The Nature of Things

Yes, fast and furious is how the flowers are coming these days. The first sunflower of the season. Tawny orange daylily. Lemon yellow double daylily. Raspberry salvia. Scarlet salvia. Blue morning glories. Blackfoot daisies. Yellow cestrum. 'Julia Child' rose, just a bit faded on its third day.  'Darcy Bussell' rose. 'Christopher Marlowe,' another David Austin rose. Orange milkweed. Orange cannas. Oakleaf hydrangea. And even more coming along every day. It's a great time to be 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 butterf...