I don’t know where you are, but here in KC, Mother Nature is playing a cruel April fools’ day joke on us. It may be April,  but you wouldn’t know it from the weather outside.  As I write this, it’s 28° with sleet and snow falling from the sky.  What the heck?!? I got a glimpse of the Easter Bunny this morning and he was wearing a winter coat, hat, and gloves.  Sure hope those eggs didn’t freeze.

Luckily, the Easter Bunny brought me tulips and wine this year (my Easter Bunny is better than your Easter Bunny!) so I didn’t have to worry about frozen eggs.  What I do have to worry about is frozen plants: the low Tuesday night is supposed to hit 22°!  Remember all of those early-emerging plants I told you about last week?  I spent yesterday afternoon covering them with leaf mulch in hopes that they stay cozy until we get through this cold streak.

I think the best thing to do while we wait for this very un-springish weather to move on is distract ourselves with pictures of pretty plants and gardens, don’t you?

What’s that?  You need help finding pictures to look at?  Well, of course I’d be happy to help.  I just happen to have some lying around…

Perhaps you’re looking for pictures like this one of a super-cool azalea (‘Autumn Twist’) at Mobile Botanical Gardens:

Azaleas should be blooming in our area before too long, and I would have one of those beauties in my garden if they weren’t intolerant of juglone from black walnut trees.

Another great find from my fall trip to Mobile Botanical Garden was this stunner — a Gloriosa Lily, aka Fire Lily, which is a trailing tropical vine.

It’s spectacular, isn’t it?  Gloriosa Lilies can be purchased as bulbs and grown pretty much anywhere, but they are only perennial in zones 8-10.  Be careful, though, as like many lilies they are toxic to dogs and cats.

Another tropical find at MBG was this violet ‘Star of Siam’ waterlily:

Doesn’t it look exotic?  The purple-blue double blooms with a yellow center took my breath away, and the coloring on the leaves is so unique!  They had this lily in a giant metal container filled with water, proving that there are a number of ways to enjoy water (and water-loving plants) in your garden.

Now back to Kansas…not Kansas on a snowy day in April (I’m not bitter or anything), but Kansas on a late summer day.  Imagine you’re sitting in this garden with a good book and a glass of lemonade…

Ahhh, that feels better.  Not a snowflake in sight.  This garden belongs to a couple who own a specialty hosta business, and their shade garden is every bit as beautiful as you would imagine.  I will definitely be taking a trip back this spring to pick up a couple of hosta varieties I want to add to my garden, like ‘Touch of Class’ and ‘Island Breeze.’

One non-hosta plant that caught my eye in their garden was this beautiful pink bloomer; I believe it is a Japanese Anemone.

I have anemone on my plant wishlist (dang, it’s getting long!) as they are supposed to be wonderful woodland plants, tolerant of juglone, and have a late-summer/fall bloom time.  I love the simple flowers held up by long, elegant stems.  Can you imagine those blooms blowing in a light breeze?

Speaking of plants on my wishlist, this ‘Wolf Eyes’ Kousa Dogwood is close to the top.

It absolutely POPS in the shade!  ‘Wolf Eyes’ is a fabulous understory tree, slow-growing to 20ft tall and wide.  The leaves turn to a pink-red color in the fall, and it sports white blooms followed by red berries.  I’ll take two, please.

Surely you knew I would have pictures of water gardens in this post, right?  After all, no self-respecting water garden lover would write an “eye candy” post without including water features,  and I have plenty of pictures from last year’s water garden tour that I haven’t shared with you yet.

This small pond and waterfall was one of three water features at this home on the tour; clearly I have work to do since I don’t have three yet.   I shared another one of their features in my post on garden planning if you’d like to see it again.

Also seen on the water garden tour was this two-toned daylily:

Daylilies are an easy-care, go-to plant for many homeowners, but you can tell you’re at the home of a gardener when they have a really cool daylily like this one.   This specific cultivar is ‘When I Dream.’

Moving on to the home of a master gardener living on acreage in the country:

Most stops on the water garden tour are all about the water — it is clear that the water feature is the hobby of choice and that is where all of the effort and focus goes.  But every once in awhile, you arrive at a home that clearly belongs to a gardener, and the entire space is amazing.  This garden was one of those stops that invites you to explore and enjoy.

Another cool stop on the tour included this giant pondless stream and waterfall.  The homeowners bought the empty lot next to them so they had room to put this in:

I imagine the thought process went something like this: “Hmmm…if only I had more space for a water feature.  I KNOW!  I’ll buy the empty lot next to our house and install a giant waterfall and stream there!”  Those are my kind of people.

Last but not least, a picture of the beautiful ‘Wanvisa’ waterlily that I discovered on the tour last year and will definitely be adding to my new water garden:

That’s right — a two-toned hardy water lily with really cool leaves.  You know you want one (and a water garden to put it in.)

Well, that’s about enough candy for me today.  Thank goodness this visual feast didn’t have the same number of calories the chocolate eggs and jelly beans in my Easter basket did!  Here’s hoping the spring weather returns quickly and we can get out and get our hands dirty growing our own garden masterpieces.  Happy Easter and happy April everyone!