April blooms: the garden awakens

The 2023 gardening season is well underway and I'm excited for what's in store. I'm working on a brand new bed in the back yard and anxious to see some new blooms from things planted last year. But more on that to come. Let's see what's in bloom now.

There is a bit of a lull in mid-April in my zone 6b, central Ohio garden. The early spring bulbs like crocus, chinodoxia, camassia and snow drops are gone and the daffodils are on their way out. The tulips that the deer haven't feasted on are close, but most aren't blooming yet. 

The real party starts in May, but the garden is starting to wake up and send more and more green shoots up nearly daily.

To me the star right now is this crabapple tree. It's gorgeous when in bloom and smells like early spring to me. Last year's bloom was lackluster, but this year it's outstanding. This beauty was here when I moved in and I just love it.

The blooms don't last long, unfortunately, so I treasure it while it lasts.

Seeing this clumps of daffodils bloom is like seeing an old friend. One I had forgotten about if I'm honest. To me rediscovering existing plants is almost as fun as seeing new ones bloom. 

Here's a sampling of the other daffodils in bloom. I'm not sure of the exact varieties as these came from a mixed bag.

I really love tulips, but unfortunately so do the deer. This was the only one of this clump I managed to spray with deer repellent before it was chomped. Even though I live in the middle of the city the deer are plentiful here and visit my yard almost daily in season. A few other survivors haven't bloomed yet.

There are also numerous clumps of grape hyacinths in different areas and at this point my yard is at least 30% wild violets since I don't use pesticides, or fertilizer for that matter on the lawn.

That's it for this month in my garden, but you can visit May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in other gardens.