Showing posts with label April. Show all posts
Showing posts with label April. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2014

April in Seattle



Leschi on April 28, 2014.



Kubota Garden on April 28, 2014.

April 2014 in Seattle was warmer & wetter than normal, which caused more vigorous growth of plants & more abundant flowers than normal.  The mean temperature was 52F/11.11C.  The normal mean temperature is 50.3F/10.17C.  Total precipitation was 4.18 inches/106.17mm.  Normal precipitation is 2.71 inches/68.83mm.  The highest temperature was 82F/27.78C on 4/30, which was very unusual.  Seattle averages only 25 days each year over 80F/26.67C & they usually come during the summer.  The lowest temperature was 40F/4.44C on 4/28.  There were 2 days with heavy rain, 8 days with rain, 14 days with light rain, 10 foggy days, 13 cloudy days, 16 partly cloudy days & 1 fair day.

Friday, May 10, 2013

April in Seattle

Prunus serrulata (Flowering Cherry) on Beacon Hill April 2013

Rhododendron (Azalea) & Picea (Spruce) on Beacon Hill April 2013

Seed packets on the sidewalk in front of a shop in Chinatown April 2013

King Street Station in Pioneer Square has been renovated & restored for $56 million.  It was built in 1906 with the tower modeled on the campanile in piazza San Marco in Venice.  5 Amtrak trains depart daily for Portland, 2 for Vancouver BC & 1 for Spokane, carrying 672,000 passengers yearly. King Street Station is the 14th-busiest stop in the United States.

Magnolia in Seward Park.

April 2013 in Seattle was slightly warmer & much wetter than normal.  The mean temperature was 50.8F/10.4C.  The normal mean temperature is 50.3F/10.2C.  Total precipitation was 5.89 inches.  Normal precipitation is 2.71 inches.  The highest temperature was 71F/21.7C, the lowest 38F/3.3C.  There were 5 days with heavy rain, 10 days with rain, 20 days with light rain, 16 days with fog, 4 days with haze, 21 cloudy days, 6 partly cloudy days & 3 fair days.  Even with the abundance of rain, the month was mostly pleasant.  There were 12 days with very little, or no rain.  Temperatures were cool, but not cold.

I moved (temporarily) to a large apartment building on April 6.  Then I ceased to garden, except for an occasional visit to my tiny plot at Bradner Gardens Park.  At 7.6 acres, Othello Park is a fairly large, but not very interesting space across the street behind my building, almost entirely lawn with rather few trees.  It has recently been renovated with a small amphitheater & new asphalt paths.  I walk the dog there.

I get more pleasure looking out from the 7th-floor apartment at the topography of the southern end of the Rainier Valley.  A friend once called this the DEEP south, just 2 miles from the southern city limits.  To the west, there is a woodland along the east flank of Beacon Hill filled mostly with Acer macrophyllum (Bigleaf Maple) & to the east there is quite an assortment of trees in the upscale neighborhood on Graham Hill in Seward Park.  The land also rises to the north to form a low ridge that cuts across the valley at Hillman City.  Here the neighborhoods of Brighton & Dunlap sit in a sort of a bowl.

Friday, May 11, 2012

April Garden Pictures

Bellis perennis & Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver' April 2012

Narcissus jonquilla April 2012

Paeonia mascula April 2012

Rhododendron campylogynum 'Celsum' April 2012

Tulipa 'Little Princess' April 2012

April 2012 was a normal month.  The mean temperature was 50.8F/10.4C.  The normal mean temperature is 50.3F/10.2C.  The highest temperature was 74F/23.3C, the lowest was 35F/1.7C.  Total precipitation was 2.68 inches.  Normal precipitation is 2.71 inches.   There was 1 day with heavy rain, 7 days with rain, 21 days with light rain, 1 day with hail, 15 days with fog, 2 days with haze, 21 cloudy days, 8 partly cloudy days & 1 fair day.

Friday, May 6, 2011

April Garden Pictures & Bloom Times

Ajuga reptans April 2011

Arctostaphylos x media April 2011

Bergenia 'Pink Dragonfly' April 2011

Epimedium colchicum var. pinnatum April 2011

Rhododendron campylogynum 'Celsum' April 2011

Below is a list of plants that began to bloom in my garden in Seattle in April  2011. I recorded the date when the 1st flower opened, not when they were in bud. I think this information is helpful in planning your garden. If you need more plants that bloom in April, you can choose some from the list.  This can help you to combine flower colors.  Nurseries in Seattle usually sell plants when they are in bloom. I have included dates from previous years. Weather conditions probably account for most of the difference in bloom times.  April 2011 set a record, at 52.2F/11.2C, for the lowest average-daily-high-temperature since record-keeping began in 1891.  The average average-daily-high-temperature for April is 58.2F/14.5C.  April 2011 was also more rainy that usual.  In marked contrast, April 2010 was quite warm.

