April Notes

 

What’s left to say about April

Here in the middle of Tennessee.

She arrived as a lamb in March

Against the alliance of months,

And roared right through,

Thunderstorm after thunderstorm,

Before her poem was written

(But her poetry was completed)

Into another month of April.

Tuesday at 300 pm,  April 14, 2026

The chirping on, off and on again of a flock of American Goldfinch has erased the silence of this garden so beautifully.  Flitting too fast between the twigs of the old Blackhaw Viburnums they are a joy to listen to; then out of nowhere, a Yellow-rumped Warbler has begun to splash in the tall birdbath… how amazing!

At the moment an American Robin has begun singing a short beautiful chirping song, and in just the last hour Blue Jays, Starlings(ugh), Cardinals, White-throated Sparrows, and Common Grackles have stopped by for eats or drinks and maybe a flap in the birdbath.

A few soft tiny raindrops seem to be floating down from above, and I notice that this garden has become so silent with just a little chatting from a few birds in the distance.  I catch a glimpse occasional of one moving through the underbrush, no doubt searching for something meaty.

The soft milky orange flowers of the azalea has blanketed the patio beneath it with its spent flowers, but half still remain so beautiful on the bush letting its fragrance drift on the breeze.  I love it out here, even though the …

Above:  Robin

Below:  Varied carpet beetle (Anthrenus verbasci)

on  Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus) 

 

 A biennial or short-lived perennial that attracts many types of small beetles.

Some consider it a weed, but I let it be.

Baptisia australis, Blue False Indigo 'Purple Smoke'

False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum

with odd looking white flowers.

At top of photo is a Redbud seedling.

This photo was taken before area was cleared of tree seedlings.

Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)

Fleabane flowers are old and greyish.

I think the bug is Plagiognathus arbustorum, a plant feeder, 

and a predator of small insects

Friday at 4:30 pm, April 17, 2026

Yesterday the heavens broke open with a hellacious thunderstorm in the early evening.  It sounded like a freight train roaring through for maybe half an hour with wind gusts up to 60 mph.  The deck table and umbrella were blown over, along with the umbrella on the patio. 

Vic righted them in the dark after the storm had past.  We woke up to our garden and deck covered with the end limbs with leaves attached (up to 12” long) and catkins from the oak trees surrounding us.  It’s quite a mess.

Today breakfast is a sandwich plate with sliced avocado and hard boiled eggs laced with Briannas Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing, and a steaming hot cup of Assam tea.  Outside it’s still wet, so it’s nice to eat with a little soft music playing in the background while cozy in my comfortable armchair.

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. 

                                                                     ~George Eliot

Wednesday at 10:00 am, April 22, 2026

I’m greeted, out of the blue, by a Robin excitedly chittering, and landing in the Winterthur Viburnum with the leaves loudly complaining.  Then, he or she, flies over to the Blackhaw Viburnum and dances in the air with the other and both exit right over my umbrella and roof top almost instantly.  Quite a show greeting me this cool beginning of the day.

Just squished my first mosquito of the year to land and dine on the top of my left hand, while I am trying to eat a simple fare of Apricot preserves over almond butter on crackers with seeds.  Steamy hot Assam tea accompanies this food, with a tall glass of icy water for afterwards.

I’m not sure about the icy water.  My phone app says 72 degrees F., but the breezes are a firmer gentle than one would expect.  I feel downright cold when a gust comes through.

Looking through the layers of green shrubs towards the back fence line, I can see the gorgeous purple clematis on the rebar trellis and a branch of the Appalachian Mock Orange reaching towards it.  It’s such a heavenly day with medium baby blue skies as far as my eyes can see.

The sound of the tree frog mysteriously comes, but I cannot tell from what direction.   Traffic, constant traffic…, oh how I wish to shut it up and let nature bring me peace.  A single Carpenter Bee’s erratic behavior above and around me suggests it’s a female looking for an appropriate place to start a nest.

It’s quiet except for the house sparrows with their short chirps back and forth, and all they mean to me is their title ‘Killer of Bluebirds’.  A spectacular red Cardinal has swooped in, just in time to bring happy thoughts as it disappears, by the sound of water splashing, to the ground siting birdbath.

Had to move out of the sunlight that keeps creeping closer and closer as the day progresses.  As I look ahead, with cooling breezes swirling around and past me, I see dirt splatters from side to side reaching two thirds of the way up the wall, and the vibe of this scenic moment is totally grunge, pure grunge.

I think that’s my signal to pack up and move in where the air is always temperature controlled.  Oh, my gosh (word edited), It’s only noon! 

I’ll be dragging this deck chair on over to the opposite side and try to chill, if I can manage to block out the sound of rubber meeting pavement at too fast a speed for this country road in the middle of the suburbs.

If only…, that phrase echoes around me to no avail.  Who would have thought.  A little white butterfly comes and goes, and the birds just seem to be background noise as the day heats up.

Appalachian Mock Orange (Philadelphus inodorus), 

also known as Scentless Mock Orange

Clematis 'Polish Spirit', a viticella hybrid 

Euonymus americanus's strange looking flowers,

either before the petals are formed 

or after they have fallen off.

I'm not sure which.

Iris fulva, Copper Iris

It seemed impossible for me to photograph its true color,

which is a medium burnt orange

I think the three center parts that look like tubes 

and seem to carry the pollen are called style branches.

When the Style Branches are pollinated,

they curl inward and turn purple.

Lyreleaf Sage

The center plants circling the rock at the bottom and right 

appeared on their own.

They are the Biennial Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis 

and the first year they stay fairly flat to the ground and unnoticed.

It appears that this is their second year.

Clematis crispa — Swamp Leather Flower

Small Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum biflorum

I'm having problems with Edema which is painful, and will be back whenever it calms down.  What the doctor prescribed hasn't helped yet. 

Yvonne

This post is linked to:

Saturday's Critters

Wild about April

A

walk

in

the

Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood

Full of flowers, probably because it is in full sun.

The flowers are in the center, 

and one can see five open or opening on this one.

A type of Camassia

Large-flowered Bellwort, Uvularia grandiflora

Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia 

Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebells

As a spring ephemeral, the entire plant 

disappears into the ground by early summer.

When the flower falls off or withers, 

it often leaves behind the central reproductive structures.

I'm fairly sure this is Clematis candida.

It grows along the ground, 

and will create 3 to 6 very large flowers.

Extremely stunning.

Trillium sessile

Celandine Poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum

Bottom side of leaves is a silver-white color.

Native Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens,

Dwarf Fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenii)

Below you can see the flowers not yet open,

along with the ones that are open.

Viburnum 'Winterthur' flower bud clusters 

before opening up.

Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides

Young shoots are known as fiddleheads,

and furled leaves are fronds.

Do not remove the dead fronds from the year before.  

They will act as mulch as the new fronds cover them up.

then they will become fertilizer as they decompose.

I think, a red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops) on 

Philadelphia fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus

A Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)

Hiding during the daytime , 

wedged in between the house siding and the gutter downspout

I think this is a young male Northern Cardinal.

Watching fast moving clouds:

A pig smelling a flower.

'My Mary' 

a native hybrid created from crossing 

native Rhododendron austrinum, Orange Azalea  

with Rhododendron 'Nacoochee',  

which is a natural deciduous hybrid azalea,

likely a cross between Rhododendron alianticum 

and Rhododendron periclymennoides.

Bumblebee collecting pollen.

Wilting flower slipping down the central reproductive structures

Lamprocapnos spectabilis, Asian Bleeding Heart 

On the left is Zizia aurea, Golden Alexanders.

It is a member of the Carrot family, Apiaceae.

It has reseeded itself to this location, and is about three feet tall,

 and much wider than that. 

It is in dappled shade, so apparently the originals 

I planted years ago along the back fence 

only eek out a meager living as they receive more shade now 

and grow flatter to the ground. 

The plant above right is 

Native Orange-red Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis.

After much research, we have determined this is Packera glabelia

It is a native annual that has seedheads 

that look like small Dandelion seedheads.  

It spreads so well each year that it would take over our yard 

in probably three years time.  We finally decided to removed it.

Carolina Geranium (Geranium carolinianum). 

A native annual that can become weedy, but we like it.

Shooting Stars, Dodecatheon meadia

An ephemeral spring wildflower

Charlotte on her bed, contemplating mischief.

Cooling breezes, almost too cool when a gust comes up, frame my mood in the garden this afternoon.  Maybe I might retreat to the warmth of my house, maybe a little bit longer outside would be much more refreshing.  The only thing constant in this garden this afternoon is the roar of tires gripping on the pavement one house over in their never ending quest to hurry on.

Time has been spent on pulling out Cleavers and Common Vetch, way too much time, but the two adult Asian Amur Honeysuckle shrubs had to be beheaded and poisoned.  The back garden is so lush, these plants get away from us at times.

Robins and cardinals are chatting away in the garden, and yesterday a Goldfinch was adding it’s two cents worth.  Earlier our tree frog was chirping away with his companion, but we have no pond for egg laying, so I’m not sure where that happens, if at all.

The yellow azalea flowers are aging to a pale cream and burnt orange, as their intoxicating aroma drifts on the breezes ever so often to delight my senses. It is a scent difficult to describe; maybe a cross between cloves and honey, although the old Beeman’s Pepsin Chewing Gum describes it best.

Birdbaths seem to be needing constant refilling, which is a good thing, and sadly to say, the nest box I thought housed a Starling nest, upon inspection, had the beginnings of another type of nest. 

Then I saw it-  at the base of the birdbox pole lay a dead bluebird, most likely killed by the Starlings wanting the same box.  The next hour the Starlings were back, so we put a thick twig into the hole to make the box useless.

With no doubt, this garden is flourishing after the demise of the Green Ash Tree opened much of the space up to sunlight.  Now we have to decide what stays and what can’t. 

Besides the four planters that house Spicebushes, we’ve identified one in the wildflower garden which will stay, but the one in the rain garden will disrupt the dynamics of what is already there by growing too huge for the space.  I's never easy making decisions.

It's so very late, as I have been endlessly researching, then researching again in my quest to buy a mattress.  One of the toughest decision I have made lately, and maybe not the best.  We shall see when it comes and I try it out.  It has layers of different types of Latex and firmness's, so all I can do is hope. 

I sit here this very early morning as the clock hands have just past the midnight hour while Charlotte is snoozing on the cat tree next to me.  She fell asleep waiting for me to finally remember it's way past bedtime. I'm almost ready, but not quite. 

I have no ending for this talk, so it's off to my torture bed, to not have a good night's sleep, or as Vic would say... a good morning's sleep.  Bye,

                                                                                                      Bye.

Always with Love~

Yvonne

This Post is Linked to:

Saturday's Critters