Tulipa saxatilis (bakeri) Lilac Wonder. The foliage is impossibly glossy.

Wow, Lilac Wonder is amazing!!! It looks like it can’t be real. :)

Still not much happening here, though more crocus are blooming. :)

@artinnaturez8b, if I didnt know better that pic almost looks AI. I have already made a note to see if I can obtain "Lilac Wonder" for this Fall.

Rouge21 - "almost looks AI"

So funny you mentioned that, I think the same thing, but its simply what my phone camera gives me. It isn't able to accurately represent Lilac Wonder. My wife's phone can't either. The stark line where the Lilac meets the yellow, and the way the yellow appears to float, those are not accurate. But they are stunning aren't they? Highly recommend for their grace, delicate-ness, earli-ness and excellent foliage.

My first Gentiana acaulis flower.

Magnolia 'Tina Durio'

Picture taken April 1. I'm glad it's almost done naturally because we are facing another late freeze tonight. Ugh. I'm worried the glory days of 2007-2018, when, in spite of typical winter ups and downs, late freezes were very uncommon, may not be coming back any time soon.

Smaller tree for now, but my 'Atlas' is coming along.

That is larch foliage in the background. You can see why the English call these sort of magnolias 'cabbage on a stick'!

A patch of Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) is blooming while the rest of it, in other parts of the garden, is barely up. Microclimates are wild.

Rhododendron lutescens, Rhododendron Blue Baron, Magnolia Snowbird, Saxifraga Marto Red, Loropetalum Ever Red.

That blue on the Gentian is electric!

I love that Magnolia Snowbird, Art.

UBG - Pretty larch background and Magnolias...

Great to see everyone's gardens starting for the season!

Finally, the cold has left and expecting warm sunny days. Daffodils are opening. Hellebores are starting.

Family in Victoria BC sent me these pics the other day...

My earliest bloomers are just starting up so I’m doing minimal cleanup at this point.

We’re into a seriously rainy week, which is great for April, but the temps are forecast to be ridiculously warm.… highs of 75F. Here’s some of my waterlogged primrose. :)

I think the color of Lilac Wonder is accurate but the texture is wrong. the flower petals look flat and like plastic. it is odd! i think all the species or botanical tulips are charming. they have so much impact in the still bare garden. some are garish, which is welcome after a long gray winter.

Erisymum Night Skies, Narcissus Hillstar, Gentiana acaulis.

With success there are always a few disappointments. Notice Nolina hibernica La Siberica is slowly fading away. Such is life in the adventurous garden.

The Clematis montana rubens I planted last spring has started bloomining.

Absolutely amazing @Markay MD-Zone 7B ie clematis in bloom for you in mid April!

Just this one which is a spring blooming variety!

Corydalis Solida "George Baker":

Everything is changing quickly here today because lots of trees are starting to sprout leaves and it gives a wonderful green cast to everything. :)

I also got out on the par 3 golf course for the first time this year. yay!

Here is 'Malahat' the rhodie I pontificated about in this thread.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6552018/i-find-this-quite-frustrating-anyone-else

It's so hard for even a good digital camera (much less my now cheap and dated smartphone) to capture the look of this exactly, but it's definitely a slightly better (less purplish) red than the similar strig hybrids 'Grace Seabrook' and 'Taurus'. This photo isn't quite right but I don't have time to go into a color mixer to 'fix' it. I suppose I could someday cut a truss off 'Grace Seabrook' to compare them! It's probably rocketed to near the top of the list of best reds in my garden. So I'm really glad I bought it. Thank you, RSF.

This raffish fellow is Arum euxinum. One of the plants I legally imported from Paul Christian Rare Plants in the UK, back when that was still possible.

Finally, not as true a red as 'Malahat' but one of the most compelling Camellias in my humble opinion. 'Les Jury', bred in NZ as the name implies. David says this has trouble with the hot summers in central NC, but I think it will be fine around here. Although it's certainly going to need a very sheltered spot...they ain't selecting for hardiness in New Zealand, that's for sure. It's a slightly pinkish red but just so unbelievably saturated. If Rhododendron 'Leo' × 'Jutland' is 'blood spilled from a slit neck on the steps of a Sicilian courthouse at high noon' as I vaguely remember once describing it, this is 'São Paulo streetwalker lipstick at high noon'* pinkish-red. A positively lascivious color. This photo does not at all capture how leering it is in real life!

FYSA, there are some red camellias out there that are definitely closer to a true red, like 'Fire Falls', which I have, but I'm fascinated by this flower for being a slightly off red that is still oddly compelling.

* - as Bob Brown footnoted his charming description of Senecio pulcher... 'Not that I'd know'!

https://cotswoldgardenflowers.co.uk/products/senecio-pulcher

I've never been to South America!

UPDATE: just went to get my mail. Grabbed flowers of 'Grace Seabrook' and 'Briggs Red Star' which is just a mixoploid of 'Jean Marie'. There's no comparison. 'Malahat' is way better. But since this isn't much remarked upon in the PNW, things may be different with their climate. Climate and typical spring weather patterns can affect the color of certain varieties, this is especially noticeable around here with 'Viscy'.

Rhododendrons 'Arneson's Gem' and 'Blaney's Blue'.

Upper Bay -- The reds can be frustrating. I had 'Taurus' in my last garden and it never looked good to my eye.

'Carmen' is a red I'm looking for with that "water-soaked" appearance to the flowers.

Art - 'Carmen' has a bit of R. forrestii. So does my other candidate for best red, which is 'Ruby Hart'...it has the waxy and or 'water-soaked' red flowers as you say. It will only grow if grafted around here...luckily I got one from an ARS chapter sale in the Philly area. 'Belva's Joy' has a bit of R. forrestii, too, and is an appealing, semi-dwarf plant with exotic looking foliage, but the red is back on the slighly pinkish side of the spectrum.

