The Garden in April

I strolled around the garden, yesterday, and, although it was a bit overcast, I took some pictures.

Remember this picture of the pomegranate tree, taken in March?

Pomegranate Tree: March 10, 1017

 Well, it has since leafed out fully and there are buds and flowers!

Pomegranate Tree: April 7, 2017

Pomegranate Flower, Close Up

In the back garden, the geraniums are flowering.  I believe they are Martha Washington geraniums.  The story behind these plants is, many years ago, a small shoot popped up on my side of the garden wall that separates my yard from the house behind me.  I assume it was a shoot from a plant they had in their yard.  Anyway, we encouraged it to grow, took cuttings from it and planted the cuttings.  These are cuttings of cuttings!  I took another cutting, while I was out in the garden and put it in a jar with some water to root it.  I'll be planting it in another spot and hopefully, it will grow into another plant.  I love the color:

Geraniums

I have very few rose bushes left in the back garden, but those that I do have are doing their very best:

Lilac Rose

Not sure why the petals are speckled on this rose, below:

Pink Rose

But it looks pretty, doesn't it?  Someone needs to weed the bed, though!


There's only one main stem left in the yellow rose bush, after pruning it to remove the rose borers, but that one stem is trying to make up for it! 

Yellow Roses

 Another speckled pink rose, on a different plant:
 

Another Pink Rose

The pink oleander by the back garden wall:
 

Pink Oleander

My star jasmine vine is finally starting to flower!

 

Star Jasmine

At one time, I used to have three star jasmine vines growing along the side wall, but now, I have just this one.  
 

Star Jasmine Flowers

Is it me, or is there a capital "A" in the middle of the flowers?

 

Star Jasmine Close Up

The whole time I was taking photographs of the jasmine, this butterfly was hovering around the plant:

 

White Butterfly

Once I took the picture, it flew away!  It was as if it wanted its picture taken!  "Record me for posterity, to prove that I was here and once existed."  According to what I've read, white butterflies have a life span of about 3 weeks.  I have also read that, in some cultures, a white butterfly represents the soul of a departed loved one.  Sorry, I couldn't get a close-up or enlarge it.   All these pictures are taken with my cell phone camera.

One picture of the "wildlife" in my garden let to another:

 

Mourning Dove on the High Wire

There were two of them, actually, but while I was trying to get my phone camera to magnify the screen, one flew off to the top of the telephone pole.  That is the pine tree I grew from a tiny seedling given to me by an environmental group for Earth Day, about 25 years ago!  I keep cutting the top to keep it from getting too big; time to trim it again, I think. 

The bottle brush tree is flowering, too.   It grew from a seed that fell from my neighbor's bottle brush tree into a planter of succulents my mother had kept on the short wall between our houses, many years ago.  We transplanted the seedling and now, it has grown into a fairly big tree.  It's another tree that I trim to keep it from getting too tall.  

 

Bottle Brush Tree

The flowers do look like bottle brushes, don't they?  The hummingbirds love the nectar in these flowers.  So do the bees.

 

Close Up of the Bottle Brush Flowers

I have planted the beans and okra seeds I bought and the zucchini and patty pan squash seeds my gardener friend gave me.  He also gifted me with two strawberry plants, which he planted in a window box type of planter for me, and a potted parsley plant!  He also planted some of the aeonium cuttings my supervisor gave me, in the parkway.  I have another bag of aeonium cuttings to plant elsewhere!

I also found some packets of vegetable seeds I bought several years ago (back in 2011!)  I don't know if they will even germinate, but I am thinking of sprinkling them in one of the other planting beds and seeing if anything happens.  If they germinate and I am able to keep the stray cats from digging things up and the birds from eating the sprouts, I might have a vegetable garden, this year!

And I won't feel bad about watering the plants since our governor declared the drought to be over, as of yesterday.  We are still urged to conserve water, of course, and we might still be under local city restrictions, but the long, 5-year drought is over for now.  We even had a shower of rain, very late last night/in the wee hours of the morning!  So grateful for it, as the garden needed a drink of water.  Another shower of rain is expected to arrive next Thursday, as well!

Grateful for:
- The gifts of plants from supervisor, gardener friend, and neighbor
- Flowers blooming to brighten up the garden
- Rain to water the garden
- Butterflies
- Dancer cat who is sleeping on my lap and purring away (making me reach over him to type this)

How is your garden doing in April?  Are you finding signs of spring?  Or is it in full bloom?