April 2022

[Martin Bohnet]

Actually, I think I'm growing tired of this, I posted very similar photos last year with Fritillaria imperialis

- and it's even more snow this time. I guess it's even more shocking for Arum creticum

- it's potted, though, so I might rescue it in case the night Sunday to Monday will be as bad as the forecast says. I have one plant in the ground, but that one is getting smaller and smaller, while the potted one thrives.
Next is Narcissus cerrolazae

- or N. jonquilla subsp. cerrolazae. Maybe one day we'll get Carlos Jimenéz to sort the species Narcissus out for us, he seems to be an expert. Anyway it's a long-lasting, well multiplying small plant I like a lot, though most people wouldn't spot it in a bunch of hybrids.
I've already mentioned Muscari latifolium

before, but that one gains something extra visually with that cap - doesn't look as wrong as that poor Echinocereus beside it...

[David Pilling]

Wow, snow. What a shame for the Frits. I really liked the crown imperials but I could not keep them going. Always had an interesting smell.

It is a bit cold here - a week ago the weather was lovely.

[Martin Bohnet]

Weather keeps being a mixed bag - a few warm days, some fallback to frost... so these images are from warmer and colder days...

Obviously, you need a warm night for Hesperantha cucullata

, so I had this open for exactly one night and it won't open again until monday I guess - on the other hand, the cold prolongs the fun with Pleione 'Tongariro'

Height:	0-10 cm (0-3.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	pink, red
Flower Season:	mid spring

- yes, that's the "near weed" I mentioned when commenting on David's Pleione, but other ones will open up soon - Pleione 'Sifaka'

Height:	0-10 cm (0-3.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	yellow, orange, red
Flower Season:	mid spring

is also already open. Maybe I'll do a seperate Pleione topic when more open up.
In the open garden, Ipheion uniflorum

starts up - a weaker year, unless there will be a second wave, which can happen. That yellowing leaves in the background are my Sternbergias so the first winter growers are on retreat. Last one is the flower you'll always miss unless really looking for it - my native Asarum europaeum

.

[David Pilling]

Unremitting cold here - hailstones today - white tops on the Lake District hills. Mid-week 50 MPH (salt laden) winds which burned off the flowers in the front garden. I had Ipheion flowering all Winter - in the greenhouse. I have a really nice Freesia. I've got pots of them which refuse to flower, but this single one keeps going (photo 1). Photo 2 is... oh I'll think of it soon. Photo 3 and 4, show that Martin you are a serious gardener and (these days) I am not. Photos taken Friday 8th April.

[Martin Bohnet]

serious gardener? I'm a plant hoarder, no doubt, but serious?

My Allium ursinum

will still need a few weeks until it flowers. It once was uncontended as most agressive species seeding around, but these days Allium flavum

has taken up the gauntlet...

[David Pilling]

"gardener" in the sense of plant grower. There's a phrase "plantsman's garden" which means a space crammed with plants with no plan. A bit like "old man's garden" that translates as plants that have grown too big.

[Diane Whitehead]

You sure crammed the bulbs in.  What grows there in the summer?

[David Pilling]

Diane - you're looking at seven (plastic) terracota pots. In the Summer I'll put bedding plants in them - French marigolds, mesembryanthemums, that kind of thing. I also use similar pots for growing climbing French beans. The tiny size of the garden makes pots the way to go.

Yes I crammed the bulbs in, I bought what I bought and I counted, and divided by the number of pots, something like 18 tulips per pot and slightly less daffodils.

[Arnold]

Tulipa bifloriformis

[Martin Bohnet]

Interesting Tulip - it's not present on the wiki yet, you may want to add it! 

So, why not start with a tulip, too, Tulipa sylvestris

to be precise, and add Fritillaria persica

, to stay in the Lily family.
You know that you've been on one shopping spree to much if things pop up in the garden you don't remember to have bought - to make it worse, I didn't find any record of buying Anemone ranunculoides

Height:	10-20 cm (3.9-7.9 inch)
Flower Colors:	yellow
Flower Season:	mid spring
Life form:	deciduous rhizome

flore plena - but that's just nothing that would jump up by itself, don't you think? so -maybe a blind passenger in the copper knob Ficaria next to it? I wouldn't be angry if that's the way this happened.
Orchis mascula

Height:	45-60 cm (1.5-2 ft)
Flower Colors:	pink, purple
Flower Season:	late spring to early summer
Life form:	tuber

I do remember, and I'm happy it has grown considerably since last year, so, second flower spike in the 4th year in the garden. I like.

[David Pilling]

20th April, the eyes have it

[David Pilling]

20th April, more tulips

[Diane Whitehead]

Trillium albidum from Oregon and northern California.

[David Pilling]

Diane - that is a very nice plant. I suppose I've been bad, I simply deleted the inline version of your post, which gets the size right (in the thumbnail). I think that is the situation though (over to Martin?) inline images are not thumbnails, with the ability to expand when clicked.

[David Pilling]

When you insert a picture you can specify the size in pixels or "auto" which I assume takes the size from the original image. Personally I would have forced everyone to use thumbnails at the end, or to have supported thumbnails inline, but that takes us back...