool weather.    Daffodils that bloomed almost 3 weeks ago are still standing pretty in the garden.


And so now April is here and we see all around us what's been happening during the past month.  New growth, the swelling of buds, the unfurling of leaves, the rise of stems, pushing upward.

hosta

hosta

     What fun to watch the hostas
       emerge from dormancy!
                 
        Many hostas here are in
        pots to protect them
        from the voles.

But all the March action was not missed by this gardener.  Every day during March, no matter the temperature or the precipitation, I was walking

asparagus

slowly through the yard, looking for signs of Spring.

creeping phlox

  

hardy stocking fern

solomon's seal (Variegatum Polygonatum...)

grape hyacinths (muscari ameriacum)

bridal wreath spirea (Spiraea prunifolia)

epimedium

In reading garden blogs from other areas, I realize, in comparison to many,  I shouldn't disparage the weather this time of year.  But we in the mid-South have come to expect certain things. That's why we live here.  Can I hear an "AMEN"?