![GBBD April 2014](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/13899742405_3e57ba93fa_c.jpg)
Hello everyone out there! Sorry I've been MIA for such a long time...but I'm back, and I can't think of a better way to return than with a Bloom Day Post (of course, a couple days late). Spring is well and truly underway here in Portland...the garden changes so rapidly right now that every days I wake up and can't wait to see what else has returned or is in bloom. At this point, I think everything that will return HAS returned. There were a few losses over the winter, I'm guessing due to our parking strips flooding repeatedly. Oh well...such is life, right? Without further ado...on with the show!
![Purple Tulips](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/13899565375_1e981b93a6_c.jpg)
April in my garden is Tulip season. I'm not a collector or connoisseur by any means...I just buy a bag of whatever looks good at the time. My favorite Tulip purchase was a few years ago when I found a mix of pinks/purples/whites called Plum Pudding or something similarly silly....they are great...a perfect blend of colors that makes me look super chic! I wish I could find it again...maybe this fall, right?
![More Tulips](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7343/13899742125_57e88c671f_c.jpg)
Here they are again...just love them!
![First Iris](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3789/13895990745_aede062f17_c.jpg)
While its early for most of my Iris, the purple ones we inherited with the house always bloom about a month to a few weeks earlier than all the rest...which I love...it extends the Iris season by quite a bit...and they are so pretty (and fragrant)!
![hyacinthoides](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7093/13899626003_d63ba4fc94_c.jpg)
Love 'em or hate 'em, if you live in Portland, chances are you have a healthy patch of Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides). They spread at a frightening rate...and I've given up trying to get rid of them...I just pull them out the moment they are done blooming. Does it really weaken the bulbs...maybe a little, but not enough to keep them from coming back each year!
![hyacinthoides](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7232/13720382803_fc5f02133c_b.jpg)
Still...at least they are a pretty weed...and they do provide a nice cool flush of color for several weeks.
![Hyacinthoides & Calamagrostis](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/13899572145_55994d67ec_c.jpg)
I especially love them mixed with grasses...as here with Calamagrostis 'Avalanche'.
![Geranium macrorrhizum](https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2881/13899631773_ffa3025667_c.jpg)
The Geranium macrorrhizum I have scattered around the garden are also starting to bloom. I love their lush, green (and fragrant) foliage...and the blooms are brief and lovely addition.
![Euphrobia](https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2912/13899636003_71568dbd87_c.jpg)
I know there was a time I really liked this Euphorbia 'Dixter', but it seems like such a distant memory. I tried exorcising from my garden last year, only to have it return even more vigorous this year!
![Oxalis oregana](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3813/13899625243_c20f75b218_c.jpg)
One of my favorites, Oxalis oregana, flowers fairly heavily in the spring and then sporadically during summer...it's another plant which forms a lovely, lush carpet of leaves.
![Manzanita James Roof](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3714/13720380213_4bf4a74cd0_c.jpg)
I purchased this Manzaninta 'James Roof' earlier this spring when I fell in love with it's deep mahogany bark and bonsai-like form. Imagine my surprise when I noticed these tiny, white urn-shaped blooms!
![spring garden](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/13896390074_908335f201_b.jpg)
That's about it for now in my garden...we're literally just days away from the flood of Iris and Alliums...but you'll get to see those next month, I'm sure.
![North Border April](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/13905717644_4ec72a0bd8_c.jpg)
I hope you're having as nice a spring as we are here in Portland...we've had some nice, sunny weather recently, but have returned to lovely, soft showers today, for which both I AND the recently transplanted plants are grateful. Check out May Dreams Garden for more blooms from around the world...and happy GBBD!