No Showers, Just Flowers

'Barcelona'
After the garden views for Bloom Day, up-closes of the usual April flowers.  Leucospermum 'Blanche Ito', planted last June, has its first two flowers.  There are many more buds to open.  This is part of a series of florist Leucospermums hybridized in Hawaii for the cut-flower trade.  'Blanche' is pretty spectacular.  I have not yet gotten a really good photo, but I will keep working at it.  The flower eventually opens wide and fairly flat.

A little flatter and brighter a couple of days later.

Hmm.  I'll work on it.

Then of course the usual roses, unusually big, fat, and petal-stuffed, because Rain Is Magic.  'Snowbird', in particular, is dazzling.  Last year was horrible for roses, and this summer they will be probably be awful again, but in April, they are pure joy.

 

And others.  'Molineux':

 'The Ambridge Rose'

 The best pink Austin I have grown, 'Bishop's Castle'.  Productive, strong fragrance, good vigor. 

I hope 'Princess Alexandra Of Kent' will improve.  I moved it to a much better place last year and it does look better.  The plant still doesn't produce very many of these beauties. (Could there ever be enough?) 

 

 Three new roses this year.  Two have bloomed. 'Easy Spirit':

'Earth Angel'

 'Princesse Charlene de Monaco' has just a couple of buds and doesn't look that great--spindly.  Some of my very best roses were the slowest to get going:  'Firefighter', 'Bolero', 'Brass Band', and yes, 'Snowbird'.  So maybe it is one of those. 
'Firefighter' is going now

 Salvia 'Waverly'

An Eremophila planted last year.  This year lovely little hummingbird feeding flowers, but the plant is quite awkward--lanky and bare-bottomed.  I'm not sure it will survive as part of it died over the winter.  Oh, well.  Worth trying.

 First flowers from Lomandra 'Plantinum Beauty'.  This is a genus that can reseed quite prolifically, but all the selections imported to the US are male selections, so no reseeding.  It's all about the foliage, but the flowers are not bad at all. 

 The Freesias are having a really good spring. 

 Lavender 'Silver Anook'.  Planted last year it was underwhelming. This spring's deep purple flowers improved it.  

 The TB Iris are having a great year as well.  The plants in the somewhat reorganized TTT bed turned out to be deep purple.  Planted so long ago the color was forgotten because they never bloomed. 

  First Clematis flower of the year from 'Angelique' and it is twice the usual size.  That rain again.

Cerinthe, dewy.

   And of course Leucospermum 'Yellow Bird'

 And another yellow bird in the garden. 

Our rainy season is over.  I already miss the rain, but what it has created makes this April wonderful.