Roses Blooming in my Neighborhood

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day, a good day to make lunch from the garden with:

arugula,

avocados,

Nasturtiums,

and fava beans 

in a salad.

Roses

In April my rose garden is filled with flowers.

The first to bloom is Zephirine Drouhin

and then it is my favorite rose.

But soon after the Prince blooms, so fragrant and deep red and thick with petals and it becomes my favorite rose.

Until the Eden Rose blooms with the pale pink edges

and darker center,

and it is my new favorite rose.

Ixia

Ixia, native to South Africa, are blooming now in my garden.

They are in the iris family and grow from corms.

Ixia are sometimes called Corn Lilies or

Wand Flowers.

April in my Garden

My garden in April is filled with flowers, such as Dutch Iris (Iris x hollandica).

This Shirley Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) has just opened and its petals are crumpled from being folded up in the bud.

They are growing from the seeds I scattered last fall.

The flowers are popular with the bees.

Alstroemeria are growing in a partly shady spot.

They are sometimes called Peruvian Lilies and were originally from South America.

Alliums are blooming where the Spring Starflowers were last month.

And the weedy but pretty, Oxalis debilis.

Anemones

Every fall I plant Anemone coronaria in a pot.

By March they begin to bloom and continue blooming for weeks.

The name Anemone is from the Greek word for wind and they are sometimes called Windflowers.

I like the mix of colors.

All from a hand full of tubers.

Early April in my Neighborhood

My neighborhood is filled with flowers.  Here are a few of the blooming plants: Ceanothus or California Lilac,

Wisteria sinensis,

Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas),

Indian  Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica),

Grevillea rosmarinifolia,

and a flower of a strange color, purplish brown,

on the Silver Sheen Pittosporum (Pittosporum tenuifolium).

Freesias

Freesias are blooming in my garden, they are native to eastern South Africa.

In the warmest, sunniest parts of my garden the flowers open in February.

Now in the coolest parts of my garden the flowering continues.

They are fragrant and I always bring

some into the house.