Welcome April!

If you ever chat with gardeners, you may find that we often carry on about how delightful the current month is in the garden. As each month arrives, it becomes our new favorite. Right now, April is my favorite month! But seriously, it is pretty hard to beat. Here in central Ohio, April is the month that flowers begin to arrive in earnest.

April is also a month of rapid changes in my garden. When I look back at my monthly photo file, I see we started out with just a few flowers and a faded lawn. But by month's end, the grass has transitioned to a rich, deep green, and new flowers appear almost daily. It's best not to miss a single day of checking for fresh blooms.

But it hasn't been all warmth and sunshine this month, that's for sure. However, there's one good thing about cool weather in the spring garden, it makes the bulb blooms last much longer.

Not all the April flowers come from bulbs, but I'd say most do. Still, I've seen hellebores, primrose, and brunnera all in bloom this month, and of course pansies and violets.

The blooming trees have been especially gorgeous this year, all over town. I've got the dreaded ornamental pear and my beloved redbud to show off myself. My crabapples have started to bloom, but they aren't doing well this year. I think they have a disease. Sure hope they can be saved.

But it's really all about the tulips this time of year. I dearly love tulips! Most of them I treat as annuals, but sometimes I get lucky and see repeat blooms.

Cooler weather has allowed me to enjoy extended bloom time this year. I'm delighted! I especially like these coral colored beauties, as they've been blooming for nearly two weeks. I don't often allow orange in my garden, but I'm glad I broke my rules for these. I intend to continue breaking the rules, as these have become a new favorite.

It's not that I have anything against orange, I actually love it. But my garden theme colors are pink, purple and yellow. That's why most of my tulip colors look more like this.

Tomorrow is May 1st, so soon I'll be saying that May is the best month in my garden. I'll have my containers all planted, the roses will bloom, bearded iris will arrive, and many other surprises await. But for now, April is my very favorite!