April doesn’t fool around when it comes to flowers. Everything seems to be in bloom!

Though the weather outside has been frightful for much of March, a bit of warmth turns the season delightful. Early in the month Redbuds remain in bud, likely to be a week or more behind schedule. But the Callery pears and plums, which should be past bloom, are hanging in nicely due to cool, but not severe cold. Buds on Dogwoods are beginning to swell, but full bloom will be two weeks away in my garden.

Jane magnolia (above) came into bloom just after the beginning of the month, so Royal Star, Dr. Merrill, and Jane are all flowering today. The yellow Elizabeth is a week behind the others as it should be. Next to Jane along the drive is a dwarf Peach (below), right on schedule in full bloom.

Okame cherry is finally fading, but the pink weeping cherry (below)  is flowering now.

This tree was damaged last Spring when the purple leafed Schubert cherry came down in a wind storm that downed half the large trees in its path through the fields of Fauquier County, Virginia. When the large tree fell it sheared off about a third of the weeping cherry, the side that faces my garden, while the neighbor’s view was not damaged.

I’ve been noting the absence of bees on pieris blooms (above) since the temperatures have remained cool, but with warmer weather this weekend the bumblebees are active. No honeybees yet, but when they arrive they swarm the pieris, and the path next to the large Dorothy Wycoff is dangerous for a week or so.

The fragrant Spring blooming Viburnums are beginning to bud, nearly as colorful as the flowers.

The season is so exciting that my camera and I had to get out a bit to explore trees ouside my garden, since I can not possibly have one (or two) of everything.

My camellias have taken a good bit of damage from deer over the Winter, but the remaining buds are beginning to swell. A couple Spring blooming varieties in the nursery have opened on schedule, April Dawn (above) and April Remembered (below).

Also in bloom in the nursery are PJM rhododendron (below) an early blooming, small leafed variety.

The Cherry Blossom festival parade was Saturday, and though I didn’t attend, I believe that the timing was perfect. The largest percentage are Yoshino (below), which I can claim some small measure of pride having planted a group on the Tidal Basin roughly thirty years ago. Kwanzan cherry, the double pink bloomer, is a bit later than Yoshino, and is often the only cherry in bloom for the parade in years when a warm March forces earlier flowering.

Snow Fountain cherry (below) has a white flower similar to Yoshino, but it is a compact weeping tree, growing much tighter and smaller than the common pink.

Two trees, Purple Plum (below) and Callery Pears (most commonly Bradford, but also improved varieties Cleveland Select or Chanticleer, and Aristocrat) have been flowering for several weeks, but I have neither in my garden and have been tardy in traveling out for photos until now.

A mile down the road from my garden I took the photo of this flowering pear (below), one of hundreds in an open field that have sprouted from seed, quite enough to erase any doubt that this tree belongs on lists of invasive plants.

The coming week is turning cold again, so blooms will be delayed further, but April will prevail.