April 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Hoy]

A few plants from the garden yesterday.

Rh. wardii - a pale yellow form

Arisaema unknown sp

Arisaema sikokianum

Magnolia stellata and Clematis montana

Rhododendron 'Haba Shan'

[Hoy]

A few more:

Cardamine pentaphyllos white form

Geranium tuberosum

Rhododendron - forgotten the name long ago!

Lysichiton americanus x camtschatcensis

Epimedium perralderianum(?)

[Leena]

Trond, your white Cardamine is very pretty! Wild rabbits ate my Cardamine glanduligera before it had time to flower.

Over here last week was unusually warm, more than +20C which is a lot in April. Plants are coming up fast and snowdrops are almost over now, only the late ones in more shady places are still flowering.
Hellebores are at their best now.
It is funny how plants are catching up and some are now flowering here the same time as in more south, like Sanguinaria canadensis.

[Leena]

Corydalis are also flowering now, but they don't like this too warm weather. Flowers go over fast and in many cultivars red fades to pink, or purplish shade. Hepatica nobilis is also flowering right now.
Red Corydalis solida in the first picture is 'George Baker'.
In the second the pink one is 'Pink Smile', and in the background shorter 'King Arthur'.
Dicentra cuccularia 'Pink Punk'
My best beds are shady, but I have one dry slope and Pulsatilla halleri subsp slavica 'Alba' (grown from seeds many some years ago) grows bigger there every year, it seems to like that place very much, and it is such a pretty plant.

[ashley]

Wonderful plants and photos Leena.  You have a lovely woodland garden.
That pulsatilla is exquisite and obviously very happy.

[Leucogenes]

Thomas, I think your summers are too warm!
You have to grow them in a fridge

Thank you, Thomas.

I have never tried cultivating P borealis. It is a plant for the extreme north, growing wild some places in Finnmark and in Svalbard (Spitzbergen). I have seen it growing in sandy, stony soil among grass and in a rocky riverbed in Spitzbergen. Also for this the summer heat may be a problem.

Polemonium borealis from Svalbard (July some years ago):

Hi Trond

Many thanks for the quick answer and the helpful information. These are the same as my previous research. Last year I made some extra temperature measurements...to find the coolest point in my alpinum...as already mentioned, I may be exaggerating. 😉
The two specimens of D. lapponica were in a high pot. I opened the pot very carefully at the bottom and sank it very deep into the ground. If I notice that the plants are not doing well, I will probably install a water-cooled underground cooling system...a little fun.

Polemonium borealis I will plant in the same area...at a proper distance. There are also garden worthy breeds...but you know my personal preference for wild forms.

There are really some great tiny plants from the far north. I think for example of a few Douglasia from Alaska or Synthyris borealis...an absolute dream.

I will report about this little experiment again...no matter whether successful or not.

[Leucogenes]

I am also excited about the great pictures from your woodland garden...Leena. Especially beautiful I find the play of light and shadow. Also great is how the many colorful plants are surrounded by the old foliage of the trees...very natural...👍

[Yann]

Lovely photos for all your gardens!

In august 2014 i sown this paeonie, Paeonia obovata var alba, it's flowering for the first time.

[ian mcdonald]

Good images of your gardens everyone. Thomas, I have tried to grow D. lapponica without success, I wonder if it needs snow cover in winter?

[Robert]

Some great garden photographs everyone! 

Over here last week was unusually warm, more than +20C which is a lot in April. Plants are coming up fast and snowdrops are almost over now, only the late ones in more shady places are still flowering.

Leena,

Our temperatures cooled yesterday, however for the previous three days we have had record breaking high temperatures in the 31 to 32.2 C range.

[Robert]

A few more photographs from our Sacramento, California garden.



Azalea Pink 'Nightlife', part of the Nightlife grex. They are all Rhododendron occidentale hybrids.



Azalea 'White Nightlife'



Unnamed 'Nightlife' azalea. It is a chimera that throws lined pink against white flowers much like a Satsuki Azalea.



Allium falcifolium with Salvia sonomensis.



Allium unifolium with Layia

[Robert]

No flowers yet, but I am having a great deal of success with this batch of Viola douglasii seedlings.



Viola purpurea ssp. integrifolia. I am still hoping it will flower this year. I am finally having a great deal of success cultivating our California native Viola species. I am thrilled about this. 



Towering deciduous azaleas in our garden. A few are over 3 meters in height!



My wife Jasmin in among the azaleas.

[Leena]

Thank you Ashley. It is so rewarding to find a place for a plant where it loves to grow. Not always so easy for me, a learning process.

I am also excited about the great pictures from your woodland garden...Leena. Especially beautiful I find the play of light and shadow. Also great is how the many colorful plants are surrounded by the old foliage of the trees...very natural...👍

Thank you . Light was very nice yesterday when I took the pictures.
My beds are surrounded by trees, and also I add some dry leaves for winter protection (because you never know what kind of winter is coming), and the leaves are left in the beds and disappear during summer. They also help to keep moisture, but the downside is that they may give also shelter to snails and such. Blackbirds like to throw the leaves around when they look for food under them.

Leena, Our temperatures cooled yesterday, however for the previous three days we have had record breaking high temperatures in the 31 to 32.2 C range.

You must be used to so hot temperatures!
And your azaleas seem to love it and flower to abundantly. They are really great, so tall with colourful flowers.

[Leena]

In august 2014 i sown this paeonie, Paeonia obovata var alba, it's flowering for the first time.

P.obovata is one of my favourites, so easy to grow here, but it flowers quite a short time.
Opening seedpods in the autumn are like a second flowering for it.

[Leucogenes]

Hi Robert and Jasmin...

I remember a photo of Jasmin in the snow during a snowball fight. Now in a sea of colors. Great

Your variety of colors is impressive...