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Our first flower of the month is the Calla Lily - Although more familiar in wedding boquets and flower arrangements in churches, this one actually is winter hardy in Houston.
I am not too sure of the habit of this plant, and whether it blooms at other times of the year, but I have some others planted so we will see when they do thier thing.
This one was planted 2 years ago in complete shade, and has given us this single flower so far this year...
The second plant of April was this Amaryllis - I think it might be "apple blossom".
Last year this plant was wonderful, but this year seems to have caught some virus which has affected the flowers and made them less-than-perfect.
This is a shot of the best one.
The other Amaryllis (which flowered in December) , if it naturalizes, will probably bloom the same time as this one
This next one is a South African bulb, the Watsonia; a relation of the gladioli. Like thier cousins, they come in a wide variety of colours.
These bulbs have naturalized well, and will probably need to be thinned out next year; the first bulbs I will actually start giving away!
While poking around in a flowerbed, we noticed this freesia. I have included it here because of the following exciting bore-related facts:
a ) I planted it in february, but it still had time to grow and flower (I have others which have not yet flowered though)
b ) Its red instead of my main collection of yellow ones
c ) It looked nice nestled in around these other non-bulbous flowers...
I wanted to be able to post a glorious display of asiatic lilies, but this one bloomed far ahead of the rest, compelling me to post it as a single flower in april rather than May, which is when I expect the others to bloom.
As you can see the asiatic lily scores very highly for colour, but they are odourless which is a shame.
There are four main true lily types which can naturalize in houston. This is the first to appear, so I will leave the officionados guessing about what the other types might be until next month...
This bulb came to me by coincidence. I read about a plant at one of the online nurseries which was a heat-tolerant alternative to hosta, and I ended up with this - Drimiopsis Maculata. Although grown (I would guess) for its green blotchy leaves, I couldnt help but notice that it had a bulbous root-
Sure enough, I looked it up and it turned out to be a southern african relative of the hyacinth (no fragrance though).
It allegedly likes part shade and hopefully will survive Houstons winter...
This plant is one of Houston's few wild bulbs - Growing to a height of about 6 inches, with a flower about one inch accross (note the American style measurements) this is Herbertia Lahue.
Each flower lasts for a day, but a single plant will have several flowers throughout may.
As you can see it is a relation of the Iris.
This photo was taken in my garden, where such wildflowers are eagerly encouraged...
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