April 2018 in Northern Hemisphere

[Leena]

Spring advanced last week and now all the snow is gone, and ground is not frozen anymore. We had couple of very warm days, temperatures near +20C, the same time as it was even warmer in Europe. Now it is back to normal weather, days around +10 and nights a bit above zero or around it.
Snowdrops are at their best now, crocuses are starting to flower, and there are lot of buds in Hellebores, Corydalis and Hepatica.
Pictures from the week-end.

[Véronique Macrelle]

[Maggi Young]

I think this photo from Sue Simpson illustrates just why she has such success at shows !
 View  into one of the glasshouses at Sue and George's place, today ....

[Robert]

Nice to already have so many flowers in your garden Robert. Your Maianthemum looks more like M. stellatum to me but not enough detail to say for sure.

Gabriela,

Thanks for catching my mistake, the plant is indeed Maianthemun stellatum. 

A few more plants from our garden....



Nemophila menziesii 'Frosty Blue' - seed from Ginny Hunt (seedhunt).



Mimulus pictum - another California native annual. The plants are small. I grow mine in pots where they can be enjoyed close up.



Mimulus aurantiacus var. pubescens - A subshrub. 100% exric.



Allium falcifolium - Very common in the northern coast mountains of California.



Allium falcifolium - A high elevation form with flowers that hold their deep color even at low elevations in the hot Sacramento Valley.

[Robert]

Digitalis purpurea - A common garden plant even in Sacramento. Common or not, they do look good in the garden.



Sanicula tuberosa - Finally, I might be getting this species established in our Sacramento garden. At least I am getting them through the summer (when they are dormant). Next step is to try a few in the open garden and grow additional seedlings.



Our raspberry colored Azalea.



More deciduous Azaleas in our garden.

[Leena]

Robert, your azaleas are beautiful.
I can't grow azaleas, because they are the favourite food of deer which come to my garden. They leave rhododendrons alone more, so I try to grow them.

[Hoy]

Robert,

when the foxglove is in flower it is full summer here! (It is a native in my parts of the word.)
So for me it looks like you have full summer!

Leena,

glad to see the snow has disappeared from your garden! It is still a lot of snow in the inland here.


We had a week of summer warmth, now it is back to normal weather - cool and rainy. Here are some plants flowering now.

Corydalis sp




Primula sp

[Hoy]

Helleborus sp from seed




Rhododendron sutchuenense




Mahonia bealei




Cardamine pentaphyllos pale pink

[Yann]

Wouah what a greenhouse Maggi!

[Maggi Young]

Wouah what a greenhouse Maggi!

Sue and George have several, Yann!  And  a HUGE shed - and 6 acres on their small-holding.  Lucky people but  they work VERY hard! 

[johnralphcarpenter]

Soldanella villosa

[David Nicholson]

Nice close-up Ralph, nice plant too.

[Yann]

Sue and George have several, Yann!  And  a HUGE shed - and 6 acres on their small-holding.  Lucky people but  they work VERY hard!

no doubt, nothing magic happens without working hard, i didn't know they own such collection.
modestly a small part of the rockery in the garden

[Robert]

Robert, your azaleas are beautiful.
I can't grow azaleas, because they are the favourite food of deer which come to my garden. They leave rhododendrons alone more, so I try to grow them.

Leena,

I was up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains today. At 6,000 feet (1,829 meters), I encountered 15 cm of snow on the ground. The bottom 4 cm was rock hard ice. I needed an ice ax to chip through it. I encounter this characteristic in the Sierra Nevada snow frequently in the 'spring' as the snow is melting. Is this something you have to deal with in your garden?

In the future, I want to find out how deep the ground freezes at the high elevations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I have a good idea that the ground does not freeze as deeply as it does in your garden in Finland.

Thank you for sharing the new spring growth in your garden. As I have said before, it reminds me of the new growth after snow melt in the high elevations of the Sierra Nevada. For me this is a good feeling! 

[Robert]

Robert,

when the foxglove is in flower it is full summer here! (It is a native in my parts of the word.)
So for me it looks like you have full summer!

Trond,

It is not summer here in our part of California. High temperatures have been 85-90 F (29.4-32.2 C). I guess this would be summer temperatures for you in Norway.    For us summer means day after day of 38-40 C, and sometimes even more, sometimes less.    Gardening in such weather is challenging.

It looks like your garden is awaking. I hope most of your plants avoided cold weather damage. Everything looks great.    Looking at postings of your garden and Leena's garden is my version of vicarious gardening!