Garden Fragrance: April

The new roses have begun to bloom.  Need I say more?  So far only Crown Princess Margareta in the under-construction rose border and Wollerton Old Hall in the small garden itself have blooms for the showing, but these two are enough to take over the matter of garden fragrance!

Crown Princess Margareta bears flowers of a warm apricot.  The actual colours have varied quite a bit, from fairly pale...

...to a rich tone with a bit more pink.

This is a very elegant rose.  Blooms are carried in loose clusters on what is, so far, a rather spreading shrub.  Rich fragrance.

Wollerton Old Hall bears tight clusters of beautifully rounded blooms.  These are pale cream with a hint of apricot also.

The buds are more decidedly peach-toned.

The bush itself is nicely rounded and the flower clusters are delicate but sumptuous.  Fragrance is clean rose scent.  The overall habit looks to be just right for the garden.

It does, however, have a tendency to open its blooms facing the light, which means that the view from the patio, which it edges, looks like this.  But I am not complaining!

As this is, after all, the Scent in the Garden meme (with Wellywoman, who is hosting this wonderful theme), I will look at the other fragrant flowers in the garden at present.  These include the last few blooms from Genista stenopetala, which had not yet opened its first for the March post.  It has bloomed well since then with its strong, lemony fragrance wafting about the garden during the height of bloom.

Since last month, the chamomile (Matricaria recutita) has come into bloom.  Nicely scented it is, though perhaps not what we usually think of when adding "fragrance" to the garden!

Lemon thyme simply keeps on blooming - an undoubtedly wonderful scent (and flavour!) and one which I would like to spread throughout the garden.

A couple of native plants are producing delightfully fragrant flowers just now.  Berlandiera lyrata is still blooming heavily.  Then there is the night-flowering, night-scented Oenothera pallida "Innocence", again with a fragrance that seems to carry on the breeze.

On a more exotic note, Cistanthe grandiflora has a wonderful smell when presented directly to the nose - not too difficult as its blooms rise well above the foliage mound at their base.

And Duranta erecta (syn. D. repens) from the tropics, with a velvety fragrance in its velvety purple petals...

By next month the rest of the roses should be ready to bloom, I hope!

From Spring into Summer

There is a strong sense of transition in the small, sunny garden now, as spring comes to its close and early summer makes its presence known.  A number of spring-blooming plants are finally beginning to fade, while other varieties are just beginning to show their summer buds.  And a few stalwarts seem oblivious to seasons.  As this is a fascinating period, I want to give a real overview of what is blooming for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  So I will divide the current bloom into these three groups.

First, the spring flowers that are just fading.  Penstemon parryi still has a few blooms - lovely as ever, but most of its flush is over and seeds have replaced some of the flowers.  This plant has been in flower since the beginning of March.

Damianita (Chrysactinia mexicana), which has followed the Penstemon closely in bloom period, is also spending its last few blooms.  The plant is still covered in wispy seedheads and fading flowers.  Soon I will shear these off and have just the little evergreen bush again.

To my great satisfaction, one more cluster of Narcissus canaliculatus did open (see my recent Narcissus post), so I have this to show for GBBD.  The bulbs that I moved closer to the surface, after sitting still doing nothing for days, have begun to grow on out.  So hopefully they will be capable of setting bloom next year.  I don't expect anything more this year from these little heroes!

Yes, the time of spring bulbs is about finished here.  Ornithogalum arabicum is also fading, each individual bloom still as fresh as ever, but fewer and fewer of them.

The summer bulbs I planted only last month are just beginning to show above the soil surface.  In the meantime, here is a look at some plants that have just reached bud stage.

I await the first blooms from foliage extravaganza Senecio "Blue Fingers".

Even more excitingly, newly-planted Aquilegia desertorum has a couple of buds (only one visible in this picture).

Both the kangaroo paws plants have come out with some new buds, rather smaller than the ones they had when I purchased the plants.  I have been chary of feeding them much, but maybe they wouldn't mind a little more.  Anigozanthos flavidus, the species...

...and variety "Bush Ranger" have both settled in well and have healthy new growth just now.

Introducing a rose...  This is a bud on The Alnwick Rose (David Austin 2001).

But Wollerton Old Hall (David Austin 2011), planted directly beside the patio, is just giving its first blooms.  Beautiful, globular blooms - fragrant, of course!

Also just by the patio, little miniature rose Daniela (Kordes) continues to bloom.

 Up on the patio itself is Duranta repens, the pigeonberry of the tropical Americas.  This shrub is  a little more sensitive to cold, so I am keeping it in a pot.  I don't know how long that will last since it is said to grow to as much as 25 ft.  But so far, so good.  The flowers are exquisite, with a pleasant perfume.

Back into the garden, another tropical native has buds and blooms all over - waving in the wind about a foot or more above its mound of foliage.  Here is Cistanthe grandiflora, which had a post all to itself about a week ago.

In a much more classic vein, the first chamomile plants are in full bloom.  This is the annual or "German" chamomile Matricaria recutita.  I am growing them as I would have grown feverfew in the past.  I think I like these little plants even better as ultra-traditional, casual fillers.

Also in fine form is Oenothera pallida "Innocence", which I just presented in my last post.

And for some plants, even being in full bloom is only halfway to the goal.  Tomatoes, for instance...

And the plants that keep blooming and blooming...

Russelia equisetiformis and Salvia greggii "Autumn Moon" are both looking a bit disshevelled and in need of a rest, but see how exuberant they still are!

Down in the Dry Corner, Tetraneuris aucalis and Berlandiera lyrata show no signs of slowing down at all.

And the little violas, which will stop eventually as the heat increases, haven't complained yet... except when I tried to shorten up on the watering!  These planted in the afternoon shade provided by the patio had no problems even then.

