Hello and Happy April!
Is it ‘spring-y’ in your neck of the woods?
Mother Nature is a little behind schedule in the spring-weather-department in North Carolina compared to previous years. March roared out like lion instead of like a gentle little lamb, ending the month with thunderstorms, gusty winds and heavy downpours. Bridal Wreath Spirea and Lady Banks Rose were frost nipped a couple of weeks ago with a 50 degree temperature plunge into the 20s so we’ll have to wait another year to see their arching branches in bloom. . . *sniff*.
In case you need a reminder (like I do) that Spring will arrive, I’m reaching into the archives to pick some garden blooms and flowers around the Potting Shed to share today!
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.”
– Luther Burbank
I’m dreaming about flowers and gardening season as I pick up debris from our wind-blown yard and replacing washed mulch. :)
Click on the highlighted links for some flower therapy, if you’d like to revisit a post.
Blooming Spring Wreath for the Potting Shed and Easy Bow Making Technique
Azaleas, Spirea, Viburnum and Lady Banks Rose
Fresh Flower Market: Spring Blooms in the Potting Shed
Ball jar bouquets of hyacinths, tulips and iris provide spring blooms along with vintage transferware for some tabletop gardening in the Potting Shed.
Spring Snowballs and Bird Chirping Table
Fortunately our Snowball Viburnums weren’t far enough along to be frost-nipped and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Mother Nature ‘plays nice’ and doesn’t throw any more freezing weather our way. :)
Public Service Announcement: Plant a Limelight Hydrangea…or Five
Plant this easy to grow, low maintenance shrub in your garden that will provide you with both beautiful cut and dried flowers
‘Sarah Bernhardt’ Peony is favorite peony variety, which typically blooms mid to late May.
Ball Jar Bouquets and Peony Season
Peony blooms are so fleeting, you have to enjoy the beauty and sweet fragrance while you can!
Spring Flowers Around the Potting Shed
We’re in garden zone 7b in the Southern Piedmont of North Carolina. May to June is when our Endless Summer Hydrangeas, Buddleia (butterfly bush), clematis and roses are flush with blooms.
Find your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone by zipcode, here.
Flower Market Buckets + Blooms Around the Potting Shed
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the most common butterfly we see fluttering around the garden. This is a female swallowtail, denoted by the large area of blue area on the hind wings, alight on a Soda Pop Butterfly Bush, a dwarf variety Buddleia.
Clematis ‘Bernadine’ is a rebloomer variety with lavender-blue petals and magenta stamens. It’s happy with 4 – 6 hours of sun and hardy in zones 4 – 9 and is bee and butterfly friendly!
Earth Angel Rose is a fragrant old-fashioned rose and with blooms varying in color from white to soft pink.
It’s hardy in zones 5 – 9 and takes several bloom cycles to produce peony-shaped flowers.
If you want a plant that attracts pollinators, self-sows and that tolerates the heat, plant Verbena Lollipop! It grows in zones 6 – 10 and prefers full sun in well-drained soil.
We had several new clumps of Lollipop that volunteered last spring, seeded from the previous year’s plants.
I’m a firm *bee*liever in not being too hasty when it comes to pulling your ‘weeds’ in case you can identify them after a little growth as a flower. . . or that’s my excuse anyway. ;)
Summer Heat and Spring Flowers Around the Potting Shed
“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
– Hal Borland
I’m happy to say there are no April Fools pranks from Mother Nature today
with sunshine returning and temperatures in the 60s and 70s for the next week.
Are you seeing signs of spring in your neck of the woods?
🐝🌷🌼🦋🏡
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”
— Alfred Austin
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Sharing with: Metamorphosis Monday
Good Morning Mary… I am going to adopt your philosophy about weed pulling and let those little (and sometimes big) green things just grow a little longer in case they are flowers while I garden elsewhere in my yard or sip a cup of tea or read or play with my chickens…..peace
Thank you for the beautiful pictures, woke this morning to the grass totally covered with snow.
The Earth Angel roses are gorgeous! I am so happy April has arrived! Now if only the calendar would slow down a little and Spring could linger longer…
Jenna
Thank you for the beautiful flower therapy! No Lady Banks nor Bridal Wreath spirea for us this year! The snowball viburnums are turning their creamy white, makes me smile. Happy April, Mary!
