Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-April, 2012

Well, I wasn't even going to do an official GBBD post today because there's hardly anything blooming in my yard right now, but then I went outside and saw this. 

I figured since it went through all the trouble of opening for me on exactly the right date, I couldn't NOT post a picture of my rose, "Mardi Gras (Jacfrain)".

My ice blue plumbago is always blooming, and so is my Cuphea hyssopifolia (False Heather/Mexican Heather/Hawaiian Heather).

My lantana is spilling over our rock wall, which is nice because normally it's all on top of the wall, where I can't see it or photograph it.

My red ginger is a little overexposed here, but I like the way it came out all glowy, so I'm keeping this picture in the lineup.

That's it for today, but please visit our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hostess, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens to see what else is blooming around the world.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-April 2010

Once again, I don't have too much in particular blooming in my garden that isn't well past its prime (we've been getting hit with some dry, windy weather over the past couple of months) or something that you haven't seen a hundred times before (not that that's going to stop me entirely), so I thought today would be a good "then" and "now" day.  All of the "then" pictures are from April, 2009.  If you'd rather just see what's actually blooming today or if you'd like to show off your blooms, please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our monthly host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Please forgive all the pruning/raking/weeding/sweeping that needs to be done!  The up side of living in Hawaii is that everything grows like crazy here.  The down side is that everything grows like crazy here!

Then: Featured plants:  Puakenikeni (tree on left, by the blue pot, not to be confused with the  Nicole Scherzinger song), variegated ficus (tree on right), Cordyline terminalis or red ti plants (um...the big clumps of red leaves)

Now:

Then:  Featured plants:  Puakenikeni (tree on right, near the troll), lime tree (the other one), Euphorbia Leucocephala (the ones that look like dead sticks along the wall), and Monstera deliciosa (the ones that are covering the wall in the bottom picture)

Now:

Then:  Featured plants:  Euphorbia leucocephala (the dead sticks), plumbago (blue fowers in the middle),  Cuphea hyssopifolia or false heather (plants bordering the plumbago, with the pink/purple flowers), spider lily (blooming in the pot).  Both the plumbago and the spider lily were given to me by a friend who was leaving the island.  Unfortunately, things were a little hectic at the time, and they spent about a year hanging out in a plastic bag until I was able to get them properly planted.  Fortunately, they are, apparently, super hardy.

Now:

Then:  Featured Plants:  Monstera deliciosa (left), spider lily (the one with the sword-like leaves [has never bloomed]), red ginger (on right), Mocha (the furry one with the legs)

Now:

Then:  Featured plants:  Hibiscus tiliaceus or variegated hau (atop the wall), Strelitzia (nicolai?) or bird-of-paradise (large, leathery leaves toward right-not sure of the variety, but I suspect this may get monstrous-it hasn't bloomed yet either, but I can't wait until it finally does!)

Now:

And now for some actual bloom photos:

Potted miniature rose

Orchid-No I.D.

Den. Pam Tajima (altroviolaceum 'Pygmy' x eximium) just beginning to unfurl

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-April

Well, I'm a little late for this month's GBBD, but I've been busy.  So, this post will be short and sweet.

I just picked my very first strawberry that I grew myself, and it was all I could do to keep it around long enough to take this pic!  For the record, it was just as good as it looks.  :)

See what other gardeners have blooming in their yards.