April is the Month of Flowers (Especially Irises)

Mid-April brings a lot of flowers around here.  Its my favorite time of year.  Every plant is putting on its best show to attract pollinators.  I'll start off with something small and end with the larger bushes.

Ajuga is a perennial groundcover that comes back every year.

Bearded irises and and a knockout rose bush are blooming now. 

A very large bumble bee visited the pink indian hawthorne. 


I'm guessing this bee was over 1 1/2" long.

The Pittisporum is blooming now.  It is also called Mock Orange because the blossoms smell like orange blossoms. It can get up to six feet tall and keeps its leaves through the winter.  This particular variety is variegated.  I intend to prune it soon so that it gives a flowing bonsai effect over the swimming pool.

Close up shot of the wonderfully fragrant blossoms.  Honeybees love it.  I tried to snap a good picture with a bee, but they were too fast for me today.

I love the red color on this bearded iris.

Another large knock out rose, pink hawthorne and the red bearded irises - all in bloom. The Althea (Rose of Sharon) has budded out behind them and will begin blooming in June.


I haven't noticed as many cedar waxwings around here as much as I did last spring, but I did see a group of them in my neighbor's tree this week.

My mammoth climbing antique roses on the other side of my backyard are blooming now.  These climbing roses are over 10 years old.  I would say they span a distance of at least 50-60 feet and are at least 9-12 feet tall.  I posted a picture of the blooming antique roses on the other side of my yard in last weeks blog post.

We are going to have a lot of peaches this year!

And finally, here is Ragnar, checking out the birds.

Mid-April 2015

The days are in the mid 70's - perfect weather interspersed with rainy days makes for beautiful flowers and a healthy and growing vegetable garden.

The Louisiana iris are coming up now. 

Blackberries and climbing antique roses are both in full bloom now.

 This rose is very large - about eight tall.

 The bald cypress are starting to bud out now.

My butterfly rose (Mutabulis) is a climbing antique that has many colored petals.  It is huge.

And yet another beautiful antique rose.  Souvenir de la Malmaison.  I love all the petals.

Our vegetable garden is looking good now.

Onions in the foreground.  A wisteria vine has been trained into a tree in the background.

Tomatoes

Festus is sniffing around for bunnies.

 The bush beans are coming up, but not everywhere, so we are overseeding.

Tiny carrots are starting to come up now.


 The artichokes continue to grow larger.

An antique rose bush, Old Blush,  in the front yard is in full bloom right now.  You can see our 3000 gallon water cistern in this picture.

The pink indian hawthorne is in full bloom right now.

Climbing clemantis.

The lemon balm smells wonderful. 

 The front porch looks nice.  The bearded iris are almost ready to burst forth.

  The golden columbine is in full bloom now!

Pink indian hawthorne is in the foreground with a red knockout rose in the background.  

And finally, our first snake, looks like it just hatched - about 6" long, of the season - not sure what it is - in the pool!

Easter Weekend 2015

It is Easter weekend in North Texas - my favorite time of year.  Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, Sunday we got rain all day.  Time to check out what is going on around here. The petunias in a pot on the front porch Saturday morning look lovely in the early morning sunshine.

The first blooms of the golden columbine are out now.

A Eurasian collared dove visited the backyard today.  This dove was imported and is not native to Texas.

The petunias in a pot continue to grow and spill out on the sides.

 The Russian quince is blooming now.  It is probably 12-13 feet tall now.  We planted it about 4 years ago.

This is the first year we have had so many blooms - we will have lots of fruit this year.

 

 We ordered this tree bare root through the mail.

Look who got caught getting a snort of catnip - Merlin!

Pretty pansies on the front porch.

The Nellie R. Stevens holly bushes are covered in blooms and swarming with honey bees now.  These are tough evergreen bushes with glossy leaves that are drought tolerant.  Mine are getting very tall - about 8 - 10 feet.

The Japanese black pine is putting out new shoots.

In the vegetable garden, we found a bunny hole - uh oh.  The rosemary is getting so big that it is a good spot to hide behind.  Asparagus is on top.  It is starting to get out of control.

The blackberry bushes are blooming now.

The wisteria vine is also blooming now.

And finally - this past week when a front began to blow through, the clouds were lovely - at dusk.