garden details, april

Now that the long, wet winter is over, green is springing from the ground faster than I can keep up with it. A thousand baby maples decorate the back slope between the big maple and the redwood. The lilac bushes, big as trees, are in full flower. The rhododendrons and azaleas burst open in quick succession, one after another. Every day brings a new delight.

I’m told we’re not done with winter gloom just yet, but for now, we’re blessed with sunshine even if it’s still too chilly to lounge outdoors.

It’s perfect gardening weather.

Come walk with me through my garden at sunset. You may not want to leave.

Chives and strawberries, which overwintered fine; two new types of clover, one of which has four leaves on each stem!; more of last year’s strawberries and this year’s parsley; snapdragons and creeping thyme.

Peeking through the trellis at some flowering vines I have yet to identify.

Lilacs and an old wooden shed at dusk.

Walk anywhere near the lilacs and you’ll smell their perfume on the air.

Primroses and Solomon’s seal with a few irises in a wooden planter; through the trellis; a budding azalea.

My favorite heart-shaped stump and grape hyacinths.

A squirrel’s-eye view of lemon balm, grape hyacinths, and blueberry bushes near sunset.

Blueberry bushes in full flower.

A flowering azalea; mossy garden path; lilacs.

This ginkgo tree was planted many years ago, and the previous homeowner cut it down a couple of years ago. It’s regrowing from the stump, so I’m going to move it to a spot not quite so near the house and see how it does.

The last of the flowering quince, which now towers over the fence it once leaned on for support.

A new bleeding heart I just planted in this old wooden planter in the shade of a huge fir tree.

A shower of apple blossoms; new purple violets in the woods; Modcloth fox doormat; Japanese maple; rhododendron showing deep pink against the pale apple blossoms.

Freshly flowering dogwood blossoms, a wee bit too high up for me to peek inside.

One of the last camellias of the year, warmed by the setting sun.

Good night, moon.

xoxo,

Lindley