04-01-11  Berberis thunbergii ‘Crimson Pygmy’ 3-15-10, 4-23-09, 4-15-08
04-02-11  Muscari latifolium
04-02-11  Narcissus ‘Limbo’
04-02-11  Erythronium oregonum 3-17-10, 4-09-09, 3-27-08
04-04-11  Geranium phaeum 4-01-10, 4-24-09
04-06-11  Arctostaphylos ‘White Lanterns’
04-06-11  Dicentra formosa 3-21-10, 4-15-09, 4-10-08
04-06-11  Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’ 3-19-10, 4-7-09, 4-03-08
04-06-11  Tulipa dasystemon 3-26-10, 4-16-09 4-18-08
04-09-11  Asarum caudatum
04-09-11  Magnolia ‘Susan’ 3-15-10, 4-15-09, 4-15-08
04-09-11  Tulipa praestans ‘Zwanenburg’ 3-26-10, 4-09-09, 3-30-08
04-11-11  Dicentra spectabilis 3-29-10, 4-09-09, 4-15-08
04-11-11  Fragaria vesca 3-21-10, 4-09-09, 4-25-08
04-11-11  Jeffersonia diphylla 3-21-10, 3-30-08
04-12-11  Lewisia cotyledon 3-19-10, 4-16-09, 4-15-08
04-12-11  Narcissus ‘Hawera’ 3-27-10
04-12-11  Sedum palmeri 3-29-10, 4-16-09, 4-25-08
04-13-11  Ajuga reptans 4-15-08
04-14-11  Saruma henryi 4-03-10, 4-23-09, 4-18-08
04-16-11  Trillium chloropetalum 3-29-10, 4-21-09, 4-10-08
04-18-11  Ribes x gordonianum 3-26-10, 4-07-09, 4-10-08
04-20-11  Tulipa ‘Golden Apeldoorn’ 4-04-10, 4-17-09
04-20-11  Tulipa ‘Little Princess’ 4-03-10, 4-20-09, 4-21-08
04-21-11  Paeonia mascula x obovata 3-26-10, 4-22-09, 4-18-08
04-21-11  Primula auricula 4-05-10
04-22-11  Euphorbia cyparissias 3-29-10, 4-13-09 4-18-08
04-24-11  Rhododendron campylogynum ‘Celsum’ 4-09-10, 4-24-09, 4-28-08
04-25-11  Lamium maculatum 3-27-10, 5-04-09, 4-21-08
04-25-11  Lathyrus vernus 4-22-10, 4-24-09, 4-15-08
04-26-11  Camassia leichtlinii ‘Caerulea’ 4-13-10, 5-1-09, 4-29-08
04-27-11  Paeonia cambessedesii 4-17-10, 4-27-09, 4-28-08
04-28-11  Daboecia cantabrica ‘Rainbow’ 4-15-10, 4-27-09, 5-10-08
04-28-11  Ribes nevadense 4-18-10, 4-29-09
04-30-11  Ceanothus gloriosus var. exaltatus ‘Emily Brown’
04-30-11  Smilacina stellata 4-13-10, 5-01-09
04-30-11  Tellima grandiflora 4-17-10, 5-03-09, 5-02-08

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Seasonal Display House April 2011

Seasonal Display House April 2011

 Cactus House April 2011

Cactus House April 2011

Bromeliad House April 2011

Fern House April 2011

 
Fern House April 2011

The Volunteer Park Conservatory is a welcome respite from the cold Seattle rain. It is open except on Mondays, even on holidays, from 10 to 4. The conservatory has 5 houses, each quite different. There are bromeliad, palm, fern, seasonal display & cactus houses.  It is hard to say which is most interesting. I think Volunteer Park is the greatest park in Seattle.  Not only is the park beautiful, but it has a number of first-rate attractions including the conservatory, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, Isamu Noguchi's Black Sun & the panoramic view from the Water Tower.  The park is easily reached from Downtown Seattle by the 10 Capitol Hill bus, which stops at the park.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Bloedel Reserve: The Glen in April

 Eythronium & Primula April 2011
 
Oxalis April 2011

Pulmonaria April 2011

Trillium April 2011

Trillium April 2011

On the third weekend in April 2011, the Bloedel Reserve in Bainbridge Island, Washington near Seattle, hosted it's very first Premier Plant Sale & Open House.  Admission was free both days.  Much of the Reserve's 150 acres is forested.  The floor of the shaded Glen is covered with woodland perennials.  In April this was an amazing sight.  Great numbers of Anemone, Brunnera, Dicentra, Erythronium, Omphalodes, Primula, Pulmonaria & Trillium bloomed amid a carpet of Oxalis.  According to the website, 'Dozens of rhododendron species thrive in the Glen under the protection of second-growth forest. Thousands of perennials, bulbs and wildflowers bloom among the rhododendrons, including one of the largest cyclamen plantings in the world. The Bloedel Reserve was created by Prentice Bloedel and his wife, Virginia, who resided on the property from 1951 until 1986.'