'Leo' and 'Captain Jack' are just about perfect some years, but veer slightly into bluish-pinkish in others. Only one of my 'Captain Jack' × R. delavayi hybrids has bloomed yet - it's perfectly acceptable. Just a bit bluish, maybe a bit 'cherry red' but at least as good as things like 'Taurus'. I await seeing a couple others this spring, fingers crossed.

Look around for a 'Leo' × 'Jutland'...it is seldom listed for sale but collectors in the PNW do have it. I have never in my life seen such red flowers, on any plant, before or since. If you see one of these in full bloom, you will never forget it...you literally cannot pull your eyes away from the spectacle of it. A young woman who briefly posted here about 10 years also saw it, and corroborated my account. At least I know the one at the former Sonoma Hort. isn't the only one, because who knows what is going to happen to that place in the upcoming years.

To make this post legit...the superb heat-resistant lepidote 'Chapmanii Wonder'.

BTW - I see now that thread from Cori Ann has replies from me. Sadly I lost all of those Sonoma purchases. It has to do with microclimates in my garden. The 'hotter' side, along the south slope where I grow tenderish plants like Podocarpus chinensis, I've now recognized as something of a rhodo 'death zone'. They grow best on the other side of the 3 acres in a cooler, lower dell or valley. The only rhodies surviving near the south slope are, perhaps unsurprisingly, 3 of my delavayi hybrids.

It’s snowing here. lol!

party_music I can relate. I am not sure whether it is snow on the ground or really heavy frost! It won't be above freezing here until noon.

Oh boy, that is really sad! not above freezing and snow when plants have already started growing. Awful! Hope that's the last of it.

Lots of plant damage from the cold. :p

I always have a wreath on my porch and usually have a bird build a nest on it. This year its a robin.

Anemone

Hellibores:

Both flowers that I’ve only ever seen in photos or images.

Rockii type tree peony...

View of my woodland garden from my window.

Showing 3 degree of variegation: Acer 'Jordan' in the foreground, 'Dawyck Gold' beech with a dark cryptomeria behind it, and 'Ogon' looming in the background to the right.

For whatever reason, mine was bright yellow when young, but isn't as bright now; maybe because it's shaded for part of the afternoon by the 100' maples behind it. OTOH, in 2010, I saw the original 'Ogon' in central PA, yes, the original, at Barry Yinger's garden, and it was still bright yellow. His was not much taller, but higher above the canopy, so maybe that's the difference.

What a sight @UpperBayGardener (zone 7)....I admit I am a trifle envious.

I saw the original 'Ogon' in central PA, yes, the original, at Barry Yinger's garden

As I recall it is Barry that introduced the very wonderful shade plant Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’ to North America from Asia; specifically Japan I think.

You're too kind rouge. I'm just glad there's any semblance of a 'plan', because I can assure you, there wasn't! Other than: don't put all the variegated plants in one spot, because then they won't look very special.

Double Bloodroot:

Nice. I've tried growing Sanguinaria and they petered out for whatever reason. Same with Trilliums - haven't had much luck with them although they should like my woodland soil. Plants can be mysterious!

Here's something you don't see very often in the eastern US of A!

Same with Trilliums - haven't had much luck with them

Funny you mention this as I was out hiling earlier this week, in Ontario and came across a swathe of trilliums....almost ready to open up. It was especially appropriate as it is the official provincial flower of Ontario. (If I remember I will walk by the site in the not so distant future).

I love this April blooming plant i.e. Corydalis Noblis

It gets quite large BUT it goes completely dormant by late May.

The only caveat is that it does self seed but it seems easy enough to remove those offspring that you dont want.

Wow, it’s already the end of April. Only my pear tree is blooming.

Farewell to April!

Flax

Perennial snapdragons

columbine

Iris ’Immortality’

Clematis ’Blue Angel’

Geranium ’New Hampshire Purple’

Markay, It looks like April there! This has been the worst April for the garden that I can remember. I usually have a lot of photos to post in April but not this year. And we appear to still be in a drought. Everything is dry out there and very little spring rain. And we haven't been getting out to work in the garden hardly at all. The weather has been very cool for the most part and raw some days. Twenty years ago the weather would not have kept me in the house, but that has changed. And honestly, even if I had gotten out to work in the garden more, we've barely sat outside, there's been so few nice days, yesterday being one if them, but...it was May 1st...lol. So the bulbs did come up and they looked nice enough, but not as enjoyable in a bed that didn't get the full clean up as usual.

And then there is the rabbit damage.... *sigh*. I used to have a large collection of epimediums and I'm down to a half a dozen or so. And I have shrubs that I've had to cut down to the ground. Roses I've had to cut down to the ground.

So...hopefully May will bring about some pleasant surprises and make up for April. :-)

So...hopefully May will bring about some pleasant surprises and make up for April. :-)

Amen to THAT, PM2, amen!

:)

Dee

At PM2 we are under severe drought this spring and it has made me reluctant to dig up divide anything add to that the constant swings between temps in the high 80s and freeze warnings. It’s definitely getting harder to garden and not just because I’m getting older!

Markay, That is a good reminder on not stressing a plant further. But....I really have to move some things. I plan on watering them well for a week and then lifting, dividing, planting, watering watering watering. Putting milk crates over them for shade, and I'm sure they will be fine. Not the first time I've done that.

ABSOLUTELY - Amazing to me how aging suddenly speeds up and before you know it, the abilities you took for granted when you were younger, start slipping. I find I'm trying to push past it and work harder to maintain my muscles and balance. Some weeks I do better than others with that. But...i'm also not venturing out in the miserable weather either. [g]