The garden in April

Planted by wind and rain many years ago,
three tall tulip poplars, in bright spring green,
anchor the garden.

After ten years of planting a trillium here, a columbine there, a hosta here and there, a trout lily out front, a pawpaw in back, and so on and so on, my garden has become a place of wonderful surprises starting in late January and continuing through May and June. I am surprised because I don't keep a blueprint of what goes where, and, well, I just don't remember where I put everything! Sometimes I think I should put it all down on paper so I'll remember and won't plant, for instance, the new purple sage too near that Joe-pye Weed (it's not too late; I'll simply move the sage). Maybe I will get organized and chart it all sometime, but I have to admit, the surprises bring me so much joy that I am loath to plot things out. Here are some of my lovely April surprises this year.

Japanese kerria and creeping ajuga with new-leaved oakleaf hydrangea in between

Yellow kerria, blue phlox and lots of green, a happy combination

Variegated Japanese kerria, reaching toward the birdbath

A bright yellow hosta with a lacy bleeding heart leaf floating above


Foamflower and another blue phlox


One of a developing colony of mayapples


Elegant variegated Solomon's seal, brightened by morning sun


Trillium, flanked by blue phlox and a wandering kerria rose


A pawpaw bloom, hopefully fertile


Witch alder, so wonderfully fragrant


White bleeding heart, Dicentra spectabilis 'alba'


Pink bleeding heart with golden leaves, Dicentra spectabilis 'goldheart'


Mazus, creeping between the back patio's flagstones


Jack-in-the-pulpit, a plant for the child-at-heart


Japanese maple 'bloodgood', reflecting a ruby heart