MOCKING BIRD SHOWER

my favorite tulip this year - fokker fan fan. for me, the slim, graceful, lily-shaped tulips are the the most beautiful.
another view of the potager...
this is a really dark purple tulip, but some how these dark colors are hard to photograph... this one is curly sue...
i do like these fringed ones, this is hamilton...
these are the same professor rontgens from last week, lit by the afternoon sun on the mantel...
tree peony... i apologize for this technically poor photo, but i liked the composition...
here's a close-up of the tree peony...
epimedium 'bandit,' perhaps the cutest thing in the shade garden...
variegated solomon's seal lined up in the shade garden, with red epimediums on the left...
we've had a dry april, until today... so on friday, when i watered, two mocking birds enjoyed a shower...
humph! can't you see i'm bathing, gf?
shake a tail feather!
it's april, so gardeners and mocking birds must bid you adieu...

COOL APRIL HOT FLOWERS

we are having an unseasonably cool april, which has delayed vegetable planting in the potager. however, the bulbs don't mind at all... i'm not sure which tulip this is, as none have come true to the photos in the catalog, but i think it might be 'ballerina'...here's the little bulb display i copied from garden design magazine...
and these incredible parrot tulips, which i think are 'professor rontgen' but i'm not sure...
each one is a painting all on its own...

hard to see in the potager photo is muscari macrocarpum, a yellowish variety...
here's the usual bird's eye view...
the cercis canadensis alba is really happy in this cool weather, producing a profusion of blooms right from the bark...
here's the tree, which is in the north garden...
i think you have to be right up under it's nose to really appreciate the profusion...

epimedium 'bandit' is still really small, so my bro will have to wait a bit more for divisions...
pearl bush flowers, lasting longer in the cool...
maiden hair fern emerging... ugly, isn't it?
champagne currents... maybe a good crop this year... haven't had enough to make jelly for 2 years...
again, the fothergillia my brother gave me... very pretty...
but the shrub is still very tiny, 2 ft tall...

SUDDENLY THERE ARE LEAVES

on the trees and life is good. dwarf edible cherry blossoms in front of window reflecting sunset...
a perfect ruby
inside a decrepit magnolia 'ruby' blossom...
inside magnolia 'daybreak'...

the potager this morning... things are off to a slow start this spring. the seed mats did not work well for me, but everything seems to be coming up slower than usual...

i'm really impressed with how pretty and dwarf this peach is... it was covered with blooms this year, so let's see if the fruit is "all that." you can see this tree in the photo above on the left side.here's the peach tree, it's maybe 2 feet tall...
the north garden this morning... later today the cercis bloomed more fully, but now the light is wrong...
curly quince in the center of the north garden...
daff in the north garden...
daffodil 'tahiti' in the north garden...

epimedium 'crimson queen' blooming in the front shade garden... i held up this flower...
'crimson queen' in its natural position among the maidenhair fern stems...

south path to the square garden with my gardening pal, joe joe...
camelia 'spring promise' has 6 flowers, the most ever. of course, they face south where you can't see them...
see the camelia, on the right, in the square garden... you can't see the lovely flowers...

fothergillia that my brother gave me is just blooming...
and these parrot tulips were about to burst into flames in the potager...

EASTER WHIPPET

happy easter from us and our whippet!apricots are blooming in the potager, but only one tree has bloomed, so we will not have fruit this year. the smell of these flowers is almost worth it alone!
curly larch leaves emerge...
the jeffersonia my brother gave me years ago continues to hang on...
same pieris as in the banner...
dwarf peach blossom in the potager...
daffodil 'tahiti'...
magnolia 'ruby' is quite red this year, as there has not been so much sun to fade it until the last few gorgeous days
the potager today. we added compost, so it's ready to plant! i can start adding more tender things in another two weeks or so... happy easter!