April in the garden

March showers bring April flowers - is that how it goes? Well, maybe not, but it seems to be working that way in my garden.

Spring is, of course, prime time for wildflowers here, some of which bloom in my garden, like these bluebonnets.

 Among the blue is the occasional pink bonnet.

These dianthus plants were in bloom in early March and were weighed down by the ice storm we had them, but, even as it bent the plants, that didn't slow them down much. They are still blooming.

 April is when my camellia, 'Mabel Bryan' blooms.

Everywhere along the roadsides, the wild blackberries have been in full and glorious bloom this spring, promising a bumper harvest of berries later. Some of the wild plants grow as weeds in my garden along some of the fences. I mostly leave them alone - the birds enjoy the berries.

The white loropetalum is full of these fringy flowers just now. Its fuchsia-colored cousin bloomed a few weeks earlier.

Last Wednesday I showed you this allium with this butterfly, a Funereal Duskywing, but I couldn't get a dorsal view of the critter. Well, here it is back today - in fact there were two of them - and this time it was a bit more cooperative about posing.

The purple oxalis is beginning to send out its dainty little pink blossoms.

Azaleas in the area have really been putting on a show this spring. I believe they enjoyed and benefitted from the several extended cold spells that we had during winter.

 Now is the time of the redbud bloom. This tree with its pretty pink blossoms is a magnet for pollinators and birds of many kinds.

 This fuchsia lives in a hanging basket near my front door to welcome visitors.

Some winter blossoms just keep on going right into spring, like these sunny pansies which brighten my back porch.

After a long, gray winter, it is such a joy to see the garden coming to life again and putting on its colorful spring clothes.