Yes! I’m seeing signs of spring and things I’m not even sure what they are yet! Google lens has been my friend. I get so excited to see new stuff. Day before yesterday I found a clematis plant growing behind the house, and relocated it to a more prominent spot yesterday (and purged random and overgrown things). Clematis was one of the plants I really wanted to get this year, so I hope it does well. Peonies are doing great (even after Mother Nature’s bitter cold shoulder last weekend). Not sure if my boxwoods will make it long term but they’re hanging in there, just look a little pekid. Love, love, love seeing all your plants while I try to decide what I want. Happy April!
Rita, I study Mary’s posts too for ideas for plants, though we get more severe heat and dry days. Her garden is swoon worthy as is her darling garden shed. I’m thrilled to know your peonies are doing great! How I wish I could grow my own peonies. They are often $8 a stem here in the market. Thankful for Trader Joe’s who sells bouquets for that. They limit buyers to two bouquets a visit though.
Mary, my gardener’s spirit is right there with you! It’s nippy this morning as I type, but fortunately the fierce winds have subsided. I’ve much work yet, but yes, we have signs of spring. My bluebonnet patch is in full bloom. That always makes me smile!
I’ve got garden glove envy! I adore those garden gloves with the pansy impressions. Did you make those? Actually I’m always green with envy at your gorgeous garden shares from the amazing blooms to your swoon worthy garden shed with all the watering cans, vintage garden tools, and special touches. Oh, and I love the garden quotes. Saving those!!!
Cheers to spring!
Signs of spring blooming in our yard – hyacinths, ajuga, daffodils, pansies, azaleas and loropetalum. Ferns are beginning their return. I think spring is the prettiest season of the year with renewal and hope. Your photos as so beautiful, Mary. Thank you for your wonderful posts.
This is my favorite time of year to read to read your blog. I love your gardening posts and pictures!
Happy April! Motivated to get out in my yard and start all gardening projects! The flowers and ideas are beautiful! Enjoy !
Awww, so lovely. Thank you for the lovely pictures, so much better to look at than the snow flurries outside my window. 😣. All of your hard work Mary really pays off, your garden is so beautiful. Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, one day Spring will really come to Michigan, too, lol.
Mary, Happy April. Just loved all your beautiful photos. I noticed the frost damage to my usually lovely Bridal Veil bushes yesterday. No blooms for me this year either and some of my Hostas took a hit from the cold temps last week. Fortunately March’s lion like departure didn’t cause any wind damage, just lots of rain, and today is great weather to work outdoors. I have a mile long list.So far I fertilized my strawberries,planted some snapdragons and started cleaning out the potting shed. Now on a lunch break. Have a good weekend.
Such a happy post full of blooms. Happy gardeners make the world go around. I adore looking at each photo. We have our spring blooms, Lady banks wisteria, some roses, rosemary, lavender, daisies and more. Such a lovely time of year. Thanks for the eye candy this morning.
Oh My Goodness, every thing is so beautiful.. Today it snowed ware we live….
Thanks for the beauty, Mary. I’m sorry about your Lady Banks and your spirea. Hopefully your snowballs will come through for you. My mini limelight hydrangeas look absolutely dead! Happy weekend to you!
All of your flowers are so beautiful! As a gardener myself I know the hard work that goes into it! Love your spring and summer floral posts!
Oh how we love seeing your flowers.
I promise… Spring is coming.
Happy April Mary!
Well, we are getting 3″ of snow as I type this….Sigh…lovely photos though! Sandi in Chicagoland
PURE HEAVEN! At first I was horrified how far ahead your garden was from mine until I started to read! Glorious, every shot and setting prize winning! I’m slaving away daily, maybe next year I can rest on my laurels and enjoy!
Thank you for visiting my blog and slogging through I bet 1000 pics, its that time of year where I can’t get enough garden color in my line of sight! You asked a few questions and thought I would simplify things and respond here, the yellow and white iris you asked about it protocol, a median, meaning it’s shorter.
My barn rose is Cecile Brunner, she is a mammoth one time bloomer, but worth it! That rose is maybe 2-3 years old, I don’t fertilize, but I use free wood chips from tree trimmers mounded up very high as a natural weed and feed source for every square inch of my garden. IT WORKS 😁
The lilacs were here when we bought, they are probably 30 years old, but I added Persian lilacs and they too are happy!
That is not pink wisteria, its the Idaho locusts tree, every inch of it is covered in blooms right now, a real showstopper 😍
Thanks again for visiting and love your hutch!