Peony japonica Seedling

Well there are many things to celebrate for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.  Not the least of which is celebrating the beautiful Peony blossom posted above.  Last year I was traveling when this peony bloomed.  I am particularly fond of this one because I’ve never seen it elsewhere.  In addition to the pink tinging of the blossoms the filaments of the stamens are also pink — quite unusual.

Of course there are other peonies in bloom because we seem to be well ahead of the normal progress for this time of year.

Tree Peony light pink

Paonia mairei

The daffodils are still continuing though they are reaching the latter part of their season.

Daffodils still coming in

one of many white daffodils

Narcissus ‘A Million Kisses’

‘A Million Kisses’ came from QDaffs several years ago but seems to have vanished from their catalog.

Of course it’s not surprising to see Azaleas flowering their hearts out in April but our version of ‘Coral Bells’ that we brought up from Alexandria many years ago seems to be particularly happy this Spring.

Azalea ‘Coral Bells’

Azalea ‘Coral Bells’ flowers

And beside the greenhouse is a particularly striking Gentiana.

Gentiana acaulis hybrid ‘Renate’

Gentiana acaulis hybrid ‘Renate’

And nearby in another trough is a little Delosperma that I got from Wrightman’s nursery in Canada four years ago.

Delosperma basuticum

Also in the yard are a couple of Ariseama that are popping up.

Arisaema ringens

Arisaema sikokianum

And I should not neglect the Ipheion that are sprinkled around the backyard.

Ipheion uniflorum ‘Alberto Castillo’

But I also wanted to share what is happening the forest where I take my daily walk.  The first of the Arisaema are popping up there as well.

Arisaema urashima ‘ShiroKasuri’

And also the completely wild native Arisaema.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)

Nearby is a little Azalea that I moved to woods several years ago.

A Spider Azalea in the woods

And there are several patches of Trillium that I’ve moved to the woods as well.

Trillium grandiflorum

The Primula that I moved to the bottom of the hill last year seems to be quite happy.

Primula kisoana

A marvelous discovery that I made several years ago is that we have a native Viburnum growing in the woods and even more recently I’ve begun to appreciate that the flowers are absolutely wonderful if you look up at them…Viburnum prunifolium (Black Haw) blossoms

Viburnum prunifolium (Black Haw) blossom

An addition that I made to the pasture last month is a Metasequoia that has a lovely gold coloring.  Picture it 30 ft high…

Metasequoia ‘Soul Fire’

I also had a question from longtime correspondent Chavli as to whether we kept bees given that we have so many flowers on our fruit trees.  And the answer is that we have several approaches to bee hives.  The easy way is the Mason bee houses that we have in several locations.

Mason Bee house

They are very easy to take care of and get lots of use (see the filled holes already this year).

We had started with Bee hives 50 years ago (picture my wife getting a bee hive to construct for Christmas).  But neither of us were particularly good at caring for the honey bees.  More recently we made arrangements with John Gardner and he has established five hives on the property.

Bee Hives at work

You might enjoy reading John’s description of Peaceful Beekeeping.