Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2011

The mid-April garden is springing to life!

I can't remember ever appreciating the newly emerging blooms quite so much.
Perhaps it's because our winter seemed everlasting.

The sight of blooming Daffodils lifts my soul.

This time last year the gardens were bursting with blooms, but they're all a little slower this spring.

Hyacinths were fully open for last year's Bloom Day, but the flowers are just emerging this week.

A few Crocuses are still blooming and the bees have been busily enjoying them.

There's a small patch of golden yellow Crocuses in the Clematis Garden.

These beauties have just finished, but they were still gorgeous just a few days ago.

Most of this mixed group are drooping now as well, but they were such a delight during their brief reign of glory.

Hannah is so happy to be exploring the outdoors again.

She thinks the Daffodils make a good hiding place for watching the birds.

The blue flowered Scilla siberica (Siberian Squill) is one of my absolute favorites.

Bees love it too.

The yellow and white Daffodils in the Clematis Garden were some of the first to open just a couple of days ago.

Snowdrops are finally beginning to fade, after blooming for a month, and don't look as good as this now, but it's amazing how well they hold up to the inconsistencies of early spring weather.

There's something so endearing about the little bulbs of spring. These Chionadoxas (Glory of the Snow) make such a pretty patch of color.

The pink Helleborus has been slow to open.....

......but here it is, finally!
Not as spectacular as some I've seen on other blogs, but very precious to me after waiting 4 years for this bloom!

There are a few new blooms on the white Helleborus. It began blooming back in October and is still producing blooms after napping under a blanket of snow for several months.

The Silver Maple is ablaze with fuzzy red flowers and I see a haze of red from the maples in the surrounding woods.

We've had several beautiful, sunny days lately (with April showers in between) and I've been out doing some clean-up in the garden beds. It feels so good to be out in the garden again, feeling the warmth of the sun!  

Hannah is in full agreement :)

And how wonderful it is to once again have colorful blooms to photograph and enjoy.

I hope you're enjoying your spring (or fall) garden as much as I'm enjoying mine.

Carol of May Dreams Gardens has a long list of other gardeners showing off their blooms for this April Bloom Day. I hope you'll find time to visit her and click some of those links.
I notice that Carol's Indiana garden is quite a bit further along than our upstate NY zone 5 garden, but we'll get there. I'm quite happy to go a little slower and just enjoy each day of these long awaited spring blooms.