I've probably left someone out, but this is a fairly complete list as I wanted to look over this richly flowering seasonal transition time.  Lavenders, oh yes, the new arrival Goodwin Creek Grey has some blooms, but the two L. stoechas varieties are taking a rest, a very well deserved rest in the case of "Madrid".  Osteospermums - note the plural; there have been a couple of recent additions in this field - are a bit betwixt and between with two having some flowers today.  The third was a clearance rescue case, and it is looking very frisky now but will probably not bloom for another week or two.  Perovskia's buds are present but too small to photograph - at least in today's wind!

So that is the wrap up for April's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, where so many more April gardens are on view!  I have been AWOL from the blog for a couple of days and missed the Monday Vase - mine and everyone else's - due to some less than enjoyable deadlines, not only the taxes...  But I was eager to take this look round the garden and enjoy it with all of you.  Hope you enjoyed it too!

Lastly, from the new rose border, still the only bush with open flowers...  Crown Princess Margareta...

Weather Diary: sunny and breezy, High: 81 F/27.2 C, Low: 62 F/16.7 C

ed.  I have to laugh at the word "summer" a little this evening as our temperatures are plummeting in true desert style and are expected to drop into the forties (8 C or so) before morning.  But I was trying to describe a very real sense that the garden itself is changing over from one season - or half-season - to the next...

Night White

At last I am introducing Oenothera pallida "Innocence", one of the few plant varieties I grew from seed last winter.  It deserved to be presented sooner!  The first one began blooming about a week and a half ago.  It is a night-bloomer; and especially during the first week, the blossoms were entirely spent by midmorning.  Oddly enough, they are holding a little longer through the mornings now, and I am adjusting (slightly) to photographing their stark white blossoms.

As it comes into its own, it is proving floriferous, up to six large (3.5 in/9 cm) blooms on a couple of the plants tonight.  It is low-growing; my specimens thus far are around 8 - 12 inches (20 - 30 cm) high with considerable variation in width, up to 2 ft (61 cm) wide in one case, though the others are smaller.  It has a low, semi-prostrate habit.

Growth is open; at this point I would say this is not a plant to smother weeds, unlike O. speciosa.  Perhaps that will change as it settles in ever more strongly.  With its current habit, I would like to grow some of the taller summer bulbs through the foliage.

As I noted earlier, its flowers open at night.  They turn pink and collapse next morning.  The plants seem to be more or less self-cleaning, with spent blooms dropping off the plant within a few days.

My first glimpse of them is generally by the electric lights from the adjacent patio.  The luminous white petals have a wonderful glow, even in the dark.  I have never before grown anything for a night garden.  I begin to understand its allure through these plants - the sense of something that has just bloomed, just made its presence known after the day is done, something fugitive and sweet. And they are a little fugitive, especially here where there is so little dusk due to the latitude and low humidity.

What is not fugitive is the scent, perhaps best described as very sweet lemon with no tang.  It's hard to describe a smell!  There is plenty of it; it's probably the most fragrant flower I have at the moment, and happily, it becomes airborne, wafting across the garden.

The species is a western US native, growing in Colorado and Utah.  It is said (Southwest Colorado Wildflowers) to spread by means of its rhizomes.

I discovered this variety by chance as I was hunting through end-of-season bargains from Park Seeds last year.  I am so pleased that I tried it!  The plants themselves have been very sturdy, showing almost no transplanting shock, and never seeming concerned about dry conditions.  Though I confess that I've been keeping them fairly well watered since I've been enjoying their flowers so much...

Footnote: I've decided it may be very helpful later if I begin posting a record of weather conditions now.  This way I will be able to make comparisons from one month, or year, to the next.  So for today: Sunny, Low: 59 F (15 C)/High: 85 F (29.4 C)

My Friend, the Narcissus

For many years I have loved Narcissus.  And, in general, they seemed to return the affection.  That is to say, they grew and they did not get eaten by rabbits (unlike tulips) and they returned in force year after year, usually in increasing numbers.  As far as I am concerned, one cannot have too many narcissus.

All of this was in my garden in the middle of the Midwest.  Now I am out in the desert and determined to continue growing these favourites if at all possible.  All indications are that it is possible.  So last autumn I selected the little species Narcissus canaliculatus as the best place to begin.  Origin unknown, N. canaliculatus is believed to be affiliated with N. tazetta, supposedly the most reliable narcissus category for growing in low-chill regions.  The catalogue (McClure and Zimmerman) described it as liking a summer's baking!  I thought I could certainly provide for that preference.

Having planted the bulbs, I waited.  And as spring came round, I watched.  And nothing happened.

Well, I will keep the embarassing part of this story short.  In an inane fit of over-enthusiasm, I had planted the bulbs much too deep.  Much, much too deep.  The error was probably exacerbated by dirt flowing back in from the edges of the watering ring which I carefully threw up around the bulb patch.  For a month or two I have attempted to dig the planting area deeper so as to give the stalks a chance to meet the sunshine.

And a few have done so.  A couple have even sent up their darling miniature flower clusters, replete with more than miniature scent - so long as you are willing to get to their level, which must be all of five inches (12.7 cm) high.

At any rate, I am now reasonably certain that the problem was with my planting, rather than with the capacity of the bulbs to grow in this soil (an earlier theory, developed before I bravely took spade in hand and dug all the way down to find the sprouting bulbs).  So while I am a bit irritated with myself, I am happy.  I can have my narcissus!  Next fall I will be much more intelligent about planting depth.

The two clusters have just now given out, which means they lasted for about a week.  They did not appear to suffer at all from the dry air or from the temperatures, which haven't been too bad, mostly in the low 80s F (27 C).  Another bud has emerged from another little cluster of leaves, so it is possible I may get one more flowering stalk.

In the meantime, here are a few more pictures...