Like I mentioned in the other thread, things really get going for me in the latter part of May, but here are the winners for April:

* Brunnera (late April through early May)

* Bloodroot

* Violas (yea, I know you guys think they're weeds, but I personally think the very large patch of violas in the lawn in my backyard is simply beautiful!)

I have a few other assorted wildflowers which are lovely, such as trillium, but not a large display of any one, so didn't include here.

Love all the greenery poking up now, too - no flowers yet, but beautiful in its own right.

My April winners:

• Hellebores

• Daffodils

• Brunnera

• Tree Peonies (late April/early May)

• I REALLY liked Clematis alpina! They are new for me. Hope they will survive and perform well every year. Here are a couple of them:

  Pink Flamingo:

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  Sialia:

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My April winners:

- Phlox divaricata 'Montrose Tricolor'

- Gelsemium sempervirens (native vine)

- Ipheion uniflora

- Narcissus 'Serola'

- Thermopsis chinesis

The Spring-flowering shrubs mostly take center stage in April along with many bulbs and a few herbaceous perennials. The perennials really gear up in May.

I'm wondering why I don't have any Clematis alpina. They are beautiful! Thanks for posting pics of them!

I enjoy Violas too mxk3. I have a Purple odorata that has wonderful fragrance and I wouldn't mind if it spreads itself all over the yard. I only have a small clump at this point.

Alina, that Pink Flamingo is very attractive! Is it a vine and will it get taller? I didn't know there were clematis that would bloom this early.

Spazzy, I forgot Phlox divaricata. I have one blue one, but the Tricolor is variegated? Nice. Mine didn't open until May.

1) Gaillardia "Goblin"
2) Coreopsis dwarf/yellow
3) French Lavender
4) Husked's Red Penstemon
5) Brunerra "Jack Frost"
6) Echinacea paradoxa - I have to mention this one because it's beautiful this year! I love it! It's my earliest blooming Echinacea.

1. Pulmonaria
2. Bleeding heart
3. Star magnolia
4. Serviceberry tree
5. daffodils

Wow, what a difference a zone makes, echinaceamaniac! LOL! I had to do a double take because those things are nowhere close to blooming here!

I'd have to say pretty much the same as everyone else - daffs (I especially love the big, bold King Alfreds); phlox subulata - I lost almost half of my patch of it this year,but what was there was beautiful and long-blooming (still going); violas - I have Freckles, and it has spread all over the yard, but I just love looking out over the garden and seeing them in bloom.

Next year at this time I will be able to add clematis alpina. Those are gorgeous! I wasn't aware they bloomed so early.

And for this year I will also add primroses to the list. My primroses are having a great season and I'm really enjoying them.

:)
Dee

1. Brunerra 'Jack Frost' - of course
2. Primula 'Blue Diamond' (double blue)
3. Pulsatilla vulgaris
4. Trillium ovatum (native here)
5. Ok, Hellebores... they've been going since late January, so I'm taking them for granted by now

One plant that I don't think was mentioned yet, but which is a great April plant is Tradescantia Sweet Kate. It is absolutely perfect with small blue spring bulbs like Ipheion, Scilla, Crocus, Chionodoxa, & Muscari. The leaves emerge on the reddish side, but quickly turn a vibrant gold/chartreuse color. A very welcome color after a long cold winter! Their bright spiky foliage is also a great foil to all the emerging green leaves of things like Hosta. The dark blue flowers which appear (here) in mid to late June are almost an afterthought.

lets see
I posted similar post with pics on Winter sowing forum "what is blooming now" last week, some pics are quite nice and some do not reflect the beauty of what is going on.
I had blooms started in Feb with snowdrops so it is little hard to relate just April blooms- anyway, small bulbs like chinodoxa, puschkinia scilloides, scilla started the show of April, of course bunch of early dafs and tulips, hyacints. Now some leucojum aestivum and muscari finshing the show of April. Camassia is about to bloom and ornitogalum as well as alliums.
Hellebore blooming for whole month starting with Nigrum somewhere late March. Corydalis solida is done, winter aconitum is done, erhytrhonium is done, trilliums are still blooming as well as uvularia grandiflora and muscari various.
Various primulas have been blooming for entire April starting with denticulata, elatior, veris, Danova series and now coming to Japonicas, my personal favorites. Am quite pleased with primula shows and planted some more this year.
Pulmonarias, dicentra various/ eximia/ formosa/ spectabilis, forget me nots started, fritillaria have been in bloom for while, tiarella wherryl blooming nicely, some alpina clematis grown from seed. Lunaria is blooming for while, from shrubs- weigela variegata, flowering quince doing nicely as well as some viburnum just started.
Or yeah, and epimediums have been giving their usual ethereal beauty blooms.
My earliest columbine flabellata alba started blooming few days ago. Geranium toberosum is blooming a little and various phlox subulata and divaricata.
and of course there would not be April blooms without my favorites euphorbias- cyparassias, myrsynites, palustris and polychroma. So all in all plenty of blooms and more to come.

I have similar favorites to those mentioned above but I also have one that hasn't been mentioned yet that adds a very nice bright yellow splash to the perennial garden in late April in my zone. It's Aurinia saxatilis (Basket of Gold) and I was very happy to discover it a couple years ago because it blooms during a lull in my garden when not much is blooming after Narcissus but before Iris.

echinaceamaniac.....your zone 7 looks a whole lot different from my zone 6, too. :-)

Sushi....I didn't realize star magnolia was in april and not may.

Dee....It won't take long for the phlox you have left to increase. They are great that way. I am thinking of adding more this year. Maybe white. I haven't found a white that performs yet and keep trying. I had Freckles and it didn't come back the second spring. I might have listed primrose. I have a little in the garden and love it. I plan on adding more this year too.

thane....I keep meaning to add Pulsatilla. How long does it bloom?

leslie...I have seen a spring container using Tradescantia SKate and it almost looked like a bright yellow grass. I wonder how long you have been growing it and if it spreads too much? I am always looking for that yellow grass foliage in the spring since reading Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden book. She used Bowle's Grass. This sounds like a substitute.

lindalana....My, you have quite the spring garden! :-) Where do you get all your primula? Is there a weigelia that blooms in April?

steve....I love Aurinia. I've tried it maybe 3x and it never comes back in the spring for me. I believe they also want good drainage and that is the only thing I can figure could be the problem. I have seen them around here on the tops of walls looking so cheerful in the spring with Phlox subulatas.

Prairiemoon2, I checked my records and my Sweet Kate was planted in the spring of 2003. To my eye it appears to be slightly smaller than some of the other green Trads that I have in the back of my yard (no record of the variety of these). It definitely has finer foliage, more grass-like, and has not spread at all for me. My green ones reseed around a bit, but not heavily.

I also have 3 Bowles Golden sedges (Carex) that are also clumpers. These are quite a bit taller, maybe 2 1/2 feet or so and are planted in my "wet" garden. I have never had Bowles Golden reseed at all since they were planted in 2002. I have never divided them either, so their growth while fast in the beginning is very moderate later on. These were grown from plugs in basically unimproved heavy wet clay soil.

Both these are lovely gold/chartreuse plants, that don't fade out much (the Bowles a little more than SK) at all in a zone 5 mostly sunny garden. As the thicketing shrubs in the "wet" garden have grown up & thrown more shade the Bowles has become more chartreuse in summer for me than gold.

Just thought I'd post that Clematis alpina and macropetala are very hardy (zone 4) early bloomers that climb but can be used for ground cover. Cut back hard first couple of years to get their roots off to a good start then they don't require pruning. They come in a wide range of colors. Pink, magenta, purple, lavender and white.

I saw 'Pink Flamingo' recently at Home Depot, mislabeled as 'Ruby' for ten bucks.

The alpinas don't do well in the South though there are integrifolias that are often used in perennial borders that do love the heat.

Our April stunk. Very cold which means we are having a late spring. Nothing great other than the bulbs and Basket of Gold (alyssum). Things are just beginning to take off now.

Leslie, thanks for checking your records. It is good to know it wouldn't take over the garden. [g] I had about decided not to try the Bowles Carex because I really have a fairly dry garden. Lots of tree roots around sucking the moisture out. Maybe Sweet Kate will work better for me.

Thanks buyorsell....

Dutch Iris
Spanish Bluebells
Encore Azaleas
Knockout roses 'Radrazz'
Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Cameron

Bleeding hearts are doing great, English wood hyacinths did great. Irises are now blooming! Rhodies are about to open.

Here April stunk too! May started things going. Here are some of my bulbs that took off starting in early May. April was bare for the most part here. Brunnera's weren't even blooming yet, although they are now for the last couple of weeks.
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Nice photos! And I love the wooden raised beds. Nice design on those.

:)
Dee

Thanks Dee :)

April was slow for us too, cold and lots of rain. The crocus, snowdrops came up, quince and weigela are done so it wasn't too bad. Azaleas, viburnum, bleeding heart and bridal spirea are just about done blooming. Right now its Iris, red twig dogwood, columbine, allium, snowmound spirea and some confused